It gets better...............

Hi David, yes when I read it back it is a little confusing. I wrote it as I was thinking it so it follows my thought pattern, possibly not a good way of writing a blog about consulting. So let me try and explain;

I set up a management consultancy after my MBA but quickly realised that a good few of the organisations I had experience with wanted a certain level of intervention that I felt could be best served by someone who had experience of real "real management theory". Given that Mintzberg I think, coined the phrase originally, I  expanded the definition to reflect what I felt actually happened within certain manufacturing type organisations, which was to a large part influenced by their historical and current capabilities and experience BUT at grass roots or shop floor level i.e. the tail wagging the dog. My background is here at this level, be it making wooden windows or programming machining centres. Change management, for me, has been more successful when it's been instigated at all levels and when I understand the politics of how and what goes "out of the door".

I guess my methods and approach may be a little unorthodox, but providing a service that sometimes tries to fundamentally alter a social construct is a bit like trying to convert a lifelong Sheffield United fan to an Owls supporter. There may be no percieved logical, financial  or sensible reason why someone would follow one particular side, but you try and persuade them its a better bet to follow another team..... for whatever reason.

I would recommend consultancy, especially if you like diversity. My consultation projects always work out different to how I expect and that uncertainty keeps me interested. When I first read your response I was thinking how do I answer your point "are you undertaking training or providing a service?". The short answer is that I consider consultancy as both. I provide a service in that I deal with specific problems that the organisations can't deal with (otherwise one would assume I wouldn't be asked for help) but I would hope my intervention teaches them how to deal with similar problems in future. I'm of the opinion that a consultation has to have a suitable ending otherwise its just ongoing management, which is what the managers are employed to do. 

Having made those points, I can't forget my past experiences so I set up a piling company, mostly so I get to drive diggers and dumpers and of course, so I dont always have to try and work people out all the time and thats me doing just that in the photo!!

OK Mike...but you have been warned!!

In mitigation...I thought it better than a blank page saying "site under development"  etc

Ironically the Freeindex site is better and developes more enquiries!!

www.loghadesltd.co.uk

and search under Loghades at the Freeindex site.

New site will focus on case studies and the more interesting projects. It's a dry subject to some... I think that the American maufacturers own site is enough to put off even the most ardent mini pile fanatic (??). Our printed media contains more about the benefits of the system rather than reams of technical data, which although are available don't exactly help sell the products. We are wanting to promote to a diverse customer base, some of which would probably have a limited related technical understanding of determining factors such as ground conditions, load bearing capacity etc.

Of course, a major factor at the moment is capital available to us for web design and the return on investment, so what we are saying really is that we'll keep the site simple, functional yet professional and do it the old way and let the salesperson actually sell the products.

In the brief for the new site I did try and include photos of fast cars, bikes and big machines but the other exec. dismissed it out of hand!

Agreed.......hopefully a simple but effective feedback facility will help us analyse and then determine what our customers actually need from the site (assuming we don't get it right at first). The tech. data will still be available on request but just won't overpower the main message we hope to put across