I find myself running three student projects; I am treating each one as if the students were small consulting companies on contract. ‘Consultant’ is a term I am also hoping to de-mystify through a virtual session on February 29 between the three projects and individuals who (have) called themselves ‘consultant’.

To start, THANK YOU to the students who are creating value and contributing to civil society in a small way through the three projects. Although the students get ‘paid’ with grades and experience, it is also important for them to hear a Thank You for contributing to a better community; I am in awe of your passion and interest in your respective subjects.

1. Consulting As a Career Choice
2. Where and When is The Event?
3. Who Will Be There?
   1. Team CSW
   2. D! Consultant Team
4. The Program and the Consultant Cage Fight
   1. Consulting as a Career, 25-minutes
   2. Consultant Cage Fight, 10-minutes
   3. Mopping up the Cage
5. Cage-Fight Question
   1. Background
   2. FIVE Unique Features of the Program
   3. Consulting Question/Problem
   4. Consultant Cage Fight
6. Who are the Student Groups?
   1. UofA – Jurisdictional Survey Project.
   2. UofA – Building a Phone App.
   3. NAIT – Volunteer Management Systems.
7. Sharing the Experience

Consulting As a Career Choice

One method to express this gratitude is to act as a client and a mentor. Part of the latter is to expose students to the ‘art of the possible’ post-graduation.

Consulting is one possible career choice. It has many benefits and some terrifying realities. On February 29, 2024, I am inviting the students to a short panel discussion with individuals who are making/made a career in the consulting field. This is not a Human Resources pitch from firms telling them that everything will be wonderful. Instead, this is a chance to hear answers to fundamental questions like:

1. What exactly is a consultant anyway?
2. Why is it the worst/best job post-graduation?
3. Is consulting an all or nothing career decision, what are the benefits of flitting?
4. What skills do you learn in the world of consulting that you may not in a more traditional job?
5. How would a consultant approach a business problem?

Where and When is The Event?

Join online meeting

or copy and paste this link: https://join.skype.com/UAoeXwlKG6j4

• February 29, 2024, 1205h to 1300h via a Virtual Session.
• Pre-registration is not required, seats are on a first come, first sit basis.
• You can request the link in advance by emailing frank AT myorgbio.org.
• Questions and discussion with the students are encouraged within the timeframe.

Who Will Be There?

The consultants are broken into two teams. The choice is somewhat random and is based on the first letter of their name. Three names starting with the letter ‘D’ was too good to pass up and thus are the ‘D! Consultants’. What Team CSW lacks in name originality they make up for broad and deep experience.

In both cases, this quasi randomness highlights their own unique experiences and the reality that consultants are thrown into team environments and expected to perform. Consultants live or die by consistently delivering, rolling with the punches, and constantly learning.

Team CSW

This is a high powered team combining the innovation of Catherine, the legal-beagle senses of William, and anchored by the silverback, Stewart. This team has broad experience across technology, business, and the law – expect great things from Team CWS!

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D! Consultant Team

This crack team share more than the first letter of their name, they are D! team to beat. Darcy brings a booming laugh and booming business experience. Dean is the bean counter who has seen and done it all. Teaching the boys a lesson is Deanna, an educator extraordinaire.

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The Program and the Consultant Cage Fight

Consulting as a Career, 25-minutes

• Guided by our master moderator, Hans, the teams will be asked to speak to one of the four questions on an alternating basis for five minutes, as a reminder, the questions are:
• 1. What exactly is a consultant anyway?
• 2. Why is it the worst/best job post-graduation
• 3. Is consulting an all or nothing career decision, what are the benefits of flitting?
• 4. What skills do you you may not in a more traditional job?

Consultant Cage Fight, 10-minutes

To the last question, I was hoping to have a ‘Consultant-Cage-Fight‘ but apparently high paid talent does not like getting blood on their nice suits. Nevertheless, I do owe an answer to one group, how would a consultant approach a business problem? This will be done in the following competitive manner.

• After the above warm up questions, Hans asks both teams how they as individuals or as a team would ‘… approach the business problem noted below?’.
• Each team gets 5-minutes (total 10-minutes).

