Manager development programme for Strategy consulting: teaching engagement leads to coach analysts
Engagement leads are promoted for their analysis, then asked to coach juniors and manage clients at once. A short programme on coaching and feedback closes the gap between being good and helping others be good.
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Share your requirementsWhy manager development programme matters in strategy consulting
The best analyst in a strategy firm becomes an engagement lead and finds the job changes. Their own analysis matters less. Setting tasks for others, reviewing slides without rewriting them, giving feedback and holding the client's attention matter more. Nobody has taught them how, so they fall back on rewriting at night.
A manager development programme here is short and practical. Four or five half-day sessions across a year, built on live engagements, cover task setting, reviewing work, feedback talks, handling difficult clients and managing time. Leads practise with each other and bring real cases, and partners attend one session to show support.
How to set it up
1. Select the first group of engagement leads
Start with five or six leads and a partner sponsor. Ask each what they find hardest about leading a team and use the answers to shape the sessions.
2. Teach task setting and reviewing
Show how to give a clear brief with the question, the output and the deadline, and how to review work by asking questions instead of rewriting it. Practise on actual slides.
3. Practise feedback talks
Use role play with realistic cases: a good analyst who is slow, a careless one and a quiet one. Give a simple structure and let leads try it twice.
4. Cover client handling and team stress
Discuss how to manage a demanding client, protect the team from last-minute changes and say no on scope. Share ways that partners have handled these.
5. Follow up on the job
After each session, give one thing to try on the current engagement and ask for a short report at the next. Check with analysts after six months whether coaching has improved. See leadership training for related material.
Check these first
Before changing anything, find out what is true today. These take an afternoon and use your own records.
- Ask engagement leads what part of leading a team they were never taught.
- Look at how many slides are rewritten by the lead rather than returned to the analyst.
- Ask analysts how often they get clear briefs for tasks.
- Check whether any partner has attended a development session with leads.
GullyHR can do this with you. Read how we approach manager development programme in general, or share your requirements and we will tell you where to start.
Questions owners ask
Yes, if it is short and uses live engagements. A few half-days a year cost less than the hours a lead spends rewriting work and the cost of analysts leaving because they did not grow.
They can, and it helps, but an outside facilitator keeps the sessions focused and gives leads freedom to speak. Use partners as guests to share their own experiences.
Ask analysts about briefs and feedback before and after, watch for fewer rewritten slides and note whether leads are coaching more. Changes are small and visible within two or three engagements.