M & A UnAuthorized Opinions

Where has all the M & A work gone? Due to some market stresses there is a bit of a drought of M&A work. Don't get me wrong, big deals are still getting worked out, and there is still a backlog of work to get to but the path ahead seems a little bumpy. Part of that is likely because of the failures of previous M&A pieces of work by large consultancies. They seem to have chosen to be a bit too aggressive in winning deals and linking with the titans of private equity and not enough time on the back end of the deals making sure there work was profitable.

A year ago, six months ago, probably even three months ago more and more so-called Turn-around-executives were leaving cushy jobs to jump into consulting to land and work on the big fish. They either joined the big firms (unlikely) or they joined together (semi-likely) or they simply opened up their own shops and started selling their services at astronomical rates. Strategy is great, coming up with the ideas to save 3-4% or increase margins a percent or two is awesomely fun. The problem of course is that sometimes, those strategies don't pan out. Something that makes sense on paper, works out in various statistical scenarios just doesn't work in the real world. Furthermore a really great strategy consultant cannot be everywhere at the same time. They can take the helm, direct the ship but they can't cook in the galley and man the oars (or nets) at the same time.

Couple margin work with margins of error and increased interest rates and you have a number of companies, medium, large and gigantic struggling to pay down the debt that bought them out from under the public yoke.

Either way, I'd still love to get involved in a few more projects. Its just too bad they no longer want to pay our (recently raised) rates.

Mini Series: What is Globalization?

What is this Globalization thing everyone is talking about? Or, what is this globalization thing everyone Was talking about say, 7-8 years ago.

Globalizing and globalization means a lot of different things to people. Some fear that it means offshoring jobs to India or China, some think that it means traveling the world, corporations think it means selling their products and services everywhere. I like to think of globalization as a process, I'm not sure what the end point is but, its a process that is making the world a smaller place, its been enabled by technological advances in communications and opening of free trade agreements which allow people and data to move across borders.

Globalism: a derivation of the other words is typically referred to as the process wherein nation-states play a less important role in the world economy and politics as people develop a truly "internationalist" prospective. Thats a long ways off.

For the most part, when I think about Globalization I think about it from the perspective of large international companies and organizations. They're goal is to stretch our of their national or multinational boundaries and begin sourcing materials and selling products on multiple playing fields world wide. Globalization isn't something they fear, its something they need because it enables them to remain (or become) competitive in a larger marketplace. For most companies thats where they end, the get cheaper materials, or cheaper labor and are able to sell more stuff. By most standards and methodologies that would place them in the Transnational category and Not the Global.

What does a global company do that a transnational company doesn't? That question is a little more difficult but to give you a hint of next week's answer, the core of it is the companies ability to move "Human Capital" around like chess pieces.

Most companies are less "global" than they think:

Transnational Company example:
General Electric, Coca Cola
Mulinational Company example:
Caterpillar, Goodyear Tire (most heavy or large manufactures)
International Company example:
Koch Industries

Monday - Funday

Ahhh, the Joys of Consulting. At about 9 a.m. this morning I was notified that my project has been put on Hold. Now this hasn't actually happened to me before. I've had projects fail or end early, and I have had a Lot more extend for months ad nauseum. Nope, this is the first time I've been told to put done the phone and Stop. Apparently there has been some miscommunication at the top of the food chain, the client is questioning both our structure and our resolve. My principal has decided to pause all work and let them feel the pain a little.

That means that I've spent all day working on back errands, knowledge transfer, onboarding and other internal projects. If I haven't said it before I will certainly say it again, internal projects are no fun. Mostly I've been catching up on all my old favorites from college on www.addictinggames.com which is wonderful for slow days like .... this week? I hope I get on another project soon.

Mini Series - Consulting 101

Listening ..... And?

So my first post attempting to explain consulting left you with a one word answer: Listening. Well that was obviously a bit of a cop out, but it makes a point. Consulting means a lot of things but at its root it comes down to a couple of very simple ideas. What else is consulting? Well since we're called consultants and not psychiatrists, and since we charge for our time we must provide some service to our clients... right?

To go back to the jokes, we probably don't. Or if we do, it costs you more for us to explain it.

We don't just listen (though often thats the part most over-looked) we respond, we reiterate and we provide expertise. We reiterate what we hear so that we understand what we we hear and often so that we can rephrase a client's problem. Often the simple act of rephrasing a problem can be enlightening. We then offer some expertise in correcting the problem. as an HR management consultant I help companies by strengthening their HR departments and thus their employees and thus their bottom line. My expertise I could say is in HR Strategy, Change Management or Talent Management. What are those things? How do you become an expert in Talent? Well that will have to wait for another post.

Consultants listen, elucidate the client's problem and offer expertise ....but that isn't really answering it all either. Hmm.

On Boarding Part Deux

In this episode we'll continue our conversation about Rapid On-boarding. The process in which we quickly activate new employees, bring them into the fold and make them profitable.

Last week we spoke about the problems with Reading. Today we're going to begin talking about doing. One of the most efficient ways to get a new recruit up to speed is to set them to a project. Often someone right out of college isn't quite ready for a client project, more often internal projects are boring. I like to offer recruits a third option, a research project that places them at the helm of a problem, utilizes the research and writing capabilities they built during their time at school, interests them and teaches them about what we do.... Wow, thats a mouthful, how can something be that good? Well first ask them what they are interested in. In my business I'll ask them what industry interests them. If for instance they say pharmaceuticals I will reach out to colleagues and find out what contacts or clients we may have. I'll then ask the new recruit to learn everything they can about that company over a couple of days, with the goal of pitching that company a piece of work.

