undstndin change thru consultin

8/2/2019 Undstndin Change Thru Consultin

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Module: Managing Change in Organisations

Unit: Identifying, Understanding and Involving Others inChange

Lesson: Understanding Change Through Consulting


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Understanding Change Through Consulting Page 1 of 19

Introduction

Change initiatives in complex situations are frequently led by external Change Consultants.

Accelerated globalisation, new business paradigms, constant technology advances and intensified competition

are all leading to increased business complexity. Furthermore, technology has become closely intertwined with

the overall business objectives of a company. In such a complex and dynamic environment, business problems

and opportunities in themselves may be poorly understood by the client. External change consultants can bring

valuable insights without the 'bag and baggage' of the internal organisation. Today many organisations are

engaging external consultants, as trusted advisors, who can be completely objective.

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Skills to Manage Change Consultancy Projects

The skills required for change management are addressed from a Consultancy point of view . What skills must an

external consultant possess to lead a change initiative? However, many of these skills are just as applicable for

those leading internal change programs.

What advantages to the organisation are there in using external consultants, in change initiatives?

Defining and solving complex business problems requires deep industry expertise,

practical tools, research capabilities and innovative thinking. There is now the

recognition that business insights must be gained first and only then can strategic

change solutions be defined. For this reason many companies are engaging external

consultants all the way from business problem definition to change implementation.

Change consultants usually have skills in business transformation and change

across a number of industries and organisational situations. Often it is highly

effective to leverage experience from other situations and industries using the

expertise of such consultants - their expertise is focused on marrying the business

objectives with technology. Frequently companies have gained competitive

advantage by leveraging and applying knowledge from one sector to their ow n

organisation.

Furthermore consultants are independent; as such they are more likely to propose

objective and rational solutions.

Change Consulting engagements are variable in complexity and duration. At one end of the spectrum you have a

project of just a few days undertaken by one consultant, and at the other end, a project involving a large team of

consultants and contractors on a major business transformation undertaking of several months. Whatever the

complexity and duration, consulting engagements demand skills in project management.

Imagine you were leading a team on a major change consulting project. We have just highlighted the

criticality of possessing project management skills to manage the client engagement. But what other

skills and capabilities would you want from your consulting team.


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A change consultancy team needs the following skills and capabilities:

Ability to develop rapport with Clients

Positioning w ith clients

Influencing clients and managing client relationships

Situational appraisal

Team working (especially effective collaboration with Client organisation)

Data collection

Problem solving

Solution generation

Managing change

Reporting to Clients

From now on by the term "Consultant" we shall refer to the consultancy team -

which may comprise just one person or a number of persons bringing

complementary and necessary consulting skills.

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Client Relationship

It should be emphasised that change consulting requires the Consultant to work closely with the client and

develop an understanding of their situational context, pains and needs. The client relationship is vital, and

throughout the project the Consultant must be 'connected' and pro-actively work with the Client. There is no

room for working in isolation and prescribing a change solution to the client. The relationship has to be an

empathetic relationship and one of mutual trust for it to succeed. This is true of all consulting engagements, but

especially true in change consulting.

Why then do clients engage consultants?

The key reasons for using consultants are:

The organisation may be lacking in business transformation and change

skills/resources.

Strategic decision to get an independent view

Change is frequently better identified by an outsider

Change can be divisive, and an independent and objective view is more likely

to rally support and commitment from the entire organisation

Risk reduction

Technology transfer (change initiatives increasingly require the marriage of

business and technology skills)

Cross-fertilisation of business transformation experience and know ledge from

other business domains/industries

The client must have the confidence that the Consultant really understands their situational need, their

pains and truly empathises w ith their predicament. Only then does the Consultant have a chance ofsuccessfully defining the business problem and developing solutions for change that gain the 'buy in'

of the Client. As much as 70% of a Consultant's time can be spent in understanding the customer and

the situational context.

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Consultant and the Client

Both the Consultant and the Client have to be pro-actively engaged and collaborate for a change project to be

successful.

Consultants need to exercise persuasive skills in order to lead, motivate, bring about actions and manage

complex situations. It is critical that consultants maintain personal integrity and use sound persuasion

techniques in difficult client situations. Establishing trust is an important success factor.

Consultancy is the ability to apply know -how in a client environment.

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Change Consultancy must marry the unique skills of the Consultant and the Client:

Consultant

The consultant brings know -how in the form of:

Know ledge

Experience

Skills

The consultant's know-how may be in the business domain of the client e.g. banking, insurance,

communications, and energy. But, in some cases, clients are looking for generic cross-industry

know-how that have been gained and applied across a number of sectors.

