Management consulting

36.3 Career development

The great diversity of career structures in consulting firms reflects their different history, size, technical areas covered, consulting modes used, and even personal preferences of the key decision-makers. But certain patterns emerge from this diversity.3

In large firms, the consultants progress through four or five principal grades, or ranks, during their career. Small firms use only two or three grades. In pursuing flatter and leaner structures, some large firms have also reduced the number of rungs in their consultants’ career ladders.

Career progression implies that the consultant will take on more responsibility, which can be:

●supervisory (team leadership, project management, supervision of assignments);

●promotional (management surveys, marketing, negotiation and selling of new assignments);

●managerial (managing organizational units in the firm, functions in general and top management);

●technical (directly performing assignments that require particularly experienced and knowledgeable consultants, training of new consultants, development of methods and practice guides);

●various combinations of these four alternatives.

A summary description of a typical career structure is given in box 36.2.

Factors affecting careers

In a typical consulting career there is a significant relationship between progression in rank and role. A higher rank means a more difficult role and more responsibility. The relationship is not the same in all firms. Some prefer a conservative approach, whereby precisely defined functions are assigned to each rank in the consulting hierarchy. Thus, only a consultant of a high grade would negotiate with a potential client. In contrast, many firms are increasingly flexible in deciding what consultants can and should do, irrespective of rank. For example, a consulting project may be managed by an individual in any of the four principal grades (starting at the operating consultant level), depending on the scope of the project and the capabilities of the individual. These firms encourage young operating consultants to assume responsibility for more difficult jobs and for managing assignments, and thus to expand their capabilities, as soon as possible after joining the firm. Even consultants with relatively little experience are encouraged to manage projects, present results to clients, and take initiative in working with clients.

Career advancement is based above all on achievement. As seniority is difficult to ignore, individuals who cannot demonstrate high achievement are encouraged to move on. If they stayed, they would see their younger colleagues

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Box 36.2 Career structure in a consulting firm

First level: junior consultant (trainee, research associate, analyst, entry-level consultant)

This level exists only in some firms, which recruit new consultants as trainees (for 6–12 months); their main task is to master the essential consulting skills as quickly as possible.

Second level: operating consultant (resident consultant, associate, associate consultant, management consultant, consultant)

The operating consultant is the front-line professional who does most of the consulting work at client organizations. Every operating consultant has a special field of competence, as a rule in one management function or in special techniques. Normally the consultant would undertake a number of operating assignments in varying situations, individually and as a team member, for a period of three to five years before being considered for promotion to the next level.

Third level: supervising consultant (team leader, project manager, senior associate, senior consultant, manager)

The main responsibilities of consultants promoted to this level include team leadership (e.g. in assignments requiring expertise in general management and involving several functional areas) and supervision of operating consultants. A consultant at this level also continues to execute directly certain assignments that require an experienced person. Further responsibilities may include training, management surveys, the marketing of new assignments, and maintaining contacts with clients.

Fourth level: junior partner or equivalent (principal, manager, survey consultant) Consultants at this level carry out a number of marketing and management functions. Typically they spend most of their time in promotional work (visiting clients, doing management surveys, planning and negotiating new assignments). Some may be personally in charge of important client assignments, while others head organizational units within the firm, or coordinate and control a number of

client projects.

Fifth level: senior partner or equivalent (officer, director, partner, managing partner, vice-president, president)

Senior and top management responsibilities prevail at this superior level, including strategy and policy direction. Consultants at this level are also concerned with practice development, do promotional work with important clients, and may be personally in charge of complex and major assignments. In most firms they are the owners, but there are firms where the junior partners or principals (the fourth level) also belong to the group that owns the firm.

advance more rapidly, which would inevitably create jealousy and lead to frustration. It is often emphasized that every young consultant should be regarded and treated as a potential partner, and that career development to partner level should not take longer than 6–12 years.

