Disrupting the Status Quo in Consulting Services Delivery

Nicolas Arkells is CEO of Manticore Consulting Group. His firm is challenging the status quo for consulting services delivery through its value-based flat rate pricing model.

I asked Nicolas to share his thoughts on leadership practices. Following is a summary.

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Please tell us a bit about your company, its industry, your role, and how long you've been with them.

I have been with Manticore Consulting Group for almost a year. We are a lean and agile health economics and outcomes research firm. We help companies communicate their products value proposition through economic and scientific research. We focus on assessing a products impact on patients and affordability of the treatment.   

  https://www.manticore.consulting/

How important are leadership style and management technique in your daily work?  How would you describe your natural leadership style?  Is this any different from the predominant leadership style in your organization?  How so?

My leadership style is one of collaboration, it is intended to mirror my organization's as a whole. I believe CEO's must lead by example in this area, it is not a role that can be delegated. At Manticore this is why we emphasize a team driven and interdisciplinary approach to help best meet our clients' needs. More than anything, I coordinate the necessary resources and communication between my executive teams, while keeping focus on the company's larger strategy. We always try to avoid making decisions as individuals or working on projects in isolation. I believe that working with other team members is essential to achieve the 360 degree perspective that best facilitates continuous improvement.  

As you've grown in your career, what skills did you refine in your earlier positions that have helped you most in your current role?

The biggest area where I needed improvement was communication. I had to learn the hard way, I cannot expect progress if I'm not communicating my objectives in simple and quantifiable terms. The greatest change as a CEO from my previous position was realizing employees will challenge your instructions far less than before. I had to learn not to take "yes" at face value, instead its best to ask in a calm and relaxed tone if someone needs more details. 

What are some of the metrics you measure to give you the clearest story on the success of your work as a leader and manager?

The strongest metric is how well things run in my absence. If productivity takes a hit while I'm away or consultants do not take enough initiative, it lets me know I'm being too directive. It's critical as a leader to preserve what I call "creative distance" which consists of allowing employees enough room to explore new methods and to take on greater ownership of their work. 

Another strong metric is how well your employees execute projects with a sense of purpose. I don't expect anyone to love work, but employees should always understand the value of their duties and how they fit within the larger strategy. Every employee should understand they have value and meaning within our organization. As humans, we want to comprehend our place on the team and its significance, otherwise we struggle connecting it to a larger vision. 

Which learning and leadership development investments have had the greatest return for the company and where do you see the company expending learning efforts in the future?

The best long term training investments have been lean six sigma and general adaptations of what I learned from leadership training in the US Army. Lean six sigma really facilitates a culture that aligns your employees values not only with the company's, but with the clients values as well. The Army training in turn really prepared me for rapid adaptability and prioritizing objectives in a very short window of time. I would also like to start looking into some formal agility training to supplement our lean approach.  

What area of leadership / management has generated the best results for you and your organization?  Why?

In the consulting field it has been showing leaders client centered business models can succeed and ultimately outperform a more adversarial one. When a business partnership evolves from just mutual benefit into full fledged symbiosis everything falls into place. Client requests become better informed and thus more reasonable, consultants derive more fulfillment from their work, long term business reduces marketing costs, clients receive less expensive services in a shorter window of time etc.

What do you see as the top 3 challenges and the top 3 opportunities facing leaders and managers over the next several years?  For you? For your organization?

Challenges

In general for leaders the challenge of turning an idea into implementation; most leaders have ideas of what is supposed to be done, but this is entirely different from implementing it.

Another general challenge over the next several years for leaders will be inspiring others if they are in an organization that appears solely driven by profit margins or where leadership is too distant from everyday workers. 

For my own firm, a challenge is getting clients to trust in our innovative business model. We are the only consulting firm I know of in the industry that offers flat rate pricing. Many clients struggle accepting consulting work does not need to be billed by the hour. We do consulting in the economics field, I had hoped more clients would trust consultants abilities to perform basic financial forecasting. 

Opportunities

The biggest opportunity is due to improvements in information technology that are making it a lot less expensive than ever before to go into a new industry or start your own business.

Another opportunity is the ability for smaller consulting firms to offer clients a whole network of services in a manner similar to a larger one. This is largely facilitated by the greater prevalence of social media and other mediums of communication, which, allow these smaller companies to network with other firms in strategic alliances.

Another great opportunity is the transparency afforded by living in such an interconnected world. Ethical organizations can be recognized far more easily, while those more dubious ones can be discovered much faster. This really puts moral leadership front and center in the business strategy. 

Any final words of wisdom to other everyday leaders?

Accept that no amount of money is ever enough to feel content, as this feeling comes from an entirely different place than profit margins. The terminal objective should always be inspiring others to achieve their full potential. The lives we change echo forever, whereas fortune rarely lasts a lifetime.

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About this Series

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