Many learning and development professionals fill the roles of taking requests from their internal clients within an organization when planning projects and initiatives. This dynamic can cause an “order-taker” mentality because they want to meet the requests and maintain client satisfaction. However, as experts in how people learn, what drives performance, and best practices in design, you should try to partner with your client in a consultative way to fulfill the request but also ensure the solution will be effective.

Use these four best practices to ensure you take a strong consultative role on your learning and development projects:

Agree on expectations with the client. While the scope of work, and later the design document, may lay out what you'll be delivering, often clients don’t know all the effort that goes (and doesn’t go) into completing the work. Some clients are hands-on and want to partner with you to complete deliverables, but others expect you to do all the heavy lifting and will only be available in a limited fashion. Often the subject matter experts are not available at all when you have questions or need reviews. Clarify your role and the role(s) of others early and possibly often as the project continues so that you can do your work for the best of the project and get the support you need from the client.

In addition to clarifying roles and how the partnership will work, reiterate what success should look like for the project. Agree on what will be provided by the client, what you need to achieve success, and what gaps exist between what you have and what you’ll need for that success, especially when it comes to source content. Agreement about expectations is a communication process, so be clear with your client and communicate early to prevent obstacles later.

Use data to inform your work. Not all projects are performance-related, but if possible, identify the available performance data. Ask what the performance issues are and use that data to identify the pain points or key objectives. Be creative with the types of data you analyze, such as interviewing different representatives of the target audience or leadership that oversees the department. Ask if there are surveys or assessments that you can use to see what the audience is currently doing or thinking about the content. Examine the “old” training that you’re replacing so you know what an improvement might look like.

Determine what data is relevant or useful to your project, and then choose to use what can be most helpful to the need. Narrow it to what is most useful and will drive the learning or performance and push the rest away to maintain scope and time restrictions. If you can get beyond the initial ask or content to pull some actual data out of your client, you can better guide the design.

Ensure alignment with your client’s needs as the project continues. If you agreed on the client’s expectations at the project’s start, then after you've completed your data analysis and written your initial design you will find that you’re still in sync on the project and that your approach will meet the client’s real needs. However, if you identify opportunities to adjust the design within the scope, or if you need to discuss the scope further with the client, do it before you get too deep into the project. Sometimes it’s as easy as asking, “Is this still the direction we need to go?” Work with your team and the client either to adjust the design or to scope additional work that may be needed after this project is complete to improve retention and reinforcement.

Additionally, client subject matter experts and reviewers often start a project excited and engaged then get swept away by other responsibilities just as the review cycles start to intensify. Maintaining regular communication and revisiting the agreements on roles is a way of keeping those client representatives engaged and aligned on the goals of the project and its importance. A proactive consultant checks in regularly and asks the client to participate often instead of waiting to hear from the needed voices and adding delay to the project. Remind the client representatives what you all initially agreed to in the project and maintain a strong client relationship by revisiting and realigning to ensure you’re both still moving in the same direction.

Drive toward success as the project continues. Your role as the consultant is to keep the client engaged and focused on successful completion of the project. This means reminding the client of the scope of the project and the agreements you made early on and prioritizing and escalating as needed to stay within that agreement. Many consultants get trapped into the order-taker role at this point in the project or feel so harried by the timeline that they just do whatever is necessary to finish. Remember the agreements you made and your expertise as you guide the project. Keep your eye to the design you recommended, the scope you defined, and the data you saw.

While the project is continuing, don’t lose your focus. Find creative ways to maintain engagement with the client representatives and escalate when necessary. Make recommendations to the client that will maintain the quality and results of the project, instead of just saying yes or throwing in every addition that comes to you. Listen to client requests, and then prioritize and audit them for impact to scope, time, and quality. Being a good consultant doesn’t mean doing everything you’re asked; it means partnering with your client to achieve the expected results while still being flexible and staying within the agreed-upon timeline and budget. Identify the real impact of side requests and distractions then handle them accordingly.

There are many more strategies for being consultative with your clients, but these are a few tips for getting started. Practice these regularly and see how you build more credibility and success with all your clients.