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MANIFESTO Introducing Next Practice
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MAGNETIC CENTRE
Quartz+Co was founded in 2002 with an unbreakable desire to build a first-tier management consulting company aligned with the needs of today’s capable organisations and the constantly changing dynamics characterising a new globalised world of business. Unlike the traditional, methodology-driven, output-based consulting model, we believe the time has come to introduce a new model in management consulting – centred on the ability to solve complex problems faster and with the flexibility required by executive decision makers to tackle and address their ever-changing priorities in a highly turbulent world. Quartz+Co is our name, and after studying various sources, our knowledge about the quartz mineral can be summarised as follows: Quartz can be found worldwide, is known for clarity, alignment and precision, and furthermore it has a natural ability to accumulate a substantial electrical charge when subjected to pressure. Hence, all places where quartz is put under pressure is by definition a natural power centre, a source of energy. Furthermore, another symbolic characteristic of quartz is that the energy pattern radiating from quartz always aligns itself in relation to the magnetic north.
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QUARTZ+CO CLARITY PRECISION ENERGY ALIGNMENT FROM A NATURAL POWER CENTRE WHICH IS GLOBALLY RECOGNISED BUT ALIGNED TOWARDS NORTH!
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MANIFESTO A public declaration of intentions and principles for Quartz+Co.
Our Aspiration Our Beliefs Our Proposition Our Ambition Our Operation
This document outlines our shared aspiration to build a lasting, game-changing management consulting company that challenges the dominance of the US-based firms by introducing a new model in the industry. A model that is aligned with the needs of a new generation of top executives and appeals to the next generation of talented business professionals. We call it “Next Practice Consulting” – or merely “Next Practice”. The combination of four unique management consulting companies in the Nordic region has established a platform for accelerated growth. At the same time, the combination has created a need to clarify the basic idea and core ideology
of the future Quartz+Co civilisation – our DNA – which will ultimately be what distinguishes and unites us. The strategic logic of the forces, now joined together, can and will be realised by one Nordic team sharing a common aspiration and set of core beliefs that we are willing to invest a significant portion of our most productive years fighting for – holding the line. These beliefs shape our core value proposition – to clients and to people – and can be translated into principles guiding the way we lead, operate and engage. As such, this Manifesto is a public declaration of intentions and principles for Quartz+Co.
The Quartz+Co Partnership Hamburg, Autumn 2010
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THE HAMBURG MANIFESTO
ASPIRATION 1. To build a distinguished world-class management consulting company from a Nordic base 2. To influence the top-management agenda and act as leading advisors for intriguing clients 3. To change the management consulting profession
1. TO BUILD A DISTINGUISHED MANAGEMENT CONSULTING COMPANY We aspire to build a distinguished management consulting company from a Nordic base. A company that is in alignment with the needs of the new generation of top executives and appeals to the next generation of talented business professionals. A first-tier management consulting company recognised for its ability to act flexibly in multiple settings and combine complementary skills across strategy, operations, commercial impact, transactions and transformation. 2. TO INFLUENCE THE AGENDA OF INTRIGUING CLIENTS A management consulting company with the ability to influence the top-management agenda, and the experience and insight to become the preferred advisor on critical business issues for intriguing clients. A management consulting company with unparalleled flexibility to harness the power of combining complementary skills and insight across industries and service areas.
A management consulting company which is distinctly more people-centric than our closest industry peers. An authentic management consulting company that lasts beyond this generation of partners. 3. TO CHANGE THE MANAGEMENT CONSULTING PROFESSION A management consulting company which is determined to change the management consulting profession from within and with the will to invest what it takes to become a top employer brand in all markets in which we choose to be active. A management consulting company with the capacity to attract and develop talented business professionals of which the majority can see the management consulting profession as a career as opposed to a stepping stone. A management consulting company with an unbreakable desire to prove that management consulting is not just about growth and profits, but also about personal growth for clients and staff – embracing diversity as an asset.
