Bringing in a management consultant - why and when it makes sense

Nobody is perfect. No business is perfect. Nobody can know everything just as no business can completely control everything that occurs inside or outside of its operations. Few people’s lives have worked out just how they wanted and few organisations grew in a predictable and organised way. This means a long list of decisions you regret and some that were bang on. Not every gamble works out and not every risk is avoided. So, when a business has developed to a position that you believe is suboptimal, who are you going to call? Maybe, just maybe, it’s time to consider bringing in a management consultant. Today, we look at why and when it makes sense for your organisation .

You have run out of ideas

We mean no disrespect by this comment. However, if we put aside our emotions for a moment, consider how many retailers go bust with the comment, “They failed to keep up with customer expectations”. Joules, TM Lewin, M&Co and Wilkos are a few recent cases with physical stores. “But wait”, we hear you scream. They were bricks and mortar. True, but we also lost Made.com , Missguided, Eve Sleep and Carzam. Sometimes, the reason is the macroeconomic environment and other times it may be a lack of innovation, inability to change or new competitors.

Long-standing businesses with steady order books or a base of contracted revenue tend to suffer most from a lack of ideas. When the money keeps rolling in, making lots more is not always something to stretch for. Private equity investors know this and look for family-run businesses or business models that are ripe for innovation, modernisation and digitisation. However, maybe a sale is not the option. Bringing in a different perspective can jump-start internal ideas and reinvigorate what is great about your business. Ultimately, you will know when the time feels right.

You have too much complexity

The larger an organisation, the more people, systems, partners and processes that exist. The older some of the systems and processes are, the more they interconnect and overlay on top of each other. Some large blue-chip organisations still run old mainframes and layer shiny user-interfaces on top of them to mask the legacy systems. Once you go beyond say 100 people and a couple of dozen systems, things start to get complicated. Every change, update and transformation, either improving, automating or implementing new technology has challenges and risks.

Sometimes, it becomes difficult to pinpoint who is responsible for a change or how many people, processes and systems are affected. A grand vision of a strategic goal may be of a level of complexity that makes it unachievable, or at least not in the short-term. Since most remuneration approaches and most shareholder priorities are rooted in the short-term, it is little wonder why long-term and large-scale transformation is often avoided. Management consultants are a good place to start to identify areas for simplification, automation and improvement. In honesty, it will take some time to get to grips with all of your complexity, so why wait?

Your people are not productive

If we focus on people for a moment, one study found that nearly three quarters of a UK employee’s day is wasted on administration and redundant processes. Couple this with a finding from Slack, which concluded that 43% of UK employee meetings were of little to no value. We also know that not every manager is equipped to make a positive impact on your business. There is also a growing economically inactive group and a lack of innovation to boost UK productivity. With well-publicised ‘spats’ and bold press statements about returning to the office, most recently from some of the big banks, it seems that many are refusing to play ball.

Ultimately, organisations have always had challenges with productivity. In the distant past, the challenge was producing more things, faster. This led to mass production techniques. Later, it was getting employees to do more and to produce more with less. This led to management theory and continuous improvement. Today, the issue seems simply to get people to work as hard as they were perceived to be working before the pandemic. If your message isn’t getting across or your policies have not seen the behaviours you want, try bringing in an external voice and conducting research. Now is the perfect time to seek help with so many organisations grappling with this challenge.

Your stakeholders are getting louder

Once upon a time, in a land far, far away, directors only listened to shareholders. Those shareholders wanted to make money and make as much of it as possible. They cosied up to politicians and assured them that they would play fair and continue to donate to their political parties. They provided employment, maybe even housing and food, so that people didn’t have to live in poverty. As a result, we were grateful for these kind benefactors making our lives, and the world-at-large, a better place. Fast-forward to today and businesses have to deal with laws, rules, quality standards, environmental standards, regulatory oversight and a raft of highly-interested stakeholders. They may have a range of shareholders with conflicting priorities and operate in multiple jurisdictions with differing norms, customs and languages .

Many of today’s leaders were educated in business schools that bestowed upon them the wisdom that the ultimate goal was to maximise shareholder value. Nothing else mattered as long as the profit and cash kept on increasing. More returns meant happier shareholders and more remuneration for me. In part, this still holds true today. However, there is a growing chorus of opposition to poor corporate practices, borne of the democratisation of communication channels, that cannot be ignored. Oil spill? Expect to be global news and incur billions in fines. Sewage spill? It depends if it is on a day when it is raining or a dry day (sic). Toxic chemicals leaking into drinking water? Expect a movie and, eventually, over $1bn in fines. How you treat customers, employees, suppliers, the environment and your local communities can all become national or international news. Perhaps, its worth involving a consultant to consider the risks and improve your practices. This could be before a crisis engulfs your business or in response to such an episode.

Your business has many needs and demands

To summarise, there are many reasons for bringing in a management consultant. Why? Because you have a challenge to solve, something troubles you, everything is not working as smooth as it could. When? It could be before something goes wrong, before results start to slide or after a crisis, to prevent a backlash or to get ahead of the rest. What we can say for certain is that there are lots of positives to involving a consultant . There are also lots of reasons and ways to bring someone in to support you as an external consultant .

If you would like to discuss your needs with us, simply drop us an email.

Alternatively, why not give us a call, message one of us through LinkedIn or ask us to call you back .

Finally, why not read a related article about the potential for confirmation bias .