Consultancy Value
Tom Moriarty, Development Executive with the Institute of Management Consultants and Advisers (IMCA), examines how hiring a consultant can help organisations to change and adapt in the face of a challenging economy
The tighter business environment of today requires organisations in all sectors to seek efficiencies throughout their operations. While global competition has long been a driver of change, the uncertainty caused by current market conditions has resulted in an unprecedented need for organisations to trim back costs to remain viable.
While more prudent firms may have been continually reappraising costs, practically all now must take a radical look at the way they do business. Some, in fact, see such readjustments as important to long-term success in that they provide an opportunity to refocus operations and address areas of waste that have crept in during expansionary times.
The key issue here is to ensure that changes implemented to address short-term issues do not operate to the detriment of the longer-term health of the organisation. It is more than ever important to plan change in the context of a clear vision of the future to ensure that the competitive strengths, which will help to deliver this vision, are not undermined.
As an example, management consultancy may be targeted for cutback - while the savings available by cancelling the projects concerned apply in the short term and are directly calculable, the changes planned may take a number of years to deliver benefits. Management teams under pressure may thus cancel or severely cut back initiatives that are actually critical to the repositioning of the business.
In today's intensely competitive business environment, the complexity and speed of change is accelerating all the time. Changes in the domestic economy, the economies and politics of other countries, social legislation and the impact of new technology all bring with them challenges and opportunities calling for knowledge and expertise, not always readily available within an organisation.
The reality is that organisations facing fundamental challenges to their viability must ensure that the solutions adopted are tailored to their needs, and implemented in a structured manner to ensure they deliver the results targeted.
This is where consultancy support can pay dividends. A well-structured project can be of major benefit to clients in planning and delivering change initiatives.
Management consultants and business advisers provide a professional service to business, public bodies and other organisations by:
· Identifying and investigating problems concerned with strategy, policy, markets, organisation, procedures, systems, practices and methods.
· Formulating recommendations for appropriate action by factual investigation and analysis with due regard for broader management and business implications.
· Discussing and agreeing the most appropriate course of action with clients.
· Providing assistance where required to implement the recommendations.
In rendering such services to management, consultants and advisers carry a duty of responsibility and an obligation to maintain the highest standards of integrity and competence. The key personal qualities that enable them carry out their duties effectively and efficiently are:
· objectivity, impartiality and independence – to ensure that solutions are based on fact and not constrained by accepted wisdoms;
· knowledge of management organisation and techniques – to guide clients through the change process in a structured manner;
· consulting and advisory skills, practical experience and technical expertise – to ensure that solutions are based on best practice from experience elsewhere and future proofed.
In many cases clients may simply not have sufficient resource to manage both the change and the day-to-day business - consultants can devote full-time attention to projects free from the executive responsibilities of client managers.
A good test of value from consultancy is that the project both delivers the objectives set, and that clients can tackle problems in a new way once the consultancy project is completed. In my own consultancy experience of major performance improvement initiatives, some of the most valuable and interesting projects entailed training client teams in the diagnostic and change management consultancy skills, and then facilitating them through a programme of improvement.
This permits a much wider range of projects to be addressed than the consultant alone could carry out. Working with client teams also instils in the consultant a real inside knowledge of how the organisation functions, and greatly reduces the lengthy period a consultant would otherwise need to spend researching current practices in the client organisation. A key role of the consultant here is to outline the challenges faced by the client, ensure they buy in to the solutions put forward, and facilitate the independence and ability of the client team to enact these solutions. This again is a core consultancy skill.
The client team benefits from experience of new management techniques in action and, as importantly, greater exposure to the broader organisation and its business issues than they would have met to date in their own area of functional specialism. They also get a chance to present a well-delivered project to senior management.
Clients are well advised to seek consultants and advisers who meet high standards of competence, ethics and independence. As well as the core professional qualification of marketing, HR, IT, operations etc, consultants need to be skilled in helping clients plan and deliver change. The skills for this are particular to consultancy and do not tend to be covered in detail in core degree courses.
The IMCA (Institute of Management Consultants and Advisers) aims to advance the professions of management consultancy and business advice by setting and maintaining the highest standards of performance and conduct by its members.
IMCA is authorised to award the internationally recognised Certified Management Consultant (CMC) designation in Ireland, which is based on strict certification requirements relating to competence, ethics and independence.
The CMC accreditation means that consultants, in addition to their core expertise, have met IMCA’s strict requirements of consultancy expertise and experience. CMCs pledge to abide by IMCA's code of professional conduct, which sets out the duties and obligations to ensure the highest standards of performance.
The designation has come to be regarded as a clear endorsement of global expertise and recognition of competence and professionalism, and helps consultants earn the trust of clients worldwide. They also gain ready access to the community of fellow CMCs by which they can add to their expertise, share ideas, and seek collaboration opportunities.
Feedback from IMCA’s members indicates a gap in training provision in Ireland in the ‘softer’ change management skills critical to consultancy. It is in the process of enhancing its CPD programmes to address this through a mixture of internal courses and accreditation of external courses.
In conclusion, delivering change in difficult circumstances is no easy task. Consultancy support can ease the burden of management in planning and implementing such change. The client-consultant relationship works best in well-structured projects with development of the client team a key objective also. IMCA aims to ensure that the highest standards of performance and conduct apply in consulting projects and the CMC designation is an important and globally recognised safeguard.
Tom Moriarty is Director of MDR Consulting
