Download or read book Cracked it written by Bernard Garrette and published by Springer. This book was released on 2018-06-08 with total page 284 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Solving complex problems and selling their solutions is critical for personal and organizational success. For most of us, however, it doesn’t come naturally and we haven’t been taught how to do it well. Research shows a host of pitfalls trips us up when we try: We’re quick to believe we understand a situation and jump to a flawed solution. We seek to confirm our hypotheses and ignore conflicting evidence. We view challenges incompletely through the frameworks we know instead of with a fresh pair of eyes. And when we communicate our recommendations, we forget our reasoning isn’t obvious to our audience. How can we do it better? In Cracked It!, seasoned strategy professors and consultants Bernard Garrette, Corey Phelps and Olivier Sibony present a rigorous and practical four-step approach to overcome these pitfalls. Building on tried-and-tested (but rarely revealed) methods of top strategy consultants, research in cognitive psychology, and the latest advances in design thinking, they provide a step-by-step process and toolkit that will help readers tackle any challenging business problem. Using compelling stories and detailed case examples, the authors guide readers through each step in the process: from how to state, structure and then solve problems to how to sell the solutions. Written in an engaging style by a trio of experts with decades of experience researching, teaching and consulting on complex business problems, this book will be an indispensable manual for anyone interested in creating value by helping their organizations crack the problems that matter most.

Download or read book The Manager s Pocket Guide to Using Consultants written by David Newman and published by Human Resource Development. This book was released on 2007 with total page 119 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: What if the next consultant you hired came with an instruction manual filled with strategies to maximize your end of the relationship? That's exactly what this pocket guide is - a practical how-to guide to taking full advantage of what the right consultant can provide.

Download or read book Quintessential Guide to Using Consultants written by David Zahn and published by Human Resource Development. This book was released on 2004 with total page 252 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Quintessential Guide to Using Consultants presents practical and clear guidelines for maximizing the results of the consulting relationship through each step of the process. Thorough, straightforward and packed with real-world wisdom you'll find priceless information inside on all aspects of selecting and working with a consultant. Features include key skills learning points, case examples, worksheets, checklists, and more.

Download or read book Choosing and Using Consultants Advisers written by Harold Lewis and published by Kogan Page Publishers. This book was released on 2006-03-03 with total page 241 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book is perfect for anyone who needs to use contractors, consultants or other professional advisers, whatever their business. Acknowledged expert Harold Lewis uses his experience on both sides of the business relationship and explains the whole process. The first book to deal with this subject so comprehensively, Using and Choosing Consultants & Advisers gives best practice advice that can immediately be put into effect; doesn't take sides on client-consultancy issues but offers a balanced view; helps clients get into the mind of consultants, showing them how consultancy works from the inside; is addressed to businesses/non-commercial groups as well as individuals. The valuable advice it contains will be useful not just for new businesses, but also for established firms seeking to strengthen and extend their contracting skills. Written in a crisp, accessible and businesslike style, the book contains numerous examples and checklists as well as case studies of good and bad practice. This book will help you avoid mistakes and pitfalls, save time, money and effort, and make the process of working with consultants really worthwhile.

Download or read book Choosing and Using Consultants and Advisers written by Harold Lewis and published by Kogan Page Publishers. This book was released on 2006 with total page 244 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: For professional advice; understand how consultants and advisers operate and how they charge; define your requirements and specify the job to be done; select the consultants that are right for you; go out to tender; draw up contracts; keep track of the work; deal effectively with problems; develop successful working and partnering relationships.

Download or read book The Executive s Guide to Consultants How to Find Hire and Get Great Results from Outside Experts written by David Fields and published by McGraw Hill Professional. This book was released on 2012-11-23 with total page 306 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Maximize Your Return on Expertise Research shows a high proportion of consultants fail to deliver results on time, on budget, and on target. Rare is the project that exceeds your expectations. But help is here. The Executive's Guide to Consultants explains how to ensure that every project delivers measurable benefits every time. This book will help you find experts, invest wisely, accelerate change, and achieve your most important goals by tapping into the genius of others. The Executive's Guide to Consultants contains breakthrough ideas covered by no other book, including: Sophisticated new contract structures that maximize your ROI Essential methods for reducing project risk Cutting-edge techniques for making change stick after the consultant leaves You will also learn to: Spot "chameleons" and other low-quality consultants who peddle tired ideas and deliver disappointing outcomes Get better results faster, while lowering fees Find the ideal consultant, coach, agency, or advisor for your precise situation Enforce accountability with outside experts and your own internal team Imagine if you could collect the wisdom of dozens of the country's top CEOs, combine it with the experience of a hall-of-fame consultant, and add a bucketful of unconventional thinking. You'd have The Executive's Guide to Consultants. Easy to read and packed with examples, checklists, templates, and guidelines, this book is the ultimate toolkit for maximizing your ROI from outside experts. Get extraordinary results from every consultant you hire "An extraordinary book. Clear, comprehensive, and eminently readable, it is THE book on how you can extract true business value from outside experts." -- Scott Cotherman, Chairman, TBWA\WorldHealth, subsidiary of Omnicom Group, Inc. "This is the Master Class for those who are smart, innovative, ahead of the pack, and who intend to stay that way. If you're not yet in that league, you should read this book twice." -- Alan Weiss, author, Million Dollar Consulting and The Consulting Bible "A terrific guidebook, with much of the advice equally applicable in managing your organization's internal talent. It's an easy, engaging read with a wealth of insights and detailed action steps--I highly recommend it." -- Brian Walker, President and CEO, Herman Miller, Inc. "A powerful antidote to the strained relationship between consultants and clients." -- Garry Ridge, CEO, WD-40 Company "This book shows you how to make your consultants' work stick. No more major investments in experts or programs that evaporate after only a few months or years." -- De Lyle Bloomquist, President, Tata Global Chemicals "Fields's messages are delivered in the way that all executives would like our outside resources to do it: capably, with straight talk and incredible insight." -- Ralph Scozzafava, Chairman and CEO, Furniture Brands

