Scenes from a Wedding – A Different Approach
Just like a wedding planner, as a business consultant, I am familiar with the common elements that all businesses must have. And I have seen all the choices, the challenges, the mistakes and the victories that countless teams have made. And the things all of them have to do to be successful.
Industry Snapshot: The New World of IT—Products and Consulting
One of the most significant trends in the IT industry is the growing importance of consulting by traditional hardware companies.
Reading List: The World’s Newest Profession: Management Consulting in the Twentieth Century by Christopher D. McKenna
The most striking thing about this book is the convincing case he makes that the business of the large consulting firms in the U.S. has really been created and perpetuated by government regulation.
Help Improve the Quality of Consulting
In cooperation with the American Management Association and Consulting Intelligence, LLC, IMC is conducting a major national survey on how clients select, use and evaluate consultants.
Industry Spotlight: Industry Expertise
A professional who does not have specific industry expertise can argue that lessons learned from working with companies in other industries can be the generator of new and better ways of doing things. In this way, best practices can be created for your client, drawn on best practices from those outside the industry.
Come Back to Earth
Make the effort to recognize your weaknesses; work hard to strengthen them; and make sure you round out your team to include people with different strengths. Here on Earth, balance is a good thing.
Reading List: Making Rain – The Secrets of Building Lifelong Client Loyalty By Andrew Sobel
While a terrific read for consultants, it’s also appropriate for the lender who needs to go the extra mile to gain the borrower’s confidence, or the salesperson who needs to add value beyond simply the product or service they are selling.
Strategic Momentum
We recently developed a drawing to explain our approach to creating strategic momentum for our clients. It shows a continuous process with three major phases: Information, Insight and Action. We were actually surprised to find a rhythm as we went around the circle: art-science, art-science, art-science.
Reading List: How to Hire a Management Consultant and Get the Results You Expect By IMC USA
Pamphlet includes the answers to basic questions about using and identifying the best management consultant to fit your needs. It also includes the Code of Ethics to which all members of IMC (including Trek Consulting) comply.
The Role of the Strategic Planning Consultant
Whether internal or external, a good consultant can help the managers on the line (who should be forming the strategy itself) create a good process and keep it on track.
