Professional Consulting Careers Alberta Institute of ... · Professional Consulting Careers Alberta Institute of Agrologists/ CMC Banff, April 3, 2018 used with permission) ... advice

Professional Consulting Careers

Alberta Institute of Agrologists/ CMC

Banff, April 3, 2018 used with permission)

Darrell Toma, MSc, PAg,CMC

#202, 10328-81 Ave, Edmonton

Phone: 780-413-9262

email: [email protected]

Toma &

Bouma

▪ Consulting Overview

▪ Trends and Opportunities

▪ Project & Productivity Management

▪ Managing your key Assets

▪ To - Stimulate Personal Creativity

Consulting Careers

Objectives- What we will cover

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Bouma

My background

▪ Was with Deloitte for 13 yrs- Edmonton, economics

▪ In consulting since 1979 and over 750 projects, in

Cdn and 8 countries

▪ Work in strategy, market research, feasibility, econ

develop plans, alliances, tech co reviews; agri-food,

manuf, tech, services; several projects underway in

innovation, IRAP/ AITF reviews

▪ Work in teams/ with others a lot

▪ On AIA mngt comm, ICMCA reg comm, CAC comm,

Ed Chamber chair- Trade; other BODs

Toma &

Bouma

Consulting Must Have an Ethics Base

Competence,

knowledge

& ethics

Time

Core Values

Belief and Behavior

Technical Expertise/

Designat.-CMC, CAC, PAg

Theory/ Concepts-

eg. BSc, BComm

Sustained

Professional Service

Distinguished in

Service-Recognition

Professional

ethics Personal

ethics

Authority

Expert

Entry in

Practice

Qualified

*PAgs- are members of a regulated occupation and have ethics/ practice guidelines- 10,000 nationally

*CMCs same – regulated occupation- 3,000+ in Cdn

*Consultants- served by CMC (CAMC); have reciprocal agreement with 43 countries. Cdn leads

*Benefits- networking, PD, E&O insurance; access to global consulting marketplace and skills

*You can join- via CAC - provides you a consulting peer group and national network- Examples of other professions with a consulting focus are Consulting Engineers

*See www.cmcalberta.ca , CAMC Toronto

CMC, CAC/ PAgs

Toma &

Bouma

Toma &

Bouma

Consulting Skills

▪ You have technical skill and industry

knowledge

▪ Add in- CMC consulting process, problem

solving, tools- eg. SWOT, segmentation,

facilitation, VSM, etc.

▪ Consulting professional has independent

advice based on skills + best practices

▪ Career path – grow with projects, people

Toma &

Bouma

Consulting Industry

▪ Very large- $13B + and growing globally

▪ Serve all industries

▪ Trends- digital + ag/ food; climate policy;

international; management and operations

▪ In a trend you find an opportunity

▪ Lots of scope for more consulting growth

▪ My work- currently in strategy, planning, innovation,

technology

▪ Think of yourself as a “machine”- use data/ good

thinking to be sustainable (Ray Dalio)

Consulting Niche Opportunities- Issues

Toma &

Bouma

Toma &

Bouma

Trend to Opportunity ID

▪ Trade/ markets- need product plans, business

plans, program reviews, econ develop, market

research, negotiating, etc.

▪ Environ/ climate- many opps

▪ New crop opps- eg. medical marihuana, hemp-

feasibility, prodn plans, marketing, finance, etc.

▪ Policy and market changes- new rules, tax

changes, competition, etc.

▪ Change management- organization, human

resources, growth plans, technology, etc.

Toma &

Bouma

Project Management Overview

▪ Clients expect competent project management

▪ Projects are the way professionals work

▪ Can sole source- call or meeting

▪ RFPs- request for proposal; open bid- e-

bidding

▪ Project management is a core skill

▪ Consulting process involves client direction,

budget, propl confirmation and your independent

advice based on findings and methods

Toma &

Bouma

Project Management

▪ Projects= a budget of time and hard costs

▪ Time= rate per hour and total hours for a task

▪ Hard costs= actual costs and can be estimated

▪ Usually clients like a total fixed fee project

▪ If so is your risk (team) to complete on time

▪ Can have penalties for late delivery

▪ Someone pays for the time and costs

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Bouma

Work Product

▪ This is a critical area for risk management/ impact

▪ What is your work product/ do all know it?

▪ Define in letter or longer proposal- confirm it

▪ Your opinion goes on the report

▪ Objectives/ scope- finding, conclusions, recomm

▪ Place caveats and statement of use of report as

needed

▪ Work product may be timeless- use peer reviews (QC)

• We all work with others- to do a project

• Working with top level people is best

• To solve the problem at hand- need knowledge and experience

• Reduces solution time and re-work time

• So get to know who can help you- build a network of suppliers- different than you

• Lesson- work with good people who deliver

1. People are Key

Toma &

Bouma

• What is the goal? To complete project fast as possible, on budget with consulting quality

• Consider TOC- Theory of Constraints – see where the bottleneck is in a process; how to relieve it

• Try Lean thinking- 7 sources of waste

• Process (and waste) can eat up $$ and time

• And reduce rework and create less errors See Lean Thinking- J. Womack; Theory of Constraints- Dr. Eliyahu M. Goldratt

2. Process- are time killer/ cost $$

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Bouma

Seven Forms of Waste- cost $$

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Bouma

Lead Time

-

Adding Cost

(Opportunity or waste)

Adding

Value

Use Lean thinking – to see the red spaces- how to reduce?