Download or read book Consultants for DOT Preconstruction Engineering Work written by David K. Witheford and published by Transportation Research Board. This book was released on 1999 with total page 128 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This synthesis report will be of interest to department of transportation (DOT) preconstruction engineering supervisors and program managers, contract administrators, and project managers. It will also be of interest to engineering consultants who do work for state DOTs. It describes current practice in contracting with consultants for DOT preconstruction engineering work. The synthesis documents the practices in all stages involved with obtaining consulting services, from the initial designation of projects for consultant work to project completion and acceptance procedures. The study also collected the views of selected consultants on DOT practices. Information for the synthesis was collected by surveying U. S. transportation agencies and by conducting a literature search. This report of the Transportation Research Board provides information on the history and trends in outsourcing of preconstruction engineering activities and compares current levels with those found a decade earlier. The steps in the procurement and management of consulting services are provided in detail. These include deciding on when and what to contract out and the selection, negotiation, and consultant management activities that follow. Finally, the appendixes contain numerous samples of collected forms and procedures used by a variety of states to accomplish this work.

Download or read book Extract Value from Consultants written by Gordon Perchthold and published by Greenleaf Book Group. This book was released on 2010 with total page 234 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book empowers managers to take control of the consulting process in any business environment. Features: Insiders reveal the secrets of the consulting trade. Packed with firsthand observations, case studies, and valuable document templates, this book details a step-by-step approach to effectively selecting and managing any consultant. The authors explain how companies can take advantage of the increasingly complex world of global consulting; A guide for maximising return and minimising costs for companies hiring consultants. Too often consultants dictate where, when, and how they will deliver value. The book gives managers the tools they need to select and manage the right consultants at the right time and determine whether or not they are delivering the goods; Authors have global experience with major U.S. companies and consulting firms. The authors have built consulting practices around the world, working with companies such as Deloitte Consulting, Aflac, The Hartford, ING, Nationwide, New York Life, Northwestern Mutual, and Swiss Life.

Download or read book Medicaid financing states use of contingencyfee consultants to maximize federal reimbursements highlights need for improved federal oversight report to the Chairman Committee on Finance U S Senate written by and published by DIANE Publishing. This book was released on with total page 98 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Central government s use of consultants written by Great Britain: National Audit Office and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2006-12-15 with total page 52 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This NAO report sets out two definitions of consultancy: (i) where individuals and companies are engaged to work on specific projects that are outside the client's business as usual; (ii) where responsibility for the final outcome of the project largely rests with the client. Central government spent £1.8 billion on consulting in 2005-06. This report sets out a number of recommendations on the use of consultancy, including: that public bodies need to be much better at identifying where core skill gaps exist; that consultants should only be employed after an assessment of in-house skills; all public bodies should adhere to OGC (Office of Government Commerce) guidance on consultancy contracts; public bodies should explore the market for the range of approaches and contracting methods available and make more use of different payment mechanisms; public bodies also need to be smarter when it comes to understanding how consulting firms operate and provide sufficient incentive to staff to make any consultancy project a success.

