Often, when I explain what I do for a living being a management consultant, I get asked why companies hire consultants in the first place.
As much as I hate to hear it, the question makes sense: At first glance, it can be puzzling why companies wouldn’t just solve their own problems—whether it be a cost reduction effort or a new market entry—well, themselves. But there are many reasons companies really need consultants (and why I am able to stay employed working on some of the coolest challenges in the business world!).
If you’ve ever considered becoming a consultant—or hiring one—read a little more below about how we can help companies out.
You know how sometimes when you’re dealing with an issue in your life, you turn to friends and family for their opinions? Companies often need this, too, especially when making tough decisions. Often times, clients have a perspective on how to solve the problem they are facing but want to make sure that what they’re thinking is correct (or that they aren’t so close to the challenge that they’re missing the obvious answer). So, they turn to consultants to come in and provide their opinion.
But this isn’t just any opinion: Because consultants often work with many different companies and may have worked through this problem in the past with someone else, they can really provide a perspective based on what they’ve seen work (or not) before. And given this experience, they can often bring new and innovative ideas or possible challenges to the table that clients probably wouldn’t have been able to see on their own.
Sometimes the problems companies need solving are really important, but they don’t necessarily have the manpower to focus on them. Companies still have to focus on their day-to-day operations, after all, and new projects typically require reprioritizing employees’ core job responsibilities. But hiring new employees to fill these gaps doesn’t always make sense either, seeing as many of these projects are one-offs. Whether it’s a cost reduction program requiring a dedicated team of six for a year or even a post-merger integration that requires a team of 100 for a month, clients might struggle to get the teams in place to do this critical work.
In instances like this, consultants basically serve as temporary, highly skilled employees. We’re not full-time employees of the company, so it is often cheaper to use us than hire someone new. Because we switch around companies often, we’re used to the fast learning curve, and onboarding us is easier. And, by using consultants, companies don’t have to pull their employees away from their actual jobs.
Another, and perhaps the most common, reason that companies hire consultants is to gain access to a specialized skill set that might not exist in house. By engaging a consulting firm, you get access to a group of professionals that has skills ranging from Lean Six Sigma process design to finance organization structures. These highly specialized people would not only be expensive to hire for, but the company might not have enough work to keep said employees busy year round. But, thanks to consultants, companies can bring in that skill set on demand when they need it.
Sometimes, when companies are working on a challenging problem or a controversial project, it can be hard for them to make decisions or take the necessary actions without getting wrapped up in emotions or politics. So, they bring in consultants to provide an unbiased eye and do some of the dirty work for them.
If you remember Up in the Air, George Clooney was engaged to go around the country conducting employment terminations on behalf of his clients. Likewise, clients might engage us for major restructurings or controversial projects so that they can ensure they’re handled by an external party that’s both experienced in and a bit removed from these types of activities. We can also provide the back-up and confirmation for a client that is attempting to run with a new idea that might not be well-received within an organization, without any risk to our day jobs or career
]]>Now we have science saying it: management consultants add value. A formal study, sponsored by the World Bank and using a control group of factories as well as a treatment group, quantified the results. First year economic benefits exceeded the cost of the consulting—with later years’ benefits pure gravy. (Summary in Slate, details from Nick Bloom, hat tip to Tyler Cowen.)
The project examined textile factories in India, and I was initially somewhat skeptical that the results would apply here in the United States. After reading the details, I think that American managers can learn a lot from the study. The research team began with a list of 38 good management practices (found hereon p. 40). Although they are given as specific to the textile industry, it’s easy to re-state them in terms of your own operations. For instance, “Scientific methods are used to define inventory norms for yarn” could be applied for any input material.
I strongly advise operations managers to review that list and self-evaluate. Some standards are met in virtually every factory I visit (such as “The shop floor is clear of waste and obstacles.”) Others not so much: “Customers are segmented for order prioritization.” Customers do NOT have to be served in the order in which they asked for your goods or services. First-come-first-served makes sense in some cases, but not in others. Have a reason for your prioritization system that reflects the different value of different customers, as well as operational efficiency.
