The Odyssey Arrow Value Engagement Process ◾ 33
◾ Questionnaires
◾ Orientation briefings
◾ Climate surveys
◾ Assessments
◾ Focus groups
◾ Organization surveys
Growth curve analysis, job benchmarking, competency, behavior and values
measurement, and financial analytics all have a role in the consultant’s diagnostic
toolkit and may be deployed at different stages of the Odyssey Arrow process.
In our book, Successful Entrepreneurial Management: How to Create
Personal and Business Advantage, we discuss the six-link chain of resources,
which govern the performance of the organization. These resources are
money, product, physical, intangible, time, and people. Using the six-
resource chain as a template to model the client’s business gives the consul-
tant a powerful diagnostic tool (Figure 2.4).
◾ Money: Is there a lack of working capital? Is there overborrowing? Is the
working capital not working due to poor cash flow management, unre-
alistic costing, collections, and overgenerous budgeting/spending?
◾ Product: What is the product offering and how does it measure up? Is
the client delivering outstanding customer service? Is service delivery as
good as it could be? Are packaging and design needs being met?
◾ Physical: Assessing the strengths and weaknesses of the client’s location,
equipment, and technology. Are they fit for purpose?
Professional
Service
Business
IntangiblePhysical
PeopleMoney
TimeProduct
Pr
ofess
i
o
n
al
Servic
e
B
us
in
ess
I
ntangiblePhysica
l
People
M
one
y
T
im
e
Pr
oduc
t
Figure 2.4 The six resource model.
34 ◾ Odyssey—The Business of Consulting
◾ Intangibles: What about staff morale, levels of motivation, engagement,
respect, culture, ethos, corporate philosophy, and image? Are low stan-
dards in this area poisoning company performance? How do you mea-
sure the goodwill of the company?
◾ Time: How are key resources deploying their time? Is there wastage? How
could time be better allocated by key resources within the organization?
◾ People: Where are the emotional, psychological, and cultural choke
points? Is there a lack of leadership, management, or specific talent? Are
personal issues within teams hindering progress? Is there an openness
to change? Are there performance issues?
Road blocks and choke points can exist at any one of these links. People
working in organizations often fail to identify the weakest link, for a variety
of reasons. The fact is that the weakest link affects and controls the overall
success of the six resources. If you invest resources in a link which is not the
weakest link, you do not improve overall results. In fact, strengthening a link
which is not the weakest can often weaken the entire chain of resources.
The consultant’s role is that of an objective observer and advisor, providing
clarity, focus, and capacity to align an organization’s resource chain.
The Problems Associated with Discovery
To restate: Discovery is about answering questions to bring clarity, focus,
and capacity to the assignment. Be mindful of the pitfalls in this process.
Here are several common errors consultants make when seeking to diag-
nose problems in a client organization:
◾ Mistaking effects for causes—going for the quick solution without con-
ducting proper diagnostics.
◾ Failure to widely canvass all stakeholders, e.g., board of directors, cus-
tomers, and lower ranks.
◾ The functional eye—jumping to a quick functional solution rather than
exploring all possible causes and long-term implications.
◾ Listening to the best view only—making decisions based on limited
information without conducting full, due process investigations.
◾ “It’s urgent and must be sorted out tomorrow”—firefighting and reacting
rather than resolving issues at source and eliminating causes.
◾ Getting sidetracked—not keeping the client focused on key result areas
and majoring on minor issues and “white herrings.”
The Odyssey Arrow Value Engagement Process ◾ 35
The Benefits of Good Discovery
The overall objective of the discovery phase is to collate all of the neces-
sary material to arrive at a more accurate, targeted REC. One of the benefits
of an excellent diagnostic process is that it cements the level of collabora-
tion between consultant and client from an early stage in the assignment.
Effectively, it provides you with a license to go ahead with the course of
action already planned or about to be outlined in the REC stage.
Meeting One Response Letter
The purpose of the M1r is threefold: to capture the essence of your discus-
sion at the M1, to give the client a deeper insight into the style and approach
of your consulting business, and to make a recommendation on how the
assignment/project can move forward (Figure 2.5).
