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The things that go wrongThursday 19th Aug, 2010When we carry out the research for our briefing notes, we usually ask consulting firms what – in their opinion – the main causes of underperforming consulting projects are. Having written 18 briefing notes so far we’re starting to see a few issues cropping up consistently, so we thought we’d share them with you. You won’t be surprised, given that we ask consultants for their opinion, that ‘terrible consultants’ doesn’t tend to feature very prominently (though, in their defence, consultants do often identify issues for which they’re to blame). Anyway, here are the top three issues overall: 1. Insufficient support from senior management. Across all consulting services this is, by some distance, the biggest single cause of projects failing to deliver what was expected of them. Tip for clients: be clear – by speaking to consultants if necessary – about what will be required of internal stakeholders (in terms of time, authorisation, commitment of human and financial resources etc) before starting the consulting project. Winging it and hoping they’ll jump on board once they’ve been dazzled by the success of your (already well-underway or even completed) project is a risky strategy.
2. Challenges relating to the existing culture of an organisation. Just as most people are theoretically keen to reduce their carbon footprint but would rather do so without having to change anything they do, so clients bring in consultants in the hope that they can make things better without anyone needing to break their stride. Tip for clients: encourage internal discussion with everyone that’s likely to be affected by a consulting project so that everyone is clear about what the consultants are being brought in to do (which will help to allay some of the suspicions people tend to have about consultants, too). Even if you can’t be certain what changes will be required (which is likely), opening a dialogue about change and allowing staff to voice concerns (and share ideas) will help. Above all else, accept that this applies to you, too.
3. Lack of a clear strategy. The trouble with consulting projects is that they’re often started in response to uncertainty or confusion within the client organisation. This leads to clients failing to discriminate between the questions they can answer, and the questions they can’t, and bringing in consultants too early to sort out the whole sorry mess for them. Tip for clients: our research suggests that more than 50% of eventual project over-runs (which themselves account, on average, for about 15% of project fees) are attributable to issues that occur before the consultant has even started work. Don’t be lazy: taking time to answer the questions you can (being clear about what you’re trying to achieve, why you’re bringing consultants in and what you want them to do for you) before the project starts will pay you back every time.
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