That is the question

Frameworks, models, matrixes, and matrices (and yes, both plural forms of matrix are correct) are favorite tools of consultants. They are used in strategy, marketing, operations, finance, and change, in fact, all consulting disciplines, to structure and guide analysis, and as hooks to hang gathered data on to make client presentations memorable and (allegedly) understandable. They are also a great source of consultant humor for clients as the picture above illustrates.

Data Analysis Frameworks: Spreadsheets

Wait, Excel is a framework? Yes, it is columns and rows and you define the analysis based upon them. Let’s say columns A-E are annual customer volume for the last five years, and column F is the five year average customer volume. Column F would give a picture of the most important customers over the past five years. You could show that in a bar chart to indicate visually which customers to focus on retaining, but that assumes the product mix by customer over time is similar.

What if some customers are buying more or if new products were changing who the most important customers over time? Then you would have to analyze trend lines by customer over time and/or compare with new product volume.

I started consulting in 1980. Excel was launched in 1985 in response to Lotus 123, which was itself a response to VisiCalc. Most of my early analytics were done on literal spreadsheets, large green accounting paper, with calculations done on a hand calculator. The work involved made us extra careful about the assumptions our analysis was based upon, and what the output would show. So I am very sensitive to things stick projections (“and in year five a miracle happens”) which have been worked backwards from the result you need.

NB: Just because you can analyze something on Excel doesn’t mean you should. Be very careful of advanced techniques like exponential analyses or multivariate regression. I had a project manager who promoted the “8-year-old test” – if you can’t explain the output to an eight-year-old it is too complex.

Data Display: The 2×2 Matrix

Perhaps the oldest  and most frequently used tool is the lowly two by two matrix, which is used to compare and ultimately sort against two criteria. The most famous matrix compares business impact with ease of implementation. This simple filtering matrix is sometimes called the Boston Box or the Boston Square (after the Boston Consulting Group, which popularized its use for prioritizing strategies in the 1970s). This matrix usually leads to the prioritization of “quick wins” high impact easy strategies, improvements, innovations, etc.

The two by two can be used to compare many different criteria. Key customers volume versus products per customer can help define which customers are key to retain and where cross-selling efforts might increase revenue. Product revenue versus product cost will show core products that drive profitability

There is no physical limit to the number of cells in a matrix. Three by threes are common. Four by fours, see some use. In my experience five by fives and above reach diminishing returns on clarity quickly.

CAVEAT: You must carefully define the scales. What is business impact? What is the mid-point and why did you choose that? Does cost include just unit cost or allocations? If it includes allocations on what basis?

Conceptual Models

There are many different kinds of conceptual models in consulting. They are used to direct data analysis and to structure data display. They may have emerged from academic research or they may have been invented by some smart consultants. Some may be based upon detailed analysis; some may be more mutually exclusive and collectively exhaustive (MECE) in what they look at.

What these conceptual models have in common is that they explain the consulting approach. Clients may or may not acre about the detailed research that Harvard Business School’s Michael Porter did on industry structure and the nature of competition to come up with the Five Forces model. What they care about is how the consulting firm will use their analysis of their industry context to suggest strategy as in the case of the media company, which put more emphasis on trying to overcome supplier power by selling higher and wider at advertising agencies.

There are other strategic conceptual models Igor Ansoff’s product market matrix, Chan Kim and Renée Mauborgne’s Blue Ocean Strategy, an innovation framework. The Balanced Scorecard is Robert Kaplan and David Norton’s simple conceptual model that says a business should measure four areas, customer, internal capability, Innovation and learning and financial, but they may have spawned the explosion of metrics infecting today’s organizations.

Conceptual Model Example: Change Models

Among the many types of conceptual models, I think about change models because I was in that business. In my observation there are two types of change models, the phases of change models and change requirements list.

The Change Phases models

Kurt Lewin, American social psychologist came up with the first change phase Model I studied.

Unfreeze———Change———-Freeze

Signal the reasons to change and get people ready, make the changes you need to make, and then institutionalize the changes with new procedures and processes. Many people misquote Lewin on the name of the last phase calling it “Refreeze,” but I’m told that he said “’refreeze’ implies going back to the way it was and you can’t do that.”

