Management Consulting
What we do
At Concerto Consulting, we work with management teams to successfully address significant change in their business or organisations, usually in a multinational environment. Often this requires developing, clarifying and executing on a new strategic direction.
We ensure that the strategy is stretching, yet executable in practice. We work with the leadership to address the core business issues – rather than simply applying the latest fashionable idea or the same set of tools in all situations.
Once the strategy is clarified, we establish what needs to change, how to translate it into practical action, and how to secure the required alignment and commitment of key stakeholders. We then support our clients through the change.
It takes two wings to fly
This approach requires insight into the business as a whole system, including both the ‘hard’ aspects (processes, tools, infrastructure) and the ‘soft’ aspects (people, organisation, culture).
We have deep expertise in both dimensions. Our view is: “you need both wings to fly”.
Find out how we make your strategy work under the “How we do it” tab.
Or download our corporate pdf-brochure here
How we do it
You have heard the stories, or perhaps you have experienced it yourself:
The consultants come in, they make recommendations…and no sustained change happens. Before long, people just go back and do what they were doing before.
This occurs when changes are made either without really focusing on the concrete business issues – or without aligning new tools and plans with other parts of the organisation – or without gaining sufficient commitment from the key stakeholders needed to make them stick.
We can make sure that the change really works. But it takes focus and commitment: yours and ours.
Working closely with you, we act as a guide and catalyst for change. We also make sure that you retain ultimate control. Each assignment is unique but the process is always collaborative and often involves four steps.
Step 1: Investigate the ‘what’ and ‘why
First we explore and analyse: what are the burning business issues and challenges that you face?
Whether you want to take advantage of new market opportunities, neutralize a competitive threat, integrate new technologies or move up the strategic value chain, we explore the strategic issues. We do this together with you and we make sure that your Leadership Team shares a common understanding of your strategy.
Step 2: Define the ‘how’
Next we define the solutions: what needs to change to make it happen?
We bring the tools, processes and our experience. But we are only part of the process. As guide and catalyst of change, we develop the solution with you.
The solution can be a combination of different yet complementary improvements, such as:
- a clear focus on specific client market or segments
- a set of more effective and efficient business processes
- powerful ICT tools
- appropriate people competencies and development paths
- an agile, high-performance organisation
- aligned organizational and individual targets
Step 3: Implement the changes
The implementation of the “hard”, technical aspects (such as processes, tools and systems) are normally straightforward. Yet, they require robust implementation planning. People issues are sometimes more challenging : how do you help your people through the transitional period and motivate them to support the change? Things to address here include leadership, communications, training and support.
Step 4: Monitor the results and adjust
As the project is implemented, we jointly look at what works well and what doesn’t. We ask: which are the options for improvement and how do we implement them? We work with you to establish the monitoring processes and support your progress reviews.
This is an ongoing process and not a one-off exercise. We partner with you until we are jointly satisfied with the strategy and its execution.
Our style
Advisory firms have different ways of going about things. As a customer, you need to feel comfortable with their style. This is ours:
1. Excellence where it matters
Let’s face it: there are always more problems than you have resources to solve.
Concentrating on what really matters makes the difference: that’s what we mean by excellence where it matters.
For example, everybody talks about efficiency these days. But do you need to improve efficiency everywhere?
It is often better to be selective. Of course, all processes have to be reasonably efficient to be ‘in the game’. But beyond that, other things will normally make the difference (and the money).
To name just a few:
providing compelling value propositions to customers, anticipating change, leading across boundaries, being an agile organisation, building a culture of innovation, sustaining stakeholder networks, embedding culture of ownership and performance.
You do not have to be the best everywhere. You need to be excellent where it really matters and ‘good enough’ everywhere else.
2.Time for the people
Our second value is about focussing on people. Being kind, sincere and generous. Building trust.
Sadly, this is not what consultants are known for. But it is essential for success because change always has an important human aspect.
We often work on projects where substantial change in business performance is needed. Almost always, hard decisions need to be taken. There is no shying away from them but we need to help people through the change.
We dedicate time to people. Doing so, we often find ourselves doing more than we are paid for. We feel that this is the right thing to do. It’s also good business sense for you and our firm.
3. Credit where it is due
We try to be modest – we do not claim credit for more than we do. Yes, the change usually would not happen without us, but we are only the guides and catalysts. In the end, we do a small part of it all. It’s you and your people who do the rest.
It only makes sense: your people know the company best. They are well placed to develop solutions. They also need to feel part of the change process. It is the only way to make them champions of the change.
We are also modest in our use of resources. Our service is about results, not about frills and unnecessary expenses. We use the best tools and have an excellent professional team, but we don’t have expensive offices. And we don’t run slick advertising campaigns.