Consulting Career Framework

 

Consulting Career Framework

The Consulting Career Framework is built with the time span of (3-5) 4 years.
The framework considers two broad parameters
A. Types of Consultants: I or T type.
B. Business or Technological Focus
A. Types of Consultants:
Consultants can be broadly classified into two types; namely, I type and T type.
‘I Consultants’ are professionals who achieve very high level of expertise in a particular stream. This can be a particular industry, service line or technology.
An example of this could be a banking processes/law expert or a java or dot-net technology expert.
‘T Consultants’ are professionals who have good knowledge and understanding about a particular stream but also have valuable exposure/knowledge to related streams. These are people who have in-depth understanding of their area of specialization with good understanding of the related business environment which includes customers, suppliers, competitors or even similar function in a different industry/ market.
B. Business & Technological Focus
In the modern day world business and technology are finely intertwined in each other. Business needs technological support to function and technology must be viable and adaptable to varying business models.

The matrix classifies consultants as:
1. Business oriented (80% business & 20% technology): These are functional consultants who focus on numerous core operational processes on an organization. Their objective is to understand and capture business requirements and achieve enable process execution by making best use of available technology.
2. Technology oriented (80% Technology & 20% business): These are I.T. consultants who have deep understanding of technologies with respect to solution designs and its functionalities.
The careers profiles from the framework are as defined below:
1. Process Experts: These are consultants with a deep understanding of the business domain. They are completely aware of the requirements, challenges and technology available for that particular domain. They are most capable of designing processes complying to the principles of the domain with the desired
output.
2. Solution Experts: These are consultants who have thorough knowledge about a specific technology/solution. They are well versed with the technological capabilities and limitation of the technology/ solution and play advisory role in customizing the technology/solution to the business requirements.

3. Domain Leaders: These are consultants who have developed thorough knowledge of a particular industry/function and have good understanding of the related industry functions. There people usually emerge as business leaders who are able to innovate, copy best practices and take a holistic/360 degree view of the complete situation.
4. Functional Experts: There are consultants with good understanding of technologies. They are best translators of business requirements to technical requirements and assess technological/solution feasibility to the business needs.

Combining the power of FOUR.

A successful business requires professionals of every domain. It is lead by the Domain Leader (III) who is a visionary. With deep understanding of his business and broad understanding of its environment he is able to envision new goals and challenges. DL relies on the Process Expert (I) to design the business/operation/ process model to convert the vision into reality. Based on the business/ operation/ process design the Functional Expert (IV) captures business requirements and translates them into functional requirements. FE explores and assesses various technologies/ solutions suitable to the requirements. FE shares these requirements with Solution Experts (II) who assess, customize and enhance capability of their technology/ solution to the business.

MBA Its all about Placements

I often come across remarks from students that campus placements happen as a result of director or faculty connections in the corporate. Honestly though I am not qualified enough to say that it’s not correct but my experience and information in the corporate world has been somewhat different.

Let me begin by sharing my own case of campus placement: My Company was the first to visit the campus to hire students from our batch. It was also the first time that they visited our campus. Immediately after placements; our placement co-coordinator took lots of credit for getting 5 guys places in admirable consulting role. Well later on joining the job; I made friends with the re sourcing (HR) person who told me how they landed up for at our campus…

Organization was looking at young talent and they believed that few good guys did exist in every batch of not so highly ranked B/T schools. These guys would not only come at a much lesser monetary package but would hang in longer due to less institutional brand support. Hence the recruitment team started searching for such institutes on Google. They came across my institute name and contacted the placement co-coordinator. They wanted to visit the campus first to they could pick the cream and were primarily interested in MS guys for their technical expertise. Later they agreed to have a look at the MBA batch which surprisingly impressed them. Ultimately they ended up hiring more of MBA guys than the MS people. Since then they have regularly visited the campus for every requirement.

 

Well this highlights that hiring is primarily driven by business need for people rather than for gratification of certain individuals. It’s a competitive world and each one has to make lots of effort to attract customer so be it a corporate recruiter for placement cell.