Many people talk about phases of change, though not always three. There are four phase models, Reframe, Restructure, Revitalize, Renew (Francis Gouillart), five phase models, six phase models and more. The point of the phase models is to describe the timing and the work of change. These frameworks are loosely order based and often identify the major work of the phase.

At right is a model I have used:

There are also capabilities requirements models that describe hat you need for a change. One of my favorites is John Kotter’s model below.

 This model does show a process for change,  an order, but it   includes elements that are required. Kotter’s concept of the   guiding coalition of leaders across multiple functions and l   levels is helpful.

 I find the two types of models helpful in describing change. But then I find frameworks and models helpful generally as a way to structure my thinking.

I have discovered that, as one client said to me, “Alan, you think weird.”

Fred meant it as a complement, but it certainly applies here. And that leads me to some warnings and caveats.

Be Careful Using Frameworks because:

Most people don’t think in frameworks.

I don’t remember when I was first exposed to the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI), but I learned that it is a well-researched way to describe differences between people.

For the record, MBTI is a self-report instrument and so for an individual is only as accurate asself-knowledge is (not very). It shouldn’t be used to recruit or staff, but I’ve found it  useful as a learning discussion among people who work together.

The instrument is based upon the work of Carl Gustave Jung and developed by Katherine Briggs and her daughter Isabel Briggs Myers. Without getting into the entire instrument there are two variables that define the way people take in information (Perceiving) and make decisions (Judging).

People perceive by Sensing (S), taking in hard facts and sensory observations in a particular order, A,B, C,D,.E or by Intuiting (I), making connections between unseen things, regardless of order, C, A, E is reordered mentally as A, B, C, D, E.

People make decisions (judging) by Thinking (T) placing items in an order (think Plus/Minus charts) or by Feeling (F) by comparing options to firmly held values, often  about people, (think greatest good for the greatest number).

I am an NT an intuitive thinker. I take in information from many different unconnected sources, and I make decisions by structuring those data, often into a framework or model. It turns out that almost 80% of management consultants are NTs.

It also turns out that only 26% of the general population are NTs.

“Aye, there’s the rub,” as Hamlet said. So while all us NTs love to put data into models and frameworks, Three quarters of the world doesn’t think that way.

So use frameworks and models carefully. Take your time. Explain everything multiple ways.

Also remember:

“The map is not the territory!”

Polish American philosopher  Alfred Korzybski coined this phrase to describe the human tendency to take frameworks and models as gospel truth rather than the loose metaphors that these tools must be.

I have seen people deny what is actually happening in the real world because it didn’t fit what a computer model said it should be. So whatever framework or model you produce consider it as a tool for discussion and not Truth,

That also applies to the decision of when to use a framework. Some consultants turn their preferred framework, model, or matrix into the ONLY way to describe the world, or solve a problem. (If you’ve ever witnessed a LEAN vs. Six Sigma battle you will know what I mean.)

As my kids used to say ”Take a chill pill!”  A model or a framework is a tool; if it works use it. If not that’s why you carry the tool box.

“Consultant for thirty-seven years? What? You couldn’t find a real job?”

Bada bing.

I was at a wedding yelling to be heard over the band’s bass, turned to teeth-rattling volume.

“You know what the definition of a consultant is?” Shouted this friend of the bride’s father. “A guy who knows a thousand ways to make love, but doesn’t know any women.”

Bada boom.

“As you might imagine, after thirty-seven years, I’ve heard all the jokes.” I half-smiled and asked him what he did.
“Zinc recovery and remanufacture.” I didn’t know any zinc jokes so I moved on.

Consultants get a bad rap.

I didn’t know that when I joined the field, but it soon became apparent because at every client site and every backyard barbeque somebody had the killer consultant joke. “A priest, a rabbi, and a consultant stood at the Pearly Gates. .  . .”

Some people have no idea what a consultant does and peppered me with question after question resisting every attempt to change the subject, “How ‘bout those [insert sports team here]?” And for me that would be a sign of true desperation because I don’t follow sports. No, I mean, I really don’t follow any sports.

