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The Management Consultant
The Management Consultant Mastering the art of consultancy
Richard Newton
PEARSON EDUCATION LIMITED Edinburgh Gate Harlow CM20 2JE Tel: +44 (0)1279 623623 Fax: +44 (0)1279 431059 Website: www.pearsoned.co.uk
First published in Great Britain in 2010
© Richard Newton 2010 The right of Richard Newton to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. ISBN: 978-0-273-73087-3 British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Newton, Richard, 1964The management consultant : mastering the art of consultancy / Richard Newton. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-0-273-73087-3 (pbk.) 1. Business consultants. I. Title. HD69.C6N495 2010 001--dc22 2009050850 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without either the prior written permission of the publisher or a licence permitting restricted copying in the United Kingdom issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency Ltd, Saffron House, 6–10 Kirby Street, London EC1N 8TS. This book may not be lent, resold, hired out or otherwise disposed of by way of trade in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published, without the prior consent of the Publishers. 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 14 13 12 11 10 Typeset in 9/13pt Stone Serif by 30 Printed and bound in Great Britain by Ashford Colour Press Ltd, Gosport The Publisher’s policy is to use paper manufactured from sustainable forests.
Contents
Acknowledgements / vii Preface / ix Introduction / xi part 1
Understanding consultants and consultancy
1
Consultants and consultancy / 3
2
Why does anyone buy consultancy? / 23
3
Your consulting service / 41
4
The three core processes of client-centric consulting / 58
part 2
Consulting engagements
5
Finding and winning work / 77
6
Delivering consulting engagements and satisfying clients / 108
7
The alternative approach – process consulting and facilitation / 132
8
Closing engagements and sustaining results / 147
part 3
9
High-performance consulting Developing long-term client relationships / 169
10
The ethical dimension / 181
11
The language of consulting / 199
12
Knowing when to say no / 220
13
Key consulting tips / 234
14
The client’s perspective – buying consultancy / 251
Conclusion / 269
vi
Contents
part 4
Additional resources for consultants
A
The tools, processes and materials of a consultancy business / 275
B
References / 279
C
Sample proposal letter / 281
Index / 285
Acknowledgements
I would like to thank five consulting colleagues who I started working with years ago in Coopers & Lybrand. Although our careers have moved on in different ways, we still work together from time to time. More often we meet up, share stories and enjoy laughing about the occasionally pretentious side of the profession. They are: Graham Jump, Peter Meredith, Perry Childs, Richard Ellis and Andy Macey.
Dedication This book is dedicated to my son Konrad for inspiring me to write the book, when he admitted that he really did not have the faintest idea what I did.
Preface
This book is a personal guide to the art of management consulting. It sets