The list of 38 management practices misses two areas where I see lots of opportunities: sales and pricing. Too few companies have systematic procedures to call on prospects and past customers. Too few use sales coaches to help their representatives perform better. On the pricing side, too few companies use marginal cost pricing. Instead, they either have nothing or they use an average cost estimate that fully loads in overhead. Using the wrong numbers is often worse than no number at all!
So you are running a company or a division and you wonder where you have room for improvement. First, bring in a consultant with a broad background to help you identify areas of focus. (That’s something I am good at.) Next, bring in expertise to focus on the areas most ripe for improvement. That might be your first consultant or it might be a specialist, say in sales training or cost accounting. Third, evaluate those results. Fourth, hit the next opportunity for improvement. Along the way, pat yourself on the back for taking your company to higher levels of profitability.
There are many benefits to the NIST Cybersecurity Framework. Through being neutral, broadly applicable, vetted by industry, and engaging to stakeholders, the Framework can reduce time and expense of starting an information security program and also reduce risk within current programs by identifying areas for improvement.
Neutral and Broadly Applicable
“The thing that we like about the NIST Framework is that it is neutral,” said Christman. “It’s neutral to mission of organization, to industry, and to data type.”
Although it can be used with specific data types or objectives in mind, the Framework is a much broader approach to security. Therefore, its benefits can be realized by a variety of organizations, such as hospitals, civilian federal agencies, educational institutions, defense agencies, commercial enterprises, and more.
“The other thing that we like about the Framework is that it’s neutral to threat factor,” Christman continued. “It could be a trusted insider threat, an advanced persistent threat from a nation state, or a malicious hacker. The threat factor is really not the issue. Regardless of mission, industry, data type, or threat factor, your organization can improve its security posture.”
Vetted by Industry
The Framework is also beneficial because it meets industry-vetted criteria. According to the Information Technology Industry Council (ITI), a high-tech trade association based in Washington, D.C., an effective cybersecurity effort should:
“The Framework is the right approach because it hits almost all of those guiding truisms,” said Danielle Kriz, Director of Global Cybersecurity Policy at ITI. “It’s globally workable and it leverages already existing standards and best practices that were developed by industry.”
Engaging to Stakeholders
The NIST Framework helps organizations communicate their cybersecurity requirements with stakeholders, including partners and suppliers. It is a good way to start a discussion with technical and non-technical stakeholders to further the security posture of organizations.
“The beauty of the Framework is we can drill down into the finite details. But at a very high level, I could explain what it means to a business person in a line of an agency or an educational institution, and help them understand what needs to happen because it can be explained in plain English,” Christman said. “We can use this Framework to connect the stakeholders – the people with access to money, people, and resources – and connect the technical, policy, and governance issues.”
]]>0 – Don’t know
1 – Initial (Activities are ad hoc/chaotic/undefined)
2 – Repeatable (Activities established / level of discipline and adherence)
3 – Defined (Activities are defined, documented, standardized)
4 – Managed (Activities are measured by quality, improved, and integrated)
5 – Optimized (Continual Service Improvement (CSI) is adopted / activities are mature)
No matter how you rate it, if you don’t have the data to tell you where you are in this model, you are only guessing. After establishing your baseline performance metrics, it is strongly recommended to perform assessments on a regular basis, typically every 12 months, to ensure progress in the areas needing improvement.
In the following paragraphs we’ll provide an overview for:
1. What is an Organizational Assessment and Why You Should Conduct one.
An organizational assessment (OA) can be defined as a standard process for obtaining valid information used to determine key organizational strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and risks. Four areas that are essential to include in the assessment are Customers, People, Technology, and Processes.
