What do consultants do?
This seems like such a basic question – and yet, if you ask the parents of most management consultants – mom and dad would find it a bit difficult to explain what their son/daughter did every week. They might be scratching their heads and providing you something vague like:
- “She travels a lot and is in lots of meetings”
- “He spends lots of time in front of the computer, late at night”
- “She works on projects and is always learning something new”
Yes, all of that is true. I would like to offer a simple definition:
Consultants help executives 1) break down problems 2) make difficult decisions, and 3) create change
Let’s start with the first part. The executives. . .
Management consultants help executives
This is uniformly true. Even though there are dozens of kinds of “consultants”, we all help executives. Executives typically have problems that are big enough, complex enough, and difficult enough that it warrants hiring expensive people. Yes, consultants are expensive.
Consultants want to make a difference, and while there’s nothing wrong with helping 1 person at a time, if we can influence the outcome of a 5,000 person company, that sounds like a lot more fun and more money.
What kind of executives?
All kinds. It’s easy to think of the “CEO” as the primary client, but let’s not forget the litany (GMAT word) of other executives who have unwieldy problems and consulting budgets. Your next customer could be:
- Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and Board
- Chief Financial Officer (CFO)
- Chief Operations Officer (COO)
- Chief Marketing Officer (CMO)
- Chief Human Resources Officer (CHRO)
- Chief Information Officer (CIO)
- Chief Technology Officer (CTO)
- Chief Strategy Officer (CSO)
Frankly, I imagine there are even more titles I’ve never heard of, that are hiring consultants today.
Governments hire consultants too
I was raised on the corporate-side, but the public sector is also large. I recently read a report from Statista that estimated that public sector consulting was about 14% of total consulting spend. I find that wholly believable. If consultants are in the business of solving complex problems with fragmented data and diverse stakeholder groups. . . that applies to public sector as much as it does for-profit companies.
client is often a committee
If you’ve been a consultant, you are used to kick-off presentations, executive status reports, and generally serving multiple people. While you might have a primary executive sponsor and a client lead, at the end of the day, large organizations make decisions as a group.
- Good: If the team is educated, trusting, and diverse; they tend to make good corporate decisions
- Bad: If the industry is slow-growth and the culture “defensive”, then decision-making will be painfully slow
As a consultant, you better get good at 1) scoping problems 2) identifying the key decision makers, influencers 3) establishing credibility (to quickly win-over or negate naysayers) 4) using data as a weapon 5) building rapport 6) persuading stakeholders as you go.
Make your client successful
Even if there is an final presentation to 10 people, remember who your executive sponsor is. Make sure she is getting what she needs. As they say, “Remember who brought you to the dance.”
Success can take many forms:
- Bringing new ideas to them from other industries
- Accelerating a project/initiative that had stalled out
- Breaking through cross-functional log-jams
- Being the “bad cop” with cost-reduction, or other difficult situations
- Providing due diligence on a deal; “is this thing worth that price $$?
It’s all about client service
I am a great #2. Ask any of my previous bosses (yes, they are #1), and they will say good things about me. It’s helping other people be successful. Letting the spotlight shine on them, not on you. Consulting is a great profession for those who like to learn and also like making others successful:
- What can I do to make my client’s life easier?
- What can I do to make my senior directors job easier?
- What can I do for you?