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THE HAMBURG MANIFESTO
BELIEFS 1. Excellence before size 2. Diversity before uniformity 3. Civilisation before organisation 4. Followership before formal titles 5. Flexibility before standard approaches 6. Delivering success before successful delivery
1. EXCELLENCE BEFORE SIZE Next Practice challenges us to be relevant to our clients by being the best, not the biggest, and by offering insight, senior experience and first-tier consulting skills while always upholding the highest level of quality and integrity.
2. DIVERSITY BEFORE UNIFORMITY Next Practice acknowledges that our clients’ situations are diverse and require everchanging team and skill configurations to effectively address their most pressing business issues – being strategic, commercial, operational, transactional or transformational.
Next Practice challenges us to offer our staff a unique career path and personal growth opportunities. This means fostering strong entrepreneurial talent in an embracing culture and creating opportunities for young professionals much faster than the industry norm prescribes.
Next Practice challenges us to embrace diversity and accept that value creation is multifacetted. We acknowledge individual uniqueness and recognise that career progression is not linked to the number of working hours nor tenure, but to the overall contribution to the development and prosperity of our company.
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3. CIVILISATION BEFORE ORGANISATION We strive to act socially intelligent with respect and with strong dedication to help others succeed in alignment with their overall objectives, capabilities, dreams, emotions and frustrations – not just their organisational position. Next Practice challenges each of us to build a civilisation of interdependent team players and not of independent soloists. A civilisation of like-minded entrepreneurs who want to be part of something bigger than they can accomplish alone and have the patience, the ambition and the will to help the collective organisation invest in that future. 4. FOLLOWERSHIP BEFORE FORMAL TITLES Next Practice challenges us to build long-term relationships with our clients. Client follower ship is the manifestation of peer-based relation ships based on trust and genuine interest. It requires seeing the management consulting profession not just as an intellectual endeavour, but also as an existential and human development project. Next Practice challenges us to cultivate followership at all levels of our civilisation. Follower ship is the precondition for earning any right to lead. Followership is creating leadership opportunities for others and contributing to professional learning.
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5. FLEXIBILITY BEFORE STANDARD APPROACHES Next Practice challenges us to be perfect matchmakers – internally and externally. Blending complementary skills in flexible team configurations with a high degree of senior/ expert involvement is our key differentiator in the market place. But it is also a differentiating factor internally – in choice of Quartzback, in recruitment situations, in company presentations, in internal team constellations, etc. Our ability to continuously configure winning team constellations by matching personal profiles to business challenges is what makes us unique. 6. DELIVERING SUCCESS BEFORE SUCCESSFUL DELIVERY Next Practice challenges us to create memorable consulting experiences externally and to establish iconic moments internally. This goes for client engagements as much as for internal company development tasks – a thought-leadership paper, an article or an internal training curriculum. Everything we do is about delivering success; creating real impact – not just getting a “tick in the box”.