An OA is conducted to demonstrate areas of competence, improvement, and possible risks, as well as to help support investment and restructuring decisions. It differs from other types of evaluations because the objective of an assessment is to understand the performance of an organization, not the performance of a project, a program, or a policy. An assessment with a “Live Person” allows you to customize and tailor the questions, making it meaningful to your organization so the assessment becomes the Voice of Staff (VOS). An off-the-shelf tool should not be used, as it is ‘cookie cutter’ and not tailored to fit your organization.
Many organizations ask, “How are we doing?” but are not sure how to get the answer. OA’s are a tool that answers this question – telling you how you’re doing, what you’re doing well and why you might not be performing the way you would expect. An organizational assessment is like a physical exam – in this case it is your organization undergoing a “physical” to identify strengths and weaknesses; and areas which need to be improved, modified or strengthened.
The value in conducting assessments across the four areas of Customers, People, Technology, and Processes provides the following:
2. Who Should Conduct it and What are the Qualities of a Good Organizational Assessment Team.
A key part of the planning for an OA is to determine if it will be conducted internally (self-assessment), externally (by contracting an external assessment team), or through a combination of both internal and external resources. There are advantages and disadvantages of each type of team:
If the assessment is conducted INTERNALLY:
If the assessment is conducted EXTERNALLY:
The team – external, internal, or a mix of both – should have:
3. How Long Will it Take to Conduct Your Organizational Assessment and How Much Will it Cost.
An organizational assessment is a commitment of time and energy. It is difficult to estimate how long it should take, as the length of the process depends on a number of variables:
These factors will affect the duration of the process. In addition, you might want to consider the depth of the data collection that is possible within the time frame that you have to complete the OA. With these considerations, it may take a few weeks to any number of months.
The cost of an organizational assessment is not strictly determined monetarily. The total cost also includes staff members’ time (opportunity costs), the technology involved, and access to information. It also depends on who conducts the assessment.
An externally-conducted assessment will seem more expensive until you consider the points above including staff members time (continuing their current job while conducting the assessment verses only participation). The cost of an assessment also depends on the number of issues that are included and how deep the assessment is supposed to go.
4. Who Will Use Your Organizational Assessment including How to Manage it.
Prior to conducting an OA, you will want to identify the audience for the Assessment. The audience will determine the scope of the OA as well as the expected outcome. You will also be able to identify the audiences’ expectations. You will need to communicate with the audience throughout the OA process so that they have opportunities to validate preliminary findings and conclusions.
There are two types of audiences:
Managing your OA, whether it is performed internally or externally, will require a team. There are a couple of key roles that help to ensure the assessment is successful.
The number of individuals included in the assessment will be important. Enough people are needed to provide a range of views, but not too many that it will be difficult to make decisions. Ultimately, the results of your Organizational Assessment will provide you the data needed to create a Roadmap for the future success of your Organization and ensure that you know your organization is running as you expect, provide quality products/services and plan for growth
5. Why Should You Choose Consult Our Source as your Assessment team.
Consult Our Source is a boutique firm that specializes in performing organizational assessments. We quickly become the Trusted Advisor of the organizations that we work in. This creates a level of comfortability for participants across all levels of the organization to get the true Voice of Staff (VOS).
We have over 40 years of combined experience, work diligently to provide quality over quantity, and commit to utilizing strong industry standardized methodologies.
We operate efficiently and customize each assessment to fit the need of your organization with low overhead costs to ensure competitive rates that fit your budget.
We compile the data and provide it in multiple formats for all management levels so that it is easy to determine the next steps for your organization. i.e. executive summary, detailed assessment reports, and a summary of recommendations with a roadmap to success.
Contact us today to schedule a call and demo.
To the success of your organization,
Pam Karagines
Director of Business Development
[email protected]
www.consultoursource.com
Office Voice: 415.919.9241
Fax & International: 415.632.3237
We are a Minority Owned Small Business with MBE-NMSDC, NGLCC , SBA, GGBA, CPUC. SAM certifications
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