Use 5- S process; Sort, shine, standardize, set in order, sustain

Quote Cash

Value stream mapping

Toma &

Bouma

We have 2 tool boxes- what is in it?

*Laptop- your hub for content/ analytics/ etc.- use your CMC tools and best practices

*Cell phone- your hub for communication- and more!!

Consulting Tool Box- Must Have

Toma &

Bouma

“S army knife”

Print

Copy

Scan

2+ screens

Save time

Laptop software

-Win10

-Dr. Google/ Bing

-efax

-office suites

-Mendeley; Dropbox;

Evernote

-many apps

Toma &

Bouma

Snip it Sync cell

Daily Practice

- Email- collaborate/ inform/ communicate

- Templates- letter propl; forms; etc

- Spreadsheets- estimating/ controlling

- Smartphone & text/ apps- many

- Whatsapp- SIG

- camera is great- pic = 1000s words

- Mindmaps- software/ thinking

Toma &

Bouma

Daily Time Savers

- GPS- saves decision time/ new places

- 511- for winter travel

- Websites- for planning/ time & costs

- Social media feeds- as needed

Toma &

Bouma

Toma &

Bouma

Asset Management

▪ Asset management is very important

▪ You (skill & knowledge) + designation are keys

▪ Plus your owned assets

▪ Need to take care annually- think how to change?

▪ Do it and be sustainable

Toma &

Bouma

Asset Management

▪ Protect assets- house in spouse name, split income

▪ Use insurance - E&O, commercial, disability, etc

▪ Financial assets- personal and company

▪ Tax rates are different and you need to know

▪ RRSPs, TFSA, other investment vehicles- learn and

use for advantage

Toma &

Bouma

Asset Life

▪ Computers- keep current, <3yrs old, CRA rules

▪ Software/ apps/ DBs- lots to use, stay current

▪ Find and use productivity tools- to leverage your time

▪ Smartphone- <2 yrs old- if you don’t have get one

▪ Vehicles / other- maintain

▪ Knowledge- be current in your scope of practice

▪ Develop an investment-capital plan for upgrades

Toma &

Bouma

Asset Management

▪ Manage your time- 24 hrs for work, family, sleep,

personal- time management is critical skill

▪ You sell time/ knowledge- target 1500- 2000 hrs/yr-

reality is you will sell less; other admin, bus develop

▪ Health- avoid drugs, alcohol, manage weight, waste

line over 36 inches, etc

▪ Holiday- plan 2-3 breaks/yr

▪ Long life= good diet and exercise + good habits

▪ Have a plan to avoid major surprises and say no

when you need to

Toma &

Bouma

Give Back to the Community and Profession

▪ I coached in community sports, volunteer with

Chamber of Commerce, other professional groups;

have met many including- Nobel economist, many

CEOs, several Bank of Cdn Governors, Premiers,

MPs, traveled a lot, many volunteer BODS

▪ One CMC fund raises for a kids camp in Romania-

via church; many BODs/ community groups

▪ Another CMC- active in community and politics

▪ Give back, show how you are a leader/ participate

Toma &

Bouma

How to Start?

▪ By yourself- create a vision of what you want to do

▪ Sub-contract- work for others who have a contract

▪ Joint bid via a network- try to get a project

▪ Longer term- incorporate or join with another

▪ Get advice- accountant, legal- structure, bank-

operating line; and talk to other CMCs

▪ Start – try to get a project and build from that

success/ join a consulting network

Toma &

Bouma

Summary- In Your Career-

“Leave the Place Better Than When you Started”

▪ The consulting industry is large and growing

▪ Join a consulting network- CMC/ CAC- as a

Consulting professional

▪ Project & productivity management- keys

▪ Focus on what you can do to improve

▪ Thank you and all the best in your future

▪ Take a risk and soar!

Darrell Toma, MSc, PAg, CMC

▪ Toma & Bouma Management Consultants, Edmonton

▪ Over 37 years in professional consulting

▪ Economics, marketing, business plans, facilitation

▪ Contact: 780-413-9262; [email protected]; [email protected]

▪ linkedin

▪ Www.tomaandbouma.com

Toma &

Bouma

Toma &

Bouma

References

▪ Ray Dalio, Principles, 2017

▪ AIA, Mngt Practice Area, new guidelines, 2018

▪ Neil Perkin, Building the Agile Business Through Digital

Transformation, 2017

▪ Dr. Rick Crandell, Marketing Your Services, 1996

▪ Seymour Schulich, Get Smarter, 2007

▪ Temple Grandin, Animals Make Us Human, 2009

▪ James Womack, Lean Thinking, 1996

▪ Jim Collins, Good to Great, 2001