Client Engagement Canvas

The Engagement Canvas is a strategic working tool to quickly and easily plan for a successful client engagement.

It is a one page document which works through the fundamental elements of a client engagement structuring the past, present and future in a coherent way.

The canvas is built into 3 parts; the past, present and future.

Past (purple) This helps understand client background and past commitments to give teams context of the journey so far and expectations from the client. It helps us keep the focus on what the ask is throughout the engagement.

Present (yellow) Outlines the present team, stakeholders and cadences used to communicate. It also delves present learnings and knowledge we had gained to make better decisions for our future.

Future (green) Where do we want to take this engagement? Based the the past and present, what does our future with the client look like, what open opportunities do we know of and where can we provide the most value to the client?

How to use?

Each participant pick a post-it card colour and fill out the canvas

As a group, review and discuss section by section with each participant sharing their post-its back to the group. Remove duplicates where necessary during the discussion

Align as a team the top post-its to keep or focus on

Dot voting can be used for this. For example you may have 7 opportunities, pick your top 2-3 to focus on for this cycle.

As a group decide on the mood of the client and the team. Use the red circles to choose a mood and put a post-it note beside to describe the decision.

Decide on your review cadence and cycle time to review and update, e.g. how may weeks, months time and who is going accountable for setting up.