Andy Hills Independent Business Consultant

Business consultancy ethos

To make sure I can give you the best results for your money, I treat your business as if it were my own. That is to say I'm not into wasting time, effort or money and that I shall bring all my skills to the table with honesty and be direct in my approach.

I don't focus purely on the management of aspect of an organisation as one part of the business impacts upon others all the way through the supply chain. While engaged with a project, I ensure that any decisions and changes are accounted for throughout your organisation, thereby reducing the isolation many projects suffer from and in doing so, increasing the communication and acceptance from the business.

I'm delivery focused, meaning always having an eye on what your business is about and what you intend to achieve; my job is to enable you to output your end product effectively and efficiently. I am candid in my approach and see no reason for wasteful expenditure - in return I expect a frank exchange of communication from my Clients and to be told what you are happy with and more importantly if I fall short.

Strategic thinking or tactical deployment?

Being described as strategic in the management of work is not unusual, however having strategy alone is useless. To accompany strategic work there must be a deployment plan - the detailed explanation of precisely who is going to do what and when to achieve the strategy and how we know it's working. Think of it as a Rubiks cube - to complete one side [strategy] can take a lot of time and effort, and once finished it looks great, the only problem is that the rest of the cube [the business] is in disarray and it just doesn't fit. Putting more emphasis on this deployment plan that the strategy itself is a key part of defining and delivering your organisational and project objectives and preventing overruns and increased costs. Absolutely critical is getting all personnel pointed in the same direction and ensuring they all understand what is required of them; in most cases this is no simple matter - you need confident teams in your organisation that are adaptable to change and fully able to attain the organisational objectives.

Coaching and Mentoring

Within every contract and job I have worked on, there has been a need to coach and to mentor. The job for me may be temporary, but my Clients are paying for a service from me and I see their money as poorly spent if they don't get a transfer of skills; when I have gone, who takes over?

It's very surprising that so few Clients expect this and so I see it only fitting that the people I'm engaged with get to know about the work. It's not about setting up classrooms and teaching, the best coaching is ongoing and is achieved through short bursts. Mentoring is brilliant; being able to inspire and dedicate time and effort on someone willing to learn and better their knowledge and practice is a reward unto itself.