I’ve spent my career working for consulting organisations - management consulting, IT consulting, technology consulting, business consulting, agile consulting…. just a few flavours of consulting I’ve provided to hundreds of clients since I entered this industry as a graduate.
My work has been most fulfilling when my team and I have achieved greatness in delivering a solution that provides real benefits to the client AND when the change we’ve affected is long lasting.
I've reflected on my past consulting engagements. I'm looking forward to providing an outcome coaching platform at
Stellafai 🚀
to deliver strategy with focus and alignment. But I realise that 'consulting' I was trained to deliver, and indeed did deliver, is not the best answer for lasting change and transformation.
Yes, we know from our research that we need to provide help to our customers over and above what our software alone provides. But bolting on some consulting days will not achieve the full outcome.
So, we’re looking to employ five principles in the enablement and implementation support we provide.
- Being accessible over being dedicated - we don’t want to be those consultants who are booked for X days at the beginning of an engagement or two agreed days per month. How can we possibly know up front when help will be most valued or needed? We must be able to provide the help when people need it and to provide the correct nudges and guidance at the right times.
- Enablement over execution - I worked on too many project teams where our delivery organisation were pushing for extensions, change requests and, right or wrong, we made our consulting people sticky and essential for continuity. A much more impactful way to drive great agility and product-centric teams is to enable long-lived, empowered teams inside the client organisation, not dependent on consultants. We must guide and consult with this aim.
- Little & often over big batches - we can’t assume that people need help for weeks or even days at a time. Sometimes people just need a 30 minute call or a 10 minute sound-board via chat, to be unblocked, to be enabled or to have the confidence and assurance to take the next steps themselves.
- Continuous support over a scheduled plan - I used to hate leaving a client engagement knowing that the team I was leaving behind were likely to have ongoing challenges. The contract had expired. Time was up. “If they need more, they’ll have to pay.” You can’t plan for when that help and guidance is really needed. Instead, we should allow orgs to subscribe for the ongoing support and access/consume it continuously as needed.
- Contextual guidance over reusable assets. Providing generic training material, knowledge documents, videos, etc. all provide impact but nothing is as strong as getting tailored guidance with specific context to the customer’s space, their data, their usage and their challenges.
Consulting as I was taught and delivered for two decades has evolved.
The future is on-demand, accessible, contextual guidance and coaching.
Senior Delivery Lead | Agile Transformation Coach
8moTim, what a brilliant way to summarize what is already happening on the market and what the customers have already been asking for a long time! Thank you for putting it in black and white and helping the puzzle pieces form into a picture in my head :) I want to see more consultancy companies realizing this and as a consultant myself - I would love to be able to work this way! Talk about building long-lasting, transformative, true partnerships with our customers by adopting this way of working! 👏 🚀
Advisor and companion for the digital journey
1yAbsolutely agree, Tim. I am convinced that we need to rethink today's consulting.
📌 Architect, turned product manager ✉️ Sharing insights, tools, and trends through my AI-focused newsletter for developers
1yYou hit the nail on the head Tim. I'm watching how you can address these.
Technology Adoption | High-Performing Teams Catalyst | Cloud, DevSecOps & Digital Transformation
1yThank you Tim, because you have done something very difficult. You have summarized in a very comprehensive way what our customers really need (and ofently not what they ask for). For me is a very revealing lecture and I agree with all these terms and priorities. I would add just one additional perspective: the business model needed to support any modern consulting organization. I have the privilege of leading a team that must maintain a difficult balance between customer satisfaction, capacity management and responsiveness… and applying what you presented in your post could potentially land into a very challenging path. Especially when it comes to a non-linear and less predictable consumption model. I mean, to build up a profitable and sustainable consulting business over this disruptive model. I think if you achieve it, your org will have high success and will gain the trust of the customers. For that, I believe traditional beliefs and big walls must fall first in the traditional consulting organizations… and creative thinking behaviors may arise at the same time. How doing this disruption during these financial-driven times… oh man, this is a hard task, but it’s a path worth following 😎. Again, thanks Tim!
Helping post-sales teams navigate the evolution of Customer Success and Professional Services. Aspiring Chief Customer Officer. Customer & Partner Experience @ Workiva.
1y17 years in consulting for me and this definitely hits the nail on the head. Great customer alignment and outcomes can be achieved when you account for all of these needs in your approach.