When was the last time you talked to your clients about their worries, stress levels, and mental well-being?
When we introduce ourselves to new clients, we tend to position our skills and credentials with them, rather than who we are as a person. When I start working with new clients, I tend to talk about my personal life, how working in an agency is equally exciting and daunting, and my experience with burnout.
I will continue this because:
Business can be tough. Managing people is tough. Client work is tough. I know this because it has impacted me in the past, and I want to be mindful of this with my clients
I’m not a cut-throat business consultant who just thinks about performance
With all business decisions, I consider how they affect people and teams mentally
When I work with agencies on scaling and growing their operations, I appreciate that this can be stressful, and I will actively gauge this topic with them
Agencies have endless lists of priorities, and I bring more clarity to what can be an overwhelming amount of work. My hope is that this will make them feel calmer about what’s to come.
My experience is that clients will open up more once I have opened up more. When we get to a point of talking openly about how they feel, our work relationship becomes stronger and more productive. I'm a mental health first aider and agile change practitioner, and I'm passionate about improving people's well-being. I'm also passionate about making agencies work more effectively financially, operationally, and strategically. To me, both go hand in hand.
Find out more about my background here.
