Strategy consultants taken on client issues that are complex, fuzzy, cross-functional, time-sensitive and, often, divisive. They address these challenges via a structured problem-solving methodology that has been developed and perfected in the strategy consulting profession over the last 80 years. This approach is not simply about applying a set of elegant strategy frameworks and concepts. Instead, it consists of a collection of broadly-applicable tools and principles for (a) helping clients clearly define the scope of a strategy engagement, (b) systematically breaking down the problem into issues and sub-issues and prioritizing the areas of focus, (c) collecting and synthesizing the relevant fact base in an efficient manner, and (d) designing robust recommendations that have optimal impact and are practical to implement. Day 1 of the Bootcamp exposes you to the art and science of structured problem-solving as practiced by the best strategy consulting professionals.

 

1a. Introduction In this session, we review the 80+ year history of management consulting and then address the questions raised above. We also review recent scientific findings (from psychology and neuroscience) that give fresh, powerful insights on our capacity to acquire new professional skills and the most effective method for doing so - "deliberate practice".

1b. Problem Definition In this session, you will be introduced to a methodology for systematically scoping a new strategy engagement. Through a combination of lecture and live exercises, you will observe the typical pitfalls that new consultants face at the start of a study, and how to avoid them.

1c. Problem Structuring This session introduces you to a step-wise methodology for structuring your strategy engagement into a robust set of tasks culminating in the design of a work plan. This is perhaps the most crucial step in the strategy problem-solving process - a poorly structured engagement will come back to haunt a consultant in later weeks by leading to information overload, scarcity of time, shifting client priorities or unmet expectations.

1d. Data Gathering & Analysis Data gathering and analysis is the core of the strategy consulting process. This session challenges participants by posing a number of problems that typically arise at this stage of the process and introduces tools and insights that allow consultants to navigate successfully through the data terrain to emerge with robust, fact-based learnings for the client.

1e. Recommendations Development As the final step in the strategy problem-solving process, this is where the rubber hits the road! Consulting projects live and die on the basis of how well received their recommendations are within the client organization - and how much impact they have on the client's performance. This session exposes participants to a number of consulting scenarios, invites them to evaluate the quality of strategic recommendations in these scenarios, and then provides a set of best practices and tools that can be used to systematically develop robust recommendations in strategy engagements.  

 

Business communication skills are often viewed solely in terms of presentation skills - how to stand up and deliver a high-energy, engaging presentation. While this is no doubt an important skill to cultivate, strategy consultants utilize a range of other communication skills to ensure that their ideas are well received. These relate not simply to large audience-style presentations, but also to one-on-one meetings, email/voice-mail communication, data collection interviews, and a range of unconscious and conscious behaviors that build, or erode, client trust. Day 2 of the Bootcamp introduces you to a range of behaviors, communication tools and best practices to gain support from key internal and external personnel and, ultimately, win client executives' buy-in for your recommendations.

 

2a. First Impressions First impressions are as important in consulting relationships as in any other sphere of life. This session teaches a range of implicit and explicit behaviors and activities that can help you get your relationship with the client organization - at all levels - off on the right footing. Ignoring these issues can often lead to early missteps that may erode goodwill or trigger unhealthy speculation within client ranks of your role, intentions or competencies - missteps that may be very difficult to correct later in the relationship.  

2b. Communication Planning The naïve approach to strategy consulting is to "solve" the client's problem in an ivory tower, detached from client personnel, and then seek to get client buy-in via a glitzy presentation at the end of the engagement. As many seasoned consultants know, this approach is often a recipe for disaster. Successful consulting firms have evolved client communication strategies that extend across the engagement, from start to finish, and that involve tailored approaches to different client executives, so that by the time the final progress review meeting occurs, buy-in from key constituencies has been cemented. This session will introduce students to communications planning techniques that help to gain client buy-in at all stages of the engagement.  

2c. Structuring Ideas How we organize our ideas can have a significant impact on how well a client receives our findings and recommendations. Even seasoned consultants face serious challenges in getting their point across to a client that is skeptical, distracted or confused by the huge body of data and findings. The best strategy consultants will therefore pay substantial attention to how they organize their thinking and arguments before presenting these to the client. This session exposes participants to common challenges in communicating ideas and teaches the use of a powerful, systematic methodology for organizing these ideas into a coherent, persuasive "story". The application of these learnings is wide-ranging, from formal meetings to informal email/voice-mail communications.  

2d. Data Collection Interviews Experts - be they internal client personnel, such as operations, finance, marketing or sales people, or external professionals, such as channel partners, domain experts, or analysts - are a key source of information in strategy engagements. But extracting the right insight and data from them is not a straightforward task. Inexperienced consultants who simply walk into these meetings with an "agenda" and expect to walk out with crystal clear insights are often unpleasantly surprised with how difficult the process of interviewing experts can be, and how variable and at times, unsatisfactory, the results can be. This session places the participants into a number of role-plays relating to interviewing experts, exposes them to the typical challenges that occur in such data collection interviews and then unveils a set of insights, tools and best practices for planning and conducting expert interviews for maximum effectiveness.  

2e. Building Trust-based Relationships At the heart of strategy consulting is the trust that the client reposes on their advisor - the strategy consultant. This trust is built over time, via a series of behaviors that are executed at both a conscious and unconscious level. In this session, participants will get to understand the key "building blocks" of a trust-based relationship, and will be taught a number of behaviors for developing each of these "building blocks". Through a series of role-plays, participants will get an experiential understanding of how they unconsciously build or erode trust via typical styles of communication, and how they can consciously adopt certain behaviors to improve their trust-building capabilities.