The Consultant's role throughout the engagement is to be attentive and make time for the client, whilst

at all times managing expectations.

Client

The client has the unique knowledge and understanding of the organisation and business domain.

This knowledge has to be imparted to the consultant and is then known as situational know ledge

The Client's role is to define requirements, monitor progress and meet commitments; commitments in

terms of access to people, access to systems, resourcing etc.

Consultancy

Consultancy is the ability to apply know -how in a client environment. It requires that consultant know-

how and client knowledge be integrated to identify meaningful and realistic change solutions.

Project problems can arise in change engagements as a result of bad client habits. Can you identify

some of these?


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Here are some common problems that arise from the Client organisation:

Not taking responsibility for the project

Insufficient resourcing from the Client organisation

Lack of access to the right people

Expecting the Consultant to comply with all their demands (outside of contract)

Not keeping the Consultant informed

Additionally as the Consultant you should understand any unwritten expectations

and issues from the client organisation (e.g. personal objectives, personal w ins, and

politics) and pro-actively manage these.

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A Solutions Approach

Companies are looking for more than "advice" with regard to change. They are looking for total solutions.

"Total solutions" are driven by a business need or a requirement for business transformation. Companies are

not interested in point solutions that tackle just one problem, because it is increasingly recognised that

problems are inter-related and an integrated, total solution is the strategic way forward. This is known as the

Solutions Approach, and is consistent with system modelling.

Given the focus on the Solutions Approach, change consulting efforts should first target the business, and not

supporting functions or IT departments. Consultants should have the ability and credibility to engage at the very

top of the "business" to acquire a thorough understanding of the business need, strategic vision and develop

situational knowledge. Only in this way can consultants define the business problem and make a credible

business case. It is the very top of the business (CEO and Board level) that will be the final decision making

authority on actions following the consultant's recommendations for change/transformation.

To establish change credibly you need to be able to convince the client organisation that you (your

consulting team) possesses the following knowledge/skills/competencies:

Situational fluency (understanding the customer situation, customer pains)

Business domain know ledge

Technical competence

Vision

Collaborative skills

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Developing Situational Fluency

To develop situational fluency it is necessary have some knowledge of the customer domain.

So what is customer domain?

By customer domain (or business domain), we mean the particular industry or sector that the customer

operates in. Let us consider an example. You may be in the business of selling data mining software. This is a

generic product that has application in many industries - pharmaceutical, financial, retailing etc. If your

company is targeting a customer in the oil industry (an industry in w hich data mining has many applications), it

is unlikely that the client will take you seriously unless you demonstrate some knowledge of the industry, and

its particular challenges.

The depth of customer domain knowledge required of the Consultant w ould depend on the complexity of the

business need and the industry. In many technically-oriented sectors (e.g. telecommunications,

pharmaceutical, petroleum, defence) deep domain knowledge is required. In other sectors, e.g. financial

services or insurance, domain knowledge can be acquired (by reading industry publications, learning aboutcustomer workflow , talking to the customer etc) and further developed during the consultancy engagement.

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Situational knowledge

Gaining situational knowledge requires an understanding of the precise circumstances, the state and

environment in which the client currently operates. It requires the Consultant to appreciate the customer pains

and empathise with the customer predicament. By pains we are referring to the client's problems, difficulties or

dissatisfaction with the existing situation; the reason why they are seeking change.

Situational knowledge cannot be established without the Consultant (or selling team) possessing some domain

knowledge.

Situational knowledge is established from the following:

Customer domain1.

Specific business need(s) of the Client. The business need may be an internal or external need.2.

Business workflow3.

Existing products/services that make up the current solution.4.

People in the organisation that perform the tasks relating to the business w orkflow.5.

Customer problems/issues6.

Customer pains7.

Customer vision for the future (if one exists)8.

The term customer pain is used frequently in the context of understanding customer needs. Customer pain is

when the Client experiences (and recognises that it is experiencing) problems, difficulties or dissatisfaction

with the existing situation. The Client knows they have a problem, but may not know the cause and does not

know how to solve it through change.

A simple example of a customer pain w ould be that of a sales team being unable to access customer

relationship information held outside of the sales database.

The Client needs to admit and elaborate the pains with the Consultant before effective solutions can be found.

Turn you attention to your ow n working environment. Can you identify two customer pains that

prevent you from doing your work effectively, or are a source of frustration?

Elaborate. Elaborate the pain (not the solution).

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From Situational Knowledge to Situational Fluency

Situational fluency does not come purely from a situational knowledge. It is a combination of know ledge and

skills, including situational knowledge. Michael Bosw orth Bosworth M (1995) identifies four areas of focus in

gaining situational fluency:

Situation knowledge1.