Download or read book Central Government s Use of Consultants and Interims written by Great Britain: National Audit Office and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2010-10-14 with total page 34 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This report, which focuses on 17 central government departments, finds that in 2009-10, these departments spent over £1 billion on consultants and interim managers (temporary replacements for permanent staff). The departments spent approximately £904 million on consultants in 2006-07. Spending on consultants fell by £126 million in 2007-08, but since then has remained broadly constant, totaling £789 million in 2009-10. Some of the fall in spending up to 2009-10 is likely to be due to increased accuracy in the recording of costs rather than improved control by management, suggesting that some of that reduction in spending is not sustainable. Limited and inconsistent progress has been made against recommendations made in previous NAO and Public Accounts Committee reports. The quality of departments' management information on consultants and interims is poor. Few departments can provide information on their spending by type of consultancy, the number of interims employed, or interims' roles and length of contracts. Departments do not always follow best practice when buying and managing consultancy and interims and most do not assess the performance of consultants or whether the work done was of benefit. In May 2010, the government introduced changes to the approval process for consultants and restrictions on recruitment, including interims, and this has helped to challenge their use. However, this is a short term impact and as a longer term strategy it could lead to the displacement of costs elsewhere. It needs to be built upon to deliver a sustainable approach to structured cost reduction

Download or read book The Irresistible Consultant s Guide to Winning Clients written by David A. Fields and published by Morgan James Publishing. This book was released on 2017-03-21 with total page 273 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This deeply insightful guide to understanding what clients really want is “an indispensable resource for consultants” (Keith Ferrazzi, #1 New York Times-bestselling author of Never Eat Alone). Independent consulting is a potentially lucrative enterprise—but the reality seldom matches the dream. Most solo consultants and boutique consulting firms are perpetually within six months of bankruptcy due to the sputtering unreliability of their new business engines. The problem, according to international consulting expert David A. Fields, is twofold: 1) lack of a consistent, proven plan, and 2) fundamental misunderstanding about what clients want in a consultant. Fields, who has helped hundreds of consultants and boutique firms worldwide build profitable, sustainable practices, replaces the typical consultant’s mindset of emphasizing expertise and differentiated processes with a focus on building relationships, engendering trust, and solving clients’ existing problems. In The Irresistible Consultant’s Guide to Winning Clients, Fields synthesizes his decades of experience into a step-by-step approach to winning more projects from more clients at higher fees. From nuts-and-bolts business advice and tactics to a deeply insightful breakdown of the human side of a very human profession, Fields, named one of Advertising Age magazine’s “Marketing Top 100,” delivers a comprehensive guidebook that is at once highly approachable and satisfyingly detailed. “If I could have just one book on client strategy, this book would be it.” —Marshall Goldsmith, #1 New York Times–bestselling author of Triggers

Download or read book Central government s use of consultants and interims written by Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Committee of Public Accounts and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2010-12-21 with total page 44 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Spending on consultants and interims by central government departments amounted to over £1 billion in 2009-10. In May 2010, the coalition Government announced immediate plans to save £1.1 billion on discretionary spending. In the first 6 months of 2010-11, the Cabinet Office reports that consultancy spending had fallen by 46% since 2009-10 due in part to new measures it has introduced to control the use of consultants, but due in the main to government stopping certain programmes. The Committee of Public Accounts has set out a number of conclusions, including: that the Committee does not accept the view expressed by the Cabinet Office that it is impossible to assess the value for money of consultancy work; that relying on consultants for commonly required skills is expensive; that the 'stop-go' approach to using consultants is not sustainable and does not deliver value for money. Further, it is unclear why some departments use consultants a great deal more than others, for example, every £100 spent on staff costs at the Department for Transport, £70 is spent on consultants. The Committee also states that the Cabinet Office has not done enough to grow the government's core skills. For the Committee, departments do not control and manage their spending on consultants and the prices paid are often based simply on time spent on a project, rather than being fixed in advance or related to the achievement of specific objectives.

Download or read book Federal Use of Contractors and Consultants written by United States. Congress. Senate. Committee on the Judiciary. Subcommittee on Limitations of Contracted and Delegated Authority and published by . This book was released on 1981 with total page 352 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Government Earns Low Marks on Proper Use of Consultants written by United States. General Accounting Office and published by . This book was released on 1980 with total page 86 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Agencies Should Disclose Consultants Roles in Preparing Congressionally Mandated Reports written by United States. General Accounting Office and published by . This book was released on 1980 with total page 30 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book How to Use a Consultant in Your Company written by John J. McGonagle and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2002-02-28 with total page 288 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Obtain the Best Consulting Services for Your Business In this chaotic age of new technologies, downsizing, andreengineering, managers and executives are relying more and more onthe consultant. Hiring the right consultants for your company andmaking effective use of them is a vital skill, and yet there hasbeen a lack of guidance on this topic-until now. How to Use a Consultant in Your Company delivers expert advice andpractical guidelines on how to successfully create and manage theclient/consultant relationship-to your advantage. John McGonagleand Carolyn Vella provide up-to-the-minute information on: * Defining your consulting needs * Finding and selecting the right consultants * Managing the paper trail-corporate policies, contractingissues * Working with an individual consultant or an entire firm * Handling disputes, lawsuits, and complaints * Evaluating consultants Including forms and other materials for help in developing formalpolicies, billing procedures, and more that you can adapt to fityour own situation, How to Use a Consultant in Your Company is theone-book-fits-all solution for anyone responsible for getting themost out of their company's consultant.