The ATA Chronicle - March/April 2018 - 21

BUSINESS PRACTICES

BY STEVE LANK

Couples Counseling: Reimagining the Freelancer-
Company Relationship
(The following originally appeared as a two-part
post in May 2017 on the Interpreters Division
blog, www.ata-divisions.org/ID/blog.)

the chemistry isn't right and that's okay. It's
not about proving the other party wrong
or justifying yourself. It's about finding the
right fit and understanding what kind of
relationship will or will not work for you.

'm not sure that I'm technically
qualified to offer relationship advice to
freelancers and language companies.
However, throughout my career I've had
the opportunity to participate in and/
or observe hundreds if not thousands
of these relationships and develop a
very strong opinion on the topic, if not
expertise, so I'll just run with that.
For me, this is a topic of supreme
importance to our industry and one we
should not take for granted. While I
understand that processes and technology
are important, the freelancer-company
relationship is at the core of everything
we do, so it really deserves our focused
attention. Like all human relationships, it
requires understanding, communication,
and cooperation, yet there is an inherent
tension in this relationship that I don't
quite understand. I find it very frustrating
that as an industry we can't seem to get
this key relationship right.
There seems to be an assumption that
we should all be able to work together
and that working with one freelancer or
company should be the same as working
with any other freelancer or company. So,
when we have an experience that proves
that assumption false, rather than looking
at that as the exception, we treat it as the
rule-looking at all potential relationships
through this filter, expecting the worst,
and feeling justified when we're proven
right and feeling like we dodged a bullet
when we have a positive experience.
Well, I think it's pretty clear that if we
as a species approached our personal
relationships this way there wouldn't be
many of us around! We're pretty picky
(and rightly so) when it comes to choosing
our friends and partners. We seek out
people with whom we have chemistry,
who share our values, are like-minded,
enjoy the same things, share our view of
the world, and who, hopefully, help make

us better people. Since not everyone on
the planet shares all of this with each of
us, or we with them, not all relationships
necessarily work out, which explains why
we don't all have 7.5 billion friends! So,
why shouldn't we approach our business
relationships in the same way? If we did, I
think we would find that, as in love, there
is someone for everyone.
At ATA's 57th Annual Conference, my
colleague Robert Sette and I presented on
this topic and had such positive feedback
that we did a follow-up at ATA58. That
said, I think some of the concepts bear
repeating here, so here are some ideas (in
no particular order).
Know thyself. To have success in any
relationship, you first need to know
yourself, what you need, and what you can
offer. So, before approaching a potential
business partner, make sure you give that
serious thought and come up with a list
of must-haves, nice-to-haves, can-livewithouts, and deal-breakers (we all have
them). Most importantly, know your value
and be able to articulate it. Then stick to
your guns. Be honest with yourself. If you
can't bear a certain behavior, don't try to
convince yourself you'll be able to put up
with it. Likewise, if there is a need you can't
honestly meet without a major overhaul of
your processes, work style, or personality,
don't pretend you can. You can't change the
other party and they won't change for you.
You can only control yourself. Sometimes

Communication is king. Just like in
personal relationships, good communication
is paramount. Ironically, one of the biggest
problems in the freelancer-company
relationship is communication. I say
ironic because our jobs are to facilitate
communication across languages, yet we
don't seem to be able to communicate
effectively amongst ourselves. Part of this
may be because many of us do so much
of our work remotely and don't always
have the chance to speak face-to-face, or
speak at all for that matter, because of time
zone issues. Maybe it's because we're all in
the same industry and make assumptions
when communicating with each other
that we wouldn't otherwise make when
communicating with people outside the
industry. It could also be because, due to
the nature of what we do, we aren't always
communicating in our native language and
things can get lost in translation (again,
ironic). Or it might be a combination of all
three or something else altogether. But this
only means that we must strive that much
harder to communicate clearly and make
sure that we're understood and that
we understand.
We also need to be sure to identify our
counterpart's preferred method, style, and
frequency of communication, as it may be
different from our own and we'll have to
adapt. Acknowledging and honoring your
counterpart's communication preferences,
whether they match yours or not, will
help to ensure communication success.
Check your baggage at the door. Don't
bring old baggage into a new relationship.
Just because you had a bad experience in
a previous relationship doesn't mean you'll
have a bad experience in the new one,
unless you hamper it with tired assumptions
and stereotypes. Make this your mantra: all

"Business Practices" will alternate in this space with "The Entrepreneurial Linguist." This column is not intended to constitute legal, financial, or other business advice. Each individual or company should
make its own independent business decisions and consult its own legal, financial, or other advisors as appropriate. The views expressed here are not necessarily those of ATA or its Board of Directors.
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Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of The ATA Chronicle - March/April 2018