The Business Doctor

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Source eKapija, 01. 09. 2010.
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	FINOR CONSULTING d.o.o. Sarajevo.
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	Finor Consulting
	Marc Neal
	Bosnia and Herzegovina
	management consultant
	consulting

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By Marc Neal, CEO of Finor Consultinga

In my dealings here in Bosnia and Herzegovina, I have found that there is a great deal of uncertainty about what management consultants do. There does seem to be a large number of misconceptions about what they can provide, how they operate and what they can be used for. The mystery surrounding consulting stems from a lack of understanding, and manifests in comments such as: if I use a consultant, other companies and or my customers will think that my business is in trouble, can you make deals with foreign investors for me, and so on.

In order to clarify the role and function of a management consultant, I will use an analogy with something we have all had experience with. Before I do that, let’s just think about what consulting is, as we are consulted everyday but except we do not think of it as consulting. Consulting as a term is defined as providing advice, usually for a fee. If we focus in on the essence of the definition, we see what providing advice is, which can range from giving advice on how to build a cabinet, do wiring in a home, repairing your plumbing and so on. In our everyday life, we seek advice from one person or another because we may not have the expertise, or because we want to have the opinion of someone who has more experience in particular area that we may or may not be experienced with. A very simple example is when you are trying to decide on the best place to take a vacation - you usually ask friends where they went and what they would suggest as a good place to go during your vacation. The reason you asked them is because you remembered them telling you about how great their vacation was, and you want to have a great vacation too.

Now I would like to set the scene on the specifics of management consulting while using an analogy of visiting a doctor. Management consulting in many respects can be seen as checking and diagnosing the health of your business. Businesses and organizations are complex organisms that have a life of their own and like people, companies can fall ill, suffer from lethargy, and operate in inefficient ways. As each human being, the organization also needs a good balanced diet, fitness levels and may need intervention if they fall ill. Now let’s look at the Doctor analogy. Everyone goes to the doctor for an advice and an action plan for recovery should we fall ill. The doctor does some investigation to see what the cause of the problem is, and he does this by examining the patient, checking the blood pressure, listening to your heart and lungs, doing an analysis of your blood and urine. With this, the doctor is in a position to tell you what is wrong with you and through their experience and training is able to recommend a course of action for the recovery. This can include a medical treatment or if the situation warrants surgery or other more complicated interventions; the main purpose is always improving your health. The Management Consultant essentially does the same thing. They evaluate your organization to see what is not working, take its blood pressure (evaluation of its cashflow) , listening to the lungs (evaluating the Marketing), check liver and heart function( looking at operations to make sure the right things are in place), and nervous system (making sure that the Human resources organization as well as communication within the organization are functioning properly). Once the problems are diagnosed, the management consultant will develop a therapy in order to address the symptoms that are present.

Most businesses stigmatize the use of a management consultant, since the need for help implies weakness. This is not necessarily true. Many of us go to the doctor even if we are not sick, for an annual medical check up, or just to be sure that we identify potential problems before they occur. During that check up, the doctor may tell us that we are getting too fat and recommend a diet and a fitness routine in order to be proactive and head off any health issues. Many firms use consulting companies to head off business weaknesses before they become a problem, and to ensure that it is in good condition, should there be a downturn in the economy. The consulting firm will, like the doctor, identify potential problems and recommend a strategy to head off future problems, before they become real. This usually takes the form of recommendations to ensure that you are getting the right nutrition and exercise which maximizes your efficiency and effectiveness. This can come in many forms, ranging from controlling your finances, effectively using credit, streamlining administration, effectively using your human resources and focusing marketing activities.

In summary, you can see that a management consultant in many respects can be seen as a doctor for your organization. Like with a doctor, you always go when you are sick and you need advice on how to get better, or if you are proactive you go from time to time just for a check-up to ensure that a problem that could be prevented is not developing, or so early treatment can limit the effect of how sick you will get. So why wouldn’t you do the same for source of income for all the people you employ and ensure your collective prosperity for the future? Strong companies often seek advice on how to expand and grow their business, and the people they seek advice from are management consultants who are often in a better position to see what is going on because they have an objective point of view. Even consulting firms hire consultants to check the health of their businesses because they are objective and can often see things that the firm itself is either unwilling or unable to see.