Slide1 : Behavioural Success Factors for Client Organisations and Management Consultants
Consultancy Purchasing Group
Purpose of this document : Purpose of this document The Institute’s Consultancy Purchasing Group is made up of of senior procurement people in leading organisations that each purchase consultancy worth at least £50m per annum. The groups current composition is shown at appendix A.
The Group seeks to exchange information and good practice in order to increase the effectiveness of the use of consultants by clients and influence and raise standards in the profession.
These guidelines provide practical suggestions for consultants and clients on the behaviours and practices that experience shows make a difference at each stage in the cycle of choosing and using a business consultant.
The Institute’s Consultancy Purchasing Group recommends using these guidelines as part of the assignment process to ensure that procurement and end user teams develop an effective relationship with their management consultants.
The Institute of Business Consulting has individual consultancies and practices in membership and provides independent help in finding a consultancy. For further information on the Institute’s Consultancy Finder Service and Recognised and Premier Practices, refer to our web site http://www.ibconsulting.org.uk
The assignment life-cycle : The assignment life-cycle Pre Assignment During the Assignment Post Assignment
Pre assignment – Consultants : Pre assignment – Consultants Put in the effort to really understand our requirement – learn about our business, history, structure and culture to help provide a solution with a high chance of success.
Check that the required expenditure is authorised and that the client is prepared for the potential total lifecycle spend including any associated purchases such as software.
Ensure expectations on both sides about roles, responsibilities, costs and benefits are clear from the outset to avoid problems later.
Ensure your bidding team is aware of all areas where your firm and ours are working together and co-ordinate contacts effectively.
If undertaking more than one assignment with us, don’t be afraid to bundle projects together if this means you can offer economies of scale.
Put our interest ahead of your sales opportunity.
Recognise that not everything is a strategic problem – don’t overcomplicate the requirement in order to increase the scope.
Talk about our practical needs rather than creating an opportunity to show how much you know – don’t patronise, use lots of jargon or lecture us.
Always bid with the team who will deliver.
Seek and listen to feedback.
Do
Pre assignment – Consultants continued…. : Pre assignment – Consultants continued…. Be concise and specific in your written responses, whether in a tender or when answering ad hoc requests, questions, etc.
In presentations, keep to time and cover the points on the agenda; your audience will really appreciate it and you’ll be marked up for it.
For your tender, stick to the format specified in the ITT or RFP. If a format is not specified, offer to take the client through the way you intend to lay out your response.
Offer innovative options on charging, where appropriate.
Always follow the process set out by the client.
Do
Pre assignment – Consultants : Pre assignment – Consultants Try to circumvent the rules of engagement laid down for the tender process, for example by lobbying outside the defined contact list.
Be afraid not to quote – we will be more inclined to ask you another time if you are open about your strengths.
Ring up every week to see what’s going on.
Ask questions that they know can’t / shouldn’t be answered. E.g. who else has tendered, what are the average fee rates et al.
Use comb binders. They are murder to take apart to copy, or shred extra copies not required for filing.
Forward a proposal for a framework that doesn’t include any costs, and just a sentence saying costs for each job will be agreed separately.
Say that draft terms and conditions are acceptable apart from ….. and then not give alterative suggestions.
Regurgitate the details from the ITT or the RFP in the Management Summary.
Add in pages and pages of marketing information.
Add in pages and pages of theory and case studies. If these are deemed necessary add them in as an annex so evaluators can refer to them when required.
Try to bolt-on products that are not needed.
Don’t
Pre assignment – Clients : Pre assignment – Clients Get buy in from the key players to what you want to do and ensure there is an authorised business case, that takes account of the whole lifecycle spend (including associated purchases such as software) and identifies sources of funding.
Engage with your sourcing / procurement department before you finalise the specification as they may be able to help improve it and may know how others have met similar needs (in your organisation or outside).
Keep an open mind on which suppliers to consider.
Use a fast track procurement process where a rapid solution to an immediate problem is needed (procurement departments should make one available).
Define clear rules of engagement to govern the procurement process and communicate these to all parties – within your own organisation and outside.
