Promoting good practice

in management consultancy and training

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Statement of Good Practice

This Statement of Good Practice has been prepared by ACT as guidance to consultants working with not-for-profit organisations.

· Statement of Good Practice

· Guidance to Support the Statement of Good Practice

· Background

Statement of Good Practice

Motivation

1. Consultants should aim to enhance the effectiveness of not-for-profit organisatinns. They should regard their clients’ requirements and interests as paramount at all times.

2. Consultants should take steps to understand the values and culture of their clients’ organisations.

Competence

3. Consultants should only accept work which they can demonstrate that they have the qualifications, experience and expertise to deliver.

Agreement on Deliverables and Fees

4. Consultants should agree in writing with the client the scope, nature and deliverables of the services to he provided and the basis of remuneration, in advance of commencing work. Any subsequent revisions should be subject to prior discussion and agreement with the client.

Sub-Contracting

5. Consultants should only sub-contract work with the prior agreement of the client, and, except where otherwise agreed. will remain responsible for the performance of the work.

Confidentiality

6. Consultants should hold all information concerning the affairs of clients in the strictest confidence and should not disclose information obtained during the course of assignments without the consent of the individual or client, except where this relates to unlawful behaviour.

Non-Poaching

7. Consultants should not invite or encourage any client or employee for whom they are working to consider alternative employment, unless it is the purpose of the assignment.

Due Care

8. Consultants should ensure that the work involved in all assignments is carefully planned. the time required is accurately estimated and that they do not commit themselves to tasks which they cannot complete in the time available.

9. Consultants should make certain that advice, solutions and recommendations are based on thorough, impartial consideration and analysis of all available pertinent facts and relevant experience and are realistic, practicable and clearly understood by the client.

Communication

10. Consultants should ensure that the client is kept fully informed about the progress of the assignment.

Equal Opportunities

11. Consultants should have arrangements for ensuring equality of opportunity in all their work.

Evaluation

12. Consultants should seek feedback on their work as it proceeds and should ask clients to evaluate their work on completion of each assignment.

Disclosure

13. Consultants should disclose at the earliest opportunity any special relationships, circumstances or interests which might be seen by the client or others to influence or impair the consultant’s judgment or objectivity on a particular assignment.

Conflicts of Interest

14. Consultants should declare any conflicts of interest to the client before entering into a contract.

Continuing Professional Development

15. Consultants should allocate a specified number of days per year to continuing professional development in order to ensure that the knowledge and skills that they offer to clients are kept up to date.

Guidance to support the Statement of Good Practice

The following questions are designed to help consultants determine whether they are adhering to the Standards.

Motivation

Have you identified an individual who is the client for the assignment? Have you established accountability when the ‘client’ is not the ‘funder’ of the work?

Are you confident that you can be dispassionate in your judgment when the client’s cause and values conflict with your beliefs and values?

What actions will you take to understand the client’s organisation culture?

Competence

What evidence do you have to demonstrate to your client that you have the skill and experience needed to successfully deliver the assignment?

Have you informed your client of the boundaries of your competence (for example when specialist accountancy. HR or fund-raising expertise is required)? Are you confident that you can identify the levers of change that need to be used for the consultancy to have real impact?

Agreement on Deliverables and Fees

Do all your contracts set out the objectives of the assignment, the activities that will be undertaken, the staging of the work, reporting arrangements, the time-scale for delivery and the arrangements and timing of payments for work?

Have you been explicit about expenses and VAT?

Sub-Contracting

Where more than one person is working on an assignment, have you made arrangements to ensure timely delivery of the component parts of the work? Where work is formally sub-contracted, have you made this clear to the client?

Confidentiality

When necessary do you inform people from whom you are gathering data that it will be treated as confidential?

Do you always seek client’s permission for use of material for case studies?

Non-Poaching

Do you ensure that you never invite clients or any of their employees to work for you or another organisation?.

Do you have a plan of work with time allocations?

Have you earmarked the number of days needed to complete the assignment within the agreed timescale?

Have you taken into account the potential impact of all other commitments that might interfere with the timely delivery of the assignment?

What actions do you take to ensure that you are rigorous in developing advice, solutions and recommendations and that these are tested with colleagues and with the client?

Communication

Have you established methods for communicating with the client, and where appropriate with other stakeholders, at every stage of the assignment?

Equal Opportunities

Do you have an equal opportunities policy?

What steps do you take to ensure that equal opportunities issues are considered in your work with clients?

Evaluation

What actions do you take to request feedback on the quality of your work as it proceeds?

Do you have a evaluation form or process for clients to give feedback on completion of an assignment?

Do you periodically review the results of client feedback and use the information to guide your continuing professional development programme?

Disclosure

Do you have any business or personal relationships with other clients or other organisations or stakeholders in the client organisation that you should declare to a client before accepting an assignment?

Conflicts of Interest

Have you or are you undertaking any work or do you hold any positions that might lead to a conflict of interest?

Continuing Professional Development

Do you have a personal development programme that is reviewed and updated annually?

Do you regularly review the full range of personal development methods including individual study, training courses, shadowing and mentoring to determine their appropriateness to your personal development needs?

Background

This Statement of Good Practice has been prepared by ACT as guidance to consultants working with not-for-profit organisations. It is based on the Code of Professional Conduct of the Institute of Management Consultancy and has been tailored to address the special circumstances facing consultants working for non-profit organizations. The Statement is supported by a set of Guidelines that aim to help consultants determine whether they are meeting the Standards.

As ACT is an association and not a professional institute, we are not in a position to require members to obey the Standards. However, we strongly believe that consultancy relationships are more effective when consultants adhere to good practices set out in this Statement. We encourage clients to expect their consultants to use both the Statement and the supporting Guidelines to inform the development of their practice.

Updated 1^st March 2001

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