This Year, Why Not a Breakthrough Strategy?
by Mary Adams and Michael Oleksak
The economy is slowly improving and many consultants
are breathing a cautious sigh of relief. But what comes
next? The world has changed dramatically over the last few
years and we all need to change with it. Of course, change
rarely happens without effort.
To be a winner in this new environment and experience a
breakthrough year, you will need to improve or alter some
aspect of your business. What should it be? To help you
figure that out, we advocate a three-step sequence: gather
information; develop insights; and take action.
Gather Information
Information is the fuel for breakthrough strategies. You
must bring fresh ideas and thoughts to your strategy to
achieve a new level of performance. To get started, explore
trends in the consulting industry and in your own consulting
market, and take a look at the track record of your firm.
Trends in the Consulting Industry
Macro changes in the consulting world affect almost all
of us. Consider these trends:
- Confusion continues in the marketplace over the role
of consultants. The word consultant is often used to describe
anyone who works on a temporary basis. Especially in IT,
for example, consultants may be project-based, technical
workers rather than business advisers. Thus, it is more
important than ever for management consultants to be extremely
disciplined (and vocal) about their role as an objective
observer, facilitator, and catalyst for change.
- Management knowledge is widespread. Well-educated clients
are not interested in consultants who tell them what to
do. In truth, this was never an effective consulting strategy.
Good consultants help clients find their own best solutions.
Greater penetration of management knowledge means that
there is less room for consultants to shortcut the process
and tell the clients the “right” answer.
- That said, clients often hire consultants because of
their familiarity with new approaches or techniques. Many
clients worry that there is something they do not know—some
innovation they might miss out on. So new theories and
techniques can be an important selling point for consultants
as long as they don’t fall into a preaching, rather
than helping mode.
- IT consulting has captured market share from management
consulting. Some of the biggest projects and fees are
in IT. Based on stories we hear from colleagues, there
are significant opportunities for linking these two disciplines
in the future. Many of the failures of IT occur because
technology is pursued without a solid understanding of
the client’s business model or processes. Management
consultants can and should help bridge this gap between
IT and clients’ broader business needs.
Developments in Your Consulting Market
While general market observations will help you think about
your business on the macro level, it is equally important
to gather fresh information about your own specialty or
geographic market. Consultants routinely advise clients
to address such challenges, but often neglect this research
for their own businesses. This can be a dangerous omission,
especially in a changing market.
To update your intelligence on your market:
- Take a look at your competitive landscape. Visit the
Web sites of key competitors and consultancies in related
fields. Google your areas of expertise—what comes
up on the first few pages?
- Talk to some of your key clients (current or past)
on a strategic level. Ask them questions such as: “Where
is your market heading?” “What are your biggest
challenges for the future?” “Is the way you
use consultants changing?” “What do you see
as our consulting firm’s strengths and weaknesses?”
If you aren’t comfortable having these conversations
yourself, hire or ask someone else to do it. Just make
sure that person can speak at your clients’ level.
- Read something new that is outside your comfort zone.
Sign up for newsletters or buy books in a new field. It
is easy to screen books by reading reviews on Amazon and
other sites.
- Take advantage of online magazine indices. Many local
libraries offer free access to good indices that can be
searched via keywords. This is a great way to find information
from specialty publications.
Track Record of Your Firm
The final way to round out your research is to spend time
on internal examination. Lay out your financial statements
year to year. Look at your average billing by client. If
you have several lines of business, compare them year to
year.
Also look at the cost side. Are you getting a good return
on your marketing and sales investments? If you are not
spending on marketing, should you be?
Look beyond financials as well. Measure your firm’s
intellectual capital. How does your firm size up relative
to:
- Intellectual property and business processes
- Management and employees
- External capital, including network, brand, and customers
- Business model, including your marketing, sales, project
management, and client relationship management
Your firm’s intellectual capital is the foundation
of your future success. Do you have the resources and talent
in place to push your performance to a new level this year?
Develop Insights
If you have read this far, you may be wondering where the
breakthrough comes from. Don’t worry…we’ve
now come to that part! This is the irony of breakthroughs
and innovations: They may happen in a sudden flash, but
usually it takes a lot of hard work to achieve any insight
that makes you look at your business in a new way. If you
skip the step of gathering and analyzing information, you
may never stimulate that creative breakthrough, or you may
make a decision you later regret.
After you have immersed yourself in analyses of your market,
clients, and firm, take a step back. Close the files and
leave your desk to get some perspective. Sometimes sitting
on an airplane, running, or walking gives you the opportunity
to synthesize what you have learned and find the right answer.
If you have a large firm or are a person who values “talking
through” problems, use a facilitator or take some
respected colleagues to dinner. However you do it, find
a way to see the forest for the trees.
The right answer for a breakthrough strategy is one that
focuses on the high-value intersection between market needs
and your strengths. Draw a Venn diagram to identify that
intersection. Fill in the two circles with needs and strengths.
What are the highest value solutions in the area of intersection?
Is there any reason why those solutions shouldn’t
be the main focus for your business?
As you decide how to move forward, remember that many innovations
start out as experiments. If you have identified a new opportunity,
don’t abandon your core business immediately. Test
your new idea in the market. If it works well, reevaluate
whether to stick with both businesses or to change gears.
When you know what you want to do, the best way to make
it happen is to create very specific action steps. Each
step should have a single responsible party and a target
date for completion. Giving everyone a call to action is
the most powerful way to kick off a new strategy.
Take Action
Breakthrough strategies are only valuable if they lead
to breakthrough results. Hopefully, you have energized your
firm by learning and talking about your market opportunities.
The right action plans will give you a clear roadmap for
the coming months.
Accountability is essential. This can take the form of
a calendar tickler for a single-person firm or a regular
follow-up meeting to keep everyone in a larger firm on track.
Follow-up sessions are also important to measure your progress
and adjust your strategy as you learn new lessons or get
new information.
Fueled by fresh information, your firm can develop a breakthrough
strategy to jumpstart a growth spurt in your practice. Use
information to inspire a creative process that finds the
highest value intersection between the market’s needs
and your strengths. Link your strategy with action through
clear action steps. Continue to learn, adapt, and grow to
achieve a breakthrough strategy this year.
Mary Adams
and Michael Oleksak are principals at Trek Consulting LLC,
a firm that helps companies develop innovative strategies
for facing challenges of growth, change and succession.
You can find out more by visiting www.trekconsulting.com. |
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