INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT CONSULTANTS
New England Chapter

Memo from the Prez

Mechanisms for Collegiality

If IMCNE is worth anything, it’s as a vehicle for bringing consultants in New England together. It has long been our mission to "serve the New England consulting community" and most recently we’ve been attempting to do so by setting up useful mechanisms for collegiality.

Specifically, our aim is to provide venues for consultants to brainstorm together, learn together, share resources, swap job leads, partner-up on projects or just plain lend support in both good times and bad.

Lately, three projects have bloomed, moving this mission forward in great leaps:

1) Values Survey. Ably conducted by Pat Kirton and Charlie Perry, this survey is enabling the IMCNE Membership Team, just as ably led by membership Co-Chairs Carol Bergeron and Bill Evans, to commit to this goal for 2004-2005: "Retain and Add Members Through Valued Experiences." In pursuit of this, our Values Survey strived to determine "what our members value." 66 consultants participated last fall and results are now available to any IMCNE member or affiliate upon request. Email Carol or Bill for a copy.

2) Accelerated Networking Workshop. The handiwork of Jeff Govendo and Pam Brown, ANW resulted in a slew of ideas for creating meaningful interaction among New England consultants, including more Breakfast Brainstorms, PEGs (Professional Emphasis Groups) and Blue Herons business advisory groups. Other ideas that emerged: referral groups, book groups, "Feet-to-the-Fire" groups, and many more. For a complete list, email me at .

3) The Consultants Profile, shepherded by Jim Simons and Bill Evans.
This document lists details of individual IMCNE consultants, such as business description, expertise, industries served, effective traits and "client events that create business." Loaded with such info, the Profile offers us a resource for locating the right colleague for a joint venture, for lead-swapping, for edification on an issue outside our own expertise, or for virtually any other professional need. It’s available only to IMCNE participating members, so fill one out today if you haven’t already. Email Jim Simons at for a CP form.

Any one of these three projects might be considered a hefty initiative in the right direction. To have three is like manna from Consultants Heaven (wherever that may be!). So please accept my invitation, on behalf of our marvelous IMCNE Board of Directors and volunteers, to take full advantage of these tools and make them your own.

Ken Lizotte CMC
President