CASE STUDY / TRANSFORMATION LEADERSHIP
Turning a Career Dead-End Account into a Talent Destination
A growing account became a place consultants actively wanted to join by redesigning the leadership model, client relationships, and opportunities for career growth.
THE SITUATION
A large consulting account was growing, but consultants saw it as a place where careers stalled, work felt transactional, and client relationships limited their ability to develop new skills.
THE RESPONSE
Listen directly to the people doing the work, involve them in the solution, redesign the account leadership model, and address client behaviors that were limiting the consultant experience.
THE RESULT
Within six to twelve months, consultants began proactively seeking roles on the account, promotions increased, and the business continued to grow significantly.
WHEN GROWTH AND EMPLOYEE EXPERIENCE COLLIDED
The account was commercially successful, but the people delivering the work were experiencing something very different.
Consultants described it as a place where careers went to die. They felt the work was transactional, offered limited opportunities to build new skills, and exposed them to client relationships that could feel overly directive or focused more on activity than the value they were creating.
Just as importantly, they believed account leadership cared more about winning the next contract than about their development.
The turning point came when two consultants invited me to breakfast and told me directly that the account would not continue to grow unless we fixed the consultant experience.
I listened, and then asked them to help me change it.
The account could not keep growing if the people delivering the work believed being there would limit their own growth.
The solution was not a morale initiative. It was to change the experience of the work itself and give talented people meaningful ownership of the account’s success.
HOW THE EXPERIENCE CHANGED
We created opportunities for consultants to take meaningful ownership beyond their project assignments, including developing case studies, designing and facilitating account-wide meetings, and leading initiatives that strengthened the account community.
I also redesigned the account leadership model.
Because the client organization was so large, I treated the account as a portfolio of businesses and relationships rather than a single monolithic account. Responsibility for parts of that portfolio was not limited to people who already held leadership titles.
Consultants who wanted to become leaders could take accountability for relationships, business areas, and account initiatives. That gave them a seat at the leadership table and an opportunity to demonstrate the capabilities required for their next role.
And when the client experience itself was creating problems, I addressed that directly.
I took consultant feedback to client stakeholders and worked to reset expectations about what a true consulting partnership should look like. That created greater flexibility in how consultants worked and helped shift the relationship from oversight of activity toward trust in outcomes.
Within approximately six to twelve months, the account’s reputation inside the firm began to change. Instead of persuading consultants to accept assignments there, people proactively sought opportunities to join the account. Promotion cycles increasingly included consultants who had developed and demonstrated new capabilities through their work there.
At the same time, the business continued to grow significantly.