BY JACK WARKENTHIEN
One of the best “business reads” ever was the book, “The Age of Unreason”, written in 1989 by Charles Handy, an Irish academic and management author/philosopher. As I prepared to write this month’s column on Consulting, I dusted off my old hardcover tome and realized that The Shamrock Organization, a term Mr. Handy invented, is alive and well today, even a quarter of a century later.
The Shamrock Organization is an organizational structure where a core of essential executives and workers are supported by outside contractors and part-time help. The shamrock leaf shape is a symbolic representation of an organization with three types of workforces, having a main body and connected leaves that together form a template of the whole company.
The first leaf of the shamrock is made up of the professional core. It consists of a small group of professionals and managers who possess the skills that represent the organization’s core competence. Their pay is tied to performance and their status will be more like those among the partners in a professional firm or owners in a small to mid-size firm. Without these core professionals, the firm ceases to exist.
The next leaf is comprised of the contingent work force, where employment is temporary, there’s no career track and the jobs are routine. Think supplemental help retailers need for the upcoming Christmas season. They are usually part-time workers who will experience short periods of employment. They’re paid by the hour or day or week for the times they work.
Finally, there are the self-employed professionals–or CONSULTANTS! This leaf includes the specialists who are hired on a contract/retainer basis or on a project-by-project basis. They are typically paid in fees based on results rather than in salary for time. No benefits are paid to this group and the consultants always carry the risk of insecurity. Here is where I choose to focus my attention and opinion. Why? Because I “are” one!
There are legions of “consultants” out there who perpetuate a negative opinion to Corporate America, thus giving us a bad name along the way. I happen to be a Sales Consultant, and firms hire me for one reason: INCREASE SALES FOR THEIR FIRM. Fast. I’m pleased to say that NextStep Solutions celebrated our 18th Anniversary on October 1 and we’re growing strong. I carry a bag (an accepted metaphor used to describe a Sales professional) and have continuously done so since my first day at IBM on June 1, 1978. Fortunately, I was pretty good at Sales and enjoyed explosive results quite quickly. However, even today I don’t consider myself an expert. Rather, I choose to be known as a life-long student of the craft.
My question to you: Why would you, as a savvy Entrepreneur and/or Business Owner, hire anyone other than a Sales Professional with a proven track-record of success? For the same reason I’d never hire a fat Personal Trainer or a broke Financial Planner, I’d never personally hire a consultant who was not an expert. Remember Malcolm Gladwell’s hypothesis from one of his recent books? He explained the “10,000 Hour Rule”–one cannot be considered an expert unless they’ve been “practicing” for a minimum of 10,000 hours.
As Charles Handy predicted in his Shamrock Organization, the legion of Consultants are increasing as the Core Professionals are decreasing as the world rewards specialists or experts. Unfortunately many–if not most–Consultants are “between jobs” and will drop you, Mr(s) Client, like a bad habit, if they accept their next job (Just Over Broke) offer. Factor this possibility into your selection process as you audition potential Consultants for your upcoming specialized need.
Whereas the hiring of your contingent work force doesn’t include too many selection criteria (“Can you fog a mirror?”), it’s imperative for you to call the consultants’ references of recent Clients. Remember, it’s all about the way YOU ask the question. If you ask, “Do you have any references I can call?”, you’re gonna get that stale list of references you’ve appended to your resume six years ago when you last updated it. After all, that’s the last time you had a real job. Rather, here’s the question you should ask, “Please provide me the Client company names and contact information for your last five current or most recent Client engagements”. Do you see the difference?
As a Business Owner, you want to make sure that you don’t have to pay a Consultant to learn your business, processes, or market in which you compete. Sure, there will always be a learning curve and the savviest of us are “quick studies” but I’m trying to weed out the ones who have little to no experience in solving the business you’re describing. You know the type (at the risk of offending here): He knows 87 ways to make love to a woman but he doesn’t know any chicks!
Finally, one of the most gratifying conclusions of an engagement is actually when the Owner/Executive that hired you offers you a job and an opportunity to join their “core”. That’s the acid test of you really succeeding at the problem you were hired to solve. If you’re like me, you humbly accept the compliment and offer to perhaps extend the Agreement to solve them as a contractor/consultant. I learned early on that any time you have an audience with a CXO (any C-Level Executive), consider it a job interview. Heck, that’s the way they hire, so you should know it before you engage in the conversation.
If you’re a hiring Business Owner, I hope this direction helps you hire your next Consultant; and if you’re a Consultant, I hope this helps you land your next engagement. While you’re at it, read The Age of Unreason–a classic business book that’s as true today as when it was written. Now you know that Shamrocks should be revered all year and not just for St. Patrick’s Day in March.
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Jack Warkenthien, CEO, NextStep Solutions, can be contacted by email at
jwarkenthien@nextstep-solutions.com or call him at 832-344-6998
