Management consulting

31.2 Preparing for an assignment

Liaison officer

It is usual for the client to appoint one or more staff members to provide close and continuous liaison with the consultants. The term “counterpart” is sometimes used. These people can be of great assistance to operating consultants and save their time, especially during the early investigational stages. Theirs may be full-time work. In some assignments, consultants transfer their knowledge to the liaison officers, who maintain and develop the work after the end of the assignment.

Recruitment and training of client staff

The preliminary diagnostic survey may have shown that there is a shortage of competent people in the client company, with no prospect of finding suitable candidates internally. The client may personally recruit and select additional staff, or may use the consulting unit’s service. Either method will take some time. Client staff, possibly including the liaison officer, may need preliminary training in certain techniques. The consulting firm can assist in finding the most suitable courses for them to attend.

Office accommodation

A consulting team should not have to hunt for offices when it starts an assignment. Consultants need not have the best offices, but they will not be highly regarded by the client’s staff if they have only a small table in a corner of a general area. Without suitable office space consultants cannot avoid wasting some of their expensive time. Also, operating consultants on assignments need privacy for interviews, discussions and meetings, keeping and studying documents, and writing. As a rule, meeting-rooms that are also used by other groups are not suitable for use as consultants’ offices.

Consultant briefing

One person likely to know little about the assignment before the briefing is the operating consultant, who has probably been busy winding up his or her last assignment and has not had time to give thought to the new one. A supervisor who has been involved with the entry-phase activity is likely to know a great deal. Otherwise, the colleague who negotiated the assignment should brief them both. At the briefing meeting, the team takes over the accumulated documentation from the preliminary survey. All matters pertaining to the start of the assignment are then discussed. A checklist of points for the briefing (box 31.1) will help prevent significant omissions.

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Assignment management

Box 31.1 Checklist of points for briefing

A.Hand over:

1.report to the client on preliminary problem diagnosis and proposal,

2.internal confidential notes on the client,

3.working papers borrowed from the client,

4.published or other printed matter.

B.Convey and discuss:

1.terms of reference and contract,

2.source of introduction to the client,

3.client’s experience of consultants,

4.client organization’s structure, personalities, general style of management, apparent centres of power and influence,

5.client’s needs and desires, real and imagined,

6.probable attitudes of staff,

7.expected results (on what are they based?),

8.assignment strategy and plan (including quality requirements),

9.client’s experience in the techniques the consultants intend to use,

10.key facts of the client’s operation,

11.production processes, trade jargon and terms particular to the business and the locality,

12.contacts made with trade unions and other bodies,

13.previous work in the sector (for the same client, competitors, etc.),

14.scheduled reporting and progress controls.

C.Inform about:

1.commitments to the client in respect of various services of the consulting firm (training, recruitment, design, computing, etc.),

2.arrangements for invoicing and payment of fees,

3.arrangements for starting date, time and place,

4.arrangements for office accommodation, staff liaison, secretarial and other support,

5.accommodation, travel arrangements and meeting-place of consultants before going to client organization.

Briefing must never be hectic or confined to administrative arrangements. Partners and senior consultants should use this opportunity to discuss with the operating team what approach may be most appropriate and what techniques should be used in the assignment. In many firms, time and clients’ money are wasted by superficial and impatient briefings provided to operating consultants by the senior staff who negotiated the assignment.

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Management consulting

Client briefing

Many of the points that should be raised in a final check with the client are also in the list in box 31.1. The remaining precautions to be taken may depend on how much time has passed since the assignment was agreed to and what the preassignment activities were. Checks should be made to ensure:

●that the client’s views and needs are still in accordance with the definition of the assignment and the terms of the contract, as mentioned above;

●that the client has adequately explained the nature and purpose of the assignment to all managers and other employees who will be in any way affected.

Introducing the consultants

The conduct of the first days of an operating assignment is of vital importance. The client has already met senior members of the consulting firm, but may be meeting the operating team for the first time. The members of the team new to the client are introduced to the managers and other employees as appropriate. These introductions should be comprehensive and include all staff who might resent being missed out. At the end, the consultants should ask tactfully if there is anyone else they should see. During introductions the consultants will sense whether the client’s briefing of his or her staff was complete and understood. The team should make an effort to remember names.

Introductions may be combined with a tour of the plant or offices (which may be limited to the area covered by the consultancy). This gives an opportunity both for the consultants to begin their orientation and for the employees to get their first sight of the team. The tour could end with another tactful question: “Is there anywhere we have not been?”

During introductions the team members should talk enough to show and arouse interest, but avoid any remarks that would suggest prejudgement or overconfidence. This is the start of an exercise in patient listening.

Starting work

After the introductions the team should make time to talk among themselves and discuss impressions. They should recheck the overall assignment plan. If there is not already a short-term plan, they should draw one up to cover the next week or two. The date of their supervisor’s next visit should be arranged and a copy of his or her programme in the meantime left with the operating team.

With the departure of the senior staff, the operating team is alone for the first time in the new surroundings. This can be a ticklish time, and if there is any “stage fright” this is when it occurs. It is essential for the operating team to do something immediately to establish contacts with the client’s people. Making a start is more important than what precisely is done first. The longer the delay, the harder it becomes. Experience shows the consultants what initial steps would be appropriate in this new environment.

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