A management consultant is a professional that offers comprehensive support and guidance. We discuss a management consultant’s duties and the types and skills these professionals possess, as extracted from Indeed. There are several types of management consultants that include:
Operations Consulting
A management consultant who focuses on operations provides specialized support in manufacturing, business best practices, and streamlining processes. They help companies increase productivity, reduce waste, or improve quality control standards. For example, a manufacturing company might want to eliminate product production times by 20%, or a logistics company might want to minimize shipping errors by 25% in the next three months.
HR Consulting
A management consultant focusing on human resources issues supports employee job satisfaction and retention. They advise on diversity and inclusivity awareness or improving performance management systems.
IT Consulting
A management consultant focusing on IT offers guidance and advice to businesses within any area of IT or technology. They assist companies in thinking about changing their ERP (enterprise resource planning) software, which is an extensive, costly, and timely process, so making the best decision is critical. An IT management consultant advises on databases, employee software and hardware, and other information technology issues.
Marketing & Sales Consulting
A management consultant focusing on marketing and sales supports businesses by enhancing their marketing message, reviewing social media presence, and improving sales conversions. They can assist with developing marketing and advertising budgets and where to invest advertising dollars that will have the most significant return on investment (ROI).
What skills do management consultants need?
Active listening
You’re actively listening when you focus entirely on the speaker during a conversation or presentation. Active listening skills allow a management consultant to build rapport and trust with a company’s leadership team and employees. Creating a safe and comfortable environment for open communication by actively listening to the staff’s concerns, fears, and challenges improves the consultant’s knowledge and understanding.
Analytical skills
The analytical skills and effectively evaluating data allow a management consultant to determine patterns in data, identify areas of opportunity, and provide a clear perspective on the current situation in a company. Having solid analytical thinking assists a consultant in developing viable solutions and suggestions for problems while backing their ideas with facts and factual data.
Communication skills
A management consultant uses various types of communication skills in their role. They need a firm written, verbal, and listening command to collect valuable information and insights from the company’s employees and leadership. Communicating practical questions that create discussion and conflict resolution skills are also part of functional communication skills.
Decision-making skills
A management consultant needs to analyze information about the business and decide on the advice to provide regarding strategies, operations, and best practices. Being able to efficiently and effectively decide on the best course of action and present the decision to stakeholders is a crucial skill in consulting.
Strategic and critical thinking
Strategic and critical thinking allows a management consultant to provide objective guidance without emotional attachment. Looking through the strategy lens, a management consultant can identify issues and areas of opportunity while giving concise feedback based on facts, forecasting, and data-driven models.
Project management skills
A management consultant needs to be proficient in project management for several reasons. If they are contractors, a management consultant will often manage their clients as projects. Project management must understand deliverables, timelines, goals, and objectives. A management consultant also needs to support the business by implementing improvement strategies as projects within the organization. They may need to assist the company’s leadership to create project management practices and structures to keep improvements and strategy on track.
The average salary for a management consultant in Canada is $82,952 per year. The salary of a management consultant will be based on the education, experience, location, industry, and employment situation of the employee versus the contractor.