Enter the International Council of Management Consulting Institutes (ICMCI). In its own words:

We are an international membership organisation and a network of the management advisory and consultancy associations and institutes worldwide…We were founded in 1987 to promote a closer working relationship between all management consulting institutes or organisations primarily dedicated to the registration or certification of individual management consultants. The purpose of this closer working relationship is to… create worldwide recognition and acceptance of the CMC (Certified Management Consultant) mark.

The Certified Management Consultant (CMC)

CMC-Canada, one of the founding members of the ICMCI, describes the CMC designation as the following:

The Certified Management Consultant (CMC) designation is the profession’s only international certification mark, recognized in 43 countries. It represents a commitment to the highest standards of consulting and adherence to the ethical canons of the profession. 

As you can tell, the CMC designation does not certify a particular skill or competency in specific subject matter. However, it does signify that the management consultant holding this designation has completed foundational courses related to the profession (e.g. project management, communication skills, etc.), is aware of a professional Code of Conduct and has made a commitment to maintaining the highest standards of consulting.

How to Get Certified?

First, gain a better understanding of what the CMC designation is and is not. The ICMCI has put together a detailed brochure (PDF link) describing the designation. Next, locate the institute in your country of your residence.

Institutes may have slight variations to the steps involved to complete the certification process. In general, the following is required:

• 3 years of prior consulting experience
• Foundational courses in project management, communication skills and ethics, and a group consulting case study course
• Oral exam/interview

While becoming certified will not guarantee success in a project (or even getting hired by the client), it instills a level of confidence in you as a management consultant - and comfort in knowing you have been vetted by an international institute against standards established by your peers. The rest is up to you.

Consulting Magazine has pulled together their 2008 Top 25 Consultants list and while the firms may be the same (with the exception of newly formed Booz & Company), the recipients of this honor are new.

Notable recipients include:

• Shumeet Banerji, the first CEO of Booz & Company, the new global, commercial management consulting practice spun off from the 94-year-old Booz Allen Hamilton
• Charles Farkas, senior partner at Bain & Company and head of the firm’s North American Healthcare Practice
• Karen Vander Linde, global leader of PriceWaterhouseCoopers’ Change Management practice
• Mark Goodburn, vice chairman and head of the advisory practice at KPMG

Image by nickd

What is a Current State Assessment?

A current state assessment is essentially an understanding of the current state of the organization or the situation being observed. It can range from a simple diagnosis to a more detailed root-cause assessment.

A well-conducted current state assessment can provide a clear view of the current situation and reality. This information can be used to then identify specific opportunities for improvement - addressed by way of actionable recommendations.

How is a Current State Assessment Conducted?

A current state assessment can be conducted in a variety of ways; often a combination of different approaches. These include:

• Observation: Simply observing the client organization and its processes speaks volumes about the current situation. Despite the formal organizational policies and procedures, the reality may be quite different.
  
• Stakeholder interviews: Much can be learned from speaking with members of different stakeholder groups (including employees, management and clients). This is where anecdotal evidence is often gathered and stakeholder perceptions of the current situation revealed. Often consultants will anonymize results to maintain the interviewee’s confidentiality and the integrity of the data gathered.
  
• Research: Past research, white papers and internal documentation are also studied to gain a better understanding of the external and internal factors that may impact the client situation. This information also helps to establish a baseline and serves as a basis for benchmarking the organization.

Most current state assessments can be conducted in a relatively short period of time (between two to four weeks), although more complex engagements may require more time. The findings from a current state assessment may be presented in either a written or presentation format and commonly include the following:

• SWOT analysis
• PEST analysis
• Operational analysis
• Process-flow (workflow) analysis
• Financial analysis
• Effectiveness of cross-functional teams
• Employee performance
• Performance metrics
• Industry research

