Operational transparency is exactly what it sounds like. Showing the customer how hard you are working for them. Think of a restaurant with an open kitchen format so you can see the food being made. Think of Amazon that let’s you track the progress of your package. Think of your landscaper who leaves a note on your door, that indeed, he did cut the lawn today. In a world where we’ve been accustomed to friction-less transactions (read: everything is easy and available), it’s often helpful to remind customers of the work involved. Yo, this ain’t easy. . .

So what’s the big deal?

Ryan Buell, (professor at Harvard) argues in his research that customers often appreciate operational transparency – in the form of higher customer satisfaction, loyalty, patience and willingness to pay. In some ways, customers like to know that you are doing the work. They actually WANT to see the work-in-progress.

Recently, Buell published an article in HBR here, and a podcast interview (#672) here which outlines the many ways that we can better communicate, serve, influence, and ultimately, satisfy the customer. Some of our traditional biases (customers don’t want to know the work-in-process details) may be overly simplistic, and a bit wrong.  For example, he outlines 3 simple scenarios that I found surprising:

• Fast-food cameras showing the work being done – can increase customer and employee satisfaction.
• Online retailer showing cost% and profit margin% to customers – can help sell more product.
• Shared doctor appointments (3-4 people) – can have better outcomes than solo appointments

As a practitioner, this made me think of how consultants use operational transparency in their work.

Yes, customers like control

Many of us (how to put this nicely?) are control-happy. We like to be informed; we skim multiple news sites and click on social media accounts. We like to control our environment (think: iPhone notifications, Alexa routines, Nest). We live habitual lives. So, it’s only natural we have questions for our vendors:

• What’s going on with my order?  How much longer do I have to wait?
• Who’s in charge?  They keep passing me around from department to department. . .
• Are they organized, or do I need to remind them again tomorrow?
• Are they going to ask my opinion, or just treat me like everyone else?
• Are they wasting time on stuff I don’t want?

What does this mean for consultants?

 

1. Inform: Don’t keep the client (or your manager) in the dark

You want the client (and your manager) to know what you are doing. As the Workplace Therapist says, “In the absence of communication, people assume the worst.”  If the client can’t explain the project’s progress to his boss, that’s trouble. You want your client counterpart on-board, advocating for you.  That’s why consultants are fairly adamant about interim status report meetings with clients.

2. Celebrate: Take (give) credit for the work accomplished

Reminder. Satisfaction = perception – expectations.  So, if you’re doing a great job (caveat: do great work), operational transparency can raise clients’ perception of the quality, speed, efficacy of your work. Hopefully, perception > expectations.

Projects are hard on both the consultant and the client. Celebrate when you can. So, when your team kicks the ball in the goal, remind the client. Small wins. Generate momentum. Show that you are here to make the client successful.

3. Customize: Get client feedback and input

Consultants write detailed statements of work (SoW) to both manage expectations and outline the work.  We try to think of the potential curve balls, risks, and unknowns. However, is this +/- 20% wrong most of the time? Of course. Ask a consultant, and they will give you a laundry list of crazy stories. Some $^@$ always goes a little wrong.

Being operationally transparent gives the client a chance to chime-in, and refine the hypothesis. A good and thoughtful client will help you triangulate to a better answer. Best practices only get you so far. Inevitably, the solution needs to be tailored to match the client situation. If not, the body will reject the organ.

Common sense: no client wants to be force-fed a solution. Customers want choice and a say in the recommendations. They may disagree or refine some of the assumptions. Some of the constraints may be wrong. Better to give clients a say early in the process, not at the final report out. Yikes.

4. Clarify: Provide the client options

David Maister outlines 22 common traits of trusted advisors in his eponymous book here (affiliate link). Makes a lot of sense within a context of operational transparency. Maister quotes in blue. Trusted advisors . . .

• Help us think things through (it’s our decision)
• Give us reasoning (to help us think), not just their conclusions
• Give us options, increase our understanding of those options, give us their recommendation, and let us choose

Unlike a multiple choice test, client projects rarely have just 1 answer. No, there is a range of solutions.  We narrow down a set of recommendations and options for the client using client interviews, workshops, design sessions, observations, surveys, and good ole-fashioned thinking.

5. Coach: Get clients involved

For real results, clients need to take ownership of the implementation as soon as possible. Change takes time, often months and years, while consulting projects are short by design, lasting only weeks. Savvy consultants give clients a real-time look at the work-in-progress. It gets the change process started. As consultants, you want your clients’ fingerprints on the recommendations. Pre-wire the meeting.  Nemawashi.

Solving problems in a black box does not give clients the competence or confidence necessary for long-term results. The days of a “management” doctor just telling the patient what to do, are gone.

6. Kaizen: Improve ourselves

There is a massive caveat with operational transparency.

• If your processes are a mess, beware.
• If your company is rife with bureaucracy, internal politics, and sloppy work – transparency is bad.
• No one wants to watch you do a poor job, in slow-motion. No one wants to “watch the sausage getting made.”

Transparency can be humbling and potentially embarrassing. Having customers peer into your metaphorical “kitchen” implies that the floors are clean, ingredients are washed, and it’s not the set of Kitchen Nightmares.

Imagine that operational transparency swings both ways: Makes good companies seem great(er), exposes poorly-run companies (rightly) for the mess that they are.

What are next steps?

If operational transparency can enhance the customer’s perception of value, then it leads to a few questions:

• What to reveal?
• How to reveal?
• When to reveal?

Recommend looking at Ryan Buell’s article and work here.  Also, a video of him speaking about how transparency can enhance citizens faith in government. Much needed.