Accenture, the consulting firm many clients love to hate, has just issued a press release.
In a statement that could only have been crated by an Accenture consultant, their CEO said, “As part of our drive to deliver high performance — both for Accenture and for our clients — and the implementation of our comprehensive human capital strategy, which defines our global talent and leadership models, we are acting boldly to better position Accenture for both short-term economic improvement and for long-term growth and profitability.”
Translation: They’ll be laying off seven percent of its senior-executive ranks and closing some offices.
In consulting parlance, “beach” or “bench” refers to the time that an individual consultant spends when not billing his or her hours to a client. In contrast, billable time refers to the hours that a consultant has billed to a client. Obviously, consulting firms would prefer that their consultants are billable the majority of the time; if not 100 percent the time. Individual consultants would prefer that two too, as yearly bonuses are typically tied to billable time as a percentage of total available time.
A primary, but not absolute, indicator of consultant's competence and ability is the amount of time a consultant has been billable, as opposed to being “on the beach” or “on the bench.” Why? Less qualified or less competent consultants are less likely to be chosen by consulting engagement leaders who are looking to staff a new client engagement.
So where have your new consultants been? When reviewing the resumes of the individuals a consulting firm proposes to send you to staff your project, you should be asking how and where they each spent the last six months.
It won't guarantee that you'll get the best consultants that the firm has to offer, but it's certainly a step in the right direction.
Think about it. You understand (I hope) situational competence. We all know people who are extraordinarily competent in one area and hopeless incompetents in other areas.
So the question is really, “How do you know the consultant you’re about to engage is competent to assist you with the issue at hand?” Having the world’s greatest consulting brain surgeon working with you on a factory floor reengineering project might not be the wisest thing to do, no matter how competent the consultant was in her field or how nice she was.
What’s the approach you use to determine and verify the competence of the consultants with which you work? From my perspective, it’s less important which approach you use (as long as it works) and more important THAT YOU HAVE AN OBJECTIVE APPROACH that you use with consistency.
So. What’s the name of your approach? How often do you update it? Who is in charge of updating and maintaining it? Is it used consistently throughout your organization?
Hmmmmm.
Seth Godin, in a post on his blog entitled “A shortage of digital coaches,” describes the absence of a certain type of individual – a digital coach. His thesis is that there are a large number of individuals and small businesses using an increasing array of digital technology that could be getting a much better return on their investment.
He posits that there is a huge market for people with the skills to “hear what you do and how you do it and then show you how to do it better.” He goes on to give examples, describing these digital coaches as “People who organize data and put it in the right place” and “People who overhaul the way small groups use technology so they can use it dramatically better.”
If such people existed and they were to charge $100 per hour -- or some set amount per day -- for their services, could they be considered true consultants? I think the answer is yes. Certainly the good ones would be more than temporary help, more than contractors. To be effective, these individuals would use both issues-based and solution-based consulting skills to move their clients further along the digital competency continuum.
Are these digital coaches around? Sure, but finding them and vetting them doesn’t seem to me to be an easy task at the present time. Simply having technology skills does not automatically equate to having consulting skills. In an effort to help make the desired connections, Seth has set up a Squidoo group for digital coaches.
Being both a consultant and small business owner, I’m intrigued by the possibility of bringing these skills to the marketplace in a rational manner. Is this a natural extension for The Geek Squad or Firedog, or are they already providing such services?
Finally, is this something the larger consulting firms might consider in an effort to provide a “starter service” to small businesses to get them familiar with their range consulting services – and hopefully turn them into long term customers?