My humble advice to placement cell members;

Understand the need of your customer (The Corporate Recruiter) and market your-self on those points. Let me point a few…

1. Recruiters don’t have time for searching about new institutions: There are plenty available otherwise. It’s completely upon you to make yourself very visible on net, in papers, on blogs, direct marketing campaigns, etc. You need to effectively use the alumni network to spread the name of the institution. Ever wondered how much an exclusive business card case or even a car sticker for every alumni would spread the visibility and build brand.
2. Nobody has time to make effort to establish contacts: Hence that onus is upon you. Make information and contacts easily available on net. Make sure it very easy to get in touch with you people so that the smallest of the opportunity information can reach you with little effort from any person. This could be creating a global id and marketing that id… talent@xyz.ac.in
3. Organizations need skills primarily: Make profiles of students; standard, easy to read and globally access able.
4. Heard of Risk-Reward ratio: Be willing to make financial (rewards) compromises to get your first job. And do not hesitate to give short/ medium term commitments (mitigate risk for the employer). Organizations’ invest a lot on the individual in first eighteen months. And believe me, they wish to retain good people. Once you have proved yourself you will be paid premium vis-à-vis peers in the organization.
5. Organizations need people in round the year: Too many fresher (non-billable resources) in a single quarter will hit bottom line hard of the business. Hence ensure availability of people joining dates round the year.
6. Prepare a pre-joining program: Contact regular recruiters to prepare a pre-joining program. While this will give you an edge of having exposure to required skills from day one; it will be a very value adding input for curriculum design and improvement. I will suggest a crash course on excel and power point usage.
7. Corporate respects ethics; demonstrate it. Be transparent and negotiate of placement spots and not on individual salaries. Well even if a recruiter refuses to visit; still don’t lie as any misrepresentation can put students’ placement in jeopardy. I have seen a campus recruitment coordinator being verbally thrashed and relationships snapped for making factual misrepresentation.
8. Every one wants to know more about the market: Offer to study recruitment and skill sets need of you customer i.e. corporate employer. Else offer corporate surveys and studies to help them further understand their market. You will find opportunities for internships at least.

 

Lastly corporate is all about give & take. And each party wants to feel a winner out of the transaction.

 

Thanks for having the patience to read through this.

Enjoy your MBA & enjoy life…

MBA Hits and Misses

Hi Guys

To introduce myself, I passed out of MBA program in May 2005 and joined my campus placed job along with two other classmates of mine. Last week I completed 3 years in the organization. Often in past 3 years I recalled the good work done in those days. More importantly I have realized what all I missed out on in those MBA …

Anyhows… there is no regret. Only wish to share these thoughts with you people; so that you might be able to make best use of this time.

Let me begin with something which we (myself and my classmates did really well)…

1. We were a very cohesive unit when it came to common issues of interest like curriculum, examinations and project and job placements. This gave result to an internal kind of organization with leadership skills truly coming out in open. While some were leaders from people management side, some were on knowledge side and some on the political side…:-)

2. We were extremely focused on skill diversification and each of us had exposures on subjects from Marketing, Finance, Business environment to information security.

3. We clearly stood distinct from ‘codes’ of technology and always pushed for understanding the business of technology and impact of technology on business.

4. Most of us never believed in Ratta (Mugging up) and instead focused on two key skills to pass the examination: a. Understanding the concepts & b. Ability to pass sheet or copy from the mate right under the nose of the invigilator.

5. Lastly on this list is our ability and eagerness to party even on the night before the exam. A true skill that each of my classmates is proud of till date.

Now let me state few things which I believe we did not do and you should. I may sound like a preacher but after little (three years) corporate experience I believe that these will make a difference:

* Save money and invest: Learn to save money. And then learn to invest it in stock market.

Warren Buffet’s one regret in life… he began investing in markets much later than he should have. He made first investments at the age of 14.