All companies (especially perhaps pharmaceuticals) have problems, the new recruit will work with our colleagues to find them (thus meeting new people and networking) develop solutions from our area's of expertise (which requires research the exact business they do against what we offer) and then develop a presentation that we could cold send to the client for their consideration (its important to elucidate the point of a cold send - because that will make the presentation far more effective and efficient).

There you have it. In a week's time a new recruit has learned about your business, learned about your co-workers, learned about your clients and has used all their research and knowledge to develop a presentation. They've just run the entire gamut of the consulting industry, they've led it all, they've done their own time management and they can be (and usually are) very proud of the work they've done.

If you work in consulting or a similar industry, try it out for one of your new people. I promise it will be effective.

M & A Activity and UnAuthorized Opinions

In order to kick-off our first posting on M & A activity I would like to explain a bit how an effective HR strategy can enable success or aid to failure.

The first thing companies should consider when merging, and the last thing they usually do, are its people. People (some might say Labor) are what make companies work. If a merger is going to be successful it doesn't matter how many "natural synergies" or cost-savings or other advantages there might be if you don't make the two groups into one cohesive whole.

AT&T is one of the companies that has done this extraordinarily successfully. They were one of the Baby Bells and now a dozen or so merger's later they are quickly gaining on Ma' Bell. They were able to do this because People came first. When Bell South was acquiring companies it brought people together, explained that those that were once our competitors were now our brethren and set the stage for continued exchange between them. They did not operate as two separate groups, they combined or maintained leadership, re-imposed a combined structure and communicated everything. If you have to choose, choose to over communicate. Tell everyone everything you're planning to do, planning to continue acquiring, tell them, planning to divest a business, tell them. The more you communicate the more people feel involved in your decisions.

HR should be the voice of that communication. They should set the precedent of over communication, explanation, reiteration, questioning and asking. I assure you, there is no group better qualified in your company to ask and explain than your HR department. Use them!

Mini Series: What is Consulting?

In our first "mini series" post I will attempt to delve into what Consulting is. I am often asked just what I do, and aside from listing clients and client projects I usually have a pretty hard time defining what exactly Consulting is.



Q. Why is a consultant so called?

A. Because he first cons and then insults you.

Consultare


In recent years consultant jokes have run as rampant as the lawyer jokes of yore. Where previously I would laugh at the question question: How many lawyers does it take to change a lightbulb? Now that they're directed at me it seems less funny.....I wonder why?

The term consulting is derived from the word consultare which in Latin means to discuss. But the ancient romans were not talking about today's roaming bands of men and women in suits selling their time for $800 an hour. They were talking about conversations, debates, meetings. The consultants of the time were more like politicians and debaters than startegists and salesmen. Consulting should be about helping people, helping companies to overcome obstacles. To help them through discussion and consilium.


So my first answer to the question, What is consulting is simple, its enabling discussion. Its listening but what else is it?

What is On Boarding?

On-boarding is essential to all companies. But what is it? Well, put simply, its the process by which you turn a new employee or recruit, into an effective, engaged and (hopefully) soon-to-be profitable employee.

There are a couple of different techniques. The one most often used in the consulting world should be known as swim or die. Essentially young consultants are thrown into the water in near impossible situations and told to fight their way out or through. This method can be infective but as you would guess there is a high rate of attrition i.e. those who "die." Those who survive however can quickly be relied upon and will in due time become sharks who will eventually kill or simply swim off. They've been raised in a situation of extreme competition, I can't say that I blame them.

Another technique should be known as sit on the porch and learn. The "porch" is usually the term referring to that time period when you do not have a project to work on. If you're of sufficient rank, you should probably be working on sales or thought leadership but if you're not then you're told to sit in your cubicle in read 100+ iterations of the same (or strikingly similar) consultant Decks. Decks: The consultant term for a power point presentation, typically long, filled with too much information and jargon. Highly loved by consultants and highly despised by the executives we pitch them to.

Another option, and you'll likely tell from my tone the one I prefer is called Quick On-boarding. I can't claim that I thought of the name or the concept but I will do my best to provide a synopsis of the principles. First, get new people activated. Put them to work on something that challenges them to step outside of their typical roles, as an MBA student to research some company history, ask a Political Science major to do some Stat analysis. Get them working on something that is in the news. One of the things I did recently is asked an intern to research everything he could about Dow Jones and Rupert Murdoch (this was about 2 days into the buyout.) He did and he quickly was reporting to myself, a manager and an executive about all the work he had done. Pretty soon he was thrilled to be working on it and began working on ways that our company could help either party. It worked beautifully and it served as a mechanism to get the new-guy to talk to a number of people in our group, to prove that he could do something valuable and learn about our work and where he could fit in.

To find out more about the "Getting New Hires Up to Speed Quickly" method refer to an MITSloan Management Review article from the Winter 2005 edition (Vol. 46. No 2.) You wont be disappointed.

An introduction to All Things Consulting

Welcome to All Things Consulting. In our first post I would like to tell a bit about the goal of the blog and the structure of things to come. As any good consultant likes to bring structure to a client, I look at this blog the same way.

Goals
My goals for this blog are grandiose. I would like this to become a forum to teach new people about consulting, a place for current consultants to learn some new tricks, an area where managers can learn about their employees and their bosses and to provide a system to ask and answer questions.

Structure
First, I'm going to attempt to post on a daily basis. Rather than bore you with my daily thoughts or feelings I'm going to post about particular topics and things on a daily basis. I want this blog to be helpful, easy to read/understand and fun.

Posting schedule and topics:
Monday - Funday
Tuesday - Long-term topics, starting with Globalization
Wednesday - Question and Answer, Merger's Mailbag
Thursday - Onboarding
Friday - Consulting Topics, starting with What is Consulting?
Saturday & Sunday - Book Reviews

All Things Consulting

The Birth of All Things Consulting. Welcome.