Is your Consulting fact based?

As a Chairman of the board  once mentioned, “Since nobody can bring me any facts, we’ll just settle for my opinion.” This was after a long meeting with his board members, discussing the options for a new strategy.
This example is one of many occasions where decisions are based on opinions and gut feeling. I do think there is nothing wrong with gut feeling, but if it is supported by facts it would certainly increase your odds for the right decision. Maybe a gut-feeling or a first hunch based on your knowledge and experience is a good starting point to start your fact finding. Still in many cases, even in consulting, facts are not always considered or considered in the right way. Aren’t all Consultants obliged to offer recommendations that are fully supported by facts? I know many of them do, but also many of them don’t.

Consultants and managers are facing complex problems and challenges nowadays. In most cases the problem clients are struggling with was already existing a while. The main reason to ask for support from a consulting firm is they weren’t able to solve it themselves. It would be quite arrogant to think , you as a consultant will outclass the client with a flabbergasting recommendation, just by gathering the input you get from them, mix it a little with your knowledge and experience and tattaa… there is the answer.

There are basically 3 problems we are facing when trying to solve these complex problems.

1. The problem is too complex to be grasped by the human mind.
2. The amount of data we are facing is overwhelming and impossible to analyse properly.
3. We also have to do this fast and efficient since the competition is fierce.

Sure some well skilled consultants with broad experience will solve these problems. But can they do it fast enough? And how can we be sure their solutions and recommendations are the right one, since complex problems have many different solution paths. These 3 aspects require a methodical and fact based approach.

A consulting method like Issue Based Consulting offers a fact based and structured approach to deal with complex problem solving. Many Consulting firms like McKinsey, PWC, IBM Consulting and Capgemini Consulting use a similar approach and it is considered best practice to do so. Young Consultants are trained to adapt to this common approach so also colleagues speak the same language, which offers an extra benefit in teamwork.

Consulting Methodology offers the possibility to learn fact based consulting. Read more about it here or check out the training course. Please contact us for a customized track for your company. Courses are offered worldwide.