38 ◾ Odyssey—The Business of Consulting
3. To Progress from Here
From our initial meeting, I believe your needs and objectives are
wholly within the portfolio of solutions that Century Management
provide. To move your practice from where you are now to where
you want to go may mean addressing issues, including change man-
agement, cultural transformation, and strategic direction, as well as
moving from a management focus to a leadership driven style.
Right now, I need a more in-depth perspective of the heartbeat of your
practice, and until then, I would resist making specific recommendations
about how to deal with the challenges you outlined at our meeting.
To progress matters, I would like to set up a BMR. I suggest we
meet around 3 p.m. and work into the evening and over dinner, then
follow up with a three-hour session the next morning. We will take
you through a BMR process during this exercise.
Before the BMR, I would like to meet with each of the management
teams directly on a one-to-one basis. This is the single best way for
me to get close to your business and put me in a position to make
recommendations that can help you achieve your objectives.
The primary aim of the BMR is to explore, assess, and complete
an analysis of the current situation and thinking within the senior
team. More importantly, it sets the scene for us to scope out a fuller
orga nizational solution (if necessary) in an informed way. Collective
buy-in is always an essential part of any successful intervention.
Please discuss this in broad terms with your partners in preparation for
our review discussion on Monday next (date and time). I will then outline
the format, fee structure, and all the other details.
I look forward to meeting you on Monday.
Yours sincerely,
Imelda K. Butler
Managing Director
Meeting Two
As suggested in the sample letter, it is always a good idea to communicate
with the client after the M1r letter has been sent and clarify that you have
captured their situation as accurately as possible and to make sure that
The Odyssey Arrow Value Engagement Process ◾ 39
nothing has been omitted. A follow-up meeting—the M2—is recommended
to provide these clarifications (Figure 2.6).
The M2, and M3, M4, and even M5, if required, have another vital func-
tion. The M1 was all about understanding the picture in the client’s mind: the
obstacles faced, the project or assignment under consideration, and so on. The
reality of course is that it is rare that there is only one person involved. The
M2 and subsequent meetings are designed to provide a forum for other key
players to give their perspective on the issues under discussion.
A series of one-to-one meetings may be required to provide input from
senior management, partners, function heads, and so on, to give the consul-
tant a full 360-degree view of the organization. Finding out where everyone
is coming from is also an essential part of achieving full buy-in for any inter-
ventions that may be recommended down the line.
Business Management Review
The BMR is one of the most powerful tools in a consultant’s kit. It provides
an excellent, low-risk way for both client and consultant to gain a thorough
understanding of the business (Figure 2.7).
The purpose of the BMR is:
◾ To listen attentively … The client team to themselves, but more impor-
tantly, you to the client
◾ To facilitate an honest open session … Question gently, reflectively
comment
◾ To observe how they rationalize their world … The picture in their mind
◾ To establish individual and collective mind-sets … Ask, “What is emerg-
ing for all of you?”
◾ To assess the possibility of an ODI of whatever nature
M1rM1 REC
M2
BMR
ODI
SER
EB
Figure 2.6 Meeting Two.
40 ◾ Odyssey—The Business of Consulting
◾ To determine levels of peer-level respect and capabilities
◾ To understand the culture and nuances in the organization
This process not only gives you the information you need to move for-
ward with the client, it maintains the participatory dynamic begun with the
M2, which will be vital both in achieving a deep, clear understanding of the
business and in maintaining stakeholder buy-in.
The BMR is also central to the process of building relationships within
the client organization. As we saw in Chapter 1, establishing peer-level
respect is a core prerequisite to Level 3 Trusted Advisor and Level 4 Master
Practitioner interventions. The BMR provides an excellent vehicle for foster-
ing that mutual respect and paving the way for delivering masterful results.
To better illustrate how a BMR is set up, here is an e-mail sent to partici-
pants in the ACP Engineering BMR in the aftermath of the M2 and subse-
quent one-to-one meetings.
