What’s the best way to approach the partnership about changing clients? NL
First be clear in your own mind why you want to change clients.
If it is due to a short-term, one off issue relating to chemistry/relationships or ability to do the job, then act now. It could prove an ethical matter if there are implications in the standard of your work.
However, if it’s more to do with career progression, personal strengths, likes/dislikes then you can afford to take a more measured approach.
As ever you need to start by considering why you want to change clients and what exactly you are seeking. And this is especially important here as you will need to be able to provide a clearly thought-out business case too.
Use a brainstorming technique (mind-mapping is a good one for this). This will help you to flush all your thoughts, including the pros and cons from both perspectives – yours and the business’s.
You can then use your mind-map as a foundation to articulate your case:
• What you don’t want, and why
• What you do want, and why
• How your proposition aligns to your professional development
• How your proposition meets business needs and indeed, can benefit the business
So that’s the content. Now you need to consider your process.
Do you understand the process within your organisation with respect to staff planning? Is there one dedicated Resourcing contact or are you expected to deal directly with your line manager/partner? Who exactly are the decision makers?
It’s important to get this right. You don’t want to go over anyone’s head and potentially have politics mess up your approach. Plus in the interests of efficiency you want to do it ‘properly’ and ensure you don’t have a number of parties putting in their oar on your behalf – that won’t help your case either. However, if used subtly a mentor or a sponsor could have a role here. As long as process and politics are respected, it can very valuable to have a bit of extra ‘clout’ behind your bid.
Be aware of timing too. If staff planning is an annual process in your firm, it may be appropriate to take a more strategic approach to making your case and respect normal procedures. If the system is more ad hoc, then use common sense to time your request. For instance it’s not going to go down well to put in a last minute request for a change – just before the job is due to start. Once again consider tying in to the firm’s normal practice on career/portfolio development, which may well be linked to the performance appraisal system.
Whichever approach you choose, remember that a bid that provides solutions rather than creating problems is going to be much better received. So rather making it ‘all about you’, think wider. Can you suggest a successor? If not a particular person then in general terms be prepared to articulate the type of individual who would benefit from the vacated role. Think level, experience, natural strengths, career aspirations. This could prove very helpful to the organisation and a ‘win-win’ outcome is going to get you much further in meeting your own aspirations.
This Q&A first appeared in www.careersinaudit.com
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