Cowboys and Indians — Some Reservations

Watching an old western this weekend, I was struck by the relationship between the Indian tribes and a Texas Ranger played by my great-great uncle Tom Mix in his last film, The Miracle Rider series, in 1935. That's right, this post in which I compare the cowboys of innovation with clients, played by the Hollywood version of an Indian tribe, is about to actually happen.

See, Tom Morgan, Mix's character, was a ranger devoted to the success of the local tribe. His devotion went back generations. He believed in a communication, economy and overall transparency between his people and the Indians that, in many ways, reminds me of the relationship between innovation consultancies and their clients. Over-dependency, misplaced optimism, and cultural gaps that scuttle even the best of intentions.

Tom Morgan was always there, waiting to rush to the aid of the tribe with his ability to negotiate, present new ideas and solve mysteries such as a fire god that was actually just a glider robot built by oil barons to frighten everyone off their land. Morgan had serious skills. However, due to a general lack of leadership, internal training, and awareness of the advancing technological world around them, the Indian tribe in the film found themselves in a caper far too often. They were impinged upon by government officials, bandits, even subterfuge from within. And when things got scary, they turned to old Tom Morgan to get them out of it, restore order, and set them up for future prosperity.

It stuck me that this was a terrible cycle. Tom Morgan was bound to fail them at some point. And as leadership changed within the tribe over time, there were personalities to deal with that Tom Morgan was ill-equiped to adapt to. While the first couple of chiefs seemed to know Tom well and believe in his ways, subsequent leaders were much more skeptical, presenting many barriers to their working relationship. In fact, some of them even became anti-Moragnites.

This leads me to outlining some of the different types of clients I've experienced in the last few years. I'm not circling the wagons here, mind you. Instead, I'm recognizing ways to extend the peace pipe to those types of dynamic personalities that we encounter on an almost daily basis. Each tribal leader, wether in a 1935 cowboys and Indians talkie, or as middle management at an international corporation in 2010, deserves the respect and cultural understanding that's required with co-existence, mutual benefit, and ultimately progress.

Here are a few types of chiefs and their needs for big-prairie love:

The Desperate Client

Anything you say goes, at least at first. They're so needy to prove their value to the company, that they won't interrupt your search for true innovation opportunities. That is, however, until it comes times to actually stand behind the idea. This is the point when the backbiting and under-the-bus-throwing begins. That untapped opportunity you discovered, that phenomenal idea you had, that perfect ecosystem of products you designed...all far too risky for a desperate client to actually stand behind in the end.

It becomes far easier to be the one that "saved" the company from wasting money on a "questionable" concept, than it is to actually do the hard work of supporting and substantiating the implementation plan that everyone thought was brilliant until this moment. This is when the client turns on the agency and accuses them of not doing due diligence, researching the right people, or considering all the viability issues in the concept. The agency becomes the scapegoat for the client's shoddy internal job of alignment building, managing risks and lack of experience with implementing an unprecedented concept. This client is also usually surprised to find that their competitors succeed in bringing a strikingly similar product to fruition in the next couple of years.

How to love the Desperate client

Anticipate their fears and try to contain them. Look ahead to the potential communication issues that will derail the teams, and prepare your own agency team for the challenge. Don't just hope it will be different this time around. You need to preserve morale.

Scope appropriately for extra deliverables you could never predict now. This client is likely to create unexpected meetings with their superiors because they're constantly afraid of getting too far down the wrong road. You will likely not get a chance to represent the project in these meetings, which requires you to create last-minute, perfect presentations that provide context and vision for the project. These quick-fire deliverables might distract your team from the actual work they signed on to do, and wear them out before they ever get a chance to get the results you all hoped for. Prepare them now and build in the time. Not only will this lessen the pain, but it will give the entire team a chance to proactively contribute to the elements of such a deliverable before it's even requested.

If you see this client coming, try your best to give them much more than a great idea, give them confidence at every turn that this idea really is defensible. They need talking points, research they can point to in a second, and a person from your team that is adept at popping in to last-minute conversations about concerns with seriously players on the client side. Getting their boss to love you will instill unending confidence in your agency, at least until they get afraid again. Rinse and repeat.

The Disenchanted Client

Didn't even want to hire you. This client doesn't really believe in the company mandate for innovation. They just see it as the next wave of internal cultural change. They've likely seen such changes come and go, with little affect, and find it hard to believe that this innovation your selling is much more than snake oil. It's likely that they've had experience with similar firms who have disappointed them, and they're understandably skeptical of your "process" and "differentiators." In the end, they just ned to move a peg from one side of the board to the other, and they're just playing the game they're assigned. You're a commodity. Stick to the script.

How to love the Disenchanted client

Go off script as early as possible and let them drive. If you come out all roses and unicorns, you stand little chance of proving to them that you're actually aware of your own industry's shortcomings. Emphasize rigor and due diligence, and always, always, let them into your process first hand. If they can witness observations of users, sketch the concepts, craft the benefit statements, they will inevitably find themselves at least believing in the outcome, if not the process.

Their negative attitude will make you want to avoid them as much as possible throughout the process, but this only give them critical weaponry. Make them a part of the fun, and the credibility building, and your extra work and tolerance will pay off. In the end, these clients just want to have fun, and feel good about it.

The Domineering Client

Are you done yet? This client is so on top of their game, and their internal client needs, that they barely have time to wait for the innovation process. The can see the end before they even begin. This makes them impatient, demanding, and they tend to force you into certain conclusions before the process has had a chance to reveal the true user patterns and insights. The worst part? They're almost always partly right. These people don't get where they are by being dumb.

Often, you're caught in the position of having to live up to this client's expectations, rather than dedicated to the truth of the project. They have an agenda far too powerful for your adorable user insights and future opportunities. There's serious money to be made. If you're going to have an impact, you're going to have to exceed expectations.

How to love the Domineering client

Double time it and force them to respect you. This client will inevitably make you better. If you can find a way to meet their expectations, while simultaneously delivering some meaningful surprises from the field, you can win this client's heart forever and maybe make them say "uncle" once in awhile. After all, this type of client will only respect you if you can beat them at their own game form time to time.

Always position your findings as builds on the suspected results that the client has seen coming all along. You can't directly violate their expectations. This would constitute absolute failure. But you can use their momentum towards achieving what you truly believe to be the real opportunity at hand. Can you position their near-term agenda within the context of a long-term goal? You better hope so. This is how viability is often done, and it's how businesses avoid turning on a dime. It's more like turning on a ten dollar bill. Ease them in.

In the end, any client can be shown some love, and made into a true believer of the process. The trick is to not treat them all alike. And with a client team, you often have to mix up your approach to accommodate different personalities, skills and experience levels even within the same project. You'd do this for your own agency team, so why not for the client? Treat them like the complex, yet familiar people they are, and you'll find yourself a part of a much more humane process on both ends. Yee-haw!

• 1 February 2010
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