| Mick James talks to Calvert Markham, president of the Richmond Group, about the network’s role in the current economic environment. |
| Consultants striking out on their own |
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| | By Mick James
It is just possible
the G20 will solved the
world’s problems but I’m
not banking on it.
Otherwise I’m expecting
the recession to roll
on, and with it to come
further rounds of
redundancies. Redundancy
is a terrible thing, not
least because it creates
individuals with a
surfeit of intellectual
capital and nowhere to
invest it.
Consultancy is an
obvious way to unlock
that potential but
starting out as a sole
practitioner can be a
hard path. There are
groups and networks but
also a need to be
wary—now is the time
that the bogus
franchises start to
appear— “consultancy”
firms with little
commercial raison d’etre | |
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| | beyond helping
themselves to those
redundancy payments.
Sorting the wheat
from the chaff isn’t
always easy but two
unmistakeable hallmarks
are longevity and a
close association with
professional bodies such
as the Institute of
Business Consulting, as
well as a marked
reluctance to take money
from its members. One
that ticks all the boxes
is the Richmond Group,
still going strong 22
years after it grew out
of a special interest
group of what was then
the Institute of
Management Consultants.
The Richmond Group
was a very early attempt
at a “virtual
consultancy” but, as its
president, Calvert
Markham explains, it has
evolved since then.
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“In its original
inception it actively
sought out work, but now
encourages networking
between members,” he
says. “So if I want a
consultant in logistics,
I can seek out a
colleague. The group’s
motto is, to make
members more successful
than they would be by
themselves.”
To do this it now
focuses on helping
members in three areas:
business development,
practice development and
personal development.
There are regular
informal “room above a
pub” meetings at which
members can get
together, and there are
also more formal
meetings every two or
three months on Saturday
mornings with outside
speakers. | |
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