Business does not need Business does not need consulting….they need resultsconsulting….they need results

“execution is strategic….people, not “execution is strategic….people, not technology are the focus”technology are the focus”

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Introduction Introduction

We are seeing an increasing failure of company projects – whether IT driven, strategic or process reengineering.

More clients seem to be engaging in battles with their consultants and IT vendors – to the point where it looks more like a Mexican stand-off.

And yet there are some consulting groups who are thriving and growing. They have specific qualities as far as I can see:• They come from an outcomes – driven philosophy• Their initial approach is an intensive diagnostics using:

Value driver treesAssessment of management operating systemsAlignment of KPI’sBenchmarking

• They take rapid action to deliver significant improvements to the client operating performance

• They put in place the “hard wiring” to ensure sustainability of the improvements We ought to be able to model ourselves on this approach. I do think that the market is

amenable to a refreshing approach – and I have jotted down a few thoughts .

Five Drivers of Success – only 21% technology linked

Based on detailed analysis by Gartner of 4,500 deployments with input from interviews with over 17,000 end users and with project teams and business sponsors

Strategy

People

Process

Technology

19%19%

21%21%

22%22%17%17%

21%21%

Ownership

1. 1. Every morning, write Every morning, write a list of the things a list of the things that need to be done that need to be done that day. that day.

2.2. Do Do tthemhem.. Source: Hugh MacLeod/tompeters.com/NPRSource: Hugh MacLeod/tompeters.com/NPR

““In real life, strategyIn real life, strategy is actually very straightforward. is actually very straightforward.

Pick a generalPick a general

direction direction … … andand imimpplementlement

likelike hellhell.”.” —Jack Welch—Jack Welch

CEO concerns – growth and sustainability, not more reports

Concerns are that performance potential needs to be unlocked – and the benefit stream needs to be sustainable. Now they see problems in achieving the potential of the business…and then the ability to have it sustained over time

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Consulting seems to be changingConsulting seems to be changing

Whilst change management consulting is capable of delivering effective business benefits realization – it doesn’t seem to be happening

Consultants - and even the clients seem to be more focused on processes than on outcomes

There seems to be more focus on delivering some aspects of transformational change – i.e. just to tick the boxes and meet payment schedules – but not delivering real outcomes

As a result, there are so many projects which fall short of their potential – and are barely able to get across the line for a go-live

It is instructive that in the case of IT projects – the big players – Oracle, SAP, Microsoft have gradually focused only on the sale of licenses and hardware. They have progressively walked away from the SI functions – and in doing so, they have left the customers with little or no chance of ever having a really transformational solution.

And when the so-called consulting firms do step in to this space, they seem to supply a stream of junior staff who have next to zero business experience. For example, in one client, the consultants were managing a detailed stakeholder engagement – however, they had never actually met any of the 50+ stakeholders themselves

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Horror stories seem to aboundHorror stories seem to abound

Consultants with one year out of a bachelor’s Degree. Who profess that they have done the Prosci training …….but cannot recall any of it

A project where the client had fallen in love with SaaS - so they were doing a series of small projects – but had overlooked all the go-live, user adoption, training etc. – assuming that what the vendor had said was true…..”this stuff is as intuitive as using Google”. A year on all the initiatives have been shelved

A project where really major process reengineering was going to be needed. But the client was convinced that this could all be done by the vendor’s SI’s. The Si’s started at level 5 process design and just applied what they know of the vendor’s solution. It all fell over and one of the smart Solutions Architect (who reviewed the wreckage) remarked that the SI’s had begun “selecting the colors of the tiles in the bathroom – and yet the overall plans and the foundations had not been agreed!!”

The out-going CFO at the NAB – Mark Joiner – told a conference that he had banned the use of the word “transformation” for all projects because……………….no transformation had actually been delivered!

There seems to be an emerging segment in the marketplace for true outcomes – driven consultants.

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Less reports….more results

The world of consulting and writing reports has entered a period of rapid climatic change. Like ants caught under the beam of a microscope on a hot summer’s day, consultants are starting to feel the heat of increased managerial focus and a new industry driven by results.

Managers are increasingly asking themselves: “do I want a report and a big bill or do I want the earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) results, extensive skill building, new organisational wiring to lock-in the results and a shared risk model where I can choose to pay for results if I want to?” That’s the difference between engaging consultants and resultants.

