Picture this: Your company has a contract with a federal government agency office to provide communications and training support for a major IT modernization effort or the launch of a highly visible new initiative. This contract is for one year, so your company must show value to the federal client immediately. But in the blink of an eye, your company is three months into the contract term and you haven't filled the communications strategist role yet. Or worse. You filled the role and the candidate resigned.
You need this strategist to:
- Gain the client's trust.
- Gather their communications and training requirements.
- Develop a plan to support the IT modernization effort or new initiative that satisfies the client’s needs.
- Work with you to obtain any resources (whether that means additional staff or technology) to meet the goals and produce the deliverables that are outlined in that plan.
And all this needs to be done ASAP.
For your company, this person plays a key role in taking ownership of the support contract (and user/stakeholder adoption of the new technology or initiative) and ensuring that the client is happy with how deadlines are met and how deliverables are produced.
The longer you go without someone in this key role, the more time your company squanders to make a good impression on the client. And this endangers your chances of getting the contract renewed for at least an additional year. So, what are you doing wrong? Two things:
You're minimizing the role.
You've been recruiting for the role of a communications strategist when you should be looking for a change management practitioner. A change management practitioner can establish relationships with project managers and sponsors/leadership to understand the end user/stakeholder awareness of the coming technology or initiative and their desire for this change. This person develops change management plans—including plans for communications and training—that incorporate input from the project manager and sponsors/leadership to help ensure successful adoption. The change management practitioner is also a strong project manager who can gather requirements, assemble teams, oversee the execution of the change management plan, and communicate status to the client and your company. This is a senior, client-facing role.
You think a W-2 employee is your only option.
The person in this role oversees the day-to-day management of the support contract and the client's expectations and satisfaction. Because of the complex expertise required, it might be tough to solidify a W-2 resource for this type of role. Instead, consider a subcontracting/teaming agreement with a company like CMGT that provides communications and change management expertise on these types of contracts. This company should be a true partner who's not looking to take over the contract. Instead, this company works with you to provide rapid client value so that extending and expanding the contract is a real possibility.
On support contracts lasting one year or less, time isn’t on your side. By avoiding these two mistakes, you can increase your chances of providing value to your client immediately and extending—and growing—the contract.