Stock market & Mutual Funds are a great place to be. It teaches you so much intuitively. You shall learn to do macro fundamental analysis, sectoral analysis, company analysis, financial analysis, stock market trading strategies and also learn to relate it to market growth, sales, hiring trends, etc.

My advice to you is to invest in small amounts. Make groups. Do thorough research. Discuss, make presentations. Start you small funds Management Company (group).

Rs. 1000 per month of investing for 24 months shall be Rs. 24000. Add a 25% CAGR in stock markets which is not difficult it soars to Rs. 34000.

* The most respected technical skill in industry is the ability to use MS-Office.

Ability to use excel innovatively and make excellent word documents and power point presentations give you the first visibility in any organization.

Recently some of your seniors joined us and it was indeed bad to know that they weren’t very strong on excel.

It is very-very important to master these basic tools. End one has a lot of catching up to do in the corporate.

And one can learn these skills only by doing, for in corporate there is no copy-pasting allowed. Do, practice and master the skills to use Excel, Power-point and word document.

* It’s a competitive world. Something can sell only if it’s seen. And glamour brings attention. Well guys… don’t start dreaming… Blog every damn technical site, management site and discussion forum with your name and institute ID. Share your thoughts online and make people realize that you exist and exist in big numbers. Start your blogs. Some can start articles blog, some a photo blog. Somebody can write about and review games. Somebody can write about pubs in Pune. Who knows your blog might become a source of earning. However make sure to respect the law and rules of the institute.

* Connect to your seniors… Well in the past three years; other that the odd mail I receive from the institute public relations cell, there has been no communication from the student community. Rise up and connect. We want to know about what happening in the institute, we wish to connect to the new talent and you carry much brighter ideas than we ever had. Build a network online. Circulate a newsletter in PDF fortnightly. Share about latest happenings and give us an opportunity to share our experiences and opportunities in our organizations with you people.

* Grow beyond business: Corporate around the world are becoming more aware of their social obligations. With rising environmental concerns and energy and commodity prices soaring all are looking to adapt better working methods and also starting to build goodwill directly with the masses. I suggest that you guys too start a union, small group to with social objectives. Get this registered as an NGO if you can. Take up a social issue and experiment with your ideas. It can be as simple as opening up a telephone helpline for people in distress to building a network of blood donors, or build an online database of stolen mobiles with IMEI number to check upon. Think how to use technology for betterment of society and DO everything you can with limited resources. Use the power of internet and get connected to other corporate social initiatives by offering volunteers. Lastly I assure you, this is the most effective way to get noticed by corporate big-wigs.

Leadership Week

Hi,

 

Just back from HLP- hands on leadership program. Well I definitely enjoyed it and had an opportunity to meet many new guys.

While coming back, Vijay, Operations Manager for MIT team, Hyderabad and I had a small chat as to what purpose such leadership programs serve? What are the real takeaways for the participants?

 

I believe that besides a lot of theory on leadership traits it ultimately helps us to develop self confidence. During all the discussions we had on leadership qualities following the numerous exercises, each of us was able to relate some of the points to our day-to-day work style. Thus infusing confidence that “I am a leader in my own way” and I definitely have the potential to lead my team.

Also all are not equal. And to meet people with different abilities and attitudes it’s certainly a mutually beneficial exchange of thoughts and views.

 

Let me tell state my takeaway from the program before I critically describe the different sessions we had.

 

“There are two kinds of people. One, people who adapt themselves to the world. Others who make the world adapt to themselves. Hence it’s the second type who cause all the progress!” I was jubilated by this statement; rather I took it as a pat on my back for I have always insisted on following new ways and innovative methods.

 

We started of with the innovative introductions sessions. We had to state our name and role followed by a movie character we would like to play if given a chance.

Well I knew the roles I really admired: Hritik Roshan in Dhoom II for “Champion sirf ek hota hai ooor uski jagah koi nahin le lakta” or Shahrukh Khan for Kal Ho Na Ho.

