Our regular monthly chapter program meeting will feature speaker of the month Joann Kansier Director of the Global Public Sector at Grant Thornton Consulting. She will present on Competitive Sourcing".

Competitive Sourcing is one of the major initiatives on the President’s Management Agenda and has become a significant practice area for many Washington area consulting firms. The initiative offers the potential for very significant cost savings and improvements in the efficiency and effectiveness of large-scale programs and services, but also has numerous challenges. This session will address this important management discipline with a focus on consulting services in support of the Federal Government’s competitive sourcing (A-76) program. Competitive Sourcing overlaps other management disciplines and consulting practices, such as performance management and performance-based contracting, and is a topic all consultants should be familiar with.

Grant Thornton is one of one of the six global accounting, tax and business advisory organizations, and also has a large public sector consulting practice, headquartered in Alexandria, VA. Ms. Kansier recently joined Grant Thornton after a distinguished 32-year career in the Federal Government. A former member of the Senior Executive Service, Ms. Kansier directed the competitive sourcing office of the Federal Aviation Administration for 3 years. In that capacity, she oversaw one the largest A-76 competition ever conducted, in which Lockheed Martin won a $1.9 billion contract to run the Automated Flight Services Stations Network. The FAA expects to save $2.2 billion over the life of the 10-year program. For her efforts, Ms. Kansier was co-recipient of the Public Sector Partner of the Year award of the 2005 Greater Washington Government Contractors Awards.

Book Review By Michael E. Cohen, CMC

This is a review of the new (2005) networking book “Never Eat Alone,” by Keith Ferazzi. The author is a former partner and chief marketing officer of Deloitte Consulting, a CMO and CEO in the hotel and media industries, and is currently the CEO of Ferazzi and Greenlight, marketing and sales consulting firm. The book emphasizes the great importance of establishing relationships, and presents a wide range of intriguing approaches for doing so, illustrated by personal experiences of the author. If you can get by the annoyance from the author’s frequent name dropping, arrogance and self-serving comments, the book has a lot of useful nuggets on the value gained by networking and how to do it. The book is especially valuable for consultants starting out, but there are useful ideas for even very experienced consultants.

Three things that especially stood out for me are the value and necessity of risk taking in establishing relationships, the value of doing things for others with whom you wish to establish relationships, and the proposition that networking is a neglected skill in the management curricula in MBA and other business programs. The futility of glad handing approaches practiced by many marketing professionals is described. Now if you are like me, you won’t be able to or be comfortable in applying many of the networking approaches the author presents. But you will be able to apply others. The book is very easy to read, and on balance, is a very worthwhile management book for consultants at all experience levels. The book has received a lot of attention; there are 135 reviews on Amazon. I wish I had known and applied some of the principles earlier in my career.

Update on C2M by Mark Haas CMC
Chair, Institute of Management Consultants USA

I wanted to update you on the status of our ongoing efforts to maintain the member benefits contained in C2M. On May 25, I advised you that C2M, an independent publication for consultants to management, would cease publication of its quarterly print journal as of the June issue. You should be aware of two items: our strategy to restore or replace C2M as a member benefit, and the expanded resources of C2M still available to you electronically.

First, we are talking with C2M publisher Michael Shays, several organizations who are candidates to assume publishing operations, and the other large C2M subscribers. Our hope is to find a business model that will provide a sustainable base to continue to bring you a publication of, by, and for consultants to management. We are also talking with Kennedy Information and other sources to provide news and resources related to consulting for IMC USA members. Our commitment remains to strengthen your connection with the consulting profession and help you build your skills and awareness of the marketplace.

Second, you may not be aware that C2M already offers substantial resources through its website. The only immediate loss in value is of the print journal—many of the features you received through the printed copy are still available or have been expanded on the C2M website at www.c2m.com.

IMC NCR Marketing and Communications Update

IMC NCR email campaigns have a new professional look and feel! As a new feature associated with our email campaign, we have a dedicated section for members only, Management Tip of the Week!

Management Tip of the Week is an opportunity for our members to share something of value to the management community and to promote their business. Our email campaigns are shared with over 500 organizations and fellow consultants in the DC metropolitan area. Send your tips to the VP of Marketing and Communications, IMC NCR (mjoseph@klickconsultants.com). Tips must be received as a MS Word document attachment, be no longer than 150 words, and must be received by close of business on the 1st of each month to be considered for the following month.

Launch of the Marketing Communications Committee: The Marketing and Communications committee had its first conference call on June 26th, 2006. The outcome: The team identified and communicated with 21 associations from our current alliance list of associations and organizations within the DC metropolitan area. The goal is to establish long term consistent two-way communication channels between IMC NCR and each association, and to effectively disseminate information about events, workshops and meetings among our target markets.

As a result of the conference call, the Marketing and Communications Committee launched two subcommittees with the following roles:
Brand Strategy and Public Relations (Brand/PR) subcommittee-

1. Focus on the overall strategy and metrics to increase the brand awareness for IMC NCR (long term)
2. Craft compelling and newsworthy articles/messages to the local media which will help
3. Create media list (newspaper, online publications, radio) which targets our market(s) in the DC and Baltimore metropolitan areas

Marketing Communications (MARCOM) subcommittee-
IMC Database Project

• Scrub the current small consulting company database (2,700 companies) which will be used for constant contact email campaign distribution, and direct mail distribution.
• Responsible for the maintenance and accuracy of the data within the database(s).

• Maintain an accurate public relations media list which targets our market(s) in the DC and Baltimore metropolitan areas.
• Responsible for the dissemination and follow-up of press releases to the media and the placement of online events and meetings via media calendars.

The MARCOM subcommittee has already begun the IMC Database Project. If you are interested in participating on the subcommittees, contact Michele Joseph (mjoseph@klickconsultants.com or 877 641 3609) FYI: IMC USA received the IMC NCR template of our refined logo and is considering it as a model template to be rolled out for all the national chapters!

Technology, Leadership, and Implementation Issues

When considering the impact of technology on management two focus points come to mind – the problem of management and the major issues that management and executive level individuals must face. The central role of management is changing toward the expectation that each person in a company becomes a team member and in essence, a manager in terms of how he or she must function to be effective in today’s technology intensive environment. The problem of management can be viewed in terms of the disappearance of the functions of management as we have known them for the last several decades. Managerial functions are now being replaced by team functioning. The issue is not management as much as leadership. Management becomes everyone’s task – a brief historical review will clarify this point.

The recent explosive increase in the application of technology – specifically, the increase in computerization of business functions is undermining management’s sense of command and control orientation.

IMC USA Mission: To promote excellence and ethics in management consulting through certification, education and professional resources.

IMC NCR Objective: Help our members Get Smart, Get Known, and Get Business

Join IMC: If you're satisfied that IMC is the right professional organization to help you "Get Smart, Get Known, and Get Business," then join IMC online. You will become a member of IMC USA and may affiliate with any US chapter at no additional charge.