Leadership

Contents

1. Why the pyramid is expensive for the client

2. Seven checks for genuine seniority

2.1 A named staffing commitment in the contract.

2.2 Relevant experience rather than years at the firm.

2.3 The first meeting as a sample.

2.4 References you are allowed to call.

2.5 Transparency about who is deployed

2.6 The no test

2.7 Fee model and incentives

3. What seniority means in everyday project work

4. Our model

5. The procurement view: securing seniority contractually

6. And if the project is already running?

7. Conclusion

Why the pyramid is expensive for the client

The business model of many large consultancies rests on leverage: a few experienced partners win the work, many young consultants deliver it. The margin comes from the difference between a junior's daily rate and their cost. That creates a built-in conflict of interest: the consultancy earns most when as much work as possible is shifted onto shoulders as young as possible. For standard tasks that can work. For transformation initiatives, where every conversation with a department head calls for a sure touch, it does not: there the consultant's learning curve is completed at the client project's expense.

Seven checks for genuine seniority

1. A named staffing commitment in the contract.

Have the specific people committed to you with their profiles, and agree a right of approval for any replacement. Serious providers have no problem with this; evasive answers are a warning sign.

2. Relevant experience rather than years at the firm.

Do not ask how long someone has worked at the consultancy, ask how many comparable initiatives that person has supported with real responsibility. “Responsible” means with their own room to shape things, not as a team member in the engine room.

3. The first meeting as a sample.

Bring a real problem from your initiative and watch who answers. The partner, or the team that is supposed to deliver later? Substantial follow-up questions are a better sign than quick cure-alls.

4. References you are allowed to call.

A reference list is marketing. It becomes valuable when you are allowed to speak to the clients named. Ask them directly: who actually delivered? Were there changes in the team? How were problems handled?

5. Transparency about who is deployed.

Have it reported monthly which person delivered how many days. That imposes discipline and makes creeping substitution by juniors visible.

6. The no test.

Ask the provider which assignments it would turn down and where the limits of its expertise lie. Anyone who has an answer to everything has a good answer to nothing.

7. Fee model and incentives.

A high daily rate for demonstrably senior-staffed teams is often more economical than a low blended rate that hides a junior leverage model. Calculate in results per euro, not in daily rates.

What seniority means in everyday project work

Experience shows in behavior, not in a CV. Senior-staffed teams ask more questions than they give answers in the first weeks. They object when the client wants to take a shortcut that will backfire later. They recognize political dynamics before those reach the project. And they know when a standard is enough and when it is not, which saves more money than any difference in daily rates costs.

Our model

Tiba Transformation Group works without a junior pyramid. Our rule: whoever wins the engagement works on the engagement. Our consultants bring many years of experience in project management, change management and transformation, out of more than 37 years of methodological tradition and over 950 engagements. That is not a marketing promise but a structural decision: we are deliberately small so that experience is not diluted.

The procurement view: securing seniority contractually

For buyers and category managers the checks translate into concrete contract mechanics. Four clauses have proved themselves: a named staffing annex listing the committed people and their minimum capacity on the project; a right of approval for every change of personnel, together with the right to reject replacement profiles; a monthly record of delivery at the level of individuals rather than aggregated team days; and, where it fits, partly tying the fee to defined results rather than paying purely for effort. None of these clauses is exotic, and serious providers accept them without discussion. What is interesting is the reaction of those who do not: anyone who resists transparency about who is deployed has already answered the seniority question. A second note for procurement practice: do not assess proposals primarily by the daily rate but by the demonstrated experience per day deployed. A senior consultant at 2,000 euros who finds in four weeks what a junior team at 1,200 euros searches for over four months is the more economical decision, and that calculation belongs in every evaluation matrix.

And if the project is already running?

You can still correct course in an engagement that is already under way.

That works best in three steps:

First, create transparency. Who actually delivered how many days over the last three months, and does that match the proposal?

Second, have the conversation. Not confrontationally but factually: “we bought seniority and we expect it on the project.” Good providers correct course; the reaction tells you who you are dealing with.

Third, draw consequences. If nothing changes: every project has milestones, and every milestone is an opportunity to reorder the collaboration. The most expensive option is almost always to let something that does not deliver carry on out of convenience.

Conclusion:

Seniority is measurable if you ask the right questions. Anchor the seven checks in your selection process before you sign. The effort is small compared with the cost of a project carried by a learning curve.