Principles of Client Service

Principles of Client Service

At Mission Partners, our approach doesn’t just involve delivering a quality product. It includes how we treat our clients, how we treat one another, and how we expect to be treated in return. We approach every client experience as an opportunity for transformative impact. Below you’ll find the principles we live by, as your mission partners. We hold every member of our team to these eight client principles. They represent our promise to you, and our promise to this work.

These aren’t just words. They’re our commitment to you.

Great service begins with effective project management.

To us, project management is not an afterthought—it’s where the best service starts. From the first meeting to the last deliverable, our team takes great care to manage your project effectively, with transparency and accountability. We employ the MOCHA model, as inspired by the Management Center, while embedding a lens of accessibility, equity, and inclusion through every step of the project.

You’ll never have to guess who is leading on which tasks, and our model allows us to be nimble in helping you achieve your goals. We’ll also work with you to develop clear and measurable objectives at the outset to ensure the work we do together is focused and effective.

We work best when our designated client contact has a clear understanding of the goals we’re helping you to achieve, is familiar with our contract and performance metrics, and communicates with us in a straightforward and timely manner about any updates or feedback. And if any questions pop up along the way, we’re always here to answer them.

You’ll always have our best team.

At Mission Partners, we all bring a diligent focus on mission, impact, and purpose over personal preference.

We recognize you will want and need us as guides and partners. We practice guiding carefully, with intention, and with your mission in mind.

Because of our size and nimble structure, we craft custom teams based on the projected needs of our clients and the expertise of our staff. We clearly identify our team members’ expertise so you’ll know what experience everyone is bringing to the table, and our leadership team plays a major role on every client account. We approach all conversations with an open mind, and we’d like to ask you to do the same.

Please think of our team as an extension of your own. To help us all reach our goals, we appreciate you helping us to understand your organization as a whole and how this project fits into the larger initiatives you’re aiming to achieve.

We’ll use your time and resources wisely.

We take to heart your mission, and take seriously the investment you’ve made in us. We work hard to prove our value and show you a meaningful return on your investment.

Through our signature approach to project management, we make sure you know the role of every person on our team, what we’re accomplishing, and how every tactic links back to your organizational goals. We never do something “just because” and we’ll respectfully challenge you a bit if requests come in that are disconnected from your strategy.

That said, when a change in strategy or execution is warranted, we’ll be ready and will pivot quickly for maximum efficiency.

We appreciate keeping the lines of communication between our teams open and active. To that end, we encourage you to provide regular, honest feedback on our performance and how well we’re meeting your expectations.

We’ll bring open minds and a can-do spirit.

We are often called in at mission-critical moments, but clients don’t always know exactly what they need from us at the outset. Count on us to listen carefully, get up to speed quickly and ask questions that can help us unlock the best strategies to support you through those moments—and count on us to be ready and willing to work within constrained resources. We get it, and we respect it.

For projects that require deeper creative thinking, we’ll be realistic about the time and resources that might be needed, and we’ll let you know in advance when a certain request may require more resources. We don’t make decisions unilaterally, we listen closely, and because of our transparent approach, you’ll never be surprised by the direction of a final deliverable.

For us to be most efficient, we ask that you let us know if a project needs to shift course mid-stream, before we get too far along and need to pull back or start over.

We’ll rely closely on you to provide your own unique expertise in your field and your organization, and we’ll be sure to incorporate your perspective into all materials created.

We value relationships.

At Mission Partners, we deeply value our client relationships. We will work hard to earn your trust, and we’ll work hard to maintain it.

We’d love to see you, even if we can’t meet in the same room. We prioritize video conferencing for large group meetings, and ask that all cameras remain on during group conversation—as if we were together. If for personal reasons you need a break from video, we’ll understand.

For clarity and efficiency, we’d prefer to meet consistently at a time that works for you. While email chains are convenient for moving projects along, they don’t always provide the detail and depth that a regular video or phone call can deliver.

We don’t believe in guessing games and we don’t make assumptions.

At Mission Partners, we have an approach that allows us to operate efficiently and effectively for our clients.

At the start of every engagement, the process includes a kick-off meeting to meet the team and discuss goals and priorities. We then develop an intensive project plan that outlines key deliverables that keeps you updated on the project every step of the way. There’s never any guesswork about what we’re doing. We hold ourselves accountable and we keep open lines of communication about our progress.

At the beginning of an assignment, we’ll discuss and implement a timely, candid review process that will allow you to assess our performance and progress in achieving the results you want and deserve.

We believe in balance, and we work hard to maintain it.

We respect the seat we’re offered at your table. We invest heavily in your mission and want your work to resonate at the highest levels. But we also honor the importance of decompressing and recharging. We know we can be our best when we are given opportunities to recharge and refresh. As a Certified B Corporation we go the extra mile toward making sure our employees are valued and taken care of. This extends to how we treat your team, too.

We can certainly work within your parameters, but we believe in setting healthy boundaries at the outset. If your organization’s culture is different and requires us to adjust our own, let’s talk about it at the start of our engagement. And rest assured that even when your primary contact is out of the office, you’ll always have a clearly articulated point of contact to keep things moving according to schedule.

We speak truth to power, with love.

We believe positive and lasting social impact is often a result of behavior change, particularly behaviors learned and ingrained at the top of organizations.

Expect that we will do what we say, in offering counsel and strategy designed to move your mission forward, not your personal brand. We prioritize listening to all perspectives and creating spaces for often overlooked points of view to be considered. Rather than create echo chambers for ideas, we create spaces for healthy dialogues, shared learning, and collaborative decision making—all essential ingredients to moving missions
forward.

In our work with you, as with every client, we hold ourselves responsible for creating safe and trusted environments where people can express their ideas and contribute to progress.

We ask that you approach our work together with an open mind and an open heart. This work is hard, and meaningful. At times, our conversations may require vulnerability, but it is in that vulnerability that we collectively grow.

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