And it is simple. You can’t hold your clients in higher importance than your staff. Nor can you hold your staff in higher importance than your customers. Both of these will lead to disaster at worst and a few HR nightmares at best.

Treat your employees like the human beings they are. That way, they will be much more inclined to adopt that attitude towards your clients. When an employee has done a fantastic job, go over to their desk and say that you’ve noticed how hard they’ve worked on the project and say thank you. This is the kind of small thing that makes all the difference. If you land a big contract, consider throwing a party to reward your staff for their hard work. Just a case of beer in the office on a Friday afternoon works wonders, so does occasionally ordering in pizza for lunch.

And if you’re planning on making major changes that will affect your staff, don’t just implement them without getting their views first. If you’re planning on introducing a pension scheme, ask your staff for their opinions before making your decision. If a restructure is on the cards, ask for their input. If you want to introduce a formal rewards scheme, ask what they’d like to see. And don’t just pretend to listen. None of this means you have to bow down to any demand they make, just listen to what they’re saying. If it’s impractical, explain why and offer a compromise if you can. The last thing you want to do is to make your staff feel like they’re nothing more than cogs in an ever-changing machine.