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> -----Original Message-----
> From: Beth Weise Moeller [SMTP:bmoeller -at- IMEDIACONSULT -dot- COM]
> Sent: Friday, November 13, 1998 5:40 PM
> Subject: Consultants--ethical question
> My business primarily designs web sites and provides
> internet/computer training for small businesses. I am wondering how
other >consultants handle working with more than one firm in the same
industry.
Only half jokingly, with great tact, diplomacy, and highest regard for
secrecy.
Mind you, I work in France, and laws applicable in your own country or
state may require you to deal with such matters in another way, so I'll
deal with this in a general way.
Basically, unless I am asked a direct question, or unless contractual
conditions clearly state the need to do so, I do not mention that I
might be working for a client's competitor. If asked directly, I will
acknowledge that I am working for other firms in the same field, but I
won't mention specific names or give any details. I make it clear both
verbally and in writing (contract) that any work done for the client,
documents or information provided by the client in the course of the
project, and so on, will be considered confidential unless permission
to release information if formally requested by me and granted by the
client in writing.
I back that up by presenting a clause in my professional liability
insurance policy stating that proven failure on my part to maintain
professional secrecy will be covered for up to 1 million USD in
damages.
The nature of a good consultant-client relationship is often similar to
the doctor-patient one. If you do your job well, you will build a
certain degree of trust that makes it too easy, at times, for clients
to treat you like an "insider". You have to guard against this, in the
client's own interest as well as yours. I often work with small firms,
answering directly to the boss, or to one of the senior executives.
Over time, we build a relationship that tends to take on a "confessi
onal" overtone: at times, I've noticed that a client goes through a
sort of catharsis, frequently "unloading" stress during meetings, or in
casual conversation during coffee breaks, or over lunch.
A frequent question I ask clients at various stages in a project is:
"Is this information confidential?" You'd be surprised how often they
say "Hmm, I'm not sure, good question!" or "Come to think of it, yes it
is."
In my experience, maintaining confidentiality vis-a-vis third parties
outside the client company is much less difficult (everything is
considered secret) than doing so with internal contacts: as I said, the
nature of your relationship may make you a party to information that no
other employees in the company must ever know about. You never know
when you may be working with subordinates, senior managers, people on
their way up or down (or off) the ladder.
Anecdote further to this:
A few years ago I worked with a company on a long-term HR project. I
answered directly the human resources director, who assigned other
executives to work closely with me for several weeks or months at a
time. I worked with them one after the other, often moving to a
different department each time, so that I would lose sight of each
subsequent partner. Every so often I would enquire about how so-and-so
was doing, and would hear that so-and-so had left the company. A
pattern began to develop. Whenever I was assigned to work with someone,
that person would inevitably leave the company within two to six months
(in France, this is the legal delay an employer has to observe before
firing someone). It got to the point that executives started acting
strangely whenever I was introduced to them as a potential partner for
the project.
---
Richard Guziewicz
Corporate Communications Consultant
Quality Consulting & Technical Writing
Member of ITG Consulting, Paris
