Imagine you’re a division one athlete, and for a season, you’re lent to another team because the other team is short players. Well, the same thing happens in the corporate world.
Embedding staff into a client’s internal teams is a common agency offering, where our team contributes to a specific project or fills a personnel gap, all while maintaining their position at the Firm. It often serves as a strategic tool for talent development, knowledge transfer, and fostering collaboration between organizations. These opportunities provide a meaningful experience for an emerging communicator to flex their client-relation muscles and grow their confidence in different corporate environments.
A few of our team members who have embarked on this journey share some insights they’ve gleaned from their experiences.
Sydney Boll, NATIONAL Calgary
I have had the opportunity to go internally to a client team twice now while at NATIONAL and both have provided valuable return on building my communications skills. Both were in areas where I would likely not have ventured into on my own and now am thoroughly enthralled with measurement and AI. I was able to have valuable impact within internal client teams, while learning valuable lessons relating to corporate communications processes, internal politics and effective client trust building. I think it is a fantastic offering for both client and employee teams and is a great way to provide quality communications support on a more fulsome level to client teams in times of unexpected transition.
Main learning: Understanding how corporations function is crucial to our success as communicators and the opportunity to see how things work firsthand in different organizations is extremely valuable to building this skill set.
Rachel Campbell, NATIONAL Vancouver
Embarking into an internal client team in the early days of my journey with NATIONAL offered a deep dive into the nuances of client relations right at the frontlines. Akin to Sydney’s experience, my experience has been a gateway to the world of telecommunications—a field I was not intimately familiar with before. The opportunity to integrate with teams on the client side and immerse myself in their processes helped build grounds for strong, authentic relationships while providing a unique perspective on different organizational cultures and management styles. From my experience, I think it is the perfect opportunity for professional growth while highlighting the transferability of our communications expertise.
Main learning: There are so many opportunities in agency work. Working internally for a client helped me build on my growing communications skills in an immersive way.
Amelia Chant, NATIONAL Ottawa
Being at NATIONAL for just under six months, I was approached to support a client team internally. Initially hesitant, as the team handled internal and external communications for a technical part of the company, I decided it was a good opportunity to learn about something completely new. I am grateful I did, as not only was it interesting to learn about the more technical side of an organization’s innovative offerings, but it was good practice to put myself out of my comfort zone, while also improving my traditional communications skills and writing skills. Additionally, the information I was learning on one team allowed me to liaise important information to the other team I often supported—further providing undeniable value and ensuring synergy amongst teams. Thrown into the team with urgent support requested, my experience was professionally fulfilling, and I am grateful to have had the opportunity to work and learn from new people.
Main learning: This opportunity is a good reminder to push yourself to go out of your comfort zone, because it is guaranteed that you will learn valuable lessons and discover a skill set you might’ve not had a chance to develop otherwise.
The benefits of secondment assignments for clients
In all three cases, our team members who embarked on these opportunities reported that the biggest impact and benefit to the client teams was the ability to fill a sudden personnel gap, whether it was a short-notice departure, family emergency or mat leave, with a team member that already had a comprehensive understanding of their business and came with well-developed communication skills. This allowed us to integrate seamlessly with each client team and begin to provide quality support from the beginning. The added benefit of accessing personnel through a partner agency is that a client can maintain a sense of continuity on projects and the broader team, while committing to short-term employment with the individual as they either wait for their staff to return or take their time to find the right fit for the team.
Whether you’re a client looking for a fresh perspective, or an employee seeking growth, contact us to see what possibilities are available.
