| | By Mick James
The period running up
to Christmas was the
awards season. All over
the country people were
trying to reverse out of
the Christmas party, but
in consultancy, at
least, we managed to
keep the party spirit
alive with the
Management Consultancies
Association Consultant
of the Year Awards back
in November and the
Institute of Business
Consultants Awards in
December.
Competing awards? Not
really, rather
intersecting in that odd
way the two bodies often
do, with only KPMG – as
befits the organisation
which has most
consistently nurtured
both organisations
–scoring a hit on both
occasions.
The IBC awards were
the more glittering
affair, a black tie do
held in the lavish
ballroom of the Waldorf
Hotel in London. It was
the sort of thing that
can attract criticism in
these credit crunch
days, but as IBC
chairman Alan Downey
pointed out, we’re
looking back to some | |
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| | pretty good times and
ahead to a rougher
future – it’s right that
we should celebrate
success.
Indeed, the IBC
awards were structured
in such a way that they
might be a fable for our
times. The two practice
awards were for creating
sustainable client
relationships and
demonstrating benefits –
the consultancy that can
hit both of those
buttons is looking
pretty ironclad. It’s
always been my belief
that if you see
consultancy as a cost
then you don’t
understand it. Every
consultancy project
should lead to a
positive impact on the
bottom line – otherwise
why do it? And the
consultancies that have
survived every previous
recession have been the
ones that have managed
to maintain
relationships even when
the projects weren’t
there.
The IBC’s second
tranche of awards were
for individuals that had
produced something
extra-special in their
training at various | |
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| | momentum in any
dimension is pretty soon
a non-career. Promotion
may be out for the
moment – that means
development should be
in.
While I was delighted
to be asked to break out
the black tie for the
IBC, a few weeks before
I’d been flattered to be
asked to be a judge for
the MCA’s version. Being
an awards judge is no
easy task, not just
because, as all judges
always say “the quality
of the entries made it
impossible to pick a
winner”, but because
being a judge forces you
to question your own
assumptions and
prejudices. Why do I
prefer person A to
person B? What does that
say about me?
There are also
another couple of issues
which go to the heart of
why it’s often so hard
for consultants to gain
recognition. A
consultancy project
might be a startling
success, but how do you
gauge the contribution
of the individual
consultant when they’re
at the sharp end of a
massive armoury of | |
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| | well-thought out
methodologies,
techniques and quality
mechanisms. And worse,
the better a consultancy
is at programme and
project management,
carefully mitigating
risks and anticipating
problems – the less
likely they are to be
noticed at all. It’s
much easier to get an
idea of someone’s mettle
when they inherit a
raging mess, and can
tell a thumping good
story of adversity
overcome, setbacks
endured and a happy
ending all around. It’s
sad but true: the Lone
Ranger got noticed by
shooting bad guys with
silver bullets; no one
remembers the Lone Crime
Prevention Officer. I
think we got a good
mixture in the end.
I’m all in favour of
awards, and I hope that,
whatever happens next
year, we will see a
repeat of both
ceremonies, with even
more entries and an even
harder task for the
judges. It’s certainly
going to take a little
bit extra next year to
win those projects and
achieve success for
clients, so get to it! | |
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