Defining the Client: A Different Perspective

Here is the story of an actual consulting engagement I experienced some time ago.

The organization: A non-union manufacturing facility of about 300 people. Let's just call them the ABC Company. There were two locations but I was called in to assist with only one location. The 300 people were at this location.

Who called me: The HR Director

What he/she asked me to do: I was asked to do team building and communication workshops for employees and managers. The senior staff (about 12 people) were not involved in this activity though we did schedule a senior leadership briefing. I was told that ABC staff needed to communicate and work together better. (This is not an uncommon request. In fact, many of the requests I received as an OD consultant started out just like this.)

One of the things we did: We planned several strategies to address issues. One of these actions was to meet with employees and managers for a communications workshop. As part of that workshop, I put them in to small groups and asked that they draw, on a flip chart, a metaphor that represented communication at ABC. One group drew a pile of spaghetti, one group drew a fancy car, one group drew a kite, one group drew the parking lot outside, and so on. Two groups drew vacuum cleaners. When I asked each group to explain why they compared ABC communication to their object/metaphor, the vacuum cleaner groups said (and please pardon me, their words not mine) "Because communication here sucks."

Part 1: Answer this question: From what you have read of the situation above, who is the client and why do you say that? For example, do you think the client is the HR director (the contact client), the staff who attended the communication workshop (intermediate clients), the senior leadership at this location (primary client), or the entire organization (ultimate client)? Are the managers the primary client and is senior leadership the ultimate client? Are there unwitting or indirect clients? In other words, who do you really need to work with in this situation to effect change based on their client role?