Five Ways to Raise your Game in Consulting - Part 4
Fourth in a Series
How to Differentiate Yourself and Your Consultancy
Five Ways to Raise Your Game - Adherence to a Code of Conduct
By David Norman, FCMC, CMC-AF
Continuing our series on Five Ways to Raise Your Game in Consulting, I take an additional step and suggest additional market differentiation through the understanding and use of a Code of (Professional) Conduct.
Overview:
The previous blog on the Consulting Competence Framework identifies those skills and experiences that separate a professional consultant from the thousands of other consultants in the US today. There is an additional level of differentiation – an attestation of your professional behavior.
Did you know there is an internationally accepted Code of Professional Conduct for the global consulting community which articulates the ideals to which we aspire as well as the behaviors that are mandatory in our professional roles?
The new Code of Conduct is over and above the Code of Ethics and is not meant to subsume or replace it, rather to be in addition to the Code of Ethics. It has five main parts to our responsibility – to the Client, to Society, to the Organization we work for, to Those We Work with, and to the Consultancy Profession itself. Each of the five has multiple sub-responsibilities.
The importance of understanding and adhering to a professional Code of Conduct is critical as you and your behavior, as a consultant, represent more than yourself. If you were to simply refer to the second blog you will likely see how these very public instances were caused by misplaced ethics and/or poor conduct behaviors. Consider then how these 11 behaviors (out of 27) might have further precluded these and other public ‘events’ (shortened for this blog to the pertinent phrases):
Under Serving the Interests of Clients:
Put client interest first … serve them to the highest possible standards … with focus on …. legality
1.4 Consider the possibility of any conflict of interest … take all reasonable steps to protect interests and confidentiality of each client
1.6 Demonstrate the personal qualities … of honesty, integrity … respect confidentiality
Under Serving the Interests of Society:
2.1 Ensure I … comply with all relevant legislation and regulations
2.2. Respect social … corporate responsibility concerns … assessing the impact of my actions on … society
Under Serving the Interests of the Organization I work for (e.g., McKinsey, PwC):
3.1 Make every effort to … safeguard its reputation and assets and reconcile personal and corporate values
3.2 Uphold lawful policies, practices and procedures
3.4 In the interests of all the organization’s stakeholders … I safeguard all confidential and/or proprietary information … refrain from entering into any agreement or undertake any activity which is unlawful
Under Serving the Interests of those I work with:
4.2 Act consistently and fairly … where issues may be addressed in a frank, timely, and effective manner
Under Serving the Interests of the Consulting Profession:
5.1 Have respect for the profession, upholding its integrity …. Refraining from conduct which detracts from its reputation and public confidence
5.3 Respect the intellectual property of all stakeholders
When these eleven are presented in the context of several very visible public media reports, it becomes quite clear how an understanding and acceptance of the Code of Conduct likely would have prevented them, or at least caused others within the respective firms to highlighted, thus changing inappropriate and unprofessional conduct.
Taking, only as an example, the PwC debacle and the subsequent selling of the Governmental Advisory practice to a venture capitalist firm for $1 AUD, the cost of a lack of understanding of professional conduct becomes painfully clear. Based on assumptions that may be challenged ($300M billings/year, 12% profit available to partners, 10 years into the future, 3% cost of capital) the present value of the sale (of PwC Australia) is in the order of magnitude of $311 million to the partners. Yikes. All for the want of an understanding of and adherence to a Code of Conduct.
Can you adopt a Code of Conduct in your practice, advertise it to your prospects and clients and give them the assurance you are different from the competition? I believe you can. Look no further than IMCUSA.org
The next blog, the fifth in the series, is on Certification as a path to increased differentiation.
Stay tuned, and raise your game.
