Understanding the consultancy process used by Brefi Group
What is consultancy?
The Institute of
Management Consultancy (IMC) defines management consultancy
as ‘the provision to management of objective advice and
assistance relating to the strategy, structure, management and operations
of an organisation in pursuit of its long-term purposes and objectives.
Such assistance may include the identification of options with recommendations;
the provision of an additional resource and/or the implementation
of solutions.'
Management consultants are ‘those organisations and/or
individuals that participate in the process of management consultancy
within a framework of appropriate and relevant professional disciplines
and ethics designed for the activity of management consultancy.'
Typically, a management consultant will be engaged in providing
change demonstrating:
- change management skills
- technical and business knowledge
- business understanding
- ownership, management and delivery of solutions to clients
- project delivery and risk management
- excellent interpersonal skills
- ability to transfer skills to others
- creative and analytical thinking
- adherence to a code of conduct and ethical guidelines
The IMC has developed a management consultancy competence framework,
which presents the knowledge, skills and behaviours that define
today's management consultant, all of which are supported by a code
of conduct and professional ethics. It sets out three broad groupings
of competences:
Market Capability and Knowledge: The application
of fact-based knowledge, bringing together the combination of technical
skills, business understanding, sector insight and external awareness.
Consulting Competence defines the core consultancy
skills, tools, and techniques which are essential in delivering
consultancy services.
Professional Behaviours are the entry-level professional
behaviours and attitudes which act as ‘enablers' in achieving
market capability and consulting competence.
Brefi Group consultancy process
Brefi Group adopts the consultancy model developed by Peter
Block. According to Block, a consultant is 'a person in a
position to have some influence over an individual or group, or
an organisation, but who has no direct power to make changes or
implement programmes'.
Sometimes a consultant is asked to take responsibility for implementation
– in this case they are acting as a surrogate manager. It can be
a legitimate activity, but strictly it is not consulting.
In its most general use, consultation describes any action taken
with a system of which the consultant is not a part. Change comes
in two varieties. At one level, we consult to create change in the
line organisation of a structural, policy, or procedural nature;
the second kind of change is the end result that one person or many
people in the line organisation have learned something new.
Leverage and impact are what consultants want and what we get paid
for. Leverage and impact mean that our expertise is used and our
recommendations are accepted.
Each consulting project, however short, goes through five
phases:-
- Entry and contracting
This is a critical stage of any project, to do with the initial
contact with the client, including exploring the problem, deciding
whether the consultant is the right person to work on this issue,
both the client's and the consultant's expectations and how to
get started.
- Discovery and dialogue
Consultants need to come up with their own sense of the problem,
and help the client to do the same; who is going to be involved
in defining the problem, what methods will be used, what kind
of data should be collected, how long will it take?
- Feedback and decision to act
Reporting the data collection and analysis, including setting
ultimate goals for the project and selecting the best action steps
or changes.
- Engagement and implementation
In many cases the implementation may fall entirely on the line
organisation, though the consultant may also be involved.
- Extension, recycle or termination
Evaluation of what happened in the previous phase. Sometimes it
is not until after some implementation occurs that a clear picture
of the real problem emerges. In this case the process recycles
and a new contract needs to be discussed.
Brefi Group consultants are trained to apply their technical competence
through this process, using the powerful change processes of NeuroLinguistic
Programming. In addition, they have facilitative, coaching and training
skills to support a comprehensive organisational change process.
What to do next
Now that you have a better understanding of what consultants do
and the process adopted by Brefi Group, we will be delighted to
discuss with you how we might help you in a particular project,
including using our experience and diagnostic tools to prepare a
project specification and brief that you can then use to select
your chosen consultant.
There are lots of detailed pages on this site, so if you have a
specific interest, please use the search box at the top of the page.
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