31.3 Managing assignment execution

Consulting requires considerable decentralization of operational decisionmaking and control. Once an assignment has started, it functions as a relatively independent project, where most matters are decided on the spot by the operating consultant or the team leader in agreement with the client. This section provides a number of ideas and practical suggestions on the short-term control of assignments. It is important, however, to consider what is applicable in each particular setting (e.g. the frequency of control visits to consultants on assignment will be influenced by distance and the cost of travel).

Self-discipline and self-control of operating consultants

The self-discipline and self-management of the operating consultants is a vital factor in assignment control. They are the full-time members of the team, and often the consulting firm’s sole representatives for 90 per cent of the time of the assignment.

The consultants are in a situation where they are greatly outnumbered. They have to set an example of hard and high-quality work and intellectual integrity. It is primarily a matter of their own judgement to decide how the code of conduct and the unwritten rules of the profession should be applied in the client organization, which will have its own behavioural patterns, habits, traditions and defects. Should questions arise, the senior consultant supervising the assignment may need to help the operating team with advice and guidance.

Assignment diary. At the end of the first day of the assignment, the operating consultant should start the assignment diary. This is an essential record of activity throughout the assignment. It is written up each evening with a summary of the day’s significant events (or non-events) and of progress made. It is a necessary reference for the supervisor. Every paper or note written by the operating team should be recorded in the diary and dated (sometimes the date proves to be its main value).

Time-keeping. In general, consultants on an assignment adjust to the working hours of the client organization. But the assignment programme is usually a heavy one and the consultants may need to work long hours to complete it on time. There may be both practical and tactical advantages in starting a little ahead of the rest of the staff in the morning and leaving a little later in the evening – so long as the consultants do not appear to make a virtue of it.

A consultant’s home may be far from the client’s premises and he or she may occasionally need to travel on a working day. If this is foreseen, it should be discussed with the client before the start of the assignment. An agreement should be reached on how the working hours and days will be counted, and whether the consultant will be authorized to take time off for travelling home if he or she has worked overtime.

When the assignment is dealing with departments working two or three shifts, the operating consultant must spend enough time on each one to find out