Managing success

Refining Knowledge Management

 In 1988, Fred Gluck became the MD and Ted Hall took over a newly constituted Clientele
and Professional Development Committee(CPDC).
 Ted Hall shifted Focus of this committee from developing knowledge to building individual
and team capability.
 The CPDC began integrating 72 islands of activities into 7 sectors and 7 functionality groups.
 These newly formed groups were led by teams of 5 to 7 partners (typically young directors
and principals.
 The idea was to change the leader driven process to self governing practices.
• Client Impact
 Gluck made client impact the central theme in his speeches, memos and All Partners
Conference.
 Client Impact committee was created to ensure developed expertise was producing positive
results in each client management.
 This committee formed CST(client service team) which concentrated more on meeting the
long term needs of the clients rather than fulfilling the immediate tasks which the traditional
ET( engagement team) were focussing on.

• Developing Multiple Career paths

 Professional personal committee decided to create 2 career paths for client support and
administrative staff.
 First path was a path to partnership for practice-dedicated clients who had credibility of
client and specialized knowledge.
 Second path was the practice management path for practice co-ordinators, who were guiding
the practice leaders to manage increasingly complex networks.
 The primary purpose of creating these changes was to produce highly motivated world class
who will serve clients well.
 Knowledge Management on the Front
Jeff Peters and the Sydney office Assignment

 McKinsey’s Sydney office was invited to bid for financial services growth strategy study for
one of Australia’s most respected companies.
 John Stuckey the Sydney Office Director immediately searched for a competent person to
make the first engagement with an important client.
 After numerous phone calls and lobbying Jeff peters was selected. But, Stuckey was
presented with a problem as peter had two on-going commitments which would make him
for the first 6 weeks of the Australian assignment.
 Meanwhile, a three person team was formed to work with peters. A group of internal
specialists were also selected to help the team.
 With the help of knowledge directory, the team found relevant documents and contacts
which helped them narrow their focus onto 4 viable options.
 Peter joined at this moment and assigned tasks to the team members to concentrate on the
end product.
 With everything sorted out, Peter concentrated on Client relationship and finally after some
tough questioning and challenging the recommendations were accepted by the board.
 Warwick Bray and European Telecoms

 Warwick Bray a young consultant joined Melbourne office in 1989.

 He worked on engagements related to the impact of deregulation on the Asia-pacific
Telecommunications industry.
 With his experience on telecom projects he wrote a document “Negotiating Interconnect”
which was widely recognised across the firm and soon he was called an expert in de-
regulation.
 Under the leadership of Patsalsos- Fox, telecom practice leader in London, Bray worked on
the European deregulation.
 Patsalasos-Fox launched a series of sponsored studies on the telecom industry. Bray
contributed immensely to the studies which helped him again internal reputation.
 In 1996, Patsalsos – Fox offered co-leadership role to Bray and 2 others. These 3 co-leaders
concentrated on organising and developing the informal links among the fast growing
European practices.
 They developed a separate Intranet for telecom which allowed members direct access to the
Practice’s knowledge base.