Break the requirement down and consider a variety of resourcing and remuneration options to obtain best value – don’t use a consultant if a less expensive resource can deliver some or all of the assignment; do consider fees contingent upon performance where that is an option.
Be honest and realistic about the true state of knowledge and understanding of the problem – and consider a scoping study if it is unclear. Do
Pre assignment – Clients continued…. : Pre assignment – Clients continued…. Be open to alternative ways of looking at the problem – even if they may mean changing your approach
Ensure you identify and make available the internal resource required to deliver the assignment successfully; and allow sufficient resource and lead time for benefits to be realised
Give honest feedback – both positive and negative.
Make sure the people in your own organisation are well briefed, that you’ve got the resource you need in the evaluation team, and that your sponsorship is solid.
Establish draft selection criteria before you issue the ITT or RFP. That way you aren’t embarrassed later by not having asked for all the information you need for the decision.
Think carefully about the process and timetable you want applicants and your own organisation to follow (allowing time for your own decision-making) and make every effort to stick to it. Include explicit guidelines on how you will handle and share with all bidders (or not) your responses to questions.
Issue clear instructions, especially in the specification of requirements, in your ITT or RFP and include the format for responses.
Even at this early stage, watch out for “scope creep” Do
Pre assignment – Clients continued…. : Pre assignment – Clients continued…. Allow for an appropriate amount of contact between your organisation the prospective consultants, be clear about channels of communication and stick to them.
Send Ts & Cs as part of the ITT or RFP and make it clear they will form the basis of any agreement. Seize the initiative in potentially contentious areas by including your company’s policies, for example on expenses.
Put a stake in the ground about who owns the output and how the consultant can use it in future assignments.
Maintain competition as long as possible through the selection process.
Agree the basis of invoicing and payment, including allowable expenses. Do
Pre assignment – Clients : Pre assignment – Clients Be vague about the problem to be solved and the desired outcome – clear benefits and SMART objectives built in from the start will transform your chances of success.
Hide the internal political barriers where this is a major factor.
Have one team undertaking the procurement exercise and then another team taking on the contract management functions, without making adequate provision for continuity.
Include too many areas of expertise in one tender document.
Don’t
During the assignment – Consultant : During the assignment – Consultant Ask for clarification as early as possible if you’re unsure of any step, requirement, deliverable, or milestone.
Identify potential problems to the client so that corrective action can be taken.
Provide a single point of contact, with clearly identified backup.
Always reply promptly to the client.
Meet the agreed timescales and report honestly on progress.
Use the team agreed with the client.
Focus on the job rather than up-selling.
Challenge the status quo and introduce (tactfully) what you believe to be best practice.
Communicate frequently and keep to the agreed channels.
Understand the client’s culture and take this into account in your approach (the assignment may be there precisely to change or overcome the client’s culture, so you would not always want to adopt it).
Do
During the assignment – Client : During the assignment – Client Ensure the client team involves and includes all relevant staff and that the right levels of internal resource are available.
Understand what the consultant is trying to do and help or correct, as appropriate.
Build a balanced client / consultancy team that will deliver a winning solution.
Communicate frequently and keep to the agreed channels.
Make decisions and give authorisation when you’ve agreed to do so.
Set a clear baseline and establish milestones to assist in measuring achievement of benefits.
Schedule regular project meetings at an appropriate frequency and show they’re important by ensuring the key players from your organisation attend.
Schedule time for handover and any follow-ups that are likely to be needed.
Communicate the nature and scale of any change that will result from the assignment throughout your organisation – and continue to do so for as long as relevant and necessary.
Manage the contract.
Review invoices thoroughly and promptly, and pay when due. Do
During the assignment – Client : During the assignment – Client Allow the consultant to dominate, work with them.
Expect the consultant to perform miracles; clients have to give input and guidance too.
Allow scope creep – maintain focus.
Exclude other parts of your business – they may be affected too and / or have useful information.
Micro-manage – trust the consultant to do their job.
Delay critical decision making.
Hog information – share with the consultant as they cannot deliver in a vacuum.
Allow the project to progress without regular meetings to check progress.
Don’t
Post the assignment - Consultants : Post the assignment - Consultants Insist (tactfully) on a full handover to the appropriate people in the client’s organisation.
