The Chair Update February 2020

 

Update February 2020

My last update to you was in the form of a webinar hosted by our Global Institute. At that time, I gave you an update on the work we did at our Annual General Meeting, and the main topics we addressed at our annual conference. The Global Institute has kindly agreed to provide us with a copy, so if you want an update you can view it HERE.

Annual Meeting Preparation

This is my first update of 2020, and I wish you the very best for every success in the coming year.

I have also created a version of this in video which you can see HERE. I am also delighted to announce the relaunch of our YouTube page, ICMCI Official Videos which can be accessed HERE.

Strategy Implementation

The delegates at the Annual Meeting in Nassau approved the strategy as presented. Thanks to all for the great input we had from IMCs to arrive at our ten Strategic Initiatives. At the Face-to-Face meeting of your Board, we focused on these ten initiatives and detailed actions plans for information.

As these are finalized into plans with timelines based on our discussions, I will update you further. Of course, there are may other ongoing initiatives, but this will give you insight into where we will focus on change. I have listed our ten Strategic Initiatives grouped by Goal at the end of this Update so you can refer to them easily.

Membership
Growth is foundational to our future success. We are facing challenges as the profession of management consulting. Our clients are and will be facing immense disruption through automation and digitization. Consulting itself is being disrupted: both in the way our services are perceived and in the greatest availability of knowledge of all time to our client base. At the same time, the very way in which new entrants to consulting perceive the profession is changing. 

As a result, we need to rise to the challenge. While membership is falling generally in professional institutes, we need to understand the needs of new entrants to our profession, and how we can help them to affiliate with their colleagues in-country and around the world.

There appear to be two main challenges we must address.

First, new entrants to consulting have access to knowledge, just as do clients, in an unprecedented way. They are highly educated and confident in their skills. Barriers to entry are non-existent almost anywhere in the world – one can be a consultant by self-declaring.

Second, access to networking is also greater than ever. People can find like-minded people anywhere in the work through Facebook, LinkedIn, other social media and many emerging internet platforms.

Both functions are provided by Institutes. We know that Institutes provide services that are not replicated by either of the above sources. But new entrants “don’t know what they don’t know”. We need to find better ways to reach out to the newly emerging consultants to help them understand what it means to be a professional consultant, and how we can help. 

Strategic Initiative 4 is all about this – how do we find new ways to help our Institutes affiliate with new consultants in ways that can bring them into the professional family.

We have struck a Task Force for which I will maintain personal accountability.  In the coming weeks we will announce the Task Force and its work plan, which will culminate in a plan and business model for approval at our Annual Meeting this coming October. We believe that for success this will need to involve private investments, and we already have an interested party who will invest the necessary resources and give us the leadership we need to get us to the business model stage.

This is a new way of doing business for us. We do not have the luxury of trying to achieve the necessary results using our available resources. Time is not on our side. I listened carefully to Delegates in Nassau and heard loud and clear the summary message: “Now is the time to be bold!” 

We will take bold steps, but we will do it though a reasonable consultative process. This is about reaching out to our potential membership immediately and in the coming decades. We cannot be successful as a global force by doing what we have been doing better, or even by doing more of what we have been doing. We need to break the mold and start with fresh viewpoints which can revitalize the way in which we affiliate with our membership base. This is what will drive thriving IMCs and a strong healthy global movement. 

All 10 of our initiatives are important and interwoven. I will be keeping you up to date on all of them as we progress.

Webinar Series
In 2020 we will be launching a series of webinars to continue to build on our Collaborative Approach initiative started by Sorin Caian, my predecessor.  Each Webinar will focus on one of the programs or services available to IMCs. Each one will be given twice to accommodate the 24 time zones in which we operate. You and members of your IMC can learn about the program or service and ask questions to elaborate on how it can be applied in your situation. As a bonus, the recorded session will be available for future reference.

Our first Webinar with be on the CMC Directory, and will be held March 18. Watch for details from the Secretariat.

Upcoming Opportunities to Collaborate
The agenda has been set for our major events this year. Be sure to watch the Events List page on the ICMCI web site for details.
https://www.cmc-global.org/events-list

We received notice from Lebanon that because of the political situation in Lebanon, they will not be able to host this year’s Conference and Annual Meeting of Delegates. We have some backup solutions in mind and are working through the details. You will here from us soon with confirmed details, and the web page will be kept up to date.

Closing
Please feel free to be in touch with me at any time. My email is dwight.mihalicz@cmc-global.org. By leveraging our global network, consultants can work together to contribute to a better future for the industry globally, and better results for clients and society.

Collaboration is key… please keep in touch.

My offer still stands: I would be very happy to virtually attend a suitable event hosted by you in order to address our strategy or any specific programs of interest to your Institute. Please keep this in mind as you plan your events.

ICMCI 2020 Strategic Initiatives
Goal 1 – The Profession
Building the profile, recognition and influence of the profession and its practitioners globally, to ensure that Certified Management Consultants serve their clients with world-class competency and professionalism

  1. Marketing and publicising ICMCI and its global brands
  2. Marketing and publicising ICMCI and its Global Directories
  3. Organising and promoting the ICMCI Annual CMC Conference on global management consultancy issues
  4. Investigate tools and methods for creating a proper management consulting platform that can further enhance the affiliation of management consultants, and perhaps other types of consultants, with IMC's and ICMCI
  5. Devising and promoting a Code of Ethics for those working directly with ICMCI and its Committees and other bodies

Goal 2 – The Network
Supporting, enhancing and growing the international network of management consulting institutes, as well as encouraging information sharing, networking and reciprocity between institutes

  1. Developing smaller “round table” discussion Focus Groups to obtain feedback on products and services
  2. Building the outreach between CMC-Global and IMCs through continuing and improving the collaborative approach
  3. Acting as the voice of the profession to provide key messages to international stakeholders such as the United Nations/CoNGO, European Commission, Development Banks, etc.

Goal 3 – Outreach
Enabling IMCs to enhance the visibility, recognition, and desirability of Certification as international benchmarks:

  1. Creating tools to support IMCs in their advocacy activities (leveraging the outcomes of the work in strategic goal one (products))
  2. Administering programmes and services on behalf of IMCs to increase their revenue without impacting their admin burden