Capability knowledge2.

People skills3.

Selling skills4.

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Situational Knowledge

Understanding the precise circumstances, the state and environment in w hich the client currently

operates. An understanding of the customer pains and empathy w ith the customer predicament

Capability Knowledge

Capability knowledge is the ability to integrate and map technology know -how and solution

capabilities on to the Client's situational context.

People Skills

People skills are self-explanatory, but are especially important in change consulting. We should

emphasise the importance of establishing sincerity and relationship building

Selling Skills

A Change Consultant must possess selling skills to gain situational fluency. Firstly you must sell the

work you are carrying out, as well as the output of your change engagement to all levels in the Client

Organisation. People are usually sceptical of change consultants and you must be able to persuade

them that you are adding value and that there is business benefit in the engagement. You must be

able to establish a relationship based on mutual trust and respect during your consulting engagement.

Situational fluency is critical in consulting engagements. Situational fluency is made up of:

Situation Know ledge

Capability knowledge

People skills

Selling skills

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Problem Solving and Consultancy Tools for Change Programs

The Consultant's work is largely to do with problem solving; usually ill defined problems. First, you need to

understand and define the problem. Only then can an outline change solution be envisioned.

Data Collection is the most time consuming part of problem solving and needs to be carried out w ith expertise.

We present some of the consulting tools at the disposal of the Change Consultant.

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Questioning Techniques

Listening is at the core of consulting - active listening. But to listen you need to engage the client. Different

types of questions can be posed for this:

Open

Probing

Closed

Reflective

Leading

Hypothetical

Contrast Open and Closed questioning. Give examples, from a technology context, to demonstrate the

questioning techniques.

Why might you pose a (i) hypothetical question and (ii) a leading question when gathering information

on a consulting engagement.

Post your answ ers on the Group Learning Space. Review the submissions of three colleagues and

learn from their responses.

It is said that the thought is in the question posed by the Consultant and the data in the Client's answer.

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Interviews

One-to-one Interviews

Pros:

Personal contact

Flexible agenda

Targeted contribution

Opportunity to clarify context and provides a feel

Cons:

Time-consuming

Are you interviewing the right person?

Can be difficult to analyse data

Group Interviews

Pros:

Meet more people, hence data is more representative

Higher profile

Cons:

Requires careful preparation and management

People may be inhibited to speak in a group forum

May not be able to clarify individual responses

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Other Data Collection Tools

Observation

Pros:

You gather first hand information

Collect data in unanticipated areas of significance

Cons:

Time consuming

Difficult to analyse and put in overall context

Inspection

Pros:

Can inspect at your own pace

Collect data in unanticipated areas of significance

Cons:

Availability of documents/work products to inspect

Very time consuming

Questionnaires

Pros:

Wide reach

Easy analysis

Views may be more considered and honest (especially if anonymous)

Cons:

Close ended

Low response rates

Some participants may be reluctant to express concerns in writing

Hard to achieve strength of feeling and relevance

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Cause-and-Effect diagrams

Cause-and Effect diagrams, also known as Fishbone diagrams or Ishikaw a diagrams, are an excellent w ay of

identifying problems and issues. It is a vital diagnostic tool in Change Consultancy.

Figure 2.0.8 - Generic Cause-and-Effect diagram

Graphical representations of relationships betw een items or factors can stimulate thinking about problems and

issues.

Cause and effect diagrams are frequently used in brainstorming sessions on change consultancy

engagements. It is often best to create an unstructured list of hypotheses by brainstorming and then to map

them on to cause-and-effect diagrams. The cause-and-effect diagram is then effective in stimulating further

ideas about issues and contributory causes.

Details of this technique in the context of change management are addressed in Cause and Effect Analysis

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Diagnostic Surveys and Logic Diagrams

Logic diagrams are a useful structured technique in going from facts to findings to recommendations. In the

consulting context, Client's opinions constitute facts and the Consultant's opinions constitute findings.

Logic diagrams enable Consultants to ask "w hat do w e make of this?" and arrive at recommendations.

Figure 2.0.9 - Logic Diagrams

Facts are the data that can be ascertained from diagnostic surveys (using methods such as questionnaires,

interviews, inspections, observations). Findings are the result of evaluation by the Consultants. Conclusions

can be thought of as the diagnosis, with recommendations the Consultant's view on the change solution.

Judgement is an important factor in going from findings to conclusions to recommendations.

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To complete this know ledge check activity, see the Knowledge Check section at the end of this lesson.

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Knowledge Checks


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Understanding Change Through Consulting - Page 17


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Knowledge Checks - Solutions


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