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THE HAMBURG MANIFESTO
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THE NEXT PRACTICE [Practice]; “a theoretical term for human action in society”
Next Practice will be our mantra. Our point of reference. In one sense, “Next” Practice is like tomorrow: it is never here. The term is meant, though, to convey the notion of genuinely new approaches rooted in practical understanding. As such, Next Practice Consulting is disciplined imagination. While our aspiration and beliefs are our source of inspiration and our reason for being, they also tell us what we want to become and what should be our key identifier. Quartz+Co was born as a Nordic company with global ambitions. And we choose to go up against the best in the industry – they are our toughest competitors today – but not our role models. We believe the time has come to set a new standard in professional management con-
sulting by introducing a more flexible, pragmatic and people-centric engagement model designed to deliver exceptional impact by mobilising our as well as our clients’ organisations’ collective energy and capacity – delivering results and building relationships in everything we do. Next Practice challenges us to change the game by inventing new rules. • New rules for how we engage with clients – introducing Next Practice Client Proposition • New rules for how we develop people – introducing Next Practice People Proposition
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THE HAMBURG MANIFESTO
CLIENT PROPOSITION Documented first-tier consulting skills – insight and experience delivered with integrity Flexible approach – matching team and skill configuration to client needs People centrism – mobilising client organisations’ energy and capacity
Going up against the best requires us to be as insightful, dedicated and effective as the best. DOCUMENTED FIRST-TIER CONSULTING SKILLS It challenges us to leverage institutional skills across our five core services, exploit our unique industry insight, maintain our active senior involvement and uphold the integrity to do the right thing paired with creative implementation approaches to address critical business issues with speed and rigour. On par with the best regarding insight and knowledge, but better when it comes to energy and form. FLEXIBLE APPROACH We do not have one engagement model – we configure client teams to match client issues and personal characteristics. Furthermore, we staff teams real-time. When our client’s needs change or projects change scope, we change configuration. We follow through and think implementation from day one. We strive to leave behind
memorable consulting experiences, avoid consulting fatigue, but always adhere to the top-management agenda. PEOPLE CENTRISM Our matchmaking ability is dependent on our ability to see a human being in every client, not a client in every human being. We always seek to mobilise the energy in the client organisation and its problem-solving capacity. We work pragmatically to deliver success as opposed to working output-based to achieve successful delivery. We acknowledge that to deliver change, people need to change. We recognise that strategic and organisational transformation is a consequence of personal transformation. Our success is measured by our ability to help other people succeed – to help people gain new insight, to better understand an imperfect world and to think creatively about their own situation. Flexibility, people centrism and exceptional client interaction skills – both intellectually and socially – are at the core of our client proposition.
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THE HAMBURG MANIFESTO
NEXT PRACTICE CLIENT ENGAGEMENTS Principles guiding the way we engage
WE TARGET AND PRIORITISE LARGE, INTRIGUING CLIENTS Carefully selected priority clients and new large prospects will make up a significant portion of our revenue. However, we will always serve smaller engagements as tickets-to-entry, to gain knowledge, to fill capacity or to open early leadership opportunities for our most talented young consultants. WE SELL SOLUTIONS TO CRITICAL BUSINESS ISSUES, NOT HOURS We use daily fee rates to calculate the client investment. Our engagements will be a balanced mix of fixed price and time and material depending on the clients’ need for commitment vs flexibility. We quote per day or per team per week, and we always manage resources effectively to ensure consistent high project contribution, regardless of contract type. WE PRICE OUR SERVICE COMPETITIVELY AND WELCOME PERFORMANCEPAID PRICING Our target fees are designed to be competitive against “blue-chip” (lower than) and differentiated against “mid-tier” (higher than). We welcome performance-paid pricing with prior consent from the management. WE CONFIGURE SKILLS AND TEAMS TO MATCH THE CLIENT SITUATION We do not have a single engagement model, but seek to match diverse and ever-changing client needs. Our Staffing department is our matchmaking office – ensuring a perfect match between client needs, personal development needs and project economics.
WE ADOPT A MULTITUDE OF PROJECT AND PROBLEM-SOLVING APPROACHES We all have black belts in solving problems and in managing engagements. We use our complementary skills (industry/services) and diverse personalities to match client preferences, personality and the issue to be addressed. WE ALWAYS MAKE AN EFFORT TO CREATE MEMORABLE CONSULTING EXPERIENCES All client teams are challenged to build lasting relationships while delivering results (impact) – we always take the “high road” to leave behind a memorable, positive consulting experience to avoid consulting fatigue and to pave the way for long-term relationships. WE THINK IMPLEMENTATION FROM DAY ONE AND ACTIVELY MOBILISE THE CLIENT We work pragmatically to deliver success and to mobilise the clients’ organisations’ energy and capacity. We creatively interact with clients – in workshop settings and joint problemsolving sessions – to anchor new insight, new approaches and to make the most of the client capabilities. WE ADHERE TO THE HIGHEST LEVEL OF INTEGRITY AND QUALITY We never compromise our recommendations for commercial and political reasons, but seek to always provide an objective, straight answer to the issue at hand. We always maintain our integrity. Our support teams in House Support, Business Intelligence and Communications Support are instrumental in ensuring the quality, leverage and professionalism required in all situations.
