Consultive Magazine

Why upward management is a skill you should learn now

By James. November 26th, 2010. Posted in Your career 1 Comment »

In the world of Management Consulting, and almost every other industry for that matter, there is a lot of time and energy put into training people in the art of project and people management. New line managers are sent on line management training courses that can last days. Project managers are taught numerous project management techniques from simple time planning right through to accredited methodologies like Prince 2. Even as an IT undergraduate I, like many others, had to take a module entitled Software Project Management to learn how to deliver software projects on time and budget, that’s how important project management is deemed.

What none of these courses and very few firms teach their employees is the art of Upward Management, or in other words; the art of “Managing your manager”.

Make the Most of Your Opportunities with Career Planning

By Ony Chima. November 5th, 2010. Posted in Your career 3 Comments »

This article briefly introduces career planning, an approach that when adopted properly could mean the difference between an unsatisfying career as a consultant and a very rewarding one which supports your long term goals.

Are you T enough to be a consultant?

By James. October 1st, 2010. Posted in Your career 2 Comments »

Working as a Management Consultant can be challenging and unpredictable.

Clients expect you to have all the answers, to all of their questions. You are the expensive consultant sent to solve their problems, and they want solutions now.

Coping with the challenges that this kind of working environment present takes a particular type of person. It doesn’t matter what your area of expertise is; IT management, Program Management, Business Transformation, etc, to successfully consult you need to be one of these types of people.

Dealing with problems in the workplace

By Mike. September 17th, 2010. Posted in Your career 1 Comment »

There are plenty of times during your time as a consultant where you will need to speak up about something, in fact you probably won’t be able to progress in your career unless you are able to. In my experience, using constructive criticism followed by positive suggestions allow situations to be resolved with the minimum possible stress, and best possible outcome.

Graduates – Thinking of becoming a consultant? Think again

By James. August 27th, 2010. Posted in Your career No Comments »

Becoming a consultant is an attractive and lucrative prospect for many graduates. The good salary, golden handshake, good promotion prospects and project based work all sound great. Recruitment fairs up and down the country are full of recent graduates selling the benefits of being a graduate consultant at many of the top consultancies in the World.

And for many, joining a management consultancy as a graduate is a great move. You get to work with incredibly intelligent people who work hard and take pride in what they do. You get to learn from some of the best people in their fields. You get to work on projects and for clients that no other job could offer you. On top of that you get paid well, you get to travel and you get the chance to gain experience and build a CV that is hard for anyone else to match.

But, and this is a big but, it is not suitable for everyone.