Client Readiness: The Missing Piece in Lived Experience Work

When organisations bring in lived experience, the focus is usually on the consultant:What will they do? How will they fit? What difference will they make?

But there’s a deeper, often overlooked question: is the organisation itself ready?

Why readiness matters

Readiness is the difference between tokenism and transformation.

Without it, lived experience can become a tick-box exercise. You invite someone in, they share their story or perspective, but nothing really shifts. At best it feels polite; at worst, it causes harm.

With readiness, something else becomes possible. Lived experience stops being decoration and starts shaping the culture, practice, and outcomes of the organisation. People lean in, ask questions, and allow themselves to be changed.

What readiness looks like

Readiness isn’t about having everything perfectly lined up. It’s about being honest and open enough to meet what lived experience brings.

You know it’s there when leaders signal, through their actions, that this matters. You feel it when a team leans into discomfort instead of brushing it away. You see it when lived experience is treated with the same standing, respect, and safety as any other expertise.

And you know when it’s missing. The room goes quiet. A comment gets reframed to fit the existing story. The contribution floats away unacknowledged, and nothing changes.

From readiness to transformation

Every organisation wants to make a difference. But without readiness, lived experience input slips through the cracks. With it, the work deepens, becomes more authentic, and creates lasting change.

That’s why I’ve developed my Client Readiness Experience — a six-session journey that helps organisations move beyond tokenism, strengthen their culture, and create the conditions for lived experience to thrive.

It’s not about being perfect. It’s about being real.

Ready to explore readiness?

If your organisation is serious about involving lived experience in a way that’s safe, sustainable and transformative, I’d love to talk.

Because readiness isn’t just preparation. It’s the missing piece that makes everything else work.