FLEXIBILITY We are perfect matchmakers and deploy diverse skills in ever-changing internal and external team configurations. We mobilise team and skill configurations to match the needs of our clients – when needs change, we change configuration. We deliver first-tier consulting services, and we always seek to mobilise the energy and capacity of the clients’ organisations.
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PEOPLE PROPOSITION Leadership through followership – Offering responsibility and client exposure earlier than the industry norm Individualised career development – Providing accelerated learning and a steep career progression curve Opportunity to influence – Offering room to create, build and adapt own situation to changing preferences
We do not see our colleagues as “resources” to be utilised, but as individuals or citizens to support and develop. LEADERSHIP THROUGH FOLLOWERSHIP We base our leadership philosophy on the principle of followership. No followership – no right to lead. Followership implies creating opportunities for others to accelerate professional and personal growth. Followership ensures responsibility and exposure to client and company issues earlier than the industry norm. Followership challenges everybody to lead by example. Followership is true for every function – from Partner to Consultant to Support. INDIVIDUALISED CAREER DEVELOPMENT Our flexible engagement model offers unique value-add for clients and accelerated career progression for staff – consultants and support. The flexibility offers staff the opportunity to influence their own situation and individualise their career progression.
Quartz+Co is a melting pot of unique skills and capabilities. Deploying diverse skill sets in ever-changing team configurations adds tremendous value to our clients, accelerates the learning curve and offers early involvement in developing our company. OPPORTUNITY TO INFLUENCE We offer the opportunity to influence your own situation. To balance work and lifestyle. This commitment holds true as long as the client impact and contribution to our civilisation are in alignment with the requirements at any given level in the consultant’s career model or support’s evaluation criteria. It is not a contractual obligation, it is a psychological contract. It is not only a leadership task. It is an individual obligation. We will harness the power of a complementary civilisation through flexibility, generosity and respect for individual value contributions and work-life balance preferences.
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THE HAMBURG MANIFESTO
NEXT PRACTICE PEOPLE DEVELOPMENT Principles guiding the way we develop people
WE EMBRACE DIVERSITY AND RESPECT WORK-LIFE BALANCE We never link career progression to number of working hours. We never discuss number of working hours as a norm. Only when it is too much. Career progression will always be based on individual contribution to client value creation and to building our civilisation; we recognise that there is an infinite number of ways to be a great member of the civilisation. WE BALANCE BASIC CONSULTING SKILLS WITH STRONG INDIVIDUAL PROFILES Our career model reflects our desire to offer accelerated personal and professional growth. The individual development on levels A-C is focused on creating a toolbox by focusing on delivering to clients. Level D is focused on engagement leadership – with an increasing emphasis on relationship-building and defining one’s individual consulting brand and skill profile. WE INVEST IN PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT AND CULTURAL MANIFESTATIONS We prioritise resources to accelerate professional development through Quartz+Co Academy and beyond. We use every opportunity during cultural manifestations (company days, monthly meetings, etc.) to share insights and educate each other as part of building our culture – adopting learning beyond the classroom by interacting and by learning while shaping our culture. WE WILL ACCELERATE LEARNING AND CONSULTING SKILLS FOR LEVEL A-C We seek to staff A and B consultants full time. We do this to accelerate learning, whenever the order book allows it. Level C will focus
on developing a toolbox and gradually learn to lead engagements, and hence be offered challenges that will prepare them to become future engagement and client leaders. WE REQUIRE OUR LEVEL D-P TO BE CONVERSANT ACROSS ALL SERVICES We will challenge all of level D through P to become conversant across our five core service areas. Conversant is the ability to initiate and drive senior executive dialogues and the ability to bring the best of Quartz+Co to the client situation. However, every senior employee in Quartz+Co will, over time, shape their T profile to develop one or more spikes in a specific industry and/or in specific service areas, thus positioning themselves to create opportunities for others. WE ANCHOR PEOPLE LEADERSHIP FOR A-C WITH D-P1 All level D and P1 play a pivotal role in the development of level A-C consultants – professionally and personally – through their role as Quartzbacks and in day-to-day coaching on engagements. Furthermore, level D and P1 take responsibility for the health and well-being of our consultants and drive their professional and personal development. WE ANCHOR PEOPLE LEADERSHIP FOR D-P1 WITH P2-P4 All level P2-P4 play a pivotal role in creating leadership opportunities and developing level D and P1 to become future Quartz+Co leaders – both in their role as Quartzbacks for D-P1, but also as company leaders challenged to expand their relationship platform and provide commercial leadership opportunities for D-P1.
