This month’s Spotlight On series shines a light on Nick Dicksee, a Client Partner who specialises in delivering digital innovation that delights customers and employees. His 30+ year career has now moved into the consulting space, having been through sales, pre-sales and delivery leadership roles. We asked him a few questions – and we hope you enjoy his answers!
What inspired you to pursue a career in consulting?
Throughout my career I’ve been lucky enough to have worked with some exceptional consultants, observing and learning from them combined with the positive impacts they’ve made within different organisations. This has been a large part of my driving force to focus on where I can make a difference as a consultant, using my own knowledge and expertise to help deliver the right outcomes. Consulting not only allows you to freely observe, be curious and objective, but also to push the boundaries and be creative.
I find all levels of consulting fulfilling, from a short and impactful ‘day in the life’ to longer term engagements spending periods of time getting to know the client, their environment, collective knowledge and current operating model.
What unique perspective or approach do you bring to client engagements?
Walking in your client’s shoes is so important. It helps me empathise with and understand both the client and their challenges. It’s remarkable how much knowledge can be shared when this approach is adopted. This practice also builds trust, especially when clients feel heard and understood. To be credible, you should know your clients and their sectors well. I’ve found that sharing my experiences from working with other clients in similar situations provides valuable context and understanding of industry-specific challenges, while also helping me gain better insights into my current client’s specific issues. Flexibility in your consulting approach is also key. While you must deliver on the agreed scope, some elements of the engagement may allow you to explore further insights ‘off-piste’. However, it’s important to remain objective throughout this process.
Can you share a success story from a previous client project where your skills and expertise made a significant impact? What challenges did you help the client overcome?
A particularly memorable project involved assisting a prominent UK appliance manufacturer and retailer in transforming their customer experience (CX) during the Covid pandemic. As product demand surged, the client needed to adapt their operations to effectively manage revenue growth and increase sales time.
Through extensive discussions about digital transformation and automation in their CX, I gained a great understanding of their current operating model. Despite providing excellent service, most customer interactions were manual and time-consuming. Our comprehensive review encompassed all aspects of the customer journey, from website analytics to individual human interactions, engaging stakeholders at all levels – from the Managing Director to frontline CX agents.
Our recommendation centered on seamlessly integrating automation and robust self-service capabilities into their customer journey while preserving high levels of satisfaction and trust. The project proved highly successful, yielding a faster-than-anticipated return on investment due to impressive adoption rates and the overall effectiveness of the implemented changes.
In your experience, what are the most important qualities for a consultant to effectively collaborate with clients and drive successful outcomes?
Active listening is crucial for effective consulting. Really listening means you ask better questions and build trust at the same time. Too often we hear about consultants parachuting in, working to a formula and missing key focus areas. I think formulas are useful – and required – to a degree, but if you lack engagement in the organisation, the results and output will also be lacking.
Successful consulting also requires clarity, tailored communication, empathy, fostering partnerships, and leveraging relevant experiences. Without these, consultants risk delivering outputs that don’t align with the client’s desired outcomes. So, I think the goal is to balance structured approaches with genuine engagement to meet the client’s specific needs.
How do you stay current with industry trends and best practices to provide valuable insights to clients in rapidly evolving markets?
Research, research and more research! Finding a balance is important – I often gain a lot from meeting different people from my network because they’re spread across many different sectors. Reading online content is helpful too, there’s a wealth of (free) resources out there these days. It’s important to have a solid understanding of topics that are top of mind for senior leaders and appreciate how these apply to their businesses. Automation and AI are good examples. Building on your knowledge of current trends and anticipating how they might evolve means you’re better equipped to offer solutions that fit what the client really needs now and in the future.