Sample BMR Setup E-mail
Greetings from Imelda K. Butler
Thank you for your openness and honesty in our one-to-one conversations in
preparation for our BMR on 18th–19th of May in the Heritage Hotel (which will
start at 3 p.m. on the 18th and finish at 11 a.m. on the 19th of May).
The primary objective of the “Heritage” meeting is to allow each person
to articulate their view of the business to ascertain individual perspectives
and help establish the collective mind-set. Listening to you explain the vari-
ous scenarios and strategies will be my primary objective.
To help make the occasion as valuable as possible, can I ask you to pre-
pare a presentation on a flip-chart page or two, following this format:
M1r
M1
RECM2
BMR
ODI
SER
EB
Figure 2.7 Business Management Review.
The Odyssey Arrow Value Engagement Process ◾ 41
Step 1: Current Situation Analysis
How would you describe the current status of the business? What is
working well? What is not working so well? What needs changing? What
are you good at and not good at? What is “the great unsaid?” What do
you most value—as an individual—about working in your company?
What is the baseline?
Step 2: The History
What have been the significant points in your development path that
have led you to here? How do you look back on your history? (a short
appraisal).
Step 3: The Future
Where do you see the practice in the years ahead? Be specific. What is
your vision for the company? What hopes and concerns do you have about
the future? What are the macro objectives? Where do you want to be?
Step 4: The How
How will you get from where you are to where you want to be? What
are the critical success factors that will need to happen to ensure your
vision for the future is accomplished? What could stop/hinder you from
achieving your desired outcome?
Here are the presentation guidelines:
◾ Each person makes a fifteen- to twenty-minute presentation. (We draw
lots for the order.)
◾ Flip charts allow us to stick contributions up on a wall for a panoramic
display as we progress. This way we can see the full picture, any
emerging points, and “the obvious” all at once. (No fancy computer pre-
sentations please, that we can do later.)
◾ Be bold here … use some color and/or diagrams or creativity to capture
your message.
◾ Isolate three to four MACRO points in each step rather than getting too
MICRO on operational issues.
The Heritage session is primarily about investigation and evidence gather-
ing. In medical terms, it is the examination stage. After this session, Century
Management will be well placed to recommend an intervention for ACP
42 ◾ Odyssey—The Business of Consulting
Engineering. After preliminary discussions, we do have several scenarios in
mind, but we want to complete a thorough “due process” before outlining
any solutions.
If you are at all unclear, please call me. Otherwise, I look forward to
meeting you in the Heritage.
Imelda K. Butler
The BMR in Action
There are many different ways in which they may be conducted. By tak-
ing the event off-site, you are breaking with the work routine and removing
the tunnel effect that can exist in an office environment, where everyone’s
thinking remains locked into their own particular department. Giving the
BMR a social dimension greatly enhances the potential for openness, creativ-
ity, and innovation.
The follow-up session the next day allows everyone to review the per-
spectives and insights that the previous evening’s discussion produced. You
review the emerging picture overnight, isolate the key issues, and give the
participants an opportunity to feedback on all that went before.
This overnight structure is not essential. You can customize the experi-
ence to the organization; meet at 9 a.m., and continue through the day if
that’s more appropriate. It is very important, however, that you retain the
Level 3 and Level 4 approach, and that the BMR does not become a work-
shop or a training type event.
Our Story
At a recent BMR I organized for a client, the overnight structure worked
perfectly. By the time their key team had flown in from Europe, it was nearly
lunchtime. Presentations were made throughout the afternoon, and then in
the evening, there was an opportunity to break down communication barriers
and discuss business and strategy in a more informal way. Just as any married
couple benefits from breaking out of the everyday environment, an executive
team benefits hugely from altered dynamics, from softening the structures that
govern how they communicate with each other on a day-to-day basis.
The session the following day gave everyone an opportunity to bring
diverse views together and clarify the emerging picture. This phase also
gives you, the consultant, an opportunity to present your business model.
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