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The Evolution of External Consultants

May 5, 2019 By Renata Bernarde Leave a Comment

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To address the challenges and opportunities we face today require a diverse set of skills and an innovative approach to strategy.

By Renata Bernarde, Founder and Director, Pantala

What is known about creativity and innovation research tells us that always trying something new and being outside your comfort zone ignites your brain to think laterally about problems. My whole life and career, for better or worse, has been built on overcoming massive change and disruption, sometimes life-threatening challenges, and big personal and professional shifts.  I used to think of those big changes as “black spots” in my ability to succeed. And I used to explain any success I had as happening despite those issues, and not because of them.

Today I think very differently about change. I can see how lucky I have been to go through so many challenges and to always push my boundaries. It has helped me develop a creative mindset, open to innovation and adaptation. It has also given me planning and forecasting skills, and the ability to respond quickly to adversity. I now know that the many changes in my life have been my strength and propelled me to have great career opportunities and personal achievements.

Pantala was shaped by that same mould. We enable transformation projects by bringing together a star team to support our client partners, offering them a different perspective, an opportunity to challenge the status quo, collectively generating ideas and collaborating to achieve the desired future. Our clients are our partners, and vice versa. We are not just consultants; We actually don’t see ourselves as consultants at all: We hope clients will let us “sink our teeth” and be involved in the project ‘sunrise to sunset’ . This means we are only happy when our clients are happy!

The need for deep reflection, creative thinking and strong purpose

The concept may sound very theoretical, but it is also very pragmatic. To address the challenges and opportunities we face today require a diverse set of skills and an innovative approach to strategy. Most of all, it requires deep reflection and consideration of the factors involved in decisions we take and their flow-on effects.

For example, in hindsight today the people of the United Kingdom are pessimistic about Brexit. But at the time of voting for Brexit, more than half the voters were willing to give it a try. Why? If you are trying to turn on the lights, for example, you may flick different switches expecting one of them to work, because it is our instinct to just react in response to our needs. However, the complexity of our social and economical problems requires us to be more considerate. Those switches are often in fact massive levers which can be destructive. This can be a good thing: many existing corporate and social-economic structures may not suit the world we are hoping to build for future generations, or they can be bad, such as changes that may threaten our democratic values.  What is important to acknowledge is that decisions we make today have a massive impact in the world.

Clients as partners and social purpose: The birth of a new wave of external consultants

That is why we are committed to making the world better and determined to work with clients in partnership, and together find the path to meaningful business improvement and cultural transformation. We work on projects we believe contribute to the wider good of society in large or small ways. We believe large enterprises can be amazing workplaces and develop great products and social impact, and we believe small business and startups inject energy, social change and innovation in meaningful ways that complement our business and social fabric. We have a social purpose at heart and see ourselves as champions for the common good, with the ambition to become the anti-dote to outdated “cookie cutter” approaches to strategic advice. We take a broad approach on how to deliver projects by focusing on intent, practice, trust, leadership and communication.

Pantala is innovative in its loose collaborative model. Our consultants work independently but also together when it makes sense – but always drawing on each other’s expertise. Most importantly, from our client’s point of view, at Pantala we put humans at the centre of every strategy, decision and goal:

“We human beings are the most marvellous machines in the known universe. We have minds that are capable of the most astonishing acts of beauty, insight and compassion. We are also capable of evil. If you recognize that you have been handed the machinery to do all these marvellous things but the hazard of doing also terrible things, then isn’t the obvious choice to take power away from the genes and say look, this machine is going to be re-dedicated to something worthy of it? If you have this marvellous machine, what are you going to do with it? That is the question.”

Brett Weinsten, Evolutionary Theorist

Please be in touch; I would love to know more about your projects and plans for 2019 and beyond. And I would be grateful if you could refer us to people within your network that you believe would benefit from having a chat with us. Every conversation is an exciting discovery and helps me to better position Pantala so that we offer maximum value for our partner-clients.

Renata Bernarde, Founder and Director, Pantala

You can contact Renata on +61 402 522 658 or renata@pantala.com.au

To read more about the Pantala practice and how we work, click here.

You can find out about our Services to Business here and Services to Leaders here.

Filed Under: Consulting, Renata Bernarde

Renata Bernarde

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