The Differentiator

Within Advantage Consulting over 12 years Consulting experience, Operational experience, Line Management and Executive Management has led to the design of our approach methods and enablers (tools used). We also draw on the experience of associates with similar experience and knowledge.

Every situation is unique and therefore the ability to adapt based on the unique requirement of organisations, differentiates Advantage Consulting from its competitors. We do not force organisations through a process that does not work for the organisation.

During the team’s individual careers, we have worked with clients ranging in size across a number of industries.

The extent of the teams experience has led to a request from a major accounting firm to assist in establishing a Management Consulting division within the organisation.

All the elements that makes improvement sustainable

An organisation ultimately exist to satisfy the requirement of the stakeholders. The manner in which this will be achieved is normally contained in the strategy / business plan.

We understand the relationship in a high performance environment:

• The strategy determines what the PROCESS should deliver.
• The process requires PEOPLE to act and behave naturally in a certain manner.
• The CONTENT of the process allows people to execute in a repeatable manner.

Our Approach

Our approach as illustrated in the diagram below, has been developed based on experience of:

• Translating the Vision / Strategy / Business Plan into measurable requirements
• Understand how the organisation / department currently perform in terms of processes and behaviour.
• Determine what prevents the organisation / department from performing at the current capabilities of the current process.
• Implement actions to reach a standardised performance level. (Reduce variation and variability)
• Implement improvement actions that will lift the performance from the standardised level to the level required by the strategy.
• Ensure the organisation can repeat the above actions independently and continuously improve

What differentiates Advantage Consulting Group from our competition is our ability to address all the performance influencers at the same time, moving through a logical and systematic process. This allows for understanding, commitment and participation at all levels within the organisation.

Process

Unless the process, be it operational or transactional is not designed to or does not function to the performance levels the strategy demands, the strategic objectives will not be met. Advantage Consulting Group has the ability and knowledge to:

• Translate strategy to process requirements
• Analyse processes to understand the shortcomings
• Improve processes to meet the demands
• Implement solutions to make the process work

What differentiate Advantage Consulting Group from the average Management Consultancy is the in-depth knowledge and usage of philosophies such as Lean and methodologies such as Six Sigma to facilitate and guide this crucial step.

What differentiate Advantage Consulting Group from the average Training Organisation is the application of the philosophy or methodology in practice.

People

A process cannot exist in seclusion and is reliant on people to deliver. The entire approach takes cognisance of the team dynamics and change management requirements. As with process development we do not move from one step in our approach to the next unless the change management aspects have been addressed.

Central to the people foundation is the use of a strength-based approach. However this is not a topic that can be addressed once and forgotten. In practice it is important to make managers into better managers. Therefore Advantage Consulting Group, through a partnership has access to a unique strength based tool that allows management to manage their teams effectively.

“The right people need to be in the right place applying the right management techniques. A strength based approach is applied to ensure science is applied to the decision. (Where it is not possible to place the right people or responsibilities in place, appropriate actions are taken)”

Again Advantage Consulting Group differentiates itself from the industry average by being able to measure the progress of people and take the appropriate action as we move through the steps.

Content

The content is the detail of the process, the how and when. In order for a process to be repeatable and for people to be consistent a standard way of operation is required. It is at this level that Advantage Consulting Group again differentiates as we have the ability to help the organisation to determine methods to standardise by.

It is important to note that we do not have industry specific technical skill, but assist organisations to break down technical requirements into manageable portions. Appropriate to the level intended.

Mentoring and Coaching Style

Our consulting style is based on the final requirement of being able to implement the solution on the floor.

Therefore we are able to:

• Listen
• Analyse
• Develop solutions
• Implement solutions

But realising that an organisation must be able to perform the above functions themselves we:

• Train
• Mentor
• Coach
• Measure

Our ability to customise our approach in transferring knowledge and experience, allows the organisation to set the pace for developing its own unique solution to continuous improvement. The scope could vary from an individual specialist, to an improvement team, to the entire organisation in the form of Self-Managed Work Teams.

Summary

We are unique,

• Starting with our passion.
• Followed by our ability in our approach to combine all the elements required to make implementation successful and sustainable.
• Strengthened by our ability to extract the best in your organisation.
• Backed by knowledge and experience.
• With Advantage Consulting Group, success is guaranteed.

The flexibility in our pricing structures allows us to offer a solution that is beneficial to our clients and Advantage Consulting Group. With an implementation of a complete solution with Advantage Consulting Group, a 400% ROI can be expected.