“If you’re a consulting firm, you must choose a specific area of content expertise, a niche – otherwise you have no right to exist.”

We hear this statement regularly from other entrepreneurs, especially within the consulting industry. They firmly believe in the necessity of a clear content specialisation: become the expert in risk management for financial institutions, marketing strategy for FMCG, IT asset management, or another clearly defined discipline.

In this blog, Dolf L’Ortye, co‑founder of Summiteers, explains how we at Summiteers look at this statement.

Expertise, expertise, and expertise

During conversations, we are often asked: “What is your content specialism?” There seems to be a widespread belief that consulting firms need to position themselves as experts in one specific substantive domain. It’s an interesting question, because the answer is more nuanced than you might expect.

In my view, it comes down to the following. There is expertise, expertise and expertise.

At Summiteers, we are not industry experts in our clients’ core business. We do not know everything about international transport, roadside assistance, artist development, hospitals, trade finance or health insurers. By industry expert, I mean someone who knows exactly what is happening in the world of health insurance, which laws and regulations matter, which trends are relevant, and so on.

Nor are we content experts in the day‑to‑day work of the departments we work with. Think of risk management, legal, compliance, HR or IT. A content expert is someone who can explain in detail how CSRD legislation should be interpreted or what the latest technology stacks are that a bank should be using.

We have been working with many clients for a long time and across a wide range of sectors. As a result, we quietly learn a lot about their businesses. By now, I have a solid understanding of how a bank works, how a call centre operates, how a pension fund functions, and which trends and developments