The Skills Most In Demand For Independent Management Consultants

Some years ago, Jody Greenstone Miller saw the opportunity to offer management consulting in a non-traditional way.  Her firm, the Business Talent Group (BTG) was among the first to recognize that freelancers – independent experts – offered an attractive alternative to big management consulting firms like McKinsey, Accenture, Deloitte and others.  In fact, Miller was able to attract top consultants because freelancing offered them a more flexible consulting practice, greater choice and autonomy in selecting clients and projects, and more freedom to balance work with other important interests.

Organization leaders find BTG and other online talent marketplaces useful because they can more easily manage project intensity and cost while engaging senior freelancers who have the specific experience and skills they want.

Naturally, over time skill requirements for independent consultants change as project themes change.  And for that reason, as they’ve done in past, BTG surveyed organization leaders about the emerging project and skills demands for independent consultants.  Here they are:

Most in demand projects for independent consultants:

61%    Strategy, which includes:

22%    Operations, which includes:

9%      Transformation, which includes:

4% Organization

4% Interim executive

Most in demand skills for independent consultants:

Leading industries using independent consultants:

Company size leaders in using independent consultants:

83% large enterprises

17% mid-market and small and medium sized business organizations

Leading functions utilizing independent consultants:

These are the principal findings of the BTG survey.  It’s exciting to hear that large enterprises increasingly tap the online talent marketplaces for independent consultants, and that driving strategic growth and operational transformation are two important project themes driving skill requirements.  Of course, the BTG survey is one among several and, to some extent, survey findings always vary.   For example, one of the top 10 skills identified by the latest Upwork survey wasn’t mentioned by BTG: HR consulting.  LinkedIn, in a recent survey cited by Forbes.com contributor Lars Schmidt, also identified talent management as a top category, as did a recent Inc survey.

A PwC survey mentioned by InfoDesk also added a useful perspective. PwC explained that they are increasingly seeking individuals that have strong business or industry expertise and are also technically savvy.

The fact is, we don’t know if online talent marketplaces featuring independent consultants are a different business with different skill requirements than traditional management consulting, or just another market channel. In my view, they are different.  Clay Christensen of Harvard Business School agrees, and believes consulting is dividing into two distinct paths:

We’ve certainly seen the signs of a new industry emerging. For example, Expert360, an online talent marketplace for independent consultants based in Sydney, plays an increasingly important role across S.E. Asia, has attracted top consulting talent to their platform, and was recently named a top innovator by the Australian Financial Review.  Similarly, a Nigerian startup, TBCA, provides independent consultants to mid-sized firms across Africa.  And, of course, Catalant, which I’ve previously profiled, is one of the largest and best known player in this space.

I believe the skills required for success in these two categories are similar but perhaps there are some interesting differences.  For example, you would expect successful freelancers to be more entrepreneurial; after all, they are “solopreneurs” responsible for building their brand. You might also predict that broad generalist skills is a bigger deal for freelancers who may be asked to take on a wide range of project work.

On the other hand, traditional consulting might place a higher value on deep functional or industry expertise.  If Christensen is correct, and traditional management consultants are called on to work the most challenging problems, the ability to offer that level of expertise would be essential.

But, these are just my musings.  Hopefully, we’ll have an answer from the Business Talent Group in 2020.

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