The course “Consultant Behaviour” was offered to Master’s students following the Master in Management from ESCP Business School as part of the specialization “Consulting dynamics and practices”. It aims at providing, through a transversal approach, a deep knowledge of the Consulting practice and the different aspects of the consulting work. The last session concludes the course with the behavioural aspects of the consultant profession including the posture a consultant should take depending on its company, the importance of ethics and a few tips on time management.

1. Spring 2021
1
Consulting Behaviour
Stream A7
Dr. Benjamin Lehiany
& Stéphane Lesage
Session 5:
The consultant posture,
ethics & time management

2. 1. The consulting industry,
actors & hot topics
2. Consulting jobs &
careers
2
3. The mission lifecycle &
consultant toolbox
4. The commercial
proposal
5. The Consultant posture,
ethics & time management
COURSE STRUCTURE & CONTENT

3. 3
The mission life-cycle
The big picture
PRE-SALES
• Prospection
• Promotion
• Call for tenders
POST-MISSION
• Satisfaction survey
• References
QUALIFYING THE NEEDS
• Transform needs into opportunities
• Screen decision process & budget
• Commercial proposal:
• Approach and action plan
• Quotation
PITCH & SELECTION
• Pitch front of the client to
introduce approach, action plan
and submit a quotation
• Selection of the consulting firm
• Bargain before the deal
EXECUTION
• Consultant posture
• Data collection
• Analysis, Diagnosis
• Project management
• Conclusions and deliverables
CLOSING
• Internally: return on experience /
Knowledge Management
• Externally: Identification of new
needs / joint opportunities
Est-ce qu’on
laisse cette
slide?

4. 4
The consultant posture
The day-to-day of a consultant depends on the style of its firm
• Approach : co-construction of solutions
• Added-value: strong innovation capabilities &
agility
• Timing: short to medium-term (from 1 month to 1
year)
• Output: know-how, coaching, workshops, culture,
product / service development… « own branding »
• Location: both (the client can go to the consulting
firm’s office!)
• Dress code: casual-chic
• Exple: innovation agencies (One Point, Fabernovel
…).
• Approach : top-down
• Added-value: strong expertise, strong
brand/reputation, wide network;
• Timing: short-term (1 to 6 months)
• Output: knowledge, benchmarks,
recommendations, roadmaps, « own branding »
• Location: own office, meetings at the client’s office
• Dress code: formal, “white collar”
• Exple.: Strategy consulting (MBB, Oliver Wyman,
A.T. Kearney, Roland Berger, …)
• Approach : Bottom-up
• Added-value: Strong operational / technical skills,
strong brand/reputation,
• Timing: medium-term (3 months to 1 year)
• Output: transformation program, software, project,
product, process, « client’s branding »
• Location: the client’s office
• Dress code: the client’s one, usually “business
casual”
• Exple: Management & IT consulting (Accenture,
Capgemini Invent, Bearing Point, Wavestone, Big
Four…)
“Advisor” style “Operational” style “Hybrid” style

5. 5
The consultant posture
House
of lies
Video available to watch here : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4cyvmF7GD8o

6. 6
The consultant posture
A subtle combination of hard & soft skills
HOW-TO-BE (soft skills)
• Able to build a « client intimacy » of trust
• Open-minded
• Multi level communication capacity
• Innovative mindset
• Willingness to satisfy the client
• Diplomatic and tactful to inspire confidence
• Adapting to the circumstances
• Proper attitude
KNOW-HOW (hard skills)
• Technical knowledge (skills / tools / methods)
• Constructive and enthusiastic communication
• Fluent - at least in English - in reading as in
speaking
• Good analytical and synthetic skills
• Face issues and bring solutions be force of
proposals

7. 7
The consultant posture
Managing time is key when you sell time!
How to deal with the
flow of e-mail, when
you receive more than
100 e-mails per day?

8. 8
The consultant posture
Time management process steps
Acknowledge reception Prioritize Produce work Send the work
• Send an e-mail to
requestor
• Ask for a call or more
details:
o Deadline
o Scope
o Metrics…
• Assess urgency /
importance
• Manage expectations
• Assess feasibility
• The 3D rule (see next
slide)
• Understanding of the
Knowledge Questions
• Data collection
• Data analysis
• Production of the
results
• Choose the format
• Choose the recipients
• Send the results
Source: BCG

9. 9
The consultant posture
Managing time is key when you sell time!
Few tips that can save your life:
• The 3D rule: Do-Delete-Delegate
• Writing e-mails is not “core business”!
• Do not answer straight-away!
• Check your inbox every 30-60 minutes
and turn notifications off in between
• Avoid reading e-mails twice
• Prioritize: read first e-mails where you
are a direct recipient (To) and then
when you are in copy (cc.)

10. 10
The consultant posture
Managing time is key when you sell time!
Request A. Biologics market
Dear ZYX,
Sorry for the short notice, we are working on a Due
Diligence in the UK and need quick input from your
end today.
Would you have any information on demand of
Biologic drugs? I would like to understand also the
% of Biologics among pharmaceutical sales and the
impact of Biosimilars.
Thank you,
Kind Regards
Associate XYZ
Exercise: as a junior analyst at BCG, you receive those e-mails this morning. Please respond.
Request B. Outsourcing trends
Hi ZYX,
I am reaching out to ask for your help on pharma
companies outsourcing trend Background: we are
working on a proposal for a Korean contract
manufacturing organization. What is the market size
of pharmaco's outsourcing? What is the outsourcing
share (historical and forecast)?
Recent movement of pharma companies towards
increasing outsourcing?
Thank you,
Principal XYZ

11. 11
The consultant posture
Why ethical
issues ?

12. 12
The consultant posture
McKinsey scandal on Purdue Pharma
What do you
think?

13. 13
The consultant posture
Why ethical questions ?
▪ The consultant can be in a superior
expertise position which makes the
client uncomfortable to assess the
deliverables
▪ Lack of objective and reliable
benchmarks for assessing
competence
▪ Consultants are rewarded for
selling and generating business
▪ Anyone can call himself a
consultant
▪ Even if the Business Schools have
consulting cursus, no common
body of knowledge (as in medicine,
law)
▪ There is no normative text for the
professional knowledge base
… but consultants :
▪ can be prejudiced and biased
▪ can have prefabricated or
prepackaged solutions
▪ can be inclined to promote inhouse
solution to sale products/services
from its own company
Position of trust Lack of formal
expertise
Client expects
impartiality…

14. 14
The consultant posture
Ethical situations you might face
▪ Client is king since he pays : how to say « no »?
▪ Landing the project or being honest?
▪ What if the client want to solve the wrong
problem?
▪ Do you sure you are not the messenger of decision
already made?
▪ By the way, who is the client (shareholders, top
managers, employees)?
▪ Need to have access to internal confidential
information
▪ Consultants may work for companies in
competition
▪ May have private information about a competitor
of the current client
▪ Transparency about methods : if you give the trick,
the client does not need you anymore
Conflict of interests Risk of disclosure

15. 15