1. Tell it like it is: The truth hurts. But not acting on a problem situation will be more painful for the client in the long run. If the current state assessment you just completed identifies areas of concern, let your client know - don’t try to "dress up" the answer just because you think that’s what the client wants to hear. Clients appreciate objectivity - that’s why you were hired.
2. Don’t play favorites (or partake in client politics): Sure, you may have a go-to person at the client organization that you work with on a daily basis or the client executive that signs your invoice, but that doesn’t mean you ignore everyone else. At the end of the day, the client is comprised of people like you and I and you need to ensure you are not labeled as someone who plays favorites.
3. Don’t patronize the client: For some reason that is beyond my comprehension, consultants at some stage in their career pick up the terrible habit of patronizing the client. I have seen veteran and even some junior consultants do this and all it does is demonstrate a lack of professionalism. There is a fine line between guiding and coaching the client and being downright offensive. Recognize that the client has hired you for your knowledge and experience; yet, also remember they too are very familiar with their industry. They are paying you for your opinion; just be respectful when giving it.
4. Act like a partner, not a vendor: Vendors respond to RFP’s, pitch solutions, deliver, get paid and disappear…until the next RFP. A partner does much the same, except the Houdini part. Even after the engagement is over, a partner will remain in communication with the client to query the health of the project or the results it has delivered. Clients love consultants that act like true partners; they’re the ones that continue getting rave project reviews and repeat business (what a surprise).

Before being deployed on your next assignment, take the time to carry out some focused research. You will find this exercise to not only be educational but also a smart way to considerably reduce the dreaded ramp-up time. Here are a few suggested activities. What other items appear on your pre-project checklist?

1. Industry 101 - Familiarize yourself with the industry: With the use of management consultants now common in many industries, consultants often find themselves assigned to projects in verticals in which they have little or no background or prior experience. Some preliminary industry research will introduce you to terminology and help you glean key information that will be critical in putting the client organization into perspective. Information that you should focus on includes: industry size, level of maturity (established vs. new), key revenue and cost drivers, key market players (competition) - note a quick PEST and Five Forces analysis can help you structure this information. Hoovers maintains a comprehensive list of industry reviews.
2. Client 101 - Get to know your client: I have written about the importance of knowing your client before. Suffice it to say, it is one of the most important pieces of information you could gather prior to starting the project. While I discuss it in a little more detail here, the crux of it is that you should be familiar with basic client information such as revenue, profitability margin and names of key client executives and staff. A good source to look for public company information is Google Finance or, if a privately-owned company, the company’s own records which the client is normally more than happy to provide.
3. Read up on the sales material: This is the reason you’ve been assigned to work for the client in the first place. The objective at this stage is to gain an appreciation of the reason for the project, the proposed approach (if identified) and the expected benefits.A good starting point is the client Request for Proposal (RFP), if one exists, as this will describe the problem, issue or need as identified by the client. This is a great way to get the unadulterated client view of the situation. Next, you should look at any sales materials that were presented to the client in response to the RFP to understand what has been communicated to the client in terms of skill set, experience, and expectations. Additionally, if a Statement of Work has been signed, this will be useful as well to understand the scope of the project and expected deliverables.
4. Review existing project material: If the project is already underway, some material may already exist for work performed. While not all material will be relevant to your own role on the project, it will serve as a good primer on the effort to date. Pull together whatever information you can that helps with the integration process.

Estimation questions cover the guesstimate and market sizing form of questions and are some of the most unnerving (and fun) interview questions you will come across. Simply put, estimation questions are meant to test your composure in the face of a very bizarre line of questioning. Indeed, as a management consultant you may very well have to answer such unusual client questions, and so the interviewer is trying to see whether you will “crack” under the pressure, or maintain your professionalism while answering the question in a logical manner.

In this article I will look at two estimation questions and the approach you may take when answering them:

• Question 1:  What is the market size for bowling balls?
• Question 2: How many pounds of rice is consumed in China each day?

Before we dive right in, let’s familiarize ourselves with the following tips that are helpful when answering questions of estimation:

1. Do not panic: Recall the interviewer is expecting to get a reaction from you, so the best way to show you’re still very much in control of the interview is to welcome the question and in the process buy some time to collect your thoughts (e.g. “That’s a very interesting question; may I be allowed a few moments to gather my thoughts?”)
   
2. Make (and state) assumptions: As you can imagine, without assumptions the above questions go from just plain bizarre to absolutely ludicrous. As you think through the question, make a list of assumptions you will need to arrive at an answer and state the reasoning behind each assumption to the interviewer.
   
