When Doug Lattner took over the reigns at Deloitte Consulting six years ago, the firm's attention was scattered across too many areas, he says. Lattner, the CEO of Deloitte Consulting, says the firm was in 42 different industry segments and was "trying to be all things to all people."
Lattner narrowed the industry segments down to just 19 and reduced the number of service areas. "When I first took over, I think we had a lack of focus, Lattner says. "We're not going to out-Accenture Accenture; and we're not going to out-IBM IBM, and we're not going to out-McKinsey McKinsey. We're gong to be very good at what we do."
And it is. For the first time ever, Deloitte Consulting has secured a spot on our Best Firms to Work For list.
"One of my objectives when I took over this position six years ago was to make this a better place to work, and this ranking is the ultimate," he says. "To be recognized on this list is both honoring and humbling for me, personally. I think it speaks great for the consulting function and the work we've been doing.
"It's something we've had in our sites for a long time. We've had the opportunity to be on these lists in other parts of our business, but for us to be ranked for consulting is a real landmark for us. This recognition is a statement to the people that we have, the clients we have and [about the] services we deliver," he says.
Since Lattner has sharpened the focus, the firm has consistently delivered double-digit growth and is now the second-largest business area at Deloitte, delivering some 32 percent of the firm's overall revenue in 2008. And it's closing fast on Deloitte's top business area—audit enterprise risk services. Today, consulting is only 8 percentage points behind audit. In 2006, it was16 percentage points behind.
But revenue growth is just part of the story. Lattner's other focus was on making Deloitte Consulting a great place to work. The focus he brought to the industry segments also focused the staff internally.
"Our move gave us more focus in the marketplace, but it also gave us more focus with our clients and ultimately, more focus with our people," Lattner says. "That's a big difference. The best and brightest will want to go to work for those firms that are the best places to work."
On the survey, Deloitte scored very high in the area of Culture, a fact Lattner is particularly proud of given the state of the economy.
"I think a lot of cultures fall down because people ask questions but don't ever get answers," Lattner says. "We've been really focused on making sure that doesn't happen. It's not business as usual right now because it hasn't been business as usual for the last two years. You've got to ramp up communication and touch points, and I think we've done that.
"Our people vote every day with their feet. We have to make sure they're walking in here or walking into a client site and not walking into an executive search firm or over to a competitor."
—Joe Kornik
| PRACTICE SPOTLIGHT Financial Services Deloitte Consulting's Financial Services practice stood out in this year's Best Firms to Work For survey. While it's been a bumpy ride for the sector of late, Deloitte has managed to keep a positive culture in the practice area throughout the turmoil. "The last 18 months in Financial Services have been exceedingly difficult for our industry. Despite this, our business has grown in excess of 10 percent annually over the last five years," says John Kocjan, national managing director, Financial Services for Deloitte Consulting. "It tells us our practitioners believe we have the right strategy in place to serve our clients, that we are doing a good job in developing our people and that they are committed to our business." One of the ways Deloitte keeps the practice strong, Kocjan says, is by constantly encouraging the career development of its core practitioners. "We strongly encourage our practitioners to advance both our business and themselves," he says. "Our senior practitioners work closely with our junior professionals both on and off the job, so that the interactions are meaningful and valuable. Our practice leaders really have fun being with our younger folks." |
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