I have been tasked with the job of looking for a training supplier. However we are in a period of change and financial needs are strong - so need a supplier that guarantees results. Preferably so the board can see a financial gain from their investment.
The supplier would need to have experience of change managgement and working with senior team members. We are a company with a task culture and the MD is really into results.
Does anyone have any recommendations?? Or any recent successes in this area?
Christopher Davies
6 Responses
It is possible to share risk / reward with providers
When proposing our solutions to clients it is far more likely to lead to success if there is a strong financial argument to justify the investment. This can be mitigated with Case Histories as you indicate. We are prepared to share in our clients success by running a project on a cost-plus % of improvement in revenue basis. There are a number of considerations such as what responsibilities lie with the client in implementation activities and what effect does this have on the desired outcome ? So, I believe while some providers may share the risk of return on investment, there will be few who absolutely rely upon client implementation for their remuneration. Probably the biggest reason for this are the factors within your market place over which the provider has no control.
sharing success
We are very interested in developing this concept and have together with another consultancy (ACT consultants) developed a benefits model and process which enables clients to identify the quantitive and qualititive benefits of proposals etc and ensure they are linked to business drivers. Please email or telephone if you would like to discuss further [email protected] 020 7486 9700
Who’s counting?
Good idea to look for something which gives a return. Whilst we have worked this way before there are some pretty chunky questions that the organisation has to know the answers to (or at least asked itself) for this to work. For example:-
What is the cost of not doing anything, not changing?
What do yourvshareholders get as a return on their investment in your company? Is this a guaranteed return from the MD?
How are the directors and senior managers rewards tied or linked to the success of the change? What measures are being used there?
How long are you planning to wait before you measure the return?
If the return is for ever and ever, will you continue to pay the consultancy for ever and ever? When is it over?
What does the return on investment look like? Cost saving? Increased profit? Higher share price? Market share? New products? Changes in key ratios?
This last little set should firmly connect with the first question – what’s the cost of doing nothing? If you saved a million – how much would you pay the consultancy?
Clive Hook
Clearworth – loads of questions and some of the answers
http://www.clearworth.com
Further Research
This is the key question facing many training and development consultancies at present.
The contributions so far highlight many of the key questions. The imperative is to establish what are the business goals of the organisation – cost reduction, increased revenue, increased revenue per head, higher return on capital or improved retention of knowledgeable staff?
The task then is to clearly identify the current performance and what future performance would have to look like in order to achieve the goals.
Working in this way requires very detail descriptions of activities to be delivered by both organisation and consultancy in order to achieve the specified result. It can only be brought about by open partnership. And then you will need to be extremely clear about how the consultancy will be rewarded in line with results.
As part of a masters business degree I am currently researching the link between organisational development and bottom line results. For a more in depth conversation please feel free to e-mail me.
Good Luck
Ian Cook
[email protected]
The Great Game of Business
This company guarentees results and is paid on the performance improvements achieved. They can be contacted at http://www.greatgame.biz or tel. 0117 317 9317
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