Although the Analyst would have asked about your and your key people's concerns during the Opening Conference, that is only the beginning.
Often the firm will provide a long list of questions intended to help uncover underlying issues for you both personally and professionally. Since it is often difficult if not impossible to separate the individual from the company a good Analyst will explore both facets.
Next, a facility tour will help orient the Analyst. This is the first active step used to become acquainted with the company's resources including its physical environment and people. Key people introduced during the tour will have the opportunity for personal and confidential interviews with the Analyst.
The interviews are crucial. From them a composite view of the company's interactions, activities and issues will be brought to light and compared. People see the same thing differently from one another and the truth is found somewhere in between the different points of view.
Your Analyst's next step is investigative. Whether plowing through financial and operations reports, tracking processes and people interactions or customer contact through sales and marketing and service, a comprehensive view is developed and analyzed.
Periodically, as information is gathered, you will be asked to validate findings, perform some specific tasks to expedite the process--including developing your wish list or company plan. Findings and planning meetings will be held to make sure useful information is developed and a mechanism for realizing objectives is decided. Expect that the company plan you develop, either alone or with the assistance of someone you trust, is reviewed the first day and that findings will be presented the second day of the survey.
Do not be surprised to find that you cannot solve all of the problems on your own. It would be a rare occurrence. Certainly you will be aware of the majority of the findings and might even know how to handle them. Your problem is, you have not finished with them. All too often business owners and leaders find that they simply do not have the time or resources to put even simple issues to bed because they are wearing too many hats and jump from one fire to the next.
Once a business runs its owner instead of the other way around it can be very difficult to find a patch of daylight. This is where a good consultant can step in and help. Just as you might hire a sub-contractor to perform some specific task (paint the walls, fix the plumbing) a consultant has the experience and know-how to step in and fix business issues. And the best part is that they will come in to fix the issue and then move on since they are not permanent employees!
You must be sure that you have clearly identified the issue(s) and agreed upon the time to have them fixed properly. These decisions can be aided by the Analyst and should be clearly spelled out in the written agreement used for any consulting services.
More about this in my next post.
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
Survey's Opening Conference
Promptly at the appointed hour your Survey begins with a meeting which will start to build relationship as well as to make sure everyone has a clear view of the process, procedures and desired end result of the Survey.
Some additional history of the consulting firm will be presented and your questions will be answered. References are seldom offered and even involve a bit of a procedure to obtain because of confidentiality agreements.
Clients' and their information are confidential. Just as you would not want your information, even contact information, disclosed without your knowledge or to a multitude of the merely curious, other clients feel the same way. Also like you, many of the clients work in their business and the consulting firm will respect their time. What can be done is to have the firm's home office schedule a time for a call between you and a reference.
Getting back to the Opening Conference, the Analyst will describe some of the techniques used to review and interpret your operations, finances and other information. Do not hesitate to provide what the Analyst requests even when you do not seek help for a particular area. Your business is more than the sum of its parts and each part has influence, especially unintended influence, over the others. Often, an outside look will bring an overlooked or obscure connection into focus which, in turn, presents you with wholly new opportunities for improvement.
Next, the Analyst will go over the written agreement describing both the work the Survey covers and the written agreement that details the consulting arrangement, should you proceed to that step. It is important that you listen and read the documents carefully. Although they are generally prepared in plain language they are still legal documents. Since many of these firms have been in business for decades, their documents have been refined over time and every word has meaning.
At various times during the course of the Survey (and the same will be true with consulting), the Analyst will be in contact with the firm's home office. Some of the calls will require your presence and you should plan to attend and, when asked, participate.
Don't be surprised when the Analyst tells you that you will have some work to do. Whether you are asked to do something in the office or at home the assignments will not only involve you in the process but will often be very revealing.
Having dispensed with the formalities up to this point, the analyst will begin to learn about your company. The next post will describe that step.
Some additional history of the consulting firm will be presented and your questions will be answered. References are seldom offered and even involve a bit of a procedure to obtain because of confidentiality agreements.
Clients' and their information are confidential. Just as you would not want your information, even contact information, disclosed without your knowledge or to a multitude of the merely curious, other clients feel the same way. Also like you, many of the clients work in their business and the consulting firm will respect their time. What can be done is to have the firm's home office schedule a time for a call between you and a reference.
Getting back to the Opening Conference, the Analyst will describe some of the techniques used to review and interpret your operations, finances and other information. Do not hesitate to provide what the Analyst requests even when you do not seek help for a particular area. Your business is more than the sum of its parts and each part has influence, especially unintended influence, over the others. Often, an outside look will bring an overlooked or obscure connection into focus which, in turn, presents you with wholly new opportunities for improvement.
Next, the Analyst will go over the written agreement describing both the work the Survey covers and the written agreement that details the consulting arrangement, should you proceed to that step. It is important that you listen and read the documents carefully. Although they are generally prepared in plain language they are still legal documents. Since many of these firms have been in business for decades, their documents have been refined over time and every word has meaning.
At various times during the course of the Survey (and the same will be true with consulting), the Analyst will be in contact with the firm's home office. Some of the calls will require your presence and you should plan to attend and, when asked, participate.
Don't be surprised when the Analyst tells you that you will have some work to do. Whether you are asked to do something in the office or at home the assignments will not only involve you in the process but will often be very revealing.
Having dispensed with the formalities up to this point, the analyst will begin to learn about your company. The next post will describe that step.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
