OMG – I’m in a cab on the way to the airport!!! It’s been a year and a half since I last traveled for work. How surreal.
My wife is so sad. We haven’t been apart the whole time. Suddenly two days seems like a lengthy separation. Kind of comical for someone who’s traveled for the past 20 years. Don’t get me wrong I’ve enjoyed working from home and will continue doing so as long as I can get away with it.
But as a consultant, our bread and butter is in relationships with our clients and that’s not so easy over WebEx.
So, what’s the new idea for building client trust and partnership? Hybrid to start, of course. Get as much initial face time as you can so that faces and handshakes can be established. Set up as many visual meetings as possible, keeping them short, so that a rhythm can be established. Task lists will become the norm, learning to prioritize and reprioritize on a regular basis. Learn your people as each individual will require unique treatment. It will be better to over-communicate than to hold back for fear of being a pest.