3. Don’t be too specific with your answer: Specificity hints at some highly-scientific calculation; clearly not what you would call an estimate. In fact, being overly-specific with numerical questions will raise the interviewer’s suspicion and invite unnecessary questions challenging your thinking. Generalization / simplification is fine as long as you state your assumption (e.g. dividing an answer by 500 for ease of calculation vs. 490)

Sample Estimation Questions:

Question 1: You have just received a call from a colleague asking you to attend a meeting with a client that that manufactures bowling balls. Not having had the time to do any background research, you wonder what the U.S. market size is for bowling balls. The client meeting is scheduled to begin in 10 minutes.

Approach: A fairly typical market sizing question, you should immediately realize you will need to make assumptions (while keeping the interviewer informed of your thought process). Start broad and slowly narrow your focus using qualifying assumptions.

Bowling ball sales are driven by end-consumers. You could argue that bowling alleys purchase bowling balls as well, however we could assume their demand is captured by the end-consumers. Don’t get too hung up on the accuracy of your assumption as long as it isn’t completely off track. To identify the market size, you can simplify the formula as:

Number of end-consumers x Number of bowling ball purchases

Total number of possible end-consumers is approximately 300 million - the U.S. population. Of this group, you can assume that those between 12 and 50 years of age bowl (about half the population), so that brings your end-consumers to 150 million. Next, estimate that a fifth of this total figure will take the next step and learn to bowl professionally (thus requiring their own bowling ball). This reduces the pool of possible candidates to 30 million. This is the first half of your equation above.

Next, estimate the number of purchases per end-consumer. We can assume each player will go through one initial purchase. Let’s further assume that 3/4 of these end-consumers (3/4 x 30 million = approximately 23 million) will later “upgrade” to another bowling ball. This gives you all the information you need to solve the equation above:

Number of end-consumers x Number of bowling ball purchases
= (30 million x one initial bowling ball purchase) +
(23 million x second bowling ball purchase)
= 53 million

Based on the calculation above, you can estimate the market size for bowling balls in the U.S. as a 53 million ball market. Notice how qualifying assumptions help you go from an initial broad view (300 million end-consumers)  to a narrow more focused end-consumer market. Also note how setting up the information gathering with a simple formula at the outset allows you to focus on the data you need without wasting time.

Question 2: How many pounds of rice is consumed in China each day?

Note: Thanks to Tom Spencer for pointing out an error in this post that has now been corrected.

Approach: We will take the same approach as in the question above and 1) put together a simple formula to gather the information, and 2) make assumptions to help narrow the focus.

The daily Chinese rice consumption is dependent on the number and average weight of rice servings consumed each day. So, the formula would be:

Number of daily rice servings x
Average weight of one serving of rice

In order to calculate the number of daily rice servings, let’s look at the total Chinese population size of 1 billion and work from there. Let’s assume that children under the age of three do not have rice and that this demographic constitutes 20% of the population, leaving us with 800 million consumers of rice. Let’s further assume that due to taste preferences, another 20% prefer to substitute rice with some other food staple. This then leaves us with 640 million rice lovers (80% x 800 million).

For simplicity, we will assume the average weight of one serving of rice is 0.5 pounds for lunch and 0.75 pounds at dinner.

This gives you all the information you need to solve the equation above:

Number of daily rice servings x
Average weight of one serving of rice
= (640 million x 0.5 pounds) + (640 million x 0.75 pounds)
= 800 million pounds

Based on the calculation above, you can estimate the daily Chinese rice consumption to be 800 million pounds. Again, note we set up a basic formula and went from broad to narrow using simple assumptions.

Assuming you are working to a project plan, as you should, identify milestones in the deliverable creation process. These milestones may represent key events that constitute successful completion of the deliverable e.g. creation of the document template, completion of key analysis, option elimination and recommendation, etc. Next, ensure (by planning ahead) that you have an opportunity to meet with the client to discuss the deliverable at the completion of each critical milestone. At this stage, bring the client up to speed on the deliverable and its completion status, and, most importantly, gain client acceptance to the direction you are taking and the progress being made.

Remember, the trick is to gain client agreement along the deliverable creation process so that the resulting product is both familiar and known (avoid surprises). Following this simple advice is guaranteed to save you hours of rework and unnecessary frustration for both you and your client.

You may argue that you know your client, but here’s a quick and easy litmus test: ask your consulting colleagues the following questions:

1. What is the client stock symbol?
2. What was yesterday’s closing price of the client stock?
3. What is the client company’s market capitalization?
4. How much revenue did the company generate last year? What was the profitability margin?
5. What is the client CEO’s name?

