In the Spirit of Coalition

May 2010

A new coalition government. The polls saw it coming. We are yet to see how the institutions of government adjust to this new era of cooperation. It sets me to thinking about cooperation and the concept of partnership in terms of business relationships - with both clients and respondents.

In business, partnership includes greater honesty between researcher and client. From client side? More freely sharing background, agendas, ‘no go’ areas to a project and really thinking through and establishing goals clearly up front. Researchers can subsequently avoid going over old territory, making unactionable recommendations and can better meet real goals.

Researcher side, it may mean reviewing the current client knowledge bank and questioning the value of new projects if it is conceivable that the information already exists or can be sourced internally. It means putting yourself in your clients’ shoes and asking “What would I do in their situation?” It may mean providing informal feedback and viewpoints ‘off the meter’, in the interests of the longer term relationship.

In terms of respondents, they are not just lab rats, to be observed from a distance and run through their paces. Treated like this, they can surf through the process (e.g. rapid click through online survey responses or quiet/recessive group participants). We sometimes gain the best insight through collaboration – yes, look for baseline attitudes and unprompted responses, but at some stage share your goals and let them feel that they may be part of the solution. It is surprising how much this can boost their engagement and contribution.

As a workplace coaching colleague recently pointed out to me, you get the best effort from others not by lighting a fire beneath them, but by building a fire with them.