Start With Value

As I embark on a career shift into consulting, I find myself reflecting on my vast experience working with consultants as the client. Like many of my counterparts, there were those engagements that were deeply rewarding, thought provoking, delivering high value to my organization. AND, there were those that were a complete bust along with others filling in the spectrum in between.

SO now, I am thinking intentionally on the type of business partner I want to be. What kind of projects will I gravitate towards? Where does generating revenue fit in relation to the value provided to the client? For me, every project starts with value. I need a clear path to the value I provide as measured by the client.

I remember a specific case study. This particular consulting firm worked for this organization for more than a decade earning well over $20 million in fees. The three biggest projects in the portfolio were abandoned, never delivering any real return on the investment. I am sure that firm made a lot of money on those projects.  They did not have any substantial work at that client over the next 10 years. Should they have more clearly defined success for the projects they accepted? Was consideration given to the importance of value delivery in the assignments?  Or, did they not consider reputational impact and downstream revenue potential?  

As a client, I did not always clearly define success with quantifiable outcomes when I engaged advisory services. I learned my lesson. If it cannot be measured, good luck managing it. OR, “if you don’t know where you are going, any road will get you there.” Been there done that means to me that ambiguous agreements for services will deliver just that.

As a consultant, I want to accept engagements where clients realize hard value and are completely delighted with my work.  If that path is unclear those projects will not be for me. In this context I think about the lack of alignment in my own organizations to deliver our share of the work product and the commitment to make the initiative a success. I know how important executive alignment is to any allocation of resources. Consultants should assess this prior to taking on new assignment. Are the right leaders in the organization engaged in the work and committed to success as it has been defined?

I have experienced, first hand, situations where the executive team was a collection of individuals with personal priorities that superseded the priorities of the team, regardless of what had been said in the meeting. Actions always speak louder than words.

What is your experience? What are your best practices as a client or consultant to ensure a project is successful and real value is delivered relative to the investment? It would be awesome to discuss with others how clients and consultants work together to define success and have fruitful, productive engagements with results metrics quantified. Hope to hear from you. 

Thank you.