Ideally, you are able to answer all these questions. My own non-scientific observation has shown that 75% of the consultants surveyed did not know the answers to these very basic questions about their client organization.

Interestingly, I have found that even members of the client organization are not aware of basic financial information. With a little research and attention to basics, it is easy for the consultant to know the client and win their trust - certainly not a novel concept, and one that could reap real rewards.

This article aims to help the non-consultant decipher some of the terms often used by consultants…or have the unintended effect of arming existing consultants with even more jargon. Comments and suggestions for new terms are welcome.

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• 30,000 Foot View: summarize or put a basic idea into context
• 360 Degree Client View: an all-around, consistent view of the customer and the customer’s relationship with the organization (products held, preferences, etc.)
• 360 Degree Feedback: performance appraisal data for an employee collected from other stakeholders e.g. peers, supervisors, clients, suppliers
• 80/20 Rule (Pareto’s Law): observation that a large proportion of the result being observed (80%) is due to the contribution of a minority (20%) e.g. 80% of the wealth is controlled by 20% of the population, or the last 20% of the deliverable takes 80% of the time

A

• ABC (Activity Based Costing): a cost accounting technique that allocates indirect costs against the activities that caused them
• Actionable: can be acted upon or accomplished

B

• Balanced Scorecard: performance management system that focuses on leading indicators (customer perspective, internal processes, learning, financials) to monitor progress towards an organization’s strategic goals
• Bandwidth: time or capacity
• BCG Matrix: model to guide allocation of resources to product lines based on market share and growth rate compared to competitors
• Bell Curve: a symmetrical curve depicting normal distribution of data
• Benchmark: a level or standard against which performance can be evaluated
• Best in Class: a level that exhibits leading performance in an industry
• Best Practice: methods that have been tried and proven to yield superior results (best in class)
• Black Hole: a situation where effort gets lost and no end-result is observed
• Bottom Line: company’s profitability; or the salient point of a discussion
• Business Process Reengineering: a term coined by Michael Hammer to describe process redesign, simplification or streamlining workflow.
• Buy-in: Agreement or consent

C

• Cash Cow: a product or project that generates a continuous flow of income
• Change Management: use of a set of proven methods to administer changes in an organization while minimizing the impact of changes
• Competitive Advantage: assets and attributes (skills, knowledge, resources, capabilities) that differentiate a business from its competitors
• Core Competency: area of expertise that provides a business an advantage in the marketplace
• Corporate Culture: an organization’s norms and values
• Critical Path: a project management term to represent the critical activities that must be completed on schedule for the overall project to be completed on schedule
• Cross-functional: representing each function of the organization (e.g. finance, marketing, operations, human resources)
• Cross-platform: a term to refer to interoperability of software across different systems
• CXO: Acronym to refer to the top level of management (CEO, CIO, CFO, CFO, etc.)

D

• Decentralization: transfer of decision-making power to point of action
• Deck: presentation slides
• Deliverable: the end-product of an activity
• Downsizing: Reduction of staff to cut costs
• Drill-down: to get into the details
• Driver: a factor or agent that influences or results in the desired output

E

• Elevator Pitch: a short, succinct (sales) pitch to an executive
• Empowerment: management style that gives workers the authority to make and carry out decisions
• Enabler: a factor that enables (or supports) a business function
• Enterprise-wide: across the organization

F

• Face Time: an in-person meeting or discussion
• Framework: a mock template hinged on an accepted management concept or theory

G

• Gainsharing: practice of having employees participate in the organization’s profitability
• Gantt Chart: a bar chart that illustrates a project schedule (used in project management)
• Gazelle: a fast-growing company that is willing (and known) for taking risks that keep it ahead of its competitors
• Globalization: the expansion of transactions by organizations across countries

H

• Holistic Approach: a complete view, taking into account all the parts
• Hoteling: office space (and resources such as phone and network access) that is available to employees on an as-needed basis

I

• Incent: To influence
• Insourcing: the use of internal company resources as service providers (vs. outsourcing)
• Intellectual Capital: ideas, knowledge and expertise possessed by the organization that make it competitive

J

• Just-in-Time (JIT): inventory system that minimizes warehousing costs (and slack) by producing and delivering goods as they are ordered

