October 8, 2024

We're not all like that... why "strategy consulting" has a bad reputation

By Kristine Briggs · 3 minute read

OIC Advisors was founded to help proactive leaders drive growth through successful transformation. Over the years, my two co-founders and I have been in multiple environments where we've had the chance to observe how many "Strategy Consulting" firms operate, from the largest global brands to smaller and more niche firms. Some of what we have seen has helped us define how OIC won't operate, and also what we will do to differentiate ourselves from others and provide tangible value for our clients.

Why Consulting can be a Dirty Word

In many circles, “Consulting” gets a deservedly bad name for the following manners of engagement:

Value for Money: Most strategy consulting engagements are based on interviews and documentation review, and usually take months. What you get is a hundred-page-plus report, which basically codifies the problem statement that interviewees told them, and only provides high-level and generic guidance on how to fix the issues. There is little tailoring to your company, culture, or desired strategic direction. The big firms have great graphics though....

True Intent and Cost: Often the largest global consultancies (you know who they are...) are brought in, with multi-million-dollar price tags, for one of the following reasons:

Due to past personal relationships.
As a CYA if the transformation goes poorly -- no one gets fired for following <insert preferred large consultancy>'s advice.
To get third-party data points and statistics, to leverage in empire building.

Cost vs. Real-World Experience: You are paying a premium price (between $500-$600/hour) for a junior consultant just out of business school with no practical experience, so you get recommendations that would work in theory, but not in a real-world environment.

Paying to be Up-Sold To: You are paying between $1000-$1500/hour for a "Managing Principal" who is supposed to guide the engagement and ensure you get your money's worth, but really spends most of his or her time trying to extend the engagement and mining for other leads from the inside.

Lack of an Execution Roadmap: Often the results you get just highlight the problems, but do not drive the execution of solutions to drive measurable change. You are rarely provided any practical process or methodological intellectual property to accelerate positive operational changes -- and if they offer it, it costs extra and is often performed by a new team with different skillsets who are not familiar with the original work done.

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So, What's a Better Way?

When used at the right time, in the right way, and for the right reasons, consultants can bring significant value to drive your organization's momentum. That said, having seen consultancies operate as outlined above dozens of times, we decided to do things differently. We consider ourselves successful if we can work to a point where our clients no longer need our expertise. Here are some of the key principles we leverage, that you should look for when hiring a consultant of any kind.

What to Look for When Hiring Consultants

Team: They have a smart, high-integrity team. They proactively talk about the importance of business ethics and personal integrity. There is no swagger or arrogance. They will happily show you detailed bios of those who will actually be assigned to your engagement.

Cost: The price is reasonable. In the end, will the efficiencies you drive, and the resulting growth, more than pay for the engagement?

Understanding the Situation: They can articulate, in detail, that they understand your business, your current challenges, and how they will help you address those challenges, ideally leveraging solutions and methodologies they have successfully implemented before.

Solution Customization: Their methodologies and IP can be tailored to your needs - it's not just a cookie-cutter methodology, process, or solution.

Sense of Urgency and Generous with IP: They understand that time is, quite literally, money for you. They work with a sense of urgency, together WITH your team, to drive positive change. They bring relevant IP and processes to the table to accelerate your progress at no extra charge.

Operational Velocity Framework

We have been defining an "Operational Velocity Framework" for public release, for companies who want to make rapid progress, but don't want to engage a consultancy. It is a comprehensive set of "areas of analysis" to inspect if you want to improve operational velocity. Essentially, it codifies our years of driving growth and scale at technology companies, from global giants to rapidly growing start-ups, through various stages of digital transformation. It shows you where to look, what to look for, and provides recommendations for how to address the most common challenges.

We expect to have it released before the end of 2024 and look forward to your feedback! If you would like us to let you know when it's available, please fill out this brief form.