Politics &Business

MANAGEMENT

Rise of the hybrid consultant

Its just a matter of going in, watching and listening to management and the team
BY AAMERA JIWAJI

consultant is ... someone who takes the watch o your wrist and tells you the time. It isnt the funniest joke about the profession of consultancy, but there are so many that you would be forgiven for thinking a consultant is: someone who charges a lot of money to tell you things you already know; someone who talks without actually saying anything; and even a person that is brought in to justify a retrenchment. By this measure, Lisa Pitt is dicult to dene. Nothing about her screams consultant. When I meet her, she is casually dressed in a turquoise blue blouse and a khaki linen jacket. She is friendly, instantly disarms me and soon we are laughing. Nearly three years ago, Lisa started Christabelle Consultancy, a management consultancy rm named after her children Christen and Isabelle. Ive been really lucky, she remembers. It started o as a small job for a friend and that was recommended, and then that was recommended, and it sort of snowballed and now its just gone whoosh! Today, it is a company based in Karen with four full time employees, which works with medium to big sized organisations in Kenyas public and private sector. The biggest company Ive worked with in Kenya was 2,000 employees, and the smallest was 30 employees. Lisa has also worked with companies in Zimbabwe, Mozambique and Nigeria, and with a laugh, remembers Nigeria as the most exciting because the trac in Lagos was so intense that after sitting in trac for 3 hours to get to a meeting, the two parties nally agreed to hold their meeting en route. With over 20 years of experience, Lisa speaks condently about her experiences and the solutions that her company oers. Ive worked in dierent elds, she says. I
| Nairobi Business Monthly November

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MANAGEMENT TIPS

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As a business owner, statutory requirements should be the rst of your payments, then salaries for sta, and then your own salary. Use white boards. Whatever needs to be done goes on the board. Its old fashioned but it still works. Why Monday for a management meeting? Instead have the meeting on Tuesday. First, have lunch together, which brings you together: no notes, just listen to people. And then start the meeting at two with a structured, minuted, formal session.

know how it works in Europe and Africa so I have a really broad background. Im also lucky that Ive been able to get a massive network of people together, so I have a wealth of experience and a wealth of people.

Talking about the solutions she has oered is easier than dening what it is exactly that she does, because it is so intricately dictated by context. Every company is dierent and so its just a matter of going in, watching and listening to management and the team. And sometimes it is the simplest solution. Im not saying re people; Im not saying give everybody a raise. But as Kenyans we can quite often be selsh. Me, me, me. We dont think of other people. Its my business; what I want; and I dont care how Ill get it. And then the fallout comes. She continues, So treat people kindly. Treat them the way you would like them to treat you. And if you have that philosophy as a business then youre good. Her approach seems a little rose tinted in an environment where mass layos and underpaid public servants are daily headlines. But what does set her apart is that she doesnt think of herself as a x-it. We come in and have a look, and give advice. Outside eyes sometimes see it more clearly so were facilitators; we help you do it. No one has ever thought of going in and saying: You need a lawyer. You need a tax adviser. That, and the fact that she is prepared to listen. Everyone says not another consultant. Please. Theyre dreadful. Go away, says Lisa, but Im doing nothing new. Theres loads of people out there doing this but the dierence is I sit and listen. And the results are starting to speak for themselves. Not the usual jargon that you hear from a consultant, and denitely not in keeping with a profession that has often been described as parasitic. But just as I am tempted to paint her as an idealist, the evasive consultant returns and Lisa falls back on strict condentiality agreements which prevent her from disclosing the names of companies she has worked with, suggesting that she isnt completely o the beaten track. I sign huge condentiality agreements to say I will never divulge anything, your secrets, what Ive taught you, how Ive helped you The new breed of consultant? Perhaps.