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WE DELIVER RESULTS TO CLIENTS AND THEIR PEOPLE – END-TO-END, ON TIME, ON BUDGET, “BITING DOGS” AND CREATING ICONIC MOMENTS. WE CREATE RESULTS FOR QUARTZ+CO AND OUR PEOPLE – REACHING FINANCIAL GOALS FOR BOTH, DELIVERING ON COMPANY ASPIRATIONS AND PERSONAL GAME PLANS. WE BELIEVE THAT RELATIONSHIPS TO PEOPLE OUTSIDE QUARTZ+CO ARE A STAND-ALONE VALUE – WE DO NOT CONFUSE TRANSACTIONS WITH RELATIONSHIPS. WE BELIEVE RELATIONSHIPS WITHIN THE QUARTZ+CO CIVILISATION ARE WHAT MAKES US A LASTING COMPANY – WE DO NOT CONFUSE CONTRACTS WITH COMMITMENT.
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RESULTS & RELATIONSHIPS
We are a company guided by values, not rules and policies. We are a civilisation united by values, not procedures and systems. We will use Results & Relationships as our guide to realise our dreams and create meaning and relevance to our clients, our people and our company.
In other words, Results & Relationships are interdependent, and this reminds us that we believe that all strategic and organisational transformation is a consequence of personal transformation.
RESULTS Results are ultimately about realising dreams, strengthening companies – including our own – delivering and receiving great financial results and developing people professionally and personally.
CIVILISATION Like a true civilisation, we want to build on complementary skills across sectors, service lines, geographies and personal backgrounds – we embrace generalists as well as specialists (often in one and the same person), but we stick together Everest-style as a unified, talented and prepared team that stays loyally committed to each other and a shared vision.
We see Results as a prerequisite for Relationships, externally as well as internally; without delivering Results to clients, we have no rele vance; without delivering Results as a company, we have no legitimacy or followership.
We want to see entrepreneurial hunger and courage to do what it takes within the Quartz+Co civilisation and on project teams – we expect all staff in Quartz+Co to act as founders.
RELATIONSHIPS Relationships are ultimately about generosity, investing in people and teams, showing commitment – not only when it is easy, but also when it is inconvenient or unpleasant – accepting equality and hierarchy at the same time … to lead and be led.
This is quite simple, actually: step in, step up or step out.
We see Relationships as a prerequisite for Results, externally as well as internally; Relationships pave the way to openness and understanding which are key enablers of Results.
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THE HAMBURG MANIFESTO
2015 AMBITION STOCKHOLM Build organisation, maintain foothold with current target clients and develop new large accounts with strong C and E team support.
OSLO Continue current trajectory to become household brand with larger clients in selected industry sectors supported by C and E teams.
