TeamFit is a skill management platform for professional services companies. We spend a lot of time speaking with the leadership of different companies to understand their strategies and the business pressures they are under. A surprising number of these...
Skill profiles are the new calling card. They are how we introduce ourselves to people and show what we can do. Building a great skill profile is part of the day-to-day work of all knowledge workers. So how do...
A simple question, “Can you perform the same role using different skills?” From another perspective, “Can the same skill set be applied to different roles?” Why do these questions matter? How you answer them will say a great deal...
What skills differentiate you from people in your profession? What skills do you have that surprise you? In my twenties I worked mostly on my own. I was what we call today a ‘sole contributor.’ I did a variety...
Automation of knowledge work, platforms to connect freelance knowledge workers, cost cutting at major companies and the development of internal consulting services will all put professional services firms under pressure in 2016. Please take our short survey What skills are...
The new year is just around the corner now. Most of us are well into our annual strategic planning cycle and goals are getting firmed up for 2016. But what about skills? Do you have a comprehensive skill development...
As an organizational effectiveness expert and management coach, I get to learn from many different teams. During the last downturn in the oil patch, I engaged in strategic planning with the leadership team of a business unit in a...
Entering the holiday season, we are looking back on what we have learned over the past year at TeamFit. One of the most important is the role of trust in consulting, success, team performance and building a valued consulting...
For professional services firms long-term value comes from just two things: client relationships and firm capabilities. Both of these are built on trust. It is pretty obvious how client relationships rely on trust. They are built up over time...
Last November we announced a pivot from team collaboration and decision making to team building. Why TeamFit. One more time around the sun is a good time to take stock of how far we have come and where we need...
Management consultants pride themselves on their ability to use experience and general smarts to have real impact on their clients. Of course they claim a few other differentiators: well tested frameworks to understand business situations and guide decision making;...
TeamFit is undergoing a skill review at the moment. We are looking at the skills we have in the company and what skills we need to deliver on our goals. We are also trying to look out six months...
TeamFit is undergoing a skill audit at present. We want to test that we have the skills we need to deliver on our vision. Like most companies today, we view our skills not just as those we have internally....
person’s job is to make sure that project teams are built quickly so that the company can start to book the projects it has sold. And as the job title implies, these people are expected to manage resources, that...
Good companies have skill gaps. One default response is to see this as a recruiting problem that HR can solve with more and better recruiting. But this is wrong. A skills gap is in essence an operations problem, one...
Last week, we asked some of the world’s top consultants “What are the skills of a top management consultant?” One of the most intriguing comments came from Duncan Sinclair of Deloitte Canada, who noted the importance of: “Being able...
Some of the world’s top professional services companies are phasing out traditional performance reviews and staff rankings. For many years these were central to how these companies managed their staff, decided on promotions and bonuses. “Performance is an ongoing...
What is it that top management consultants do that has such a big impact? An impact not just on companies and their strategies but also on careers? The textbook answer is that consultants have deep analytic skills. They are...
What are the most important skills to think about when it comes to building relationships with clients? I did a quick straw poll with a half dozen business leaders at professional services organizations. The responses came in three buckets:...
Unit economics are critical to understanding how your business will scale. They tell you which levers to pull to improve performance. There has been a lot of good work on unit economics for subscription businesses (see for example David...
The work economy is rapidly changing and companies are becoming increasingly discriminating as they select technology service providers to carry out projects. To keep up with the changing competitive landscape leading IT professionals are constantly looking to better position their...
I’ve been speaking to many firms over the last few months to get a better understanding of how companies that live on service revenues are managing and optimizing the allocation of people to teams. And as part of this,...