The Jamie Oliver approach to change management and how you can use it as a consultant
By James. September 10th, 2010. Posted in On assignment 1 Comment »
A few years ago Mr Jamie Oliver, the chirpy Chef from Essex, had a TV series in which he tried to change school dinners in the UK (jamieoliver.com/school-dinners). He wanted to feed the children of Britain better, healthier more nutritious food that would give them a better start in life and, so it proved in many cases, help them concentrate and learn at school.
As change programs go this was huge. Not unlike a lot of the change programs management consultants are asked to design, manage and run daily. If anything it was probably an even bigger task than most consultants will ever take on.
Continue reading»How working in a restaurant made me a better consultant
By James. September 3rd, 2010. Posted in On assignment No Comments »
What have running a restaurant and running consulting projects got in common? In both cases the goal is the same; to deliver a great customer experience.
In the restaurant business is doesn’t matter what sort of food you serve, or what type of restaurant you run you need to deliver a great customer experience if you want your customers to keep on coming back. The same is true of consulting; it doesn’t matter what the subject of your consulting project is, or what you need to deliver, ultimately you need to do it while making working with you a great customer experience for your clients. If they’re happy they will hire you again and they’ll make sure they let the World know how good they thought you were.
Continue reading»The Knights of Room Service
By adamanonymous. August 20th, 2010. Posted in On assignment, Your career 1 Comment »
“Is there much opportunity for travel?”
We’re at a graduate recruitment milkround presentation, I’ve just stood up and enthused about the joys of consulting and more specifically my employer and the whole room is now mingling in a post-presentation hubbub. The asker couldn’t put a more open and earnest expression on her face – she’s putting so much effort into appearing attentive and professional that I suspect she won’t really listen to my answer.
Continue reading»Borrowing your watch and spotting elephants
By adamanonymous. August 1st, 2010. Posted in On assignment No Comments »
I’m generally a practitioner, preferring delivering projects to critiquing them, but every so often I’ll get called in by a client to conduct a review of something or other, normally a project that is taking twice as long as they hoped. And frequently within a few short days of me poking my nose in, a slightly upset member of the team I’m charged with reviewing will invoke the hoary old saw about consultants “borrowing your watch to tell you the time”.
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