Building Strong and Healthy Working Relationships

Lauren Gough is senior account director at Jack Health, a global experiential healthcare marketing agency that is part of Jack Morton. At Jack Health, she is responsible for collaborating with key clients to deeply understand their needs, identify growth, and strengthen partnerships. An experienced client relationship manager, Lauren is dedicated to supporting teams in pushing the boundaries of healthcare and delivering extraordinary results.

LBB> How did you first get involved in account management and what appealed to you about it?

Lauren> Collaborating with like-minded, passionate individuals who are driven to deliver outstanding results has always motivated me to this field. However, my journey into account management officially began with a passion for the events and marketing industry, which led me to pursue a four-year international events degree. However, during a gap year before starting university, I was fortunate to secure an internship that evolved into a five-year career. 

LBB> What is it about your personality, skills and experience that has made account management such a great fit?

Lauren> Account management suits me perfectly because I love building strong relationships and really getting to know what clients need.

I’m naturally collaborative and enjoy connecting with people, which helps me build trust and create meaningful partnerships. I’m organised and detail-focused, which makes managing complex projects easier, and I’m comfortable tackling challenges as they come.

Working across various accounts has given me great perspective, and I genuinely enjoy the fast-paced, ever-changing environment where I can keep learning, adapting, and making a real difference.

LBB> What piece of advice would you give to someone just starting their career in account management?

Lauren> My advice to someone starting in account management would be to focus on building strong relationships - both with your clients and your internal teams. Listen more than you speak, stay curious, and always ask questions to truly understand your clients' needs.

Be organised, adaptable, and ready to tackle challenges with a positive attitude. Most importantly, don’t be afraid to learn from others around you. Some of the best lessons come from observing and collaborating with experienced colleagues.

LBB> Thinking back to some of your most challenging experiences you’ve had in your career, what do you think tends to lie at the heart of the more tense or difficult client-agency relationships?

Lauren> In my experience, tense or challenging client-agency relationships usually come down to misaligned expectations or communication gaps. If goals, timelines, or deliverables aren’t clear from the start, it can lead to misunderstandings later on. A lack of trust or transparency can also make things trickier.

The key to avoiding this is staying collaborative, being upfront, and having open conversations early so everyone’s on the same page and working toward the same goals.

LBB> And what are the keys to building a productive and healthy relationship?

Lauren> To build a strong and healthy relationship, it comes down to good communication, trust, and respect. Setting clear expectations from the start and being open and honest helps create a solid foundation.

It’s important to really get to know the client’s goals and challenges, and checking in regularly makes sure everyone stays on the same page. Being approachable, proactive, and flexible when things shift can also help keep things running smoothly and make the partnership feel positive and collaborative.

LBB> What’s your view on disagreement and emotion - is there a place for it and if not, why not? If so, why - and what does productive disagreement look like?

Lauren> I think there’s definitely a place for disagreement and emotion, as long as it’s handled in a constructive way.

Disagreements can lead to better ideas and solutions if approached respectfully. It’s important to be open to different perspectives, and emotions can help highlight what really matters to someone. Productive disagreement means staying calm, focusing on the issue at hand, and listening to understand, not just to respond.

It’s about finding common ground, being solution-oriented, and maintaining respect even when opinions differ. A healthy debate can lead to growth as long as it’s done thoughtfully.

LBB> Historically, account management has been characterised as the mediator in an adversarial client and creative relationship - what do you make of that characterisation, is there any nugget of truth in that or is it wildly inaccurate? 

Lauren> There’s definitely some truth to that idea, but I wouldn’t say it’s the whole story.

Account management often acts as the bridge between clients and creatives, making sure everyone’s on the same page and understands each other’s needs. Sometimes it can feel like playing the mediator, especially when there are different priorities. But I think the role has evolved, and now account managers are more about facilitating collaboration than just managing conflict.

The goal is to bring everyone together so both the client’s and creative’s vision come to life smoothly.

LBB> These days, agencies do so much beyond traditional campaigns and as account management you’re pulling together creative, experience, data, e-commerce, social and more - and that complexity can often be mirrored on the client stakeholder side too? What’s the key to navigating (and helping the client navigate) that complexity?

Lauren> Absolutely, the complexity of modern campaigns is huge, and it often mirrors the structure on the client side with multiple stakeholders involved. The key to navigating this is clear communication and organisation.

As account managers, we need to simplify the process for our clients, helping them focus on their key objectives while managing the various elements, creative, data, social, etc, that are at play. It’s important to keep everyone aligned by setting clear expectations, regular check-ins, and ensuring all parties know their roles.

Helping clients prioritise and break things down into manageable pieces is key so they’re not overwhelmed by the different moving parts.

LBB> What recent projects are you proudest of and why? What was challenging about these projects from an account management perspective and how did you address those challenges? What was so satisfying about working on these projects?

Lauren> I’m particularly proud of a recent leadership forum we organised in Switzerland, which involved coordinating multiple teams and stakeholders across different regions. The challenge from an account management perspective was ensuring everything aligned across time zones and that all the diverse teams were working towards the same vision, while keeping the client’s goals front and centre.

It required a lot of organisation, clear communication, and flexibility to manage last-minute changes. What made it so satisfying was seeing the whole project come together successfully, with the client happy and the teams feeling proud of their collaborative effort. It was a great reminder of how impactful strong teamwork and good planning can be.