Could you be one of our next thought leaders?

Susie Lee-Kilgariff

Group Head of Marketing

Stellarmann is evolving the consultancy service we offer to our clients. Read on to see if you could be part of the way we add value with thought leadership and advisory services.

Focus on outcomes

Most Stellarmann associates are familiar with what we call our Capability Surge model. 80% of your fees are earned on a Time & Materials (T&M) basis and 20% are payable on the successful completion of your deliverables. This solution is especially helpful for clients who need extra hands on deck to get a project delivered, or who prefer to stay in control of overall delivery.

More frequently though, we are being asked to offer fixed packages of work or complete end-to-end outcomes where the project scope is defined and a fixed price is agreed for either a series of milestones or the overall outcome.

There can be a myriad of variations on this theme, which depend on the clients' requirements, in-house expertise and resource, project dependencies and assumptions, appetite for risk and of course, budget. But where Stellarmann's senior associates can help is with strategic consultancy at the beginning of the project, where we consider the problem statement and pull on previous industry experience to offer solutions.

Where we want to offer thought leadership

If you have particular depth and breadth of expertise in an area of business transformation, please make sure your regular Stellarmann contact is aware of this. We may only have seen a proportion of your skills so far so please don't assume we always know every aspect of your background.

We would like to build up our roster of thought leaders in the following areas:

Agile leadership, agile coaches and agile implementation
Cloud and digital transformation
CRM and customer/product-centric operating models
Data strategy, governance and analytics
Regulatory compliance, particularly meeting requirements of the PRA eg Solvency II
AI and machine learning to improve customer service and optimise processes

The list isn't exhaustive so please speak to us if there is an area where you feel you can add value. Here's a reminder of the sectors we work in, most frequently with enterprise or corporate size organisations.

How it works

If we think you could offer thought leadership or advisory services on a project we've been asked about, in the first instance, we will need to present you to the client. We'll send you a form to complete which will ask you to provide:

Details of the organisations you've worked for which add up to deep experience within a certain sector, for instance insurance or banking
Your subject matter expertise, for example in risk or compliance, with examples of specific experience
Programme experience including results or achievements you've been responsible for
A recent, professional photograph
Links to any examples of thought leadership on the topic eg published articles, whitepapers or podcasts. (If you're interested in help to build your personal brand like this, read our article here.)

We'll take this information and create a tailored profile for you. We'll also agree the commercial basis for your involvement.

Once we've confirmed the way forward with the client, we would expect you to attend a number of workshops or discovery sessions where the scope and objectives for the project can be defined.

What if I'm already working full time?

We anticipate thought leadership opportunities to be fractional for you. That is to say, it might look like one or two client facing days per month plus time needed to complete any work arising.

If you are already working on a Stellarmann engagement full time, the first thing to emphasise is that no additional engagements can be started without express permission from that client. (Click here for a reminder on this policy.) No existing time commitments can be compromised, nor can we allow any work that might be a conflict of interest. If we can satisfy these criteria, please bear in mind that you may end up needing to work an extra day a week(ish.)

Where advisory work may suit you is if you're between engagements, or are looking to keep your experience up to date whilst looking for a permanent role. If you operate a PSC and are looking to create your own consultancy offer, this could be an ideal first step.