2001 Conference Wrap Up

CTN Advisor…On a Mission in Ottawa & Ontario East

Presented by John Gelder, Certified Management Consultant
Canadian Association of Management Consultants

Today I will be speaking about my role as CTN Advisor based in Ottawa, including comments on field activity and actual case examples. I've titled my presentation CTN Advisor…On a Mission because in many respects helping early stage companies and SMEs to overcome barriers to growth is missionary work. I think those who are drawn to it must have a strong desire to help entrepreneurs succeed in the face of very significant challenges.

By way of background, I should mention that CTN is comprised of a number of core member organizations that operate under contribution agreements with the National Research Council. All are non-profit. The approach allows the NRC and specifically IRAP to leverage its resources and expertise. My own host organization is the Canadian Association of Management Consultants (CAMC) which is the certification body as well as the voice for the management consulting profession in Canada. There are currently about 5000 Certified Management Consultants in Canada and about 500 in Eastern Ontario. There are 3 CMCs in Ontario that are CTN Advisors of which I am one. In this role, we work closely with IRAP Industrial Technology Advisors (ITAs) and other network members.

As Management Consultants, our focus is on business or business management advice and I stress advice rather than hands on consulting. We also collaborate with members such as Canadian Manufacturers and Exporters, Toronto Venture Group and Consulting Engineers of Ontario so that we can make referrals when appropriate. In addition, we may refer clients to people within our own personal and professional networks so you can see that the network quickly becomes quite organic.

The companies we deal with are struggling with barriers to growth; many are early stage. They range from those who have not yet left the basement or garage to others that are fully fledged SMEs but are having difficulty with some aspect of their business, be it financing, marketing, operations etc. My colleague, Gus Gillespie, has categorized these companies into 5 types: start-ups, stagnants, stressed, strapped and sunk. Using a process akin to triage, the challenge is to accurately assess the client situation prior to offering a prescription. The diagnostic phase, which usually involves careful probing and listening, helps separate symptoms from causes and brings the real problems to light. Some of the more common ailments we see, and these are certainly very evident in the high tech sector, include: poor conceptualization, lack of focus, lack of formal structure, gaps in skills and competencies, lack of market and marketing know-how and inadequate attention to planning.

CTN has developed a pretty good toolkit for helping SMEs to deal with some of these challenges - one that goes even beyond advice and referral. One of these tools involves access to a Certified Management Consultant for up to 24 hours at a nominal cost. This is a low risk approach to allow SMEs to work closely with an advisor/consultant to explore and resolve issues over a reasonable amount of time. We have found that the approach works best when expectations are clearly defined up front and when there is an agreed upon process for how the time will be spent. A model process that I have used successfully is one I refer to as the trip analogy. The trip analogy is a 3 step process which seeks to answer 3 basic questions: Where are we now? Where do we want to go? and, How will we get there?

In my CTN work in Ottawa and Ontario East, I have used the process many times. Typically, we see a lot of high tech companies, and even if the bloom is off the rose for the time being, there are solid networks (e.g. OCRI), clusters and infrastructures in place that bode well for the future.

Up close, dealing with clients one-on-one or with an ITA or EDO can be extremely gratifying. Whether its helping a fledgling Internet solutions company to align its strengths to market opportunities, advising a specialty lighting company on sales and marketing issues or assisting a project management company with market plans for the application of VR technology, in every case the focus has been on adding value in ways that will ultimately translate into positive results for the future development of the business.

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