Provide workshops / briefings / training to the client team, to ensure full knowledge transfer.
Establish an understanding with the client about when you’ll charge for ad hoc follow-up questions, requests, etc. Unless specifically agreed, do not charge for answering follow-up questions on the work you have done.
Do not sell assignment output to competitors of your client in a way which breaches either your contractual or ethical obligations to your client.
Maintain communications with your primary contact(s) during and after handover, on a relationship development basis, to assist with adoption issues and answer any outstanding questions. Be flexible about helping; it will lead to more chargeable business.
Ask the key contact(s) to evaluate your performance on the assignment. Act on the feedback and make sure the client knows that you’ve done so.
Do
Post the assignment - Consultants : Post the assignment - Consultants Seek to retain key information, thereby maintaining a dependency for which you can charge the client.
Harass the client with “sell-on” ideas, or worse make additional work critical to the adoption of advice provided earlier.
Leave without giving a report / relevant documentation and contact numbers for reasonable follow up questions.
Leave without performing a full handover with the client and any other relevant stakeholders.
Don’t
Post the assignment - Client : Post the assignment - Client Ensure that any outstanding issues are discussed and resolved with the consultant.
Obtain a full understanding of assignment output, and seek clarification of all detail as required, to facilitate full adoption.
Establish a route map for adoption to guide the way to achieve targeted objectives.
Ensure handover of accountability for benefits delivery within the business to appropriate Executive.
Ensure sufficient resource is allocated and immediately in place to ensure continuity of work.
Establish required scorecards / KPIs, and reporting approach, to track success of work following the project.
Communicate the results to the business to gain broad business support and involvement, and to sustain the change.
Road-show project output across the business to other areas which might take advantage of it to maximise the value obtained.
Survey those involved in your organisations for lessons learnt.
Give the consultant honest feedback on their performance, and if you’re likely to use the consultant again, volunteer to give the feedback to the consultant’s entire team.
Ask the key consultant contact(s) to evaluate your organisation’s performance on the project. Act on the feedback and make sure the consultant knows that you’ve done so.
Conduct a post-completion review and keep the results for future reference, making such information available when considering future engagements. Do
Post the assignment – Client continued . . . . . : Post the assignment – Client continued . . . . . Do Review any outstanding invoices thoroughly, collaboratively agreeing with the consultant any appropriate risk / reward payments according to preset success criteria.
Record rate savings achieved / charging mechanisms applied, for application in future negotiations.
Post the assignment - Client : Post the assignment - Client Allow the consultant to leave without checking with all stakeholders that their requirements have been met.
Be afraid to dispute payment where delivery has failed to match contract and agreed deliverables (noting any client contribution to such an outcome).
Delay in paying when due.
Expect the hard work to end when the consultant leaves. The project / change programme will need to be continually managed, monitored and embedded into the organisation. Get a plan in place to do this.
Put advice on the shelf and neglect to exploit its value.
Neglect to maintain a discipline beyond the project end in reviewing and acting on project output, and the findings of any adoption tracking process (i.e. scorecards etc).
Allow information / documentation / knowledge to leave with the consultant.
Ignore a ‘project review’ exercise with the consultant and other stakeholders. Lessons learnt from this project may assist future assignments and avoid ‘buying the same piece of consultancy work again’.
Don’t
Appendix A – current composition of the Consultancy Purchasing Group : Appendix A – current composition of the Consultancy Purchasing Group Abbey
ABN Amro
Arkimedia
Astra Zeneca
AXA UK
BAE Systems
Barclays
BNP Parabas
Boots
Bradford & Bingley
British Airways
BT
Cable & Wireless
Cadbury Schweppes
Capital One
Catalise
Chase
Citigroup
Contractor
Defra
DFES
Disney
Eurostar
First Plus
HBOS Plc
JPM Chase
Lehman Brothers
Legal & General
Lloyds TSB
MoD
National Grid Transco
Northern Ireland Government
Norwich UNion
OCG
PASA
Principality
RBS
Resolution PLC
Reuters
Royal Mail
Royal Sun & Alliance
Sanofi Aventis
Shell
Siemens
Standard Life
Tesco
Whitbread
Williams Lea
Winterthur
Zurich Financial Services