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evaluating Client Needs To properly evaluate client needs we do more than just listen to clients tell us what they need. We probe and we ask questions until we believe we truly understand those needs and the relevant issues. Effective research is more than just giving the client answers to the questions they have. It is also about helping them determine what questions need to be asked. For example, if the issue is about the declining scholastic performance of children and one starts asking what's wrong with the kids, one may fail to ask what might be wrong with the schools. Often, we are able to identify assumptions about the environment so ingrained in a client organization that no one thinks to question them. Assumptions that may have supported successful outcomes in the past may have become outdated. It can be critical to a client that we identify and test those assumptions and it often requires our outside perspective to accomplish this. This process ensures results that are directly relevant to your needs and that the answers you get are not limited by the assumptions you have made. We work closely with our clients to establish research objectives and the information required to meet these objectives. We then devise the best research methodology, often working backward from the decisions that need to be made. We help our clients refine their information requirements and, ultimately, we deliver information in a format most conducive to making the decisions that need to be made. |