Revenue: x 4 35–40 Consultants
Revenue: x 3 35 –40 Consultants
COPENHAGEN Increase share-of-wallet with existing clients and gain 5-10 new target clients by leveraging skill base and industry spikes. Revenue: x 2 120 –125 Consultants
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Entry markets: • Gain foothold in one to two new markets • Utilise unique industry spikes and/or client relationships as door openers to new markets • Exportable platforms from either Copenhagen, Oslo or Stockholm
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LEADING POSITION IN THE NORDIC REGION
WITH A SPEARHEAD INTO NORTHERN EUROPE Number 1 in Denmark Household brand in Norway Top 3 in Sweden Revenue: x 2 towards 2015 250 professionals 1-2 new offices Majority of revenue from large Nordic priority clients
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A NORDIC CIVILISATION One Nordic Operation
1. We act, communicate and operate as if we were one Nordic office. We operate a threedimensional model built around C, M and E teams based on an open-book philosophy where all employees have access to the knowledge and information required in order to perform and assume personal ownership for the Results & Relationships of the civilisation. 2. Our Partnership is responsible for ensuring the delivery of Quartz+Co’s Strategy and execute on the “must-win battles” defined in our Strategy. The Partnership meets twice a year to discuss strategy progress and adjust the strategic roadmap. Furthermore, the Partnership is ultimately obliged to deliver and (co-) build the commercial platform for the next generation of Quartz+Co leaders. 3. Country heads are responsible for building Quartz+Co in the local markets in alignment with the local client base, market conditions and overall Quartz+Co aspiration and core beliefs. Country heads have local responsibility for staff and P&L, just as they set targets and drive business performance in liaison with C, M and E teams. 4. C, M and E teams are configured as project teams and are accountable for progress, results and a defined promise, budget and obligation to ensure synchronisation – decisions on and responsibility for “how” lie with the team. 5. C teams spearhead our commercial priorities, drive industry-specific thought leadership to the market and hence drive top-line performance. A C team represents a cluster of target clients, where industry knowledge can be leveraged. C teams will be reconfigured and reorganised on an ongoing basis as markets mature and are open to leadership contributions from everyone who wants to make a real difference.
6. M teams have clearly delegated leadership mandates and are challenged to build a strong and prosperous company while ensuring effective day-to-day operation on all motivational and performance-related levers. M teams are managed by Partners, but can be led by others. 7. E teams build and deploy world-class functional insights and expertise to support existing relationships and C teams in a combined effort to deliver outstanding results and capture new territories. E teams are typically led by more senior partners or strong subject-matter experts and are open for leadership contribution from everyone. 8. Our support staff – including House Support, Communications Support and Business Intelligence – is the backbone of every Quartz+Co office, enabling the consultants to act prepared, professionally and insightful in everything they do. 9. The Co-ordination Committee is overall responsible for disaggregating the overall ambition and annual targets into a set of mustwin battles which is anchored with the C, M and E teams as well as country leadership. Since we base leadership on the ability to create followership, the Co-ordination Committee is up for election every other year. 10. The Partner Review Team (POLIT) defines the principles for the “hard stuff”: pricing, bonus and salary model, partner election and the annual partner review. The team is up for election every other year. 11. New partners are elected twice a year, in March and September. The Partner Election Committee consists of the Partner Review Team and the Co- ordination Committee. The Quartzback and one to two case sponsors present the case for the Partner Election Committee.
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THE HAMBURG MANIFESTO
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COPENHAGEN
STOCKHOLM
OSLO
Ryesgade 3A
Birger Jarlsgatan 7
Inkognitogata 35
2200 Copenhagen N
111 45 Stockholm
0256 Oslo
Denmark
Sweden
Norway
T: +45 33 17 00 00
T: +46 (0)8 614 19 00
T: +47 22 59 36 00
www.quartzco.com
www.quartzco.com
www.quartzco.com