I am a consultant and I’m here to help!
This article was originally published on LinkedIn on 20 January 2017
“What do you do?” is such a common question at social gatherings. It’s also a question that many actuaries dread. The extroverts among us might glance from our shoes to yours before we answer the question:
“I am an actuary”
This disclosure is usually met with one of a small number of responses, such as “Oh…” (complete with a polite but confused expression), or “You must be good at maths!”, or “Really? My uncle’s friend’s cat’s previous owner was an actuary”.
Regardless of the response, the conversation often ends here. So recently I’ve been trying something new:
PERSON: “What do you do?”
ME: “Well, I run a consulting business.”
PERSON: “Oh, that sounds interesting! What do you consult on?”
Now “consulting” is a pretty broad term, and it can mean many different things, ranging from technical expert to salesperson. However, reflecting on my usual answers to this question, I’ve realised that the work of my team usually fits into one of these categories:
Helping clients define their problems and work up a plan to find solutions.
Helping clients by bringing additional skills and/or experience help their existing team solve problems.
Helping clients meet irregular or immediate increases in workload by supplementing their teams with extra staff members.
The common themes across each of these categories is that our consulting team exists to help our clients. As a “born helper”, this probably explains why I love consulting work!
1) Helping clients clearly define the problem
Our clients are extremely capable professionals with busy workloads. Many of their challenges are effectively handled in-house. However, sometimes a more challenging problem may present itself, and it can be helpful to have an independent third party who can act as a sounding board, to help unpack the problem and work up a plan of attack.
As a trained and experienced counsellor, I find this part of our consulting work very rewarding. In fact, if my team is going to be involved in executing the project to solve the problem, it is usually invaluable if we have been part of the scoping discussions. Very often, our clients will call asking for specific assistance, but early scoping discussions can help our clients refine their needs, resulting in clearer plans which may improve the success of the project.
2) Helping by supplementing a team’s existing skills and experience
In our fast-paced, changing world, the need to work in multidisciplinary teams has never been more critical. Complex problems often benefit from a range of perspectives from professionals trained in different disciplines. This different skillset, training or experience may not be something your team needs every day, but a consultant can give you access to this diversity on an as-needed basis.
Actuarial consultants have many technical skills, including data cleansing, data analysis, statistical and financial modelling, setting and monitoring evidence-based assumptions, to name a few. We are trained to use quantitative and qualitative data to help develop a picture of likely future scenarios. Consulting actuaries are also skilled in project management and communication of results, which can help you get things done on time and effectively communicated to your stakeholders.
3) Helping by boosting the team’s capacity
Many organisations run on very tight budgets, often with strict limits on headcount and staff budgets. This often means that teams are very busy and stretched to complete their regular work with limited resources. Any change or challenge that contributes to an increased workload, whether for a short or long term period, can be difficult to resource within the existing team.
While your existing team may possess the skills required, they may not have the time available to complete the extra work. If the project is short term in nature, it may not be affordable or practical to hire additional team members. This is where your consultants can help meet your deadlines without burning out your existing staff or blowing your salary budget.
You may have a very near deadline that would not allow you the time you need to hire a new team member. Consultants can often be quickly mobilised to help you address short term needs.
Conclusion
As a born helper, I love consulting work because I gain immense satisfaction from helping my clients solve problems.
The first stage in a consulting project ideally involves one or more conversations between the client and consultant to clearly define the problem and work up a plan of action to help solve the problem.
Following the scoping work, consultants can help by either bringing new skills/experience to help your existing team with a specific problem, or extra “person power” to boost the team’s capacity and help you meet a close deadline or irregular increase in workload.
“We are consultants, and we are here to help!”
