The technical domain doesn’t matter: from satellites to catering, from maritime to housing – IT, ERP, logistics, WHS, HR, procurement. We have been involved in them all. Behind the scenes helping our clients leverage the best from their people, their consultants, and their contractors.
It takes Strategy, Engagement, and Alignment to drive complicated outcomes in complex environments. This is our business.
If you are facing the urgent, the difficult, the unusual – if you want to make a difference – then adopting the traditional, the status quo, will fail you.
More than a methodology and a process, it is understanding intent, and being able to recognise when this is not being achieved. Being empowered and able to adapt to changing circumstances. We don’t see these characteristics often – in people or organisations.
It is about people empowered to deliver an effect: not a process, a schedule or a profit. Our consultants are enthusiastic, intellectually agile, and accepting of ambiguity. We look for those who have broad life experiences, education and adaptability. They see problems from multiple perspectives and understand there is often more than one answer but know they must have an answer even if it is not perfect. They are leaders looking for the right pathways, and with the courage to run down them. They are driven to make a difference. Look at our careers page – the job ads explain what we are looking for because that’s what our clients get. We are choosy because we think our clients should be – and we need to be if we are to deliver on our promise.
We invest in them, providing tools and training rather than prescribed process, so that they may adapt to your circumstances.
We then build teams of technical experts around them, domain experts often sourced from the industry where the speciality resides. Practitioners, not theorists. We teach them the essentials of consulting – combining the best of both worlds. Those who know what needs to be done with those who know how to do it.
We immerse this combined team alongside your people, providing advice and leadership through consultation, influence and example. This is how we solve problems ‘from the inside out’.
Give yourself a chance by giving us a chance. Making a difference might start with just a chat.
We acknowledge we have an unusual consulting model. We don’t list a range of services or talk about technologies in which we are expert. That’s because we are expert at dealing with crises and complexity. The breadth of our case studies proves the point.
Technical expertise we can source, but courage, leadership and adaptability in unusual circumstances – the ability to deal with the important, the urgent and the unknown – these are more challenging attributes to attain and retain – and our domain.
Nevertheless, there are skills and experiences in which we invest – and in which we are expert – and which are immediately useful to our clients. Here is a checklist to ponder.
Rapid acquisition tasks or unusual commercial arrangements between the public and private sectors. Where you want it done differently. Where the status quo needs to be tested. Where you are stuck. From acquisition design, through tendering, evaluation, negotiation and transition.
Building executable plans and helping execute them. From organisational restructure and machinery of government changes, new policy initiatives and revitalising old programs. Less of what to do and more of achieving it.
Commercial, inter-governmental, inter-agency, cross-jurisdictional. Intra-organisational. The old versus the new. Where contracts, service agreements or understanding are underperforming, under-serving or their purpose has changed. Breaking deadlock commercially. Crisis management and public engagement. The tools are similar and the focus is on understanding and addressing multiple perspectives and issues. Empathy isn’t agreement, but understanding and communication are essential to getting what you want.
Review of operating practices, the introduction of lean-ness and better business practices. Addressing legislative and regulatory obligations and compliance. Organisational and machinery of government change. Adoption of enhanced business practices, cost reduction and improved performance.
It’s not working or hasn’t worked, or it’s in crisis. Standing still without change isn’t an option. Taking an age to evaluate is the same as standing still. Stopping to work out what to do and then implementing change isn’t an option. Rapid review, understanding your goals and implementing themes rather than detailed plans gives flexibility and adaptability. Scale and process are complicated – but this is complex. Try a bit, test a bit, adapt and try again. Reinforce that which works, stop that which doesn’t. It is like flying a plane while you build.
Complexity – our space.
The problem: Our public sector client had received advice, through an external review, that a critical piece of hazardous storage infrastructure was no longer safe to use. The recommendation was due, in part, to the natural decay of the facilities through underfunded maintenance, and a change in the local land use that had seen the surrounding […]
A government client sought to purchase telecomms services on behalf of itself and 50+ partner agencies, across 120 countries. When does a commodity contract become something more? Objective: To help the client clarify its evaluation process, prioritise its requirements, and negotiate a sustainable deal which would succeed for both parties over the long term. Kiah approach: Look […]
The problem: Our public sector client operated a bulk fuels facility located alongside a public port. The facility, of several million litres, was a strategic facility for the client and provided a fuel reserve (in case commercial supply lines were interrupted). The client recognised that to continue operating the facility, would need specialist skills that were […]
We are on the lookout for those who can deliver outcomes, not just activity – could that be you? Why don’t you find out?
Available RolesIf past approaches haven’t worked, it might be time to try something new. Talk to us about what we have done, and what we might do for you.
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