“Rapid Results” Approach Helps Consultants Build Delivery Capability for Large Projects

Businesses facing big changes–mergers, entering new markets, opening up new plants–often find themselves with elaborate plans designed by well-intentioned leaders and consultants. Turning their plans into reality, however, is often a problem as implementers struggle to solve too many facets of a large problem at once.

To carry out large-scale, complicated changes, a different approach is called for, according to Robert Schaffer, author of Rapid Results! How 100-Day Projects Build the Capacity for Large-Scale Change. The approach, called Rapid Results, entails taking clients’ big projects and tackling them on a small scale to achieve measurable results in a short period of time.

“In addition to achieving short-term results and teaching people how to work together,” says Schaffer, “the Rapid Results way creates the grassroots capacity to carry out large-scale, complicated changes. Once people learn how to take the initiative in small ways, they can deal with larger and larger change projects.”

Schaffer provides examples and explains the Rapid Results approach further in his interview in the November issue of Management Consulting News. The issue provides many other resources for consultants, including articles on increasing sales, using e-mail effectively, measuring marketing ROI, and the consulting talent wars.

The November 2005 issue of Management Consulting News may be read online at http://www.managementconsultingnews.com/2005/newsletter_nov_05.htm. Subscriptions are complimentary.

About Management Consulting News – published since 2002, Management Consulting News is a monthly online newsletter with interviews, articles, and news for consultants worldwide. The editor of Management Consulting News, Michael W. McLaughlin, is a principal with Deloitte Consulting LLP and co-author of the book Guerrilla Marketing for Consultants (Wiley, 2005). For more information see http://www.managementconsultingnews.com.