Is execution the poor relation of management?

Almost every consulting firm is laying claim to the space that lies somewhere between advice and execution / implementation.

Pure advice has been widely discredited by clients frustrated with the number of recommendations from consultants that are never acted on. Pure implementation would take consulting firms into outsourcing’s dangerous, low-margin territory. So most firms, like superpowers itching for battle over a rich but obscure Balkan state, say they do both. All of which is ironic when you look at the way they behave.

To be sure, there’s recently been a flurry of activity in terms of thought leadership analysing how organisations do – and don’t – get things done. But the evidence that some firms are starting to think about this subject more seriously pales into insignificance when we look at how most treat it in practice. On a typical project, implementation is something you get more junior, less experienced people to do. Interpreting data and deciding what to do require specialist skills – more so than ever with today’s sophisticated clients – but anyone can, by implication, implement. Although firms increasingly recognise the importance of “subject-matter experts”, execution doesn’t appear to be an area where they have experts: it’s not a specialist skill.

Why is that? You could argue that the issue has been railroaded by programme and change management. Both are seen to be fundamental consulting skills, so most big firms train everyone in them to some degree: ipso facto, they’re not area you have experts in. Some smaller firms do specialise in these fields but their model relies on having senior people who plan and manage programmes and change, rather than execute it. A less charitable explanation might be that senior people don’t want to roll up their sleeves or even – perish the thought! – that consulting firms have no clearer idea about how to get things done than their clients other than throwing bodies at the problem. Perhaps the problem even taps into deep-rooted prejudices among white-collar managers about blue-collar work: the more senior you are in an organisation, the less you actually “do” anything. Consulting firms may simply be holding up a looking glass to their clients in this respect.

Reversing this level of cultural bias would take time; moreover, there’s a debate to be had about what the role of a manager – and consultant for that matter – actually is. However, one thing is clear: by regarding implementation as something that happens after all the important thinking has taken place, we’re increasing the chances of failure. If consulting firms really want to give themselves an advantage in this crowded market, they could ensure they had as many experts in execution / implementation as they do in planning and design.