Most big firms have brought in external consultants at some time to assist them in their drive to improve performance. This typically involves significant idea generation and documentation, risk assessment and work planning. On paper, these ideas represent significant potential future savings.

But here’s the rub – they are ideas, not delivered results. Consultants simply consult. They are paid to proffer advice, they have nothing at risk, and let’s face it, if your in-tray is already full do you really need any more ideas? And there are too many cases where the costs of the reports actually outweigh the proposed benefits that might be achieved.

Resultants, in contrast, deliver results not reports. Results help create a better business; train a client’s people to perform highly as a regular part of their job; focus on sustainability and… are happy to be paid on results.

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“Bulldozed” change cannot be sustainable

Change can be positive, however, the traditional methods of managing change fall short of the mark. There is an alternative to just bulldozing a change through, outside the lines of reporting. Change can only succeed when instigated and embedded within the existing, accountable management structure by the workforce itself – with 100% buy-in. As renowned business thinker Peter Senge says: “People don’t resist change. They resist being changed!”

High-performing businesses sometimes need new skillsets but training courses alone just won’t do – they’re an input Key Performance Indicator (KPI) after all. Experience shows that a strategy needs to be deployed across the whole organisation to get a performance uplift that sticks. A holistic approach is required. You need to have developed and refined a six-element approach to training that irreversibly moves the output KPI and achieves an effective skills transfer. The approach is to:

• train in the line as well as in the classroom;

• make classroom training participative;

• carry out front-line coaching;

• make training impact the whole organisation;

• actively manage training and make targeted end-to-end process training material..

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Real improvements - not just 15 minutes of fame

The majority of improvement programmes fall short on delivering potential savings because they fail to adequately cover the areas of:

• ideas management,

• wiring and;

• coaching. You need all three of these dimensions in place in order to achieve sustainable,

continuous improvement. Many companies have undertaken continuous improvement programmes, however, relatively few have achieved the results they were targeting.

Most volume, revenue, yields and cost results are driven from decisions and behaviours made by the front line and their supervisors. Channelling those decisions and behaviours will transform a business’s results. Front line coaching is an evolutionary process that begins with training a supervisor on what their KPI’s are and why? What is important to manage? How to manage it and how to deal with variance in order to achieve targeted results?

Scrum Team Management delivers fast outcomesScrum Team Management delivers fast outcomes

1. Organize the work in 1. Organize the work in shortshort ccyyclescles..2. Management 2. Management doesn’tdoesn’t interruinterrupptt the team during a the team during a

work cycle.work cycle.3. The team reports to 3. The team reports to thethe clientclient, not the manager., not the manager.4. The team decides 4. The team decides howhow muchmuch timetime work will take. work will take.5. The team decides how 5. The team decides how muchmuch work it can do in an work it can do in an

iteration.iteration.6. The team decides 6. The team decides howhow to do the work in the to do the work in the

iteration.iteration.7. The team 7. The team measuresmeasures itsits ownown p performanceerformance..8. Define work goals 8. Define work goals beforebefore each cycle starts. each cycle starts.9. Define work goals through 9. Define work goals through useruser storiesstories..10. Systematically 10. Systematically removeremove imimppedimentsediments..

Source: Steve Denning/Source: Steve Denning/Forbes/Forbes/0429.110429.11

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We can learn from the best PE funds

A common perception among senior executives is that Private Equity (PE) funds achieve their superior returns by employing financial engineering techniques, by using clever capital structures and by injecting as much debt as possible into their portfolio companies.

Prior to the recent global financial crisis, there may have been some truth in this, however, in the debt-constrained economic environment of the last four years, PE funds have been forced to focus heavily on core-operating disciplines to add value to their investee companies.

There are six measures that top-quartile PE funds take to maximise company performance and financial returns. They are to:

• 1. Understand the key business drivers and areas that deliver value

• 2. Simplify organisational structures, make accountability key and cascade it down the business

• 3. Introduce Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), from CEO to front-line employees, to easily track and measure impact

• 4. Align incentives with business objectives

• 5. Drive relentless execution of the priority initiatives through to cash

• 6. Make tough decisions quickly, based on “just enough” facts.