K

• Key Performance Indicators (KPI): metrics or measures used to quantify and track achievement of objectives
• Key Success Factors (KSF): elements or areas that required focus to achieve success
• KISS: a term to reflect the need to maintain simplicity (”Keep it Simple Stupid”)

L

• Lean Organization: an organization with a higher productivity per employee ratio when compared to prior to reduction in staff
• Learning Organization: an organization that considers knowledge crucial to its success and uses it to adapt and improve operations
• Lessons Learned: key lessons (takeaways) resulting from a prior activity or practice that can be “leveraged”
• Leverage: a term indicating the use of a resource
• Loss Leader: a product sold at or below cost (at a loss) to attract new customers (to other profitable products)
• Low-hanging Fruit: easy, quick sources of benefit in an organization

M

• Management by Objectives: phrase used to describe the achievement of a desired behavior by management establishing employee objectives but allowing the employee to determine how to achieve them
• Marketing Mix: basic, tactical elements of a marketing plan (product, price, place, promotion)

N

• Net-net: the end result
• Next Steps: next set of actions that need to be completed

O

• Open-door Policy: an environment that encourages open communication (i.e. between employee and supervisor)
• Operationalize: to do or perform
• Optimize: to make more efficient
• Order of Magnitude: general numerical estimation, typically in the order of 10 (e.g. 10, 100, 100,000, 1 million)

P

• Paradigm Shift: Adoption of a new approach to a problem
• Per Diem: refers to the daily rate charged (e.g. for consulting services)
• Ping: to reach out to or follow-up

Q

• Quick Win: small projects or initiatives that will yield positive results (in the near term)

R

• Ramp Up: to increase
• Re-purpose: to reuse for another reason or purpose
• Request for Proposal (RFP): invitation to suppliers to submit a document to bid on the right to supply products or services

S

• Scope: the breadth of functionality that will be included or delivered for a product or service
• Scope Creep: the addition of features and functionality to an existing, agreed-upon scope
• Socialize: to share or discuss with others
• Soft Skills: phrase used to represent skills such as communication skills, conflict resolution, presentation, etc.
• Stakeholder: to review with others (of decision-making authority) who may be impacted
• Straw Man: a mock-up or draft copy to test and improve upon
• SWOT Analysis: a strategic planning tool used to evaluate strengths, weaknesses, threats and opportunities of a product or business
• Synergy: value generated by combining two or more entities

T

• Tactical: short-term focused
• Takeaway: main points in a document or presentation
• Taxonomy: a structure to arrange groups based on a defined set of rules
• Touch Base: to meet with

U

• Under-leveraged: not operating at full efficiency

V

• Value-add: the benefit provided
• Value Chain: linked set of activities from securing raw materials to delivery of products and services

W

• Waterfall Chart: a form of floating-column chart showing changes to an initial value leading to a final value
• Win-win: A situation that demonstrates
• Workflow: the path followed to complete a process

X

Y

Z

Overview

The use of frameworks follows the data gathering stage of the consulting process. Its effective use is a cornerstone of dissecting a problem (as presented in a hypothetical case or identified by the client) into manageable components that can be synthesized into actionable “What Needs to Be Addressed” (WNTBA) statements.

The use of frameworks offer at least two significant advantages to consultants:

1. Well-recognized, ready-made structures: Be it a case interview or analysis of a client issue, the use of ready-made structures is a great way to start to sort the myriad data that has been gathered by or made available for the consultant. A ready-made framework allows for the quick assembling of data into a structure that can then be further analyzed in a purposeful and coordinated manner. Furthermore, employing a commonly-understood technique ensures you get some immediate client buy-in into the approach you have taken to analyze the data and develop action plans.

2. Ensure your thinking is mutually-exclusive and completely-exhaustive (MECE): Frameworks help ensure that our thought process is complete and focused i.e. there are no gaps or overlap in the data being collected (prevents double-counting and the risk of overlooking critical data).

Frameworks by Functional Area:

In this series I will cover some commonly-used frameworks with which every consultant should be familiar. The frameworks have been organized by functional area, and while certainly not an exhaustive list, these will provide you with a starting point for additional research.

• Strategic Management
• Marketing Management
• Financial Management
• Operations Management
• Information Technology Management
• Human Resources Management