But then almost everybody was stating such idealist roles. So I made a last minute switch… “ I would like to play the role of… Mr. Bean” … “Innocent, innovative and making everybody smile”

 

We had a big creativity session. Lots of theory followed by a really enjoyable games. We were given balloons, straws and thread to make a ‘working model of any machine’. While most of the team members got into blowing of balloons, I steped back to talk what we could make? Then came a suggestion… an aeroplane. I glamorized it calling saying “we shall make A380”.

While some were still blowing balloons I pulled two guys to make a structure with the straws. Soon our shaky skeleton of the plane was ready and we were about to crate the body of balloons; a new challenge faced us. How to make it working or fly??

 

Some smart guys tied two long strings from one end to another with a tilt. And we showed our A380 landing. Though its wings were so shaky that that we thought we had made a metro train…Ha Ha ha.

 

We then left for a trekking trip. A truly adventurous one, walking through the wild in day light and at night. My previous experience came handy and this time I was the last one in the line. Precisely because my previous trekking leader always followed the group making sure nobody is left behind.

 

We had good dinner at the camp. Followed our chat sessions that ran late into the night. Full of non-veg jokes, sharing experience about the different assignments and discussion on every topic under the sky… even what kind of guy would marry Malika Sherawat. Some of the most energetic guys went for night cricket match.

 

Rising early we used to go on morning walks to have a true view of nature. Clean air, lovely sky and mountains and greenery to make feel elated. It’s a true pleasure to live out in the lap of nature. Though mosquitoes and insects giving the fly-past was always a concern.

 

The exercise day at Pegasus camp was a dream come true. Watching fauji in childhood and many movies showing army exercises it was always a dream to be a part of such a lifestyle. At Pegasus we did all that. Cross the obstacle course with ropes and bamboos as our equipment. Climbed the rope ladders, hung with tyres, and crossed the rope ‘burma bridge’, went through tunnels and jumping from 9 ft walls were some of the most adventurous moments of life.

 

In the dining hall we had the opportunity to look at the previous groups that had visited this camp. Between all the corporate logos there was a logo of BCCI; the Indian team had also visited this camp on instructions of Greg Chappel. Recollect some of the news stories of last year before they went to West-Indies.

 

We were in 3 mini busses which took us through some of the most un-motorable terrain of the hills. While coming back I sat in the bus which was carrying supposedly the naughtiest guys. Though I (usually a quite soul) felt a mis-fit initially, soon I struck chord with most of the guys only to share some of the most thoughtful views. I truly enjoyed being there sharing hard views about out professions and jolly views of life, our school time crushes.

 

The next day were some business leadership sessions on excellence in customer service and productivity. Honestly the presenters didn’t live up to my expectations. And it was easily visible with their discomfort with my questions. Though I shall surely share an interesting incident… In the tea break, I and Manu, my colleague from consulting had a discussion on the topic of products in service sector and message of the session on service excellence. It was a private discussion in which I cleared some fundas that I thought were not presented well in the session. After the break, when the session started and the presenter just began, Manu intervened. He said to the presenter “Susheem had explained me something which I would like to present to the group as you seemed very much confused about it.” He left two people in shock, first the presenter who was upset over being called confused by a participant. And second me, who had no idea of what has happened and why. Ultimately I had to state some management fundas in a couple of minutes and also save the flow of the session, which left everybody more lost. The only remark that came was… “That was true consulting stuff!!!” well in either case everybody enjoyed it.

Commitment to Talent

Commitment to Talent

 

1. What makes a good supervisor?
2. How to extract maximum out put from colleagues and subordinates?
3. Most people quit jobs because of difference with their boss. What causes this conflict and why these conflict end up with separations?

 

Well let me begin with some simple fundas…

 

Today in highly competitive business scenarios ever rising targets need to be met and exceeded. And to meet those targets maximum output of the team is extremely necessary. Some bosses (technically speaking) try to achieve this by being task oriented; other by being people oriented. Let me present an individual perspective before I elaborate on task and people orientation.

