Management Consultant: Guiding Professionals

Want to be a management professional and join the wagon of management leaders and high honchos? Preparing for your MBA Entrance too? Dreaming of being the best Marketing/Sales/HR/Finance professional? But management field offers a lot more than just these four paradigms of management.

With luxury management, football management and even entertainment management the management sector is growing immensely with new opportunities. Management consultation is a career field which was still unexplored in India.

Management consultation is an upcoming career field with experts guiding management professionals on leadership and people skills. Here, Ron Kemp, Consultant and Management Coach from Australia, talks about his experience in India…

As a management consultant and certified coach, how would you define the work that you do?

Management is not a technical skill that can be taught to anyone. It’s an art that is there in all of us. I just whet the management surface in my sessions. I don’t consult them but give them a platform to speculate and see their true strengths and ward off their weaknesses.
As a consultant I make sure that every person who attends my sessions should step out as a leader. Apart from Delhi I have also conducted session in Kolkata, Mumbai and Chennai and the experience has been immensely overwhelming.

Typically, mid level and senior level corporate are the clients you cater to?

I cater to professionals at both levels but the issues and concerns are different. While the senior level needs guidance in strategic areas (how to build better strategies in order to manage the company), the mid level seek guidance in terms of leadership (how to manage the team or how to lead a team without any hassles).

Can you share the countries where you have conducted such management sessions and also your experience there, considering that the economies would be different and consequently the requirement?

I have conducted my sessions in many countries like South Africa, Malaysia, Indonesia, Vietnam, Cambodia, Singapore and the list is long. I have enjoyed my stay thoroughly in each country. The culture is different, working style in each country differs but the issues and problems in the field of management are common around the world. ‘How to be a perfect leader’ is something they all want to know. But, I can only consult or guide them; it is they who have to tread on the path.

You train people of almost every fieldin themanagement business. Would you say that a certain industry comes with more issues/ problems than the other? Please give examples.

Well, I can’t set apart any field and say that ‘Yes this one is the most twisted’. The problems and issues which come to me run around same nucleus and that is ‘Leadership’.

We all learn the basic principles of management i.e. how to sell, how to market, how to handle finance and how to recruit able human resource but ‘How to lead’ is one thing that comes with experience. Professional life teaches you a lot and it is here, where one becomes a true leader. I just try to show them the way and remove the obstacles by talking to them.

How does attending your sessions help?

Sessions or no sessions, a person need to help himself/herself by speculating his own self, correcting wrong actions and leading his team as an able leader. My sessions definitely work for those whoturn my words in to action.

While there seems to be a lot of takers for consultants to improve managerial skills abroad. Do you think that in India such trainings are appreciated/ sought after?

India is a major market for management professionals and today in the times of globalization, no country is better or less privileged. In the professional world, all are at the same platform dealing with the same issues.

Yes, a decade ago, there was an inhibition about consultants facilitating the management training, but today they are open and welcoming than ever and I have experienced such warm reception in India. Today there are firms like Australian Vocational Training and Employment Group (AVTEG), which are doing a tremendous job in shaping leaders for tomorrow.

Do you think other fields like Engineering, Aviation, Hotel Management, Mass Communication / Media, which are equally stressful jobs, are in dire need of such consultation sessions?

Yes, definitely, in fact professionals from field like Engineering, Aviation, Hotel Management, Mass Communication or Medical require going through these sessions more than any other. Professionals from these backgrounds are trained in technical aspects and not in people skills. Dealing with people and attaining expertise in leadership skills will make them a success.

Having done this for so long, what would be the one thing that you would always ask management professionals to do/ practice?

The only thing that I always mention during my sessions and also believe in it is, ‘Be true to self’ and this will take you ahead.

Ron Kemp is a management consultant and certified coach who use his understanding of business operations across numerous industries to heighten the effectiveness of both individual and organisational performance. He is based out of Australia and travels extensively to share his expertise.

Related articles:

Sports welcomes Management Professionals

Agribusiness Management: a Golden Opportunity for New Age Agriculturists 

MBA in Pharmaceutical Management, a Course to Look Forward 

The booming sector of Real Estate Management in India

Online MBA: The Next Big Thing in Management Education in India