article options:      send feedback           

How to Hire for Rapid Growth: Lessons from Three Successful Firms

By Jason Sanders

Rapid growth provides a unique opportunity to create a great culture. While culture may seem like a fuzzy, intangible concept, its effects on the bottom line are very real. To keep its professionals happy and productive, a consulting firm must promote harmony. The lack of such a foundation will result in fragmentation and the departure of your most valuable professional resources.

Successful, high-growth firms create a healthy environment by putting specific hiring processes into place. They screen candidates thoroughly, integrate them effectively, and provide a basis for stability. Let’s take a look at some of the lessons learned from three successful, rapid-growth firms.

Gemini Consulting’s Cultural Legacy

In all my years of recruiting, one firm—Gemini Consulting—stands out for creating a very successful culture. Not only did this firm provide client value and grow rapidly, but it also left dramatically positive impressions in the minds of its consultants.

For Gemini Consulting alumni, the firm is the benchmark by which to measure their subsequent employers. They feel a level of commitment and shared experience with one another. The firm set itself apart from others by instituting business methods to foster growth. These techniques supported and reinforced a core value system that tied the whole organization together.

When the MAC group merged with United Research, a new firm was formed. Concurrently, CAP Gemini Sogeti acquired this new firm, providing financial fuel for the newly named Gemini Consulting. The near simultaneous merger and acquisition created a firm that provided high value-added consulting services, even while its parent focused on technology implementation. Amazingly, Gemini maintained an independent, profitable entity for five years within a company eager to acquire and integrate other businesses.

Gemini Consulting differentiated its hiring methods from those of other firms by highlighting cultural fit up front. Existing employees were screened for compatibility in the very first face-to-face interview, establishing the initial barrier to entry within the firm.

Jack Prouty led the Global Analysis and Design Practice for Gemini. The practice deployed a rapid, SWAT team approach to identifying client problems. According to Prouty, “When we brought a candidate in for interviews, the first one was a cultural screen, then a content screen, and then a final screen by a partner.” If the candidate did not share the firm’s values from the very beginning, there was no place for that person in the firm.

Once the new hires were on board, they participated in a mandatory two-week Gemini Skills Workshop. This course laid the foundation for shared values and language for all new hires, regardless of level. They used these new skills to caucus before, during, and after client meetings, delivering great results and operating as a cohesive team. According to Prouty, “If you had the values, but did not perform up to expectations we would give you another chance, but if you did not have the values we could not afford to keep you.”

Viant Supported Shared Values with Financial Incentives

Viant used a similar process to hire in the course of its juggernaut growth. When Diane Hall joined Viant in 1996, the company was generating about $1 million in annual revenues in three small offices. Four years later, the company had gone public and was generating $125 million in offices around the globe. During this time of rapid growth, Hall served as Chief People Officer responsible for creating harmony within a functionally diverse, global organization.

Viant assembled project teams of strategists, technologists, and creative consultants. Highly visible, fast-moving projects offered frequent opportunities for conflict. In order to alleviate potential tensions, Viant advanced a system of shared values, which they supported with financial incentives. According to Hall, consultants received 360-degree feedback against core principles. “Their peers rated them about their specific actions relative to those values.” As an inducement, the company granted stock options for effective cultural development.

The ultimate decline of Viant does not diminish what it accomplished during its ascent. Viant created one global hiring process, which it implemented in each local office. They created consistent processes promoting similarities across the firm. This included the look and feel of the various offices, as well as a firm-wide hiring methodology. Each location had a people coordinator, who led multiple interview days each Friday. Hall ensured that interviewers all asked similar behavioral questions. Afterwards, they gathered in one room to discuss and vote on the appropriateness of each candidate.

“Top performers want to work with top performers. We let existing teams pick their peers, so they would support them on their projects. Creatives interviewed technologists. Technologists interviewed strategists,” says Hall. Viant emphasized cultural screen early in the process and used peer interviews to build a sense of community.

Archstone Screens from the Client Perspective

Archstone consulting began its rise from scratch in 2003, and has become a 260-person practice. In four short years, it has achieved a $70 million run rate of high value-add consulting and shows no signs of stopping. Todd Lavieri, Archstone’s founder and CEO, had some clear concepts in mind when he began to build the firm. He wanted to build one team with one profit and loss center, allowing the firm’s partners to work together. They would have greater opportunity to serve more clients, and the shared budget would lead to less conflict and fewer administrative tasks.

Lavieri faces the challenge of asking outstanding partners to leave their direct administrative control behind and unite to build a consistent culture. He expects “experienced professionals to bring the best elements from their previous firms with them and leave the bad stuff at the door.”  Each new partner has a substantial impact, so the stakes are high when the firm takes on new colleagues.

Archstone’s hiring model focuses on screening from a client’s point of view. Lavieri asks himself, “If I were a client, would I hire this person?” He expects his staff to do the same. Potential partner hires meet senior managers, as well as other partners. Frequently, candidates meet with the president of Lake Capital, their primary financial backer. “Paul [Yovovich] has never been a consultant, but he has bought consulting services. His point of view is always that of a potential new client.”

Archstone places great emphasis on supporting its professional staff. Consultants publish every year, and the firm highlights their efforts. Archstone fosters relationships with the press, and Lavieri is especially happy when an article mentions one of his team. At Archstone, appreciation for achievement and client impact creates a more cohesive culture.

Implementing a Successful Culture

Hiring for cultural fit can be a difficult process. Creating consistent business processes, however, can create an interconnected team and mitigate attrition. These successful companies offer several ideas about how to implement an effective culture.

1. Screen for cultural match, before interviewing for skills and experience.
2. Use interviewers with different points of view to screen.
3. Incorporate shared values and language into an initial on-boarding/training program.
4. Leverage the team to reinforce its own culture and reward accomplishment in that area.
5. Allow the winners to shine.

Talent acquisition is expensive. Increasing revenues may help prevent the loss of employees in the short term, but developing a place to work that people can feel proud of has lasting benefits.

Promoting a sense of team is not just about hiring great people; it’s about hiring the right people. It’s about screening for values, reinforcing them, and providing fertile soil in which they will grow. The consulting business runs on its talent. The right framework provides a welcoming environment to those you value most.

Jason Sanders is Managing Partner of J. Sanders Associates, LLC, a search firm specializing in the placement of consulting executives. His firm has twenty years of experience helping professional service firms, corporations, and private investment companies select and hire the best consultants. Find out more at www.sandersassociates.com.

You might be also interested in this article by Jason Sanders:

Hiring Experienced Consultants: How to Screen for Cultural Fit