I got promoted. Now what?

Imagine for a moment that your consulting career is progressing and you have been promoted.

First, congratulations! In order to get promoted in consulting you must deliver quality results on-time-on-budget. If you were an analyst confined to an office cubicle in a large firm and you have been invited to travel four or five days a week to the client site, then a project manager decided not only that you will deliver, but also that you will not embarrass them with the client.

If you are an associate in a smaller firm and have been promoted to the “next level” – called variously “senior associate” or “team manager” or “engagement manager” – senior people in the firm are describing you as “solid,” “a real Yeoman,” “ready to step up.” You will have left some of your friends behind, which can cause jealousy, but you are deemed to be growing.

I chose the word Yeomen to describe mid-career consultants largely because it is slang that is used for junior people who perform beyond expectations for their level. The word comes from medieval England.

In feudal times the Lord owned most of the land and livestock. He employed serfs to work his land, Serfs could graduate to share croppers, where they farmed and shepherded, but retained a position for themselves. A Yeoman was the first level who owned his own land. He might supplement his production by hunting and he might share  some of his game and produce with the Lord, but he was independent, He might participate in government of the town or have other responsibilities.

In wartime, his yew wood longbow and his short sword were the backbone of the English army. The yeomen-bowmen won many battles.

The typical consulting project manager may not know this history, but if they call you a Yeoman, it’s a compliment, the backbone of the project.

Consulting Job Structure

Apprenticeship is the consulting mental model for how people learn and grow, learning by doing. Apprentice, journeyman master is Newbie, Yeoman, partner.

It is not as clear as it was in the medieval guilds or today’s trades (carpenter, electrician, auto mechanic, etc.), but people in consulting think in these terms:

• Apprentice (analyst, associate),
• Journeyman (senior associate, engagement manager, principal/project manager), and
• Master (partner).

From my experience, it seemed that most firms did not have the rigorous development, qualification, and certification of the trades, but rather left qualification to a discussion among partners that was often subjective and political. People in the firm were often expected to find their own teachers (mentors) and manager their own learning.

What is often not explained well is that the job changes substantially as you rise:

• Analysts crunch numbers and create slides
• Engagement managers crunch numbers, create slides, make sure that associates get quality work done on-time, on-budget, manage some client relationships
• Project manager/ Principals crunch numbers, create slides, evaluate associates work, manage more clients, sell extensions and expansions and/or develop service offerings
• Partners bring in new clients -and oh yes, do some work, evaluate work, manage client relationships.

You will notice that everyone does some of the real work of consulting. Everyone knows Excel and PowerPoint . That’s because in theory at least everyone has come up through the ranks.

Some firms bring in people in mid-career who have worked in industry. Some, like Gemini Consulting put those people through the same boot camp and carefully evaluated their apprentice level skills before launching them into management. Some involve them in projects, educating Newbies about an industry.  No doubt some firms are better at managing the career path for mid-career people than the ones I joined, but it is a challenge to marry both paths.

To get promoted again, learn to sell

Sales is a perpetual problem in consulting.  Newbies rise to yeomen, for their ability to manage. Yeomen rise to partner by bringing in business. Yeoman may start by extending existing work to another part of the organization or expanding to a different kind of work. To make partner in most firms you must bring in new clients. I saw many partners made by bringing in a single “whale,” which fed the firm for several years.

Some firms bring in partners from industry. Some hire big ticket computer salespeople, former industry executives, and investment bankers come into consulting as ‘rainmakers” They are hired for their contacts and/or ability to sell intangibles. The challenge was always making sure what they sold could be delivered as they sometimes “didn’t have a clue” about what consultants actually did.

Because the job changes as consultants rise, some do not perform well at the new responsibilities. In many large firms, there is an explicit promotion policy called “up or out,” which means that there is a predetermined period you can spend in a role before you are promoted to partner or asked to leave the firm.

This period varies, but typically it’s two years as an analyst, three years as an engagement manager, and four years as a principal/project manager. Some firms soften this by calling the policy “grow or go,” meaning that as long as you are learning you can stay in a role a bit longer. But let’s be clear: consulting, especially at the larger firms, is not a place for “late bloomers.” So mid-career consultants often face a choice: Do I even want to do the work of the next level? In some firms the change in the work is transparent; in others the new job requirements are less obvious. But who turns down a promotion with an increase in compensation and prestige?

Some firms are better than others at helping mid-career consultants make this choice. If the decision is to leave, an outplacement department and/or an active alumni network are very helpful. This isn’t only altruistic; those alumni networks also become a great source for new client business for the firm.

So if you have been called a yeoman, if you have been promoted,  or perhaps before that, you have some decisions to make. Think about those decisions carefully. Is the new role what you want or might you chose another path?