WHAT HAPPENED AFTER I LEFT?!
In my first few years as a young consultant, and even to this day, I always wonder about what happens after I leave. What about a year later? Five years later? This question comes up a lot in the OD community: how can one know the impact of our interventions without seeming ‘salesy’ or prying for another mandate? Many consultants have a set follow-up meeting three to six months following a big intervention but it seems like it can’t be enough time to evaluate. What about two years later? Did our intervention make a sustainable change? The goal of our process consulting work is to try to get at the root cause of an issue so that the result of our interventions would create a learning organization that can be independent enough to solve its own future potential problems. Thus, the point is not to be called again in the future, to avoid consultant dependency but is that really realistic for us and for our client systems? Although we all believe in our work, sometimes I wish I can work for the organization later to see how it feels on the inside. Even follow-up meetings can not encompass all the possible indirect effects our work.
Having had the chance to work in corporate, government and non-profit environments as an employee first, made me realize that I always craved feedback. Almost all workplace environments have some sort of performance review at least annually; that is definitely not only a “corporate thing” for those of us who thought so. How are we supposed to know how well (or poorly) we are doing if we are working solo, as a consultant or in any freelance career that allows you to intervene in a human system and then leave, perhaps never to return again? What if you just need that feedback?
Someone once told me that she would never be able to work independently since she was a “feedback freak”. She ended up working as an internal consultant for a period of time and still felt that she lacked structured feedback. Some of us might think that this might be a personality trait, a lack of experience, or even age. “Don’t worry, once you are experienced enough, old enough, confident enough, you won’t need anyone to tell you that you are doing a good job.” Fourteen years in and I haven’t proved it yet, but I am sure it’s not about any of these factors. Can it just be that we are human beings and some of us need it more than others?
So finally, I am still going to tell you what I think might help those who are in the same situation as I am: in need of feedback and curious to know what happened when after I left.
Here is what colleagues in the field have suggested. This is not an exhaustive list of course and I would love to hear more ideas from you.
Directly ask for feedback: Perhaps the most obvious is to ask the clients in the system you have worked with directly. Apart from asking on the last meeting with them, see if they are willing to get together a few months (or years) down the road for an update. Go for conversations if possible (coffee) but if time is an issue, try to send a quick open-ended questionnaire.
Create your very own advisory board: Yes, like a board of directors, you can try to have a board of advisors that are available to meet you regularly and who can not only give you feedback but also ideas and suggestions about potential clients. Meeting regularly does not necessarily mean on a monthly basis; it can be every three or six months. This can be a group of other consultants with whom you can share feedback and ideas. Create your own learning community!
Past clients: I do believe that once you get the perfect client, you should do everything possible to maintain the relationship; not for future work, but for future needed feedback. You know, the client that makes you feel good all the time, is open, honest and doesn’t hide his flaws. The one that admits their mistakes. The one that was fully invested in their project and in the success of whatever goal you both shared. Yes, they exist! I once had the perfect client and I still think of her from time to time. We keep in touch through LinkedIn and recently, thanks to Zoom, we have a yearly call because she lives in Toronto. Clients can become your friends after you finish your mandate. We are humans.
Community office: There is a process consultant in my area that I admire a lot. She rents an office in one of those shared office spaces and tries to get consultants in to rent there as well. Some people would never do such a thing. Having potential “competitors” in the same office space; they might steal your work or worse, your clients right?! Wrong; there is actually more benefit in building community that way. First, you get to chat about your work, inevitably getting ideas and suggestions from each other. You can end up exchanging feedback if you want instead of figuring out how to create your “advisory board” above. There is also a possibility of getting more work that way; you can work on the same contract or you can refer each other if someone has expertise in one area more than another. Did you ever notice that coffee shops open one next to the other, which creates more business for both? Think win/win. I am sure you’ve read about the abundance mentality in Stephen Covey’s 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. And in the end, it feels less lonely for us freelancers.
Finally, all these suggestions revolve around fostering a community to learn and grow. It’s up to you to create that learning community.