Fast career progression has a positive motivational effect on consultants and creates a dynamic and competitive working environment. However, a firm that

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adopts fast career progression as a policy must be prepared to cope with certain problems. If the firm’s growth is fast enough, the number of senior positions grows as well and promotions can be fast also, but if growth slows down or stops, promotions become difficult. Some firms have therefore introduced special promotion schemes for technically competent and experienced individuals for whom supervising and managerial jobs are not available, or who are not interested in these jobs. An alternative is to reorient the firm to more complex assignments and thus increase the demand for senior consultants. This enables the firm to change the overall ratio of operating to senior consultants; for example, instead of employing two seniors for every five operating consultants, the new mix of projects might permit the firm to employ three seniors and change the ratio from 5:2 to 5:3. This, however, is a sensitive issue of the firm’s economics and strategy (see Chapters 27 and 28).

Staff reviews

There are two reasons why systematic staff reviews (performance assessment) are probably more important in consulting and other professional firms than in other sorts of organization:

●The career patterns described above require consultants to develop rapidly and assume a widening range of responsibilities. It is difficult to find work for consultants whose growth potential is limited and who will not be able to keep pace with their more dynamic and ambitious colleagues.

●The operational environment in which a consultant works (individual role in an assignment, team leader, immediate colleagues, client staff) changes frequently, and an operating consultant may be a member of five or more different teams within one year. Performance evaluation must therefore be organized to collect and assess all the information needed for the consultants’ careers and professional development in this constantly changing work environment.

Thorough evaluation of a new consultant should therefore start during his or her initial training, and several reports should be prepared (see Chapter 37).

The second element in systematic staff evaluation is formal performance review at the end of each assignment. These reports are prepared by the team leader or supervisor, discussed with the consultant, and filed in personnel records. Feedback from clients should also be sought, both informally and through client feedback questionnaires (see Chapters 11 and 32).

The third element is periodic performance appraisals. As a rule, these are more frequent in the first two or three years of the consultant’s career. They are generally based on reports from all assignments and evaluate performance, competence and prospects in areas such as:

●the technical subjects covered;

●consulting methodology and style;

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●teamwork;

●team leadership, supervision, coordination;

●marketing and client relations;

●training and self-development;

●special personal characteristics, manners, interests and talents.

Every periodic performance appraisal must aim to tell both the firm and the individual, openly and clearly, where to focus improvement efforts. If an individual consultant would be better advised to look for a career outside consulting, a performance appraisal should reveal this and make an unambiguous recommendation. It is unfair not to tell young consultants that their career prospects are limited, thus creating unrealistic expectations and merely delaying a painful decision.

It is useful for consultants to prepare for every performance appraisal by completing a structured self-evaluation. The consultant thus assesses and describes his or her own achievements, progress made, strengths, weak points and needs, which is a good starting-point for evaluation by the supervisor and the firm. It also reveals the consultant’s personal perceptions of standards and work performed and his or her self-assessment ability.

Staff turnover

Not all consultants will stay with one firm until retirement. Staff turnover figures in consulting are quite high: an annual turnover of 10–15 per cent is considered as normal, a 5–10 per cent turnover as low. The reasons for consultants’ departure include:

–different views on how to do consulting;

–different views on career advancement;

–entrepreneurship (quite a few consultants employed in consulting firms decide to start their own consulting practices);

–personal preference for other careers (business management, government administration, university teaching, politics, etc.);

–insufficient promotion prospects;

–personality clashes.

Large consulting firms tend to have a higher staff turnover than small firms. Many young professionals join these firms in order to gain diversified experience in a relatively short time, without intending to stay in consulting. This is less common in small firms. In addition, small firms usually try to be more adaptable to the needs and aspirations of individual staff members even if this means reorienting and restructuring the firm.

In a large firm, most consultants who leave do so at the operating consultant’s level. Voluntary departures at the partner level are relatively rare. However, forced and negotiated departures of partners, before retirement age,

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