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Greetings!
Certain aspects of the national economy
significantly affect the management consulting
market. With many companies reluctant to hire senior
employees, despite an expanding market, the current
"jobless economic recovery" may well be a boon to
consultants advising executives. Consider how this
fact might affect how you position your services,
possibly by offering seminars or providing
high-level training on a short-term basis. We have
kicked off our Speaker's Bureau as one more example
of how IMC NCR continues to help our members "Get
Smart, Get Friends, and Get Business."
What's New This Month
- 2 new IMC NCR members
- 1 new IMC NCR Consultant Directory Profile
posted
- 2004 North American Conference for Management
Consultants (Nashville, TN - May 1-4, sponsored by
IMC USA)
- Speaker's Bureau and Mentoring Programs are
now in operation
- Baltimore breakfast group starts March 17
- Management Consulting: Dream Job or Worst
Nightmare workshop scheduled for May
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March - Ethics |
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Ethics Training. March is National Ethics
Month, an appropriate time for this month's
IMC NCR program on Emerging Issues in Ethics
Compliance for Consultants. This program will
address how ethical obligations for consultants
are changing and how training plays a critical
role in achieving high standards of professional
conduct. We will first explain the more
stringent ethics certification requirements and
compliance enforcement rules for IMC USA. Then,
our featured speaker will take us through a
corporate ethics training session. This
interactive session is more than just a
description of ethics; it is an exploration of
how you deal with various perspectives and
perceptions of an ethical dilemma in a business
setting similar to one you might encounter in
any consulting engagement.
Our speaker, Joe Kale, currently serves as
Director of Ethics and Business Conduct for the
Lockheed Martin Corporation Integrated Systems
and Solutions. Joe will present us with
Perspectives, the annual ethics training
provided to all Lockheed Martin employees. This
training will address the theme of perspectives
and their role in decision making. It
demonstrates the importance of ethical behavior
to the success of a company (or your practice)
by highlighting the consequences of being
confronted with a difficult decision with a
particular perspective. This is a great session
to bring a client or colleague to.
Resources for This Month's Program.
There are an increasing number of organizations
dedicated to providing resources in business and
professional ethics. A few worth checking out:
Summary of Last Month's Program. In
February, Gene Razzetti presented an expansion
of his recent C2M article on internal audits for
organizations. The session included a lively
debate on what audits provide, how to manage an
audit, and various responsibilities of different
participants in he audit. Gene is currently
conducting an organization audit of IMC USA
administrative operations to improve the
effectiveness of those services.
Register online now for this month's program
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Professional Development |
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Upcoming Monthly Chapter Programs
April 8 - Managing Implementation of Your Recommendations
May 13 - Baldrige Performance Reviews
June 10 - Change Management - Appreciative
Inquiry
2004 North American Conference for Management Consultants:Creating
Opportunities in A Changing Profession. Come
to Nashville, TN from May 1-4 for this year's
annual conference sponsored by IMC USA. In
addition to several IMC NCR members being featured
speakers on this program, our own Baldwin Tom
will take over as Chairman of IMC USA. This
continues a long tradition of IMC NCR members
assuming leadership roles in the national
organization. Dave Rogers, Gene Razzetti, Ron
Wohl, Bryan Peregoff, Harry Feely, and Mark Haas
all play a part in strengthening IMC USA as the
voice of management consulting in the US. IMC
NCR
is usually one of the best represented chapters
at the annual conference. See the IMC USA
website
conference page for more information about
the program. Note: Kansas City will host the
2005 conference and IMC NCR will host the 2006
conference, planning for which is already
underway.
Ethics Watch. Steroid use among
management consultants. If you have followed the
current story of athletes using steroids to
enhance performance, the parallel to management
consulting may or may not be obvious. We advise
clients on how to improve performance but are
also obligated to attend to what that advice
entails. If our clients do something unethical
while following our advice, does that absolve us
of responsibility? Can we just say "All I did
was advise and offer options. The client chose
to implement them"? U.S. Attorney General John
Ashcroft, who announced federal grand jury
indictments for companies supplying athletes
with the steriods, said more charges may arise
from the ongoing investigation. "Illegal steroid
use calls into question not only the integrity
of the athletes who use them, but also the
integrity of the sports that those athletes
play," Ashcroft said. "Steroids are bad for
sports, they're bad for players, they're bad for
young people who hold athletes up as role
models." Sounds like this may be a cautionary
tale for how consultants should view or be
viewed about the advice they provide to enhance
the performance of their clients.
I'd like some more information on IMC NCR
workshops »
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Membership/Member Services |
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New Chapter Members. Please welcome 2 new
chapter members: Kevin Nourse, Leap Advocates
(Washington, DC) and Joshua Kriger, Grant
Thornton (Alexandria, VA).
New Consultant Directory Profiles Posted.
Chapter members post their profiles to introduce
themselves and for you to see how you might work
together:
George Gardner CMC, who works for the
Virginia Department of Transportation, has
posted his profile this month. The directory now
has 46 member profiles.
