Liaison or Relationship Management?

When we talk about ‘liaison’ do we really mean ‘relationship management’? It’s a question that’s been on my mind for some time now as I think it does help if those of us who think we are doing pretty much the same job have got a common vocabulary that we can refer to – and maybe decide we are not doing the same job after all!

I’ve found a definition on the web that says that Liaison is “communication or cooperation between people or organizations”. That seems a fairly basic definition and I think that’s probably where we all start off. In our case here at Cardiff we began by identifying a key person in each academic School and making sure that person had relevant information from us that they were then expected to pass on to their users. Over time, we in Information Services appointed liaison officers (that we call ‘consultants’) so that these key people in Schools would themselves have a named key person at our end. The relationships between the two began with a getting-to-know you period, consisting of informal meetings and some exchange of information. Almost inevitably incidents have arisen over time and enhancement requests have been made that the consultants have been able to resolve or action. In addition, we have been keen to involve the School contacts – whom we call Local Computing Representatives, or LCRs – in new projects, seeking their input wherever we can so they get a sense of ownership of the services that we provide. Consequently the relationships have matured to encompass a degree of mutual trust and a genuine sense that we are working in partnership with each other. Of course there are hiccups – we can’t please everyone all the time and there are times when the relationships are tested. It’s my view however that we have moved on beyond that simple definition of ‘liaison’ above, and are now well on the way to ‘relationship management’, a belief that I think is borne out by the following description of RM that I found on the OGC website (http://www.ogc.gov.uk/User_roles_in_the_toolkit_relationship_manager.asp):

The main functional responsibilities of the relationship manager are:
* encourage an atmosphere of trust, openness and communication and an attitude based on working together and shared objectives
* proactively look for ways to improve the relationship wherever possible
* ensure that all stakeholders in the arrangement feel that they are involved, that their views are important and that they are acted upon
* establish and manage a communication framework and ensure that it is used effectively
* establish and manage communication flows between customer and provider, and ensure that they are used
* ensure that communications at all levels are peer-to-peer
* manage the dispute resolution process
* resolve 'soft' tensions between customer and provider, that is, situations where tension is felt or perceived but no formal issue has yet arisen
* 'manage upwards' to ensure that senior management are informed about issues before they escalate, and can intervene as appropriate
* establish regular reporting procedures, both formal and informal, and ensure that they are used
* organise forums, working groups, seminars, roadshows, training sessions, and other information-sharing activities involving staff from both the customer and the provider side
promote understanding of each other's business practices and common techniques
* It is vital that the relationship manager has the authority to make or suggest changes to the arrangement - working practices, communication flows, the contract itself - to ensure that the relationship is safeguarded.

I can honestly say that at Cardiff we do all the above, although not all with 100% effectiveness so we still have some work to do and more progress to be made – and I think the above actually serves as a pretty good checklist for us to do that, and indeed for anyone who is unsure of how they can move on from whatever stage of liaison/relationship management they happen to be at.