Keeping It Top Secret
A consultant knows a lot of secrets. You are likely to get a thorough peek behind the curtain – at salaries, marketing costs, budgeting, proposed organizational changes, etc. – more than many of a company’s own employees. Not to mention you’ll be exposed to documents and processes that should never be released because of their confidential or proprietary nature. No surprise, then, that signing a nondisclosure agreement is an industry standard practice.
Unfortunately, when it comes to these agreements, the legal waters can get choppy very quickly. Things like salaries and customer lists are pretty straightforward (do not share!), but not every document or email comes with a big “TOP SECRET” sticker. Should you share Frito-Lay’s damaged product policy with Hallmark, even though snack foods don’t compete with birthday cards? If your client has an internal problem, and you know of a solution implemented by an unrelated, non-competitive client several years ago, shouldn’t you share it?
Step one to avoid entanglements: be cautious. Even more cautious than you would be with your own personal information. Even if you don’t technically violate an agreement, the mere accusation is enough to taint your professional reputation for integrity. We’ve seen consultants unceremoniously removed from projects for the slightest appearance of impropriety.
Remember: if you share another client’s documents with your current one, they’ll assume you’re going to share their information with others. This is very likely to make them uncomfortable with trusting you with important information. This, in turn, makes it harder for you to do your job!
When you do encounter an opportunity to leverage past work for another client, keep things as generic as possible and make proper nouns taboo. Never refer to previous client companies or individuals by name. It only takes one instance of a “small world” to create a world of trouble for yourself! The only exception to this rule is a rarity: when a client has given you – as you might hear on TV disclaimers – express, written permission to share something with others.
You won’t offend anyone if you say that the most friendly users you ever trained were at “a bank headquarters in South Carolina.” Sure, they could probably deduce which bank you were talking about from the experiences listed on your resume, but why would they? The pertinent part has nothing to do with the specific company. Then, of course, they trust you more for not naming names. Get into the a habit of speaking without particulars; if you find something that requires you to name the client, it’s a good sign that it’s inappropriate to share.
The more clients you work with, the deeper and more intertwined your archive of confidential knowledge becomes, so whenever possible, appeal to industry best practices or generally accepted rules and not to the habits or suggestions of one client or another.
Always exercise this level of caution even when no ethical questions actually exist. You might have the best intentions, but keeping in the habit of protecting client information will keep you from accidentally hitting any ethical tripwires when things aren’t so black and white.
