Skills Portfolio
A Consultant for All Seasons
Even in these economically challenging times, consultants with the right combination of skills can continue to ascend the ladder.
Firms of all sizes are searching for individuals with a healthy mix of management and P&L savvy. In lieu of appointing individuals with "one dimensional" consulting backgrounds, these firms are looking for people who can manage a business — not just a practice, says David Evancha, a project manager with Kennedy Information Research Group. This shift in recruiting strategy is being driven in part by firms that are now looking to please more than just their clients.
"If you're a partnership, you drive revenues and split it among your partners. But if you have to go to Wall Street every quarter, you have to show you are making money or your stock is going to tank," says Evancha, who is the author of KIRG's upcoming Compensation and Recruiting Report.
The ideal candidate will have 10 to 15 years' worth of experience that includes a stint in consulting, in industry as a manager, and then at a smaller company, where he or she had general manager and payroll responsibilities. They need the traditional analytical, communication, and technological skills, but also have to prove they can control costs and generate revenue.
These people have been hard to find, but when they are, firms are willing to pay, Evancha says. "They're being asked, 'How much will it take to get you here?' It's an open checkbook."
Intellectual Capital/Best Thought Leadership Bloopers
Thought leadership development can become enormously difficult if the project team falls victim to certain pitfalls. The Bloom Group LLC, a Cleveland-based professional services marketing firm, offers its Top 10 mistakes committed by consulting firms in this area:
10. Underestimating the time it will take to create a compelling concept.
9. Being unaware of competing points of view (and thus running the risk of saying essentially the same thing as, or less than, your competitors).
8. Not getting subject matter experts to invest the time necessary to analyze the data.
7. Launching a thought leadership study with an unclear focus.
6. Having a clear research focus that is too broad.
5. Relying too much on only one type of research (e.g., literature searches) to generate the data.
4. Attempting to do best-practice research without actually doing interviews at best-practice companies.
3. Failing to establish the existence and criticality of the business problem that the firm is trying to solve.
2. Providing insufficient evidence that your solution works (i.e., case examples with major, tangible benefits).
1. Using the writing process to drive the development of the core idea.
Global Trends
Lost Productivity Can Be Found
The U.S. and Germany have higher productivity levels compared to their European counterparts, according to a survey by Proudfoot Consulting. But even these leaders must make improvements before they reach optimum levels.
The majority of businesses across the world are currently operating only at productivity levels of between 50 and 60 percent. In real terms, a $1 billion company is squandering a theoretical $40 million of profit annually, which equates to 97 working days a year for which a typical company achieves nothing of value.
The biggest causes of productivity loss in the U.S. are insufficient planning and control and inadequate management and supervision. It takes strong, inspired management to motivate employees, and this is an area where American business leaders are lacking, according to Proudfoot. Apart from those in the U.K., American businesses suffered more from poor working morale than businesses in any of the ten countries studied.
American businesses are clearly investing in staff training and IT systems, as they scored favorably in the areas of qualification of staff and IT-related issues. However, U.S. managers fell behind the U.K. and French managers in communication areas. Not only do American managers need to focus on delegating tasks to their team and on more proactive management, but they also need to look at how the processes, achievements, and messages are communicated both internally and externally, the report suggests.
U.S. productivity levels will rise dramatically if steps are taken to improve the management and supervision roles, ensuring that managers tackle problems before they occur, spend their time on "managerial" activity rather than administrative and manual tasks, and communicate effectively to employees.
Send in the consultants!
The Consultancy Query
A Sleeping Giant Suddenly Stirs
Denis Simon joined Monitor early last year to open the firm's first office in China. Today, the consultant serves as president of Monitor Company's China practice, a position, he tells Consulting, that has as many rewards as challenges.
CM: What different types of clients exist inside the China market?
Simon: The first group of clients would be multinational customers. These are the types of clients we already probably serve in Europe and North America. Within China, these clients normally fall into two different categories, the first being wholly-owned businesses and the other being joint ventures. If you look at Fortune 500 companies, there are probably 250 already inside China in one way or another. The second group of clients is Chinese enterprises, and they are normally state-owned ones — many of which are now undergoing radical restructurings since China has joined the WTO — and then there are many smaller private Chinese companies that over the long term could become the standard-bearers of the Chinese economy. The third group of clients is government clients, and they are at both the national and the provincial level.
CM: What industries within China are among the largest buyers of consulting services?
Simon: The largest group of clients would probably be in manufacturing, but the whole financial services space is a substantial area of growth. The major banks and insurance companies are restructuring to make sure they remain competitive as more foreign companies enter the market. So there's been an evolution from multinational clients to domestic clients in terms of focus. And over the last year the demand for strategy work among domestic players has grown significantly.
CM: How significant a market is China for companies that compete globally?
Simon: If you are a major telecommunications company and you win big in China, it will have a major impact on your ability to compete globally. If you lose, there will be a significant negative impact. China is no longer an off-the-margin kind of place, where if you win or lose it doesn't really matter. The semiconductor industry is another example of a sector that cannot afford to ignore what's going on in China. For consulting opportunities, this means that we have more buyers coming into the economy, and more sophisticated buyers.
CM: Is the Chinese workforce able to meet the demands of global businesses?
Simon: There are a rapidly growing number of Chinese who are going to work for privately-owned companies, and these people are more aware of the global economy and how China ties into its global business links. There has recently been a big influx of "return Chinese," who believe that they now have the opportunity to make it big at home, rather than be a middle management executive within the U.S. In fact, we're seeing some start up their own consulting companies.
CM: What types of firms do you see taking root?
Simon: There are growing numbers of local IT consultancies, and they are beginning to do very well. Obviously, these companies have relationships at the local level and have effectively used what they call "guanxi" or relationships. We're seeing smaller firms effectively use guanxi in the banking area and use local savvy to get ahead.
© Arc, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to TMSalesOperations@arc-network.com. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.