Speaker's Bureau. On Saturday,
February 28th, Bernard Robinson and John Haecker
held a kickoff meeting for members of the IMC
NCR
Speaker's Bureau. We discussed how to market our
speaking services, shared ideas on operations of
the Bureau, and helped each other select the
most attractive targets for the speaking part of
our practices. Over the next few months, the SB
will approach more than 100 selected
organizations to discuss the availability of
IMC NCR speakers. Our special guest was Dr. Joan
Cassidy CMC, who described how to develop high
value topics to take advantage of your
expertise, and to improve platform mechanics and
delivery. To register for the SB, call Bernard
at (301) 265-1775.
Baltimore Breakfast. With more than
500 management consulting firms in the Baltimore
metropolitan area, IMC NCR is creating a
Baltimore-based network to help
Baltimore/Central Maryland/Frederick/Annapolis
members and colleagues Get Smart, Get
Friends, and Get Business. We will begin our
Baltimore breakfast series on Wednesday, March
17 from 8:00-9:30am at the BWI Marriott, 1743
West Nursery Road (see
map on website). Contact Beth Bloomfield at
(410) 626-6008 to register or for more
information. This initial meeting is for both
members and potential members. Come meet
professional colleagues (and your future teaming
partners) and build on the exploratory meeting
we had last year. This is the first of a regular
series of programs in Baltimore for management
consultants.
I want to join IMC NCR or I know a prospective
member I'd like to introduce to IMC NCR »
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Marketing/Business Devt |
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Government Services Insider. For those
interested in the growing market for high-level
management consulting in the government sector,
there remains a lack of solid market information
on trends and activities. This newsletter,
similar in scope to Kennedy's Consultants News,
provides insights into areas such as (a recent
issue): relations between large and minority
owned firms, predictive performance scoring for
your firm, business ethics, ISO9000, and taking
advantage of the DHS mentoring program. See the
GSI website.
State Procurement Resources. Several
states also provide information on contracting
opportunities for state and local agencies. An
example is the
Virginia state procurement website.
See additional marketing resources on the IMC
NCR
website »
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IMC USA and IMC NCR News |
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Possible IMC USA Collaboration With Microsoft.
IMC USA is discussing a potential collaboration
with Microsoft to develop a portal for
communication and collaboration on the
management consulting industry. This would
provide the industry with a central location for
discussion of emerging issues and professional
development opportunities. The resulting
organization could include IMC USA, AMCF, and
Kennedy Information.
IMC NCR Consulting Technology Showcase.
IMC NCR plans to hold a technology showcase early
this summer, highlighting those tools that
either enhance professional services or practice
management. We will convene a group of vendors
to describe how their tools add business
services or improve your business operations.
The showcase will give members and guests a
closer look at these technologies. Tools such as BRS (business planning), Expert Choice (decision
making), GroupMindExpress (collaboration,
project/knowledge management), Visio
(mapping/flowcharting), and Outlook (contact
management) may save you time and increase your
value to clients. If you regularly use and would
recommend similar tools, please contact Mark
Haas at (301) 320-5889 if you know of any tools,
services, or vendors you would like to include.
IMC USA Accredited Practice. IMC USA
has a process whereby teh consulting staff of
large firms can become accredited as CMCs. IMC
USA reviews a firm's training and development
procedures and, if approved, can have their
consultants submit to certification by passing
our ethics exams and certification panel. Shell
IT is already a certified practice and IMC USA
is in discussion with IBM to become another.
This would significantly expand IMC (and IMC NCR)
membership and broaden IMC's overall range of
expertise and skills.
Click here if you have news to share or would
like to be featured in this newsletter »
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IMC NCR Website |
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Are You Findable on the IMC NCR Website
(updated monthly)? You may or may not be
surprised at how much consulting business comes
from web searches, including those through
IMC NCR. See
most searched for terms. We maintain two
lists: (1) search terms visitors used in the
site search engines and (2) based on those
searches, whose consultant directory profiles
visitors clicked through to view. If you
haven't looked at this list, the one posted
March 2 is quite interesting.
Planning for IMC NCR Website Redesign.
The chapter is now actively involved in
redesigning our website to provide more
functionality, particularly for consulting
opportunity referrals, teaming, registration for
Speaker's Bureau and Mentoring programs, and
member-to member communication. We will be
conducting a survey of members to see what
features they value and what design elements
would serve their needs best.
Example of a Good Website. This
month's example of a good website is that of
Boyden Global Executive Search
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Member Resources |
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Management Consulting Competency Framework.
ICMCI has developed a management consulting
competency framework to describe the range of
competencies required for effective management
consulting. The framework serves as the basis
for the new certification requirements and can
be viewed at
the IMC UK website.
Consultants News Online. IMC NCR has
negotiated a special deal with Kennedy
Information for online access to Consultants
News (including access to all archived
materials) for $195 per year per person (money
back guarantee). This is a significant discount
from the hard copy version (monthly) a
subscription of which runs $295. Contact Mark
Haas or Dave Rogers to subscribe. See
Consultants News website for more
information.
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Join IMC-Develop Your Skills |
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IMC USA Mission: To promote excellence
and ethics in management consulting through
certification, education and professional
resources.
IMC NCR Mission: Get Smart, Get Friends,
and Get Business
Join IMC. If you're satisfied that IMC is
the right professional organization to help you
"Get Smart, Get Friends, 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.
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