Mutual of America has overspent hiring outside consultants. Whether it is Boston Consulting, Accenture, Alavarez & Marsal, I have never known a consultant who advised a firm to spend less-not more. You pay these clowns $250,000 for a 50 page report and a list of 10 recommendations you could have done yourself. It is a travesty that Firms like MoA dont rely more on their front-line employees and obtain their implementable opinions. These are people closest to clients. They hear clients. They understand clients. They know clients. Companies would save millions a year and build trust with front line employees if we just listened and implemented their feedback. Mutual of America supposedly spent $250K to hire an outside consultant to rename and rebrand the Target Date Funds as MoA Clear Passage. Why not hold a naming competition amongst your own employees and pay the winner a $5K bonus. You could have saved the company $245K ! WTF ! It is outrageous how much companies overspend. It's crazy. Trust your frontline employees. They are your TRUE consultants.
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Company is addicted to consultants. Instead of surveying front line employees, company wastes money on consultants who don't understand our business. Waste of money, resources, time, and intelligence. Must be the new Chris Conway way. AKA "Festog Light."
I've never met a consultant who has advised to spend less money.
I've never met a consultant who advises to spend more money. It's always more money and in most cases, substantially more money. Front line employees are the unpaid consultants. They do yeoman's work and Mutual of America doesn't value them. Why ? Because The Firm easily wants to first drop $250K on an outside consultants that don't know jack schit about the interworkings of the company. My advice: Listen to what your clients and front line staff say they need and fire the CHRO, and high level Executives like the Field Office Executive VPs, or Bailey or Moriarity who haven't added value or developed talent in years. They should GTFO.
It's frustrating to see the company constantly overspend on consultants. These firms come in and essentially validate what you already know, but with a fancy presentation and a hefty price tag. They're applying a generic template – you're likely somewhere around a 3 on the Capability Maturity Model (CMM) for line-of-business management, meaning you have some processes in place, but they could be more efficient.
The problem is raw information below the EVP-level rarely reaches the CEO in its true form. It gets filtered and watered down as it travels up the chain, losing its valuable nuances. Meanwhile, the front-line employees, who actually interact with clients and understand the business realities, are overlooked. Their insights are invaluable, but they rarely get a seat at the decision-making table.
It's time for Mutual to recognize the value of internal expertise. By listening, empowering employees and leveraging their knowledge, you can achieve significant cost savings and build a stronger, more agile organization.