Stuart Hillen

As my one year anniversary at the firm approaches, I get ready to shed the prefix ‘grad’ and look forward to no longer being the freshest face in the office.

I started last year with limited knowledge of management consulting, our offerings, and what it meant to be a consultant – but the exposure I have gained over the last twelve months through a variety of engagements has changed the way I think about the firm, our capabilities and the value we deliver as consultants.

A client, with whom I spent much of my time over the past year, has provided me with the opportunity to experience multiple stages of business transformation from strategy to execution. Last May, our team helped to develop a strategy to transform the finance function at one of Australia’s largest construction and development firms. The team ran workshops with the global finance executive to establish the initiatives which formed the basis of the strategy, and with continued refinement (and lots of Wagamama!) we created the high level recommendations for the transformation.

Since then, I have been back to the client on two different projects. I have experienced the change that takes place as a high level strategy turns into a full transformational program with a team of over 40 people, a fully functional project management office and multiple streams of work.

Seeing the investment that organisations are willing to put behind our advice and the resulting impact has been a rewarding experience.

Being a part of this transition first hand has provided me with a real insight into the benefits of developing an executable strategy with a client, rather than for a client, so those in the business have a strong sense of ownership.

This is something I will take with me throughout my career.