What I Learned About Transformative Consulting from My Fragmented HealthCare Experience
Many consultants make a living as ideas people—coming up with a strategy, putting it into a presentation deck, and riding off into the sunset. But at Excelerate, we specialize in implementation and transformation—putting plans into action, getting projects completed and results realized.
I’d been struggling with how to illustrate this point and then, last year, I ruptured a tendon in my foot and saw firsthand (or first foot, perhaps) how a transformational project—in this case, fixing my tendon—could quickly go off the rails without the right team in place.
Although I’m sick of being off balance and off my surfboard, the experience clarified some things for me about leadership, consulting, and what Excelerate brings to the transformational table.
A Fragmented and Disjointed Experience from the Start
Immediately after I injured my foot, the swelling was unreal, which the doctors believed indicated an infection. Later, they determined I‘d ruptured the tendon and sent me to a surgeon who (over)confidently assured me that a complex reparative procedure would solve everything.
But, five months later, new complications emerged, and it became clear that the root cause was more than the surgeon had considered.
Next, I went to a renowned university hospital where I hoped they would look at the problem more holistically, setting me up with a primary care physician and primary podiatrist who would focus on the root cause and coordinate care across specialists as needed. But that did not happen.
With Every Eye on the Micro, Nobody Is Looking at the Macro
Unfortunately, as far as I can tell, healthcare these days is hyperspecialized to the point that physicians only think about their own field of medicine. Everybody is looking at their own micro (their specialty), nobody’s keeping track of the macro (me and my foot).
My next few months went something like this: “Oh, you need a surgery, I can do that…But if you want to avoid surgery, you may need to go to a Podiatrist…But you have a detached suture that’s not absorbing, think about going to a wound specialist….But your blood work is showing strange results, you should probably talk with another specialist…”
It’s all extremely frustrating. No one person cares about the root cause, they only worry about their silo. More importantly, nobody is accountable for a good overall outcome, just their specific niche assignment.
General Contractors, Quarterbacks, and Business Transformation Consulting
So, why am I sharing this story?
My recent experience, I believe, is why Excelerate’s clients hire us to run their strategic product launches, systems implementations, software selections, and merger integration projects. We see the big picture, we get to the root of the problem, and we get results with a maniacal focus on business value.
Our consultants have deep expertise in specific industries and specific technologies, sure, but what sets them apart is their combination of skills and business acumen that are crucial to getting challenging, transformational projects across the finish line.
And that’s what I wanted from my healthcare experience.
Another way to think of it is like a home renovation project: You don’t want dozens of independent contractors running around chaotically. You need a general contractor quarterbacking the team, ensuring everybody takes the appropriate steps in the appropriate order without tripping each other up.
How We Do It: Five Ingredients in our Transformational Secret Sauce
Our consultants are enterprise thinkers who see the smallest details of their specialization while never losing sight of the project as a whole. We are accountable to see the transformation through to the final outcome.
The way I see it, Excelerators bring five key ingredients to the table that enable us to drive our client’s transformational success:
A P&L Level Business Mindset positions us to understand the true implications of key launch decisions. This means we’re ready to pivot as needed, but only after considering the top and bottom-line implications to changing course. This mindset also differentiates us from traditional project managers that focus only on tasks and status.
Grit, Resilience, and Flexibility keep us unafraid of the inevitable risks and issues that will, temporarily, sidetrack a project. We are ready to address issues head on, and if things get messy, we roll up our sleeves to help.
A Focus on the End Goal means we obsess over a project’s outcome and delivering ROI. We’re not wed to the exact steps to get to the finish line, we just know we can’t stop until we get there.
A Holistic Lens through which we understand and respect the functional expertise within a company, and to know when to leverage that expertise.
Passion for Change Readiness helps us prepare people to adopt new processes, policies, systems. Without adoption, there is no benefit. Our approach ensures employees are ready for the ways their jobs may change after the transformation is complete.
Excelerators embody these traits—along with a healthy dose of humility—and it’s this combination, I believe, that uniquely situates us to drive transformations to the finish.
Conclusion: Paging Doctor Excelerate!
Major business transformations are hard work.
They require somebody to quarterback the team, to play general contractor and strategically look across the project and move it forward. This means going deep in specific areas, pivoting as needed, overcoming obstacles along the way, and keeping all functional groups engaged and connected.
At Excelerate, we’re accountable for the final outcome. not just some small segment of it, and we take this responsibility very seriously. We obsess over the role of transformational leadership because our clients trust us with their most important initiatives and we understand all that really matters is delivering business value.
Now if only I could hire an Excelerate consultant to fix my foot.
—Nilay Thakker