The FMA Approach
Mr. Kepner deploys learned skill sets and practices drawn from the best of the three disciplines: executive management, consulting and law. Ten principles guide his approach to providing client advisory services:
#1 - Define the Engagement Precisely: At no expense to the prospective client, determine the project’s scope and accurately estimate the time and expense before beginning; don’t proceed if the engagement falls outside of expertise, but assist the client to find a better qualified advisor.
#2 - Good Process Yields Good Results: Define a workable engagement process with the client at the beginning and then stick to it.
#3 - Stay Focused: Begin with a precise “charge” from the organization’s leader; ask and answer the right questions; efficiently gather and analyze relevant data only; don’t stray into tangential or unproductive matters.
#4 – Confidentiality and Candor: Establish confidence with, and keep the confidences of, stakeholders interviewed to gain meaningful insights; maintain strict confidentiality of the organization’s proprietary information; candidly, directly and carefully address sensitive “Elephant in the Room” issues.
#5 – Be an Extension of Management: Be viewed as a trusted member of the management team rather than an “outside” consultant, including regular check-in sessions with top management to track progress.
#6 - Manage the Managers: Engage executive management interactively in the creation of solutions they will own and want to implement (sending consultants off on their own to find solutions to critical problems is unlikely to work in the long run).
#7 – Keep an Eye on the Future: Balance short term fixes against long term solutions; identify and address long term trends.
#8 – Crisply Communicate: Communicate progress, reports and recommendations clearly, concisely and efficiently.
#9 – Implement! Implement! Implement! Focus from the outset on the practical aspects of getting proposed solutions accomplished; frame an implementation plan that has a realistic chance of success; identify resources and internal and external constraints which will need to be managed; make sure someone will “own” the follow-up.
#10 – Ask to be Invited Back: If appropriate, stay on to help guide implementation; ask to be invited back to do a report card on how well recommendations accepted by management have been implemented.