The Microcosmic World of Consulting – Part 1

The world of consulting is about getting opportunities to add value, have a systematic process to deliver the envisaged value proposition and create the basis for a good reference for getting future business.

Thus the “Engagement Cycle” in a typical consulting organization can broadly be categorized as follows:

1. Sales Cycle,
2. Delivery Process, and
3. Relationship Management

All the above three engagement steps are spruced across any engagement cycle. Though overall the above steps are essentially one after the other, it is important to note that the engagement cycle is definitely not a sequential process and the first and third steps can occur intermittently.

For example, relationship management is an on-going activity usually done by senior managers or partners of consulting firms. Similarly the sales processes could be spread over the entire delivery assignment because the meat is in mining more business from an existing client.

Hierarchical Structure:

Before understanding the details of each of the engagement steps it is imperative to know the hierarchical structure of a consulting firm and get an idea of their area of responsibility.

Usually consulting firms are flat (though in recent times the levels have increased to manage aspirations of high flying individuals who look beyond salary hikes and want “designational” importance!!).

From the bottom of the heap, the levels are broadly as follows:

1. Analyst – This is an entry level or a less than 3 years of work experience profile. Usually there are 3 bands at an Analyst level which may have designation codes for example as A1, A2 & A3.

Fresh MBA with no work experience are recruited at A1 level and those with 3 years of work experience could join at A3 level. Analysts are also called Business Analysts and in case of IT consulting firms could be called as an IT Analyst. (They are different from the Market Analysts of I-banks in the sense that they are not restricted to particular domains but are similar in the context of being the hands-on people of the firm.)

All analysts are required to work on one or more projects. And when not on live projects, they work on research reports or practice development activities like pre-sales, proposal writing etc.

Time well spent at this level is a vital foundation for a long and successful career in consulting because responsibility is limited and opportunities for learning are enormous.

2. Consultant – This is at the mid level of the firm and the designations within this tier vary from Associate Consultant to Consultant to Senior Consultant and in some cases even Chief/Principal Consultant. The designation codes could be like C1, C2, C3, C4 or C5.

Recruitment of experienced or domain knowledgeable people usually take place at the C1 to C3 levels, though most firms prefer a consulting background to position people within the firm.

This level takes up bulk of the responsibility of delivery or fulfilling the assignment objectives. They have bulk of the client interaction, analysis and presentation work to be done in the process of delivering of value to a client.

The vital aspect for success in this tier is to have good communication skills, measured approach, effective presentation skills and sound relationship building skills.

3. Manager – This level is the bottom of the top management and moving upwards. The designations vary from Manager to Senior Manager to Chief/Principal Consultant depending on a firm’s policy. The designation codes could be like M1, M2, M3, M4 or M5.

They are the owners of projects or assignments and are responsible for project result achievement, EBITA of one or more project as well as for resource management. They also play a vital role in prospect evaluation, proposal making for new projects and selling the firm’s portfolio.

The key for success in this tier is to have brilliant time management, active networking skills, sound relationship building skills, good resource management skills and most importantly fire in the belly to stretch it to the next level. The pitfall at this level usually is the balance between a good professional life and a sound family life because at this stage of one’s career the Partner level looks either enticing or elusive depending upon one’s priorities in life!

4. Associate Director – This is an intermediate layer in a lot of consulting firms but is truly speaking a tier which means these people cannot progress to the next level. Yet they are vital to the firm and they need to be retained based on the simple truth of doling out salary hikes but no promotions.

Associate Director or Vice President levels do bulk of the groundwork of getting new clients and preparing the ground for Partners to come and sign on the dotted line. They are the men in the market and share financial targets in cohort with the Senior Managers.

It is vital to make sure one doesn’t get into this layer and directly moves from a Senior Manager position to the Partner or Head-Consulting level.

5. Partner – This is top of the hill but not necessarily guaranteed to be there. Technically speaking partners are part owners of the firm but most firms have stringent norms of annual renewal of partnership. This policy automatically axes the last one/two individuals on the revenue table. So the mantra is simple – get more business and enjoy your position as a partner.

The good news is that one does not always need to climb up the ladder to a partner position. If one has considerable contacts in the industry, partners are directly brought on board. This happens more when practices are started in certain geographies like say a US consulting form is setting up shop in India – it then recruits partners, albeit carefully and in single digits starting from 1.

To be continued….