The Boston Consulting Group (BCG) is a world leader in global management and strategy consulting with strong HRM focus. BCG uses different techniques to identify its clients’ change readiness. Specifically, these techniques involve asking several questions to assess clients’ readiness for change as Carter McNamara indicates in Organisational Change and Development (McNamara, 2006). For instance, BCG has established the Change Enablement Centre to assess its clients’ readiness for change and other aspects related to change processes (Boston Consulting Group, 2014). BCG engages its clients at the Centre to develop the ‘next level’ of change capabilities.
In this process, the firm partners with the team to develop and shape change agendas. In addition, it equips executives with specific skills they shall require to execute effective change processes. It also establishes the ‘next-level business platforms’ for sustaining and driving change with the aim of delivering tangible business outcomes.
The Oxford Group is a global consulting firm specialising on people development and coaching. It offers several services to its clients. The Group strives to customise its services to various clients. For example, under the Behavioural Assessment, the firm believes that the most significant factor in success is the extent to which a client depicts behaviours required to be successful in the specified role (The Oxford Group Consulting & Training, n.d). It acknowledges that without behavioural self-awareness minimal change can take place. Therefore, the Group uses several techniques to assess behaviours as means of determining readiness for change. It works with the client to identify and define specific behaviours that correlate with success in certain targeted roles. From the results, the firm designs and implements different methods for evaluating behaviours. They may include one-off behavioural interviews and assessment (The Oxford Group Consulting & Training, n.d).
Xancam is a business psychologist firm specialising in change and talent management. The organisation uses business case to assess its clients’ readiness for change. For instance, under Accelerating Role Transitions, the company has recognised that most typical executives take as long as 15 to 18 months to adapt to their new roles. Consequently, the company has developed Xcelerate™ as an approach to role transition management.
It considerably enhances change process so that organisations can benefit from their executives’ experience and capabilities as soon as possible. Therefore, Xcelerate™ can assess change readiness with the aim of benefiting an organisation when a firm appoints or promotes managers to different roles, which need immediate change in mindsets from short-term to strategic (Xancam Consulting, 2011). Business cases also involve critical projects assigned to managers, high potential programmes and major changes that require managers to swiftly change their strategies and demonstrate their abilities.
Performance measure with their clients
It is imperative to recognise that one major consistent practice across the three firms involves identifying what consulting firms have to deliver. They all work with clients throughout the process to deliver on the goals of change initiatives and expected results. This implies that consulting firms conduct regular audits at intervals to ensure that their progresses and efforts are positive and sustainable.
The Oxford Group, BCG and Xancam conduct joint evaluation of their projects with clients to determine the achievement of desired results. During the project evaluation, the firm and the client assess the quality of the implementation of change initiatives and the project outcomes against the desired goals. The outcomes indicate whether the consulting firm has achieved its goals and inform any further changes. They indicate if all areas are covered and issues addressed, the client has realised its vision of change and effective implementation of change. Overall, consulting firms use evaluation results to determine if executives have agreed on outcomes of a project.
In some instances, consulting firms may reassess some of the processes noted during various discovery stages in order to determine different outcomes in project. This stage may involve the final evaluation process.
BCG works with the client by performing a thorough change-capabilities diagnostic and offers a range of customised tools and methodologies that account for the entire change programme. It also provides individualised skill-building and training programmes based on proved change management approaches. In addition, BCG offers its clients access to a large community of experts at its Change Enablement Centre. On this note, BCG believes that its change management programmes deliver beyond clients’ expectations.
The Oxford Group also assesses behaviours throughout change management processes by working with clients to determine and define behaviours that can facilitate change and success. It uses various methods to design, implement and assess behavioural changes.
Xancam relies on a business case approach to determine change processes and success of a project that it undertakes.
Overall, these consulting firms use joint evaluation with their clients as a means of performance measure. In the process, these firms audit their performances, as well as evaluate achievements of the intended goals and promote project sustainability for their clients.
Performance measure is necessary for consulting firms because many of them have been criticised for failing to audit their own performances on clients’ projects.
Reference List
Boston Consulting Group 2014, Change Enablement Center. Web.
McNamara, C 2006, Organizational Change and Development. Web.
The Oxford Group Consulting & Training n.d., Behavioural Assessment. Web.
Xancam Consulting 2011, Accelerating Role Transitions. Web.