Leadership Lessons Blog

Leadership Lessons: The Responsibility of Management Consultants

I've been in business as a management consultant for 10 years.  Most of my training evolved from working with and for great leaders and great companies.  Today, many business leaders are faced with challenges that go beyond what is taught in business school.  Each day, business leaders face both financial difficulties as well as internal difficulties.  As a management consultant, it can be easy to simply focus attention on helping clients reach their financial goals, but if that is the only focus, then the consultant really isn't doing their job. 

As individuals brought in to companies to assist them, management consultants should also be working with executives on improving their social performance.  We can run around letting everyone know that the sky is falling, or we can maintain a sense of decorum that helps workers weather the challenges. 

The recent economic crisis continues to cause distrust with business leaders and consumer confidence.  How then, should business leaders regain public trust?  Peter Drucker, in many of his mangement and leadership books said this about management consultants.  "They should think of themselves as diagnosticians rather than technicians."  The best way to help a client improve its performance is to build on the strengths of its culture.  Help organizations face those things that they are not doing well and create action items with strong accountability to turn poor performance around.  This doesn't always mean shying awa from telling clients the truth if their culture needs improving.  The management consultant neets to be the omnisicent observer that helps guide a company back to its roots, its mission and its vision for the future. 

As we continue to come out of the recession, companies will have to change how they are doing business.  Consultants need to guide company leaders to  gain public trust and social acceptance.  Management Consultants must be change agents.  Peter Drucker's sage advice is a roadmap to success! 

Change Management and the Economy!

Now more than ever, with the economy tetering day-to-day, employees need to be ready to change.  When the external marketplace changes become apparent inside the organization, manager realize the risk of not changing.  If you own a business, you quickly realize that not changing may mean a loss of jobs, business failure or loss of revenue. 

If you are an employee, the risks of not changing are even more dramatic.  We have already seen the unemployment figures, currently we're at 9.5 %.  More and more employees are suffering through stress, job dissatisfaction, fewer promotional opportunity, lower job security and a decrease in pay and benefits. 

If you want to be among the leaders, you need to realize that change is inevitable in this type of an economy and you need to position yourself to change as the situation warrants.  Some employees take a wait and see attitude.  Certainly, this is not the time to be slow in your response to change.  You will be remembered by your employer for your ability to respond positively and quickly  to change. 

Business Management Lessons!

Saturday of this week, I played on a new golf course in Dracut, MA.  As I approached the course, lining the street were multi-million dollar homes all occupied with no for sale signs.  Lawns were perfectly manicured and I really felt as though I were on a movie set.  So obviously folks, there is still money out there and people are making it.  These are people who are clearly managing their portfolios wisely as well as their business. 

So what does this have to do with you?  It is important to remember that regardless of our economic situation people will continue to purchase what they NEED not what they WANT.  So the key to your business model is to re-evaluate, re-structure if necessary and provide clients with what they NEED.  If there are sectors in your business model not making money, try to look at how best to move resources around to augment other sectors in your business model that ARE making money. 

Recently, I worked with a mid-size plumbing company.  They primarily handled new construction as well as re-models.  Once the economy tanked so did their business, but they still had skilled labor!  This was their greatest asset.  We began to look at how to beef up the "service" end of their business.  We started to call on all previous customers offering them deals and packaging for servicing all of their plumbing needs.  We created different types of maintenance agreements.  What we discovered is really very simple, people NEED the water heater in top condition

Business Planning---Not Just a Form

Recently, I've seen an influx of requests for a "form" to prepare a Business Plan for a start-up.  Many vendors are quick to suggest a template, but there is more to business planning than merely filling out the required fields. 

A business consultant can tell you that unless you conduct a thorough SWOT analysis, a competitive marketing review and an assessment of product viability or service viability, you are merely going through an administrative process that may not provide you with the information you really need to make sound business decisions. 

A business plan should be a reflection of not only where you want to go with your business idea today, but what obstacles you need to overcome in order to be successful.   Business Plans also have different purposes.  If you are writing a plan to entice potential investors, then the plan needs to be customized to appeal to their pocketbooks.  If you are writing a business plan in order to help organize where you want your business to be in five years, then the focus of the plan shifts to a strong mission statement and operational principles. 

Look for assistance from competent consultants that can provide you with the help you need.  The dollars you spend working with professionals who understand how best to position your company in the future will be an investment you want to make in your company in the long run.

Use Your Business Plan to Run Your Business

Business Plans should be looked at at least quarterly by members of the entire management team.  A business plan is a document that guides how a company will get from point A to point B.  In today's challenging business environment, all companies need to be at the ready to alter their business models to meet the changing needs of their industry and their customers.

A business plan can be simply a coffee table book that gathers dust or it can be a powerful tool for an entire management team to stay ahead of the curve, alternating if necessary, the course of how they will achieve their goals. 

Each business plan must include financials.  At the very least these should be reviewed on a monthly basis to ensure that the economic structure supporting the plan is a sound one.