Mopping up the Cage

The above will be fast paced and lots of information coming to the students. The last ~20-minutes is a chance for the stundents to control the conversation:

1. Open microphone and questions, 10-minutes
2. Contingency, opening and closing remarks, 10-minutes

Cage-Fight Question

Background

In the 1980-1990’s, Alberta had a growing interest in ecological conservation. Unlike other jurisdictions in which private landownership rights must be balanced against the public good, most of Alberts (two-thirds) is still Crown or public land.

Large national and provincial parks astride undesignated land that is open to resource extraction. In between these two extremes are 248 smaller Protected-Areas. Ranging from a fraction of an acre to many thousands, these Protected-Areas provide local recreation, natural capacity, and natural corridors for floral and fauna to move from area to area.

The Alberta Government established the ‘Volunteer Stewardship Program’ to be the eyes and ears for these 248 protected areas. Individuals and groups were designated as a Steward, given an orientation, a binder, and asked to submit status reports at least yearly. From these reports, action could be taken such as posting signs, correcting abuse, or constructing features such as a bridge.

FIVE Unique Features of the Program

1. Initiated and operated by the provincial government,
2. Resourced through volunteers (groups) who had a certain standing by being designated,
3. Typically assigned to one or more specific natural areas,
4. Assignment areas were small, protected areas (as opposed to large Parks), and
5. Report on the state of the areas through standardized means.

Consulting Question/Problem

Perform a jurisdictional scan of Canadian, American, and other political entities to determine:

1. How unique was this volunteer stewardship program as compared to other jurisdictions,
2. Of the five features of the Alberta Program, what was (not) found in other programs,
3. What is the status of these programs, and, if still in existence, why and how do they continue to exist/thrive?
4. What general and specific lessons can be learned from these other programs in designing a similar government-run or non-governmental program?

Consultant Cage Fight

Your firm has won the contract to prepare a report on the above jurisdictional scan; you are the assigned lead consultant. The managing partner has called you into her office and is asking you how you will approach this project, noting that it may lead to bigger contracts in the future.

What will you tell the managing partner? What are the gotchas or questions you would want to know? What are the value added features in the report you might consider including? What are other considerations in accepting this engagement?

Who are the Student Groups?

There are three student groups, two from the University of Alberta and one from the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology. The overview of each group is as follows:

UofA – Jurisdictional Survey Project.

• Client: Stewards of Alberta’s Protected Areas (SAPAA)
• Program: Sociology 291, class project: Sociological examination of the relationship between human societies and the natural environment.
• Project: Assist SAPAA in developing a strategic plan for its next ten years partly by examining the context of its past and its proposed vision statement.
• Deliverables:
  • Prepare a jurisdictional scan of the Alberta Government’s Volunteer Stewardship program (subject of the Consultant-Cage-Fight).
  • Provide feedback on the proposed vision statement and whether it speaks to the students as individuals and thus is a viable plan.

UofA – Building a Phone App.

• Client: Stewards of Alberta’s Protected Areas (SAPAA)
• Program: Computer Science 401 Capstone Project. Software Process and Product Management. All phases of software development are reviewed from a process perspective.
• Project Summary: SAPAA currently has a prototype site inspection form which is web based. SAPAA wants to understand what benefits and costs a phone-based application would provide.
• Deliverables:
  • A ‘working proof of concept’ v2024-Winter.
  • This tool will be fully functional and may be deployed based on its state of readiness.
  • An assessment of the viability, benefits, issues, costs, and challenges of adopting a phone-based site inspection tool.

NAIT – Volunteer Management Systems.

• Client: Canadia Birkebeiner Society (Birkie)
• Program: Bachelor of Technology, Capstone project; creation of a solution that solves a current industry problem.
• Deliverables:
  • What volunteer management systems are out there?
  • What are the Birkie’s requirements to support its volunteer lifecycle and management?
  • What is the Fit-Gap between functionality and requirements?
  • What is the team’s recommendation to CBS as to next steps?

Sharing the Experience

Each of the above projects is of interest to me in different ways and I am looking forward to the results. At the same time, I enjoy giving students the chance to glimpse into their futures and what different paths entail.

If you are an experienced management consultant, please join the session and contribute through questions and comments (verbal and in the text-chat). Ripping your shirt off and jumping into the cage is optional.