The 2023 Women Leaders in Consulting: Indunil Ranaviraja

Indunil Ranaviraja is Senior Director overseeing Advisory Services at REI Systems and has 20+ years of experience supporting client missions spanning the U.S. federal government, international financial institutions and the nonprofit sector. Indunil joined REI in 2015, to leverage her passion for people and results as well as her entrepreneurial mindset to complement REI's core business of improving government through technology.

Based on her success incubating REI's Management Consulting business and building a growing base of customers via referrals, she serves as a member of the senior leadership team at REI and oversees multiple corporate initiatives. Indunil is responsible for consulting innovation, growth, client delivery and talent – more than quadrupling the number of REI consultants during her tenure. Indunil has helped customers and employees blend their path to personal success with a concurrent focus on the organization's needs.

Indunil's unwavering commitment to leading with integrity, brings her the privilege of trusted relationships with more than 10 different client agencies, and has earned accolades for REI while doing so. Indunil is particularly proud that she has recruited and grown a team of management consultants that includes a number of members from her own alma mater, Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government.

What do you consider your greatest personal or professional achievement?

Earning REI CEO's and Executive Leadership's trust to test, incubate, and build REI Systems Federal Government practice from scratch. It has been tremendously rewarding to lead a growing team of domain experts and consultants who are inspired to do the right thing by customers and grow REI in turn. Growing the Management Consulting arm of REI required organizational change management inside the building given that the mainline business focuses on application and systems modernization. I conceptualized Mindful Modernization, an approach to holistically tackle customer digital transformation needs and build trusted relationships.

The sustained success of those early efforts helped accelerate shared understanding, buy-in, and appreciation for Management Consulting services within REI. As a result of the early collaboration with REI technology counterparts at REI and partnership model with customers, REI's Management Consulting business is proud to have won 100% of our recompetes and a growing track record of customer referrals and excellent customer feedback which I do not take for granted.

The next challenge is to continue to deliver mission-enabling solutions with an elite service experience for our customers while maintaining high team morale and alignment while my team and I continue to scale and grow REI's Management Consulting line of business.

What's the best advice—consulting or otherwise—you've ever received?

The basic tenant of choosing to lead with kindness to unlock the power within and encourage others. This can be especially difficult in challenging times, where our reptilian brain may dictate our words and actions. As a business leader, intentionally opting to be kind should not be seen as a weakness but a choice that makes good business sense too. To do this well, it requires the highest order of empathy, observation, and strategic business skills to apply kindness at the right time, in the right doses, with the right audience.

For example, in the consulting industry, we are typically surrounded by incredibly sharp and driven talent that thrives in competitive environments. Often, the more humble, informal servant leaders across the spans and layers of the organization can go unrecognized and they may be misconstrued as having a lack of confidence or impact. These are the same individuals who will typically not engage in self-promotion or proactively seek sponsorship.

While the lack of sponsorship or credit is unlikely to change innate behaviors in the short run, in the longer term it is exceedingly likely that they will feel a lack of alignment or recognition over time and either get demotivated or vote with their feet and leave the organization. Viewing employees with this added lens of kindness can help us ask an additional set of questions to recognize silent heroes and gain insights to implement needed systemic changes to increase transparency and visibility of contributions.

What advice would you give to a female consultant just beginning her career?

1. Do not believe that you have to be good at everything to earn a seat at the leadership table. As such, do not over index on improving your weaknesses – develop awareness and strategically decide what you will improve on and what you will mitigate for depending on what is required for you to excel in the career and role you choose.
2. Be willing to take risks. Consulting is a challenging career, and there will be times when you're faced with difficult decisions. Be willing to take risks and step outside of your comfort zone and take on roles where you may not feel like you are have all the necessary skills and experience. This is how you'll grow and learn. Many may say "fake it, until you make it." I have personally chosen a path of being honest on material limitations and not being shy about asking for help where I needed it.
3. One of the typical pieces of advice most seasoned consultant give those who entering consulting is to ""be yourself."" And while this is not my top piece of advice, embracing my authentic self has helped me in many aspects of my life, including my career. This is especially important in consulting, where it's important to build genuine connections and transformational vs. transactional relationships. When you're being yourself, you're more likely to build trust and rapport with others. This can lead to better collaboration and ultimately, better results.

What does this recognition mean to you?

While REI Systems is a newer entrant to the Management Consulting arena, our growing track record of accomplishments and the trusted partnerships we have developed with our customers and other vendor partners over the past eight years is significant. Receiving recognition from this highly respected forum is great reinforcement of the sustained and intentional hard work to grow REI's management consulting practice ethically and sustainable (and not at all costs) while doing right by REI employees, vendor partners and customers. Building this line of business has been a true labor of love for me – and while I have felt appreciated by my company's executive leadership team, recognition by this esteemed group of industry peers means so much to my management consulting team's morale, our company's brand reputation, and the customers who believe in us.