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CMC or not to CMC… that is the question.

By crooky | June 2, 2008

A friend of mine - Tony Wanless - is currently on the executive team for the BC Chapter of the Canadian Association of Management Consultants. This is an organization that I have been torn about joining as a consultant for the past several years. This post is going to be more of a stream of consciouness post about my familiarity (or lack of) with the organization and the designation and maybe it will help you make the decision about joining that I seem to be unable to make.

I first learned about the organization in 2006. At the time, I was intimidated by the minimum five years of auditable, consecutive Management Consulting experience. In 2006, my own company had only been in existence for three years and I had taken a contract assignment for a year at BC Hydro. I was sure that I wouldn’t meet the experience requirement so I walked away.

Since then, I’ve spent some time talking to other Certified Management Consultants (CMCs) and found out that the organizaiton is hoping to grow its membership base and understands that the experience requirement may need to be a bit more flexible. They are also definitely working on the “if you’re not one of us, you’re not really anybody” attitude that permeated their marketing literature.

I think the benefits of joining this organization are twofold:

1. In my community (I can’t speak for other communities), the number of CMCs is definitely low. Getting this designation would set me apart from my competition.

2. There are special programs and relationships that are only open to CMCs. There are government granting programs that will subsidize the time a CMC spends working with a client to help the client organization can some valuable insight into their business. I can’t offer these subsidies to my clients without this designation.

Of course, there are tradeoffs:

1. CMCs, at least locally, have garnered themselves a reputation as an elitist group. That has good and bad connotations. Elite can mean high value but it can also mean “snobby”.

2. I estimate the cost of joining and getting your designation is roughly $9,000 CAD. In addition to your annual membership fee, you have to take a number of their approved courses in management consulting designed to establish a common body of knowledge for all CMCs. This is where the costs start to pile up. Very few of these courses are offered locally so you have to add flight and hotel costs to any course fees.

3. The term “management consulting” has some baggage of its own with its roots in the post-World War II push in North America to bring scientific management to the manufacturing and financial sectors. This was not without its problems and to this day, “management consulting” has connotations of “consulting for consulting’s sake”.

Obviously, the practice of management consulting varies by individuals but all of these factors need to be taken into consideration. Currently, I’m 80% convinced that I should apply for my designation because I believe it will help my business.

I’m open to anyone’s thoughts on this matter. Add your comments or call me if you have something to add to the discussion.

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Aaron “Crooky” Cruikshank is the Principal and Founder of Friuch Consulting. He has written professionally about science and technology for ten years.

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Topics: Business of Consulting |

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