The Jaded History of Analytic Consulting
Disillusioned? That’s because you are doing it wrong.
Data and analytic consulting has been with us since the 80s, long embedded in many management consulting practices. Unfortunately, while the old adage practice makes perfect may have worked for the management guys, it seems to have failed the analytic consultants entirely. Most organizations are simply jaded by their interactions with analytic consulting groups.
Three decades is a lot of practice. You would expect better results or at least better sentiment, wouldn’t you? Perhaps not. All consultants wear a bit of a stigma. They are branded for being overpriced or not providing measurable outcomes. Unfortunately, those two issues are basically synonymous. They are also essentially analytic issue. Worse still, analytic consultants are branded far worse. Many former clients simply believe they made a big mess.
The solution, to date, has been solutions. Many companies have pivoted to selling or buying analytic solutions. Unfortunately, tools without technique and poorly defined objectives lead to cookie cutter answers for customized problems… or poor implementation, integration, and delivery. But hey, it falls short of a big mess… so that is something! Right?
Most companies just aren’t very good at analytics. Worse still, few people actually understand it. Add to that consultants that are often an add-on to a larger management consulting group and you get the perfect criteria for a big mess. People are just doing it wrong. And there is plenty of blame to go around.
People reach out for analytic consulting when they don’t understand some aspect of their business and have lost faith they are ever going to. Worse still, they most often don’t understand what they don’t understand.
Most of my initial consultations with clients involve listening to their problems and often a good deal of history. Almost always, this ends with me offering a different perspective on the actual nature of the problem. And, almost always, it is a magical moment… Then the lights dim.
Give someone a new perspective on their problem and suddenly they think they can fix it. The analytic consultant is now twisted from trusted sage to order taker. Clients quickly transition to giving orders and defining the process. This never ends well. Sadly, many consultants allow it. Sadder still, most clients demand it.
Half the problem is great analytics feels so familiar. People don’t do this to their doctor, their mechanic, their lawyer, or their chef… Actually, they often do this to chefs at many restaurants. The rationale goes something like this — I know what I like. Some people even do this with their doctors — I know my body. Familiarity.
So the idea — I know my business seems rational. Only — why did you call me again? Wasn’t it because you didn’t know your business? Hmmm… it seems all it takes is a little perspective to restore our own sense of familiarity. If only it were that easy! Having the right idea is great — having the right plan of execution even better — but their is no substitute for front-line leadership.
Executives, here is the problem. You have a day job. You have a perspective on running your business that was otherwise working. You have your own leadership responsibilities. In other words, you are wholly unfamiliar, unprepared, and incapable of addressing an issue that had you flummoxed just an hour ago. New perspective is temporary, your time is limited, and your experience and familiarity did not extend to the issue at hand. Trust and delegate.
The other half of the problem is complex systems. This is something that every client should be familiar with and too many consultants seek to overlook. A business is a complex system. It is the reason that analytics is called for. Stated more provocatively:
If your problems were so damn easy, why didn’t you solve them long before you called me?
Your problems aren’t simple. Far from it. Unfortunately, consultants take pride in trying to make them look that way. There is a certain reassurance that we try to provide. Remember our clients often have a sense of desperation when they call, but too often this only reinforces false simplicity and familiarity. Some consultants take the opposite tact, but I am not encouraging fear mongering.
Great analytic consultants employ a process (theirs, not yours) to create an infrastructure and a body of knowledge and insight that will simplify some area of the business. If done properly, that area will become familiar, simplified, and manageable (by you, not them). Both parties need to trust the process and focus on the outputs and outcomes.
Charles Kettering had a strong point, but he either oversimplified or ignored complex systems. If a consultant can provide you new perspective on a problem, that is great! But much more than half the problem remains.
Don’t dictate the process. Don’t seek to understand it all upfront. Negotiate a contract with clear milestones and deliverables. Delegate the process. It is part of what you are paying for. But also, demand insight, outcome, and execution. Place the focus where it needs to be — on creating a solution, not on documenting process and checking meaningless boxes. You are paying to understand your business — not understand how to be an analytic consultant.
Personally, my business does both. But I can’t offer both unless you are an early adopter, someone looking to invest in their company’s future. When you come to me with an issue, we have to conquer that first.