 

There are two key drivers of individual performance:

1. Talent; &
2. Commitment.

 

Talent in simple terms is the ability of an individual to execute a task. It is more than skill sets. Relevant skill sets can be and are developed, enhanced and transformed by individuals over their careers. However the rate depends upon the depth of talent. Talent is all about Brain; it’s the sharpness or intelligence of an individual. Talent also has another dimension which is orientation. Some people are talented in delivering operational assignments while some are good at thinking jobs and one type can not replace the other. Talent is individualistic trait.

 

Commitment is an emotion. It resides in the heart. It is the willingness of an individual to support, to deliver and to stretch at the required time. Commitment is the core strength that drives people beyond perceived boundaries. Commitment is a reciprocal process and is generally towards the immediate supervisor or team members.

 

In a typical consulting 2X2 framework of Talent and Commitment:

 

Individual Orientation

 

	Commitment
Talent		High	Low
	High	Best Friends: Horses to success.	Danger: Trouble makers.
	Low	Best Support: To be ridden for success.	Mismatch to boss/profile/ organization.

 

As the matrix explains:

 

‘High on Talent and High on Commitment’ individuals are the best friends to any boss. They are capable of delivering best of the results; work beyond limits to demonstrate results in ground. They are happy sharing the credit as they know that they have bigger goals to achieve in life.

‘High on Talent and Low on Commitment’ individuals are trouble makers. They focus primarily of personal achievement and try to team members. These people need to be managed with lot of care with single objective to transform them to ‘High Commitment’ team members.

‘Low on Talent and High on Commitment’ are individuals who are best support to any boss. These individuals form good part of any team to deliver tasks as per instructions.

‘Low on Talent and Low on Commitment’ can be described as individuals who are a mismatch to their current organization, profile or boss. These usually stay quite in the system or move out to try their luck.

 

In my career life; I have come across various kinds of bosses. The theories of organizational behavior describe bosses as task or people oriented. All achieving their goals; yet some highly task oriented who focus on the depth of activities being delivered, asking for daily reports, talking only about progress to plan chart; some highly people oriented concerned about team and individuals, taking deep interest in individual learning and welfare and always available to support and extend a helping hand; and some good at none, well I cant explain these types.

 

Though it’s a difficult situation to strike a right balance between task and people orientation, something more important is to seek and build commitment in the team members.

 

I would like to look at bosses as talent oriented or commitment oriented. Bosses who respect talent only; achieve targets. They ensure good job delivery and survive the calm times. However bosses, who share targets, are able to seek and build commitment among the team members build businesses. They are able to grow faster and higher with strong foundations and inspiring confidence. This definitely is easier said than done. As commitment is a reciprocal process, employees capture hidden signals in boss communication and behavior to form their opinions. It could be how boss accepts or rejects a request. It is reflected in the communication style, general comments, and most importantly team welfare actions. It is captured in boss’s eagerness to listen, to empathize, to support and right time to pull or let go an individual. It’s an art and it differs for every individual subordinate.

 

Development of skills is extremely important to harness the talent. But again it’s more important to determine individuals’ talent orientations and any push in a wrong direction will not only lead to wastage of talent but also drive down commitment.

I know it sounds complex to be a good boss but trust me I have had some and many of the thoughts here; are their actions in my words. One of them said, “You win when team wins and team wins when you put in your best”.

It’s all about getting the commitment from talented people to deliver maximum output. And… Success is Assured!!!

Who is Susheem???

Hi,

Well my self-introduction is an extempore answer I gave to a question by a very learned gentleman…

His question: Who is Susheem? How do you see him?

My Reply: 🙂 Susheem is an individual who is always looking for more. He is always craving for something new, something more… both in professional and personal life. He started of as a business analytics consultant, moved over to process consulting and now in operational risk management. In personal life he was an observer, then a thinker and now a writer… 🙂

Susheem is a naughty guy who believes in Growth. Lets grow together…