Management Consulting

Whether you are just starting your firm, managing an established business, or preparing for retirement, Rena can help you move from a reactive and opportunistic posture to a considered and strategic approach to accomplishing your professional goals.

RM Klein Consulting provides management consulting services primarily to architecture and design firms. As an architect and small firm owner for 20 years, Rena brings a special understanding of professional service firms populated by creative and entrepreneurial people.

Strategic Planning

All design firms operate in an environment of unpredictability. Firm owners must cope with constantly shifting workloads, respond quickly to promising opportunities, and deal immediately with unexpected circumstances. For small firm owners, with tight margins and fewer resources, this can be a significant challenge. Crafting strategies for firm growth and professional success, within this milieu of unpredictability can be very difficult.

Without effective business planning, small firm owners may find that despite excellent design outcomes and numerous happy clients, they are somehow unable to acheive certain personal and professional goals. Strategic planning is the process that can help break this cycle. Strategic planning is similar to building design because it applies design thinking to how organizations work.


-from Architect’s Guide to Small Firm Management by Rena M. Klein, FAIA

You would never consider designing a building without a budget or an understanding of its context. Design of your firm needs to be approached in the same way:

  • What are your financial goals?
  • What is the firm’s optimal size?
  • What are your proclivities, unique competence, core incompetence?
  • What is your vision for your firm as your desire or ability to direct the firm wanes?

These are the design criteria for your firm and a strategic planning process will help you explore these questions.

Strategic Planning Process

  1. Assessment of Existing Conditions — This is similar to an “as-built,” survey of a building’s existing structure and context. This process involves: facilitation of conversations among principals and senior staff; interviews with all professional and administrative staff; examination of firm financial performance; development of short-term revenue projections; and benchmarking of firm performance against industry standards
  2. Full-firm Retreat — Participation by all members of the staff in assessment and setting strategic priorities is critical to the success of a strategic planning process. Retreats can result in the staff becoming allies to the principals, willing to change and take action to improve the effectiveness of project acquisition and delivery.
  3. Scenario Planning — Based of the assessment, the retreat results, and ongoing conversations with the principals, several firm design scenarios will be developed. Questions of ownership transition, professional development, and staffing balance will be considered at this phase. This process is similar to the schematic design of a building.
  4. Strategic Action Plan — Like the construction documents, the strategic action plan is a guide to the implementation of the strategy developed in the scenario planning phase. It summarizes big-picture goals and outlines the actions required to achieve them in a certain time frame.

Sample Strategic Action Plan for a firm of 14:
Goal Strategy Mid-term Objective Short-term Action Time Frame
Outreach to Target Markets & Development of Expanded Regional Scope Greater % of Partners' time is spent on networking, firm development, and marketing tasks Transfer everyday project management from Principals to selected staff 1. Identify staff for intensive PM training June–July
2. Devote resources to internal and external PM training & mentoring Start Sept. on-going
Improve administrative processes 3. Install project management software January–March, next year
Retention of Valued Senior Employee Offer opportunity for minority partnership Consider ownership transfer options for 20% ownership over 5 years Make offer and negotiate agreement June–Dec.
Retention of “next generation” Firm Leaders Align professional development with goals and organizational design Consider introducing tiers with associated roles / responsibilities / authority 1. Explore professional development interests of staff July–Dec.
2. Create professional development plan for each staff member
3. Determine professional development budget
Improve Effectiveness of Project Delivery Improve processes for internal knowledge transfer Empower tasks group to spend time on improving internal knowledge sharing 1. Project close-out process Start July, on-going
2. Project start-up process
3. Internal lunch and team sessions
4. Design-focused pin-ups

  1. Implementation Phase — Similar to building construction, implementation—execution of the strategy—can be the most difficult part of the process. It often involves discipline and significant change, even for principals, challenging long-trusted habits with new ways of working. Help from a consultant is critical at this stage to keep the action going and to act as a trusted mentor to the principals.
  2. Evaluation Phase — Periodically, the strategic plan needs to be evaluated for continued relevance to ever-changing conditions. Ideally this would be an annual process that included a full-firm retreat. Strategic action plans need to be constantly revised and updated as part of the management work of the principals.

Strategic planning services require some in-person engagement, but much of the work can be done long-distance. With this process as an outline, each strategic planning process is customized to the needs of the client.

Help for Very Small Firms (<5 members)

All small firms are impacted by the values and proclivities of the principals, but solo practitioners and firms with fewer than 5 members are dominated by these factors. Therefore strategic planning for very small firms is a very personal matter. Rena begins by working closely with the principal(s) to explore values, vision, and financial goals for the firm. Since it is common for very small firm owners to engage in business endeavors outside their practice, integration of those activities will also be carefully considered.

Scenarios outlining possible futures will be developed over time. These scenarios will include firm size, staffing balance, and financial analysis. They are blueprints for operational changes that will enable long held goals to be achieved. For principals who want to work less, begin a phased retirement, or transition to other professional endeavors, these scenarios will include projections of total and billable hours required by the principal.

Once a scenario and associated strategic action has been chosen, Rena will help with implementation through ongoing management coaching. As a trusted advisor, she will assist in the strategic thinking needed to execute the plan and evaluate/adjust the plan as needed.

Rena can also help solo practitioners and owners of very small firm with financial management tasks and the creation of effective marketing materials.

Help for Start-ups

It is natural to have many questions when starting a design firm. Rena offers affordable hourly consulting to help entrepreneurial architects create successful firms, however success is defined. Services range from on-call consultation to the development/implementation of a business plan. It pays to be strategic when starting a business, even if choices appear limited by economic constraints. Rena can help you make the right decisions as a trusted advisor and management mentor. Consulting is available in-person or long-distance.

Ownership Transition Planning

Design firm founders who want retirement income from their firm must create an organization that has value beyond the founders’ reputation and competencies. Usually, this means the firm must grow and, over time, transition firm ownership to second generation leadership. Rena provides consultation on ownership transition planning, as part of a strategic planning process or as a stand-alone course of action. Formation of new partnerships or the dissolution of existing partnerships are also forms of ownership transition. Rena is skilled at facilitating the conversations needed to form or dissolve partnership agreements.

Financial Management Assistance

Financial management enables firm leadership to make informed decisions about staffing and other operational issues. Nevertheless, many firm owners find it difficult to take time to perform financial management. These tasks include:

  • Budget development
  • Revenue and staffing forecasts
  • Annual financial check-up
  • Profit planning
  • Growth planning
  • Benchmarking to industry standards

Rena can assist with these and other financial management tasks on an hourly or contract basis.

For more information on Financial Management see this article by Rena at the AIA Architects Knowledge Resource: Beyond Intuition: Financial Management for Small Firms

Professional Development Planning

Successful firm leaders know that continuous professional learning is a necessity and a competitive advantage in 21st Century practice. Planning the professional development of principals, staff, and administrators can help continuing education efforts to be aligned with the strategic goals of the firm. Firms can “move to next level,” by encouraging a culture of learning where knowledge is both created and shared. Rena can assist with the creation of professional development plans and with implementation of actions designed to foster a learning organization. Professional development planning can be part of a strategic planning initiative or a stand-alone engagement.

Consulting Process

Consulting services include strategic planning, ownership transition planning, financial management assistance, professional development planning and management mentoring. Each engagement is customized to the needs of the client and is provided using both in-person meetings and long-distance communication. Contact Rena for more information on consulting services for your firm.