Fundamentals of management in the consulting profession

Box 27.1 Challenges in people management

In managing their professional staff, consulting firms face challenges such as:

●how to select and recruit staff with potential for high-quality, practically focused, results-oriented and independent work with clients;

●how to build up a homogeneous operating core with people possessing heterogeneous backgrounds and skills (e.g. finance and accounting, information science, behavioural science, statistics, economics, law or industrial engineering);

●how to develop a common philosophy of consulting and a team spirit while maintaining the diversity of personalities, attitudes and approaches needed for various assignments;

●how to maintain this common philosophy when staff turnover is high;

●how to find the right degree of decentralization of technical and business decisions related to client assignments (e.g. which decisions can an operating consultant on assignment take, and which need input from a manager or partner);

●how to make sure that not only the skills, but also the personalities and work styles of consultants and clients will be matched in order to establish a productive consultant–client relationship in every case;

●how to build, maintain and utilize a collective knowledge base and encourage knowledge-sharing within the firm;

●how to provide the sort of leadership that appeals to professional workers with a developed sense of independence;

●how to remunerate people fairly for their personal achievement and their contribution to the professional excellence and profitability of the firm;

●how to motivate people to superior performance, life-long learning, initiative, entrepreneurship, risk-taking, professional integrity and loyalty to the firm.

Some consultants are strong individualists and one may be tempted to ask why they actually stay with a firm. Some stay because they have chosen to work as technicians and do not want to be bothered with administrative and marketing problems. Others appreciate the advantages of teamwork and collaboration with professional colleagues. There is a third group for whom work in a professional firm is mainly a learning experience, and who do not feel committed to staying in consulting until retirement.

The attitudes that prevail depend very much on the organizational culture and management style of a particular firm. Indeed, consulting firms tend to exhibit various organizational cultures. The firm may be nothing more than a collection of individuals housed under one roof, and physically not even under the same roof, since consultants spend most of their time with clients. The management of the firm may act as an employment agency, whose main

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objective is to find work, keep consultants occupied and provide common support services to the employees. The firm’s culture may be weak, almost nonexistent. In contrast, there are firms that are known for their strong cultures. They have developed values that are widely shared within the firm. New recruits have to adopt them quickly and if they find it impossible, they usually do not stay with the firm for long.

Consulting firms’ cultures are shaped by their founders and other leading personalities in addition to reflecting the common principles and values of consulting. As a rule, strong professional cultures are found in firms that are well-established and recognized sector leaders. They define how the firm views and handles various behavioural and ethical issues, such as learning and selfdevelopment, hard work, discipline, initiative, coaching by superiors, competition among staff, sharing of information and knowledge, dealing with clients, confidentiality, conflict of interest, personal responsibility for quality work, and honesty in billing.

Organizational cultures are difficult, but not impossible, to manage. Leaders can change cultures by providing role models and motivating and educating colleagues. In managing the firm it is important to have a correct picture of the firm’s culture and of values that need to be either encouraged and supported, or discouraged and changed.

Providing leadership

The experience of the best consulting firms, small and large, has demonstrated the crucial role of leadership. Leadership is needed to build up a professional organization with a stimulating culture, whose individual members adhere to common values and work together as coherent teams in pursuing common professional and business goals. Leadership motivates individuals towards superior performance, service quality and loyalty to the firm. True enough, not every professional needs the same kind and amount of leadership and some consultants may even resent being exposed to it. However, without leadership, a professional firm is bound to operate as a mere collection of individuals, not as a firm, and almost certainly below its potential. It will end up by disintegrating sooner or later.

Leadership in the professions is a rare commodity. It requires a combination of superior professional achievement with the personal qualities of a leader: a genuine interest in people, organizational talent, and an ability to set an example, maintain morale and provide feedback and encouragement. Professional workers resent leaders whom they cannot respect as more knowledgeable, experienced or productive professional colleagues and as persons with a genuine interest in leading and helping others.5

This makes the choice for management positions difficult. If possible, managers in consulting and other professions should also be natural leaders, and should be willing to assume both leadership roles and administrative responsibilities.

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