At the M1, the client does 90% of the talking. The M1r letter is the oppor-
tunity to demonstrate that you have captured everything that was said, both
explicitly and implicitly, that is, reading between the lines. In conveying that
information, it is important that you do not theorize what the client said,
but use “native” language—in other words, the client’s own phraseology—
to describe their situation. In the following sample letter, the phrases in
inverted commas are phrases that the client has used and are lifted directly
from the M1.
Writing a good, professional response letter is what separates the amateur
from the professional. The novice consultant will grasp at the client and rush
out a proposal. The reality is that you have to slow down to go faster. By
progressing gradually through the stages of the Odyssey Arrow, you estab-
lish credibility, peer-level respect, and professionalism. You are conveying
to the client that you understand their situation and objectives and where it
M1rM1
REC
M2 BMR
ODI
SEREB
Figure 2.5 Meeting One Response Letter.
36 ◾ Odyssey—The Business of Consulting
hurts for them and their business. They are developing trust and the expec-
tation that you can help them fulfil their purpose and vision and reawaken
their passion for their business.
In addition to reviewing all that was discussed at the M1, the M1r also
gives you an opportunity to tell the client a little more about your consulting
practice and to sketch out the action steps that should follow.
Sample M1r Letter
Dear Andrew,
Thank you for the overview and insight you gave me into your practice dur-
ing your visit to our office on Thursday, 23rd March.
The purpose of my letter is threefold:
1. To capture the essence of our discussion
2. To give you a deeper insight into the style and approach of Century
Management
3. To make a recommendation on how we move forward from here
1. ACP Engineering—An Overview of Our Discussion
You gave me an excellent outline of the background, history, and
developmental structure of your practice since it was founded in
1983. You explained how the business grew from its origins and
opened a second office in Dublin.
You described the partnership and management structure within
ACP Engineering in some detail. Last year, you started to ask the
question “Where are we going?” and made some decisions around
client focus and the kind of business that you sought. You described
the biggest problem right now as “how to market, sell, and set strat-
egy” for the business.
It is often difficult to “control the discussion” in partnership meetings
and talk meaningfully about a future target. In fact, your functional
expertise—“being good engineers”—may be overshadowing your busi-
ness acumen. You see your own job in the near future as “pointing
the way forward” and developing a map for the future growth of the
practice.
Your own immediate vision for ACP Engineering is to develop a
high-quality, well-respected practice, which is three to four times its
The Odyssey Arrow Value Engagement Process ◾ 37
current size. Getting collective buy-in and overcoming any scepticism
or resistance to the missionary nature of this focus may be one of
the immediate challenges to overcome.
You described the culture in the office as “good quality without
fuss” and the culture in the second office as “more professional.” A
good spirit pervades the organiazation and you have regular social
nights throughout the year.
Your revenue last year was €15 million, with a profit margin of
20%. There are four shareholders in the business. You envisage
strong growth over the next five years and would like to buy out
the retiring shareholder in two years’ time. As a professional services
firm, your staff represent the highest cost item at €X million, which
is consistent with industry norms. You said that you would like to
increase shareholder value and return on investment.
Personally, your private ambition is to prepare the business for
acquisition, merger, or takeover in about five years. You would like
to be in a position to explore your interests in art and design, about
which you spoke passionately.
I hope I have grasped the essence of your input to the discussion.
Our meeting was free-flowing and informal, so I may not have cap-
tured all the ideas, facts, and emotions that were expressed. If I have
missed a point, I would greatly appreciate your feedback.
2. The Century Management Approach
Century Management has developed an excellent reputation for
our consultative approach to business development. We are primar-
ily a strategy consultancy, engaged in strategic human performance
improvement, culminating in organization-wide systemic and cultural
change, augmented by tailored learning and development programs.
We believe that maximizing human performance and business devel-
opment should be a continuous, long-term process rather than a series
of quick-fix, short-term, do-something-for-the-sake-of-it type events.
I attach a copy of our business model, which I explained in our
meeting, together with our corporate document titled Future Focus.
This will give you an outline of the Century Management philoso-
phy, approach, and solutions for individual, team, and organization
development. Also included is a commentary from ten of our clients,
which details the interventions they are currently applying within
their organizations with our support.
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