I must say I am a lucky entrepreneur since all my months are very busy (touch wood!), but July has been even more intense with plenty of last minute projects. Most of them were new clients who wanted to introduce a project to their board of directors to start right after the summer break. Interacting with so many new clients in such a short period of time made me think about the nature of organisations.
Independently of its size or sector, starting a relationship with a company is always a very thrilling experience for me. The context and manner in which I am contacted to introduce a possible project (emergencies never worry me, since my fast fashion retail background trained me for everything hectic) brings me plenty of information about the organisation’s real DNA, the kind of people I will work with, the project’s tone and, above all, what the real purpose of such a project is. I carefully consider these facts to accept or decline a client or a project. And I always end up thinking how right McClelland was with his Human Needs Theory.
There are project requests which are based on power. There is a hierarchical mood in the air, multiple partners voice their opinions, they need to “scale up the proposal” and, most of the time, the project’s aim is to “cascade a message” (both concepts automatically make me think there is an “up & down” mentality in such organisation). Even if nobody questions my expertise, everybody needs to know in detail what I will explain and how I will do it. The information I receive to design the project is calculated and in capsule doses. The name of the project, most of the time, is much more important than its impact afterwards (please do not get me wrong, I am a big fan of naming. But I’d rather prefer to consolidate my products and that the organisation could keep them alive once I finished my project there).
Other requests are strongly affiliative. The focus is just on getting people closer or on having fun at a company event. Sometimes the action is a kind of reward or incentive. Here, nobody asks about the methodology I will use or what am I going to tell the audience. The most important thing is to spend a memorable time together and, if the audience learns something at the end of the session, even better.
My favourite projects are those linked to achievement. The person or team who contacts me has some needs whose solution is linked to an expertise or methodology they do not master as an organisation, but they have the will to learn it to make things happen. They ask me to meet in person to explain to me in full detail the situation and starting point. They open the doors of their organisation so that I can meet several profiles who share their points of view with me in total transparency, so that I can really tailor-make a project for them. The will to build something up and achieve specific goals in a sustainable way is there from the very beginning. Those projects are like magic to me. The only risk is that, sometimes, in the middle of the project, I might forget I am an external partner and I have to repeat to myself: “They are not my colleagues, they are my clients”. But, no drama, it’s the corporate side I still carry with me. A risk I can accept.