So many people think that consulting isn’t real work that I used to introduce myself at leadership workshops I ran like this:

“I’ve been a consultant for many years. Aside from running my own business, most of what I know about business comes from observing and talking to people like you. As a result I’ve become quite good at ‘Talking about Work.’” This has given an abiding respect for people who actually Do Real Work.”

It always got a laugh and I think people cut me some more slack than they might have otherwise.

I came to describe myself as being in the business of helping companies change, that is helping them innovate or helping them improve. That often led me to the pieces of what I did, running initiatives, training, measuring results, etc. That, at least, the zinc recovery guy could understand.

I asked myself why people both understand what consultants do. People may not know the law, but they understand what lawyers do. Sure there are a lot of lawyer jokes. They may accuse lawyers of being dishonest, but they don’t accuse them of not having a real job. People may not want to be an accountant, but they know what they do and don’t hesitate to hire one at tax time.

Perhaps, the only professional I heard have similar difficulty explaining his work was an actuary. A client of mine had a business that sold pensions to companies. As an actuary he looked at the age and health statistics profile of a company’s workforce and estimated how much money the company would have to contribute to their retirement plan each year. At a party, I once heard him say,

“Actuary. It’s like an accountant, only more boring.”

One problem with people not understanding what consultants do is that there are so many different kinds of consultant. After all, a consultant is someone who gives advice or assistance. (Pay attention to that distinction, advice of assistance, I’ll come back to it in a minute.)

Advice or assistance at what? Could be anything, strategy, manufacturing, data mining, recycling. Consultants often get past this by describing who they work for, “I’m a management consultant.” Most people have heard of the large management consulting firms, like McKinsey & Company, or the Boston Consulting Group (BCG). If you look at the websites of those firms and didn’t really understand business, you might still have difficulty understanding what they do, apparently everything.

So if you are a consultant and you want people to understand what you do, you probably need to describe the part of a business you work in and what outcome you are trying to achieve.

“I help manufacturing plant managers reduce cost through managing inventory turn.”

“I plan new business to business marketing approaches to increase sales.”

“I help senior leaders implement strategic change, getting everyone on board, planning new processes, training new skills, and measuring results.”

Advice or Assistance

I did say I’d come back to this. Advice or assistance is one way of describing two different kinds of consultant, the content consultant and the process consultant.

The content consultant typically works in one industry, like airlines, or banking,  or group of industries, like transportation, or financial services. As a result of this specialization they have expertise and can offer advice. They provide answers through industry research and knowledge. They may also have functional expertise, strategy, marketing, or operations.

A content project begins with a client question and ends with a consultant report, recommendations, advice.

The process consultant provides assistance. The process consultant may also have some experience in an industry or a function or both, but the orientation is different. The process consultant may ask many more questions. The process consultant may seem more like a teacher or coach. The process consultant may work in many different industries and typically stays with the client longer than the content consultant.

The process consulting project often starts with an outcome, something the client wants to do.  A process consulting project often ends when the client has either achieved the outcome or at least is well under way and knows how to proceed. The client no longer needs assistance.

Help

Both content and process consultants provide help. Content consultants provide helpful information. Process consultants teach the client how to do something.

Carl Rogers, the American psychologist, said “Help is defined by the recipient. Help that isn’t asked for is usually perceived as interference and not help.”

A Real Job

Earlier in the piece I whined about consultant jokes and the “bad rap” that consultants get. The bad rap (negative description), the bad rep (poor reputation) that consultants get may be due the Rogerian definition of help.

A consultant who doesn’t listen, but is quick to offer advice or assistance isn’t perceived as helpful. He is seen as arrogant, a know-it-all. A consultant who offers advice when the client wants assistance is perceived as “a guy who knows a thousand ways to. . .” a talker not a doer.

So if you are a consultant, be clear about what your client wants, listen more than you speak, and wait to be asked for help. Then provide what is asked for.

This won’t stop the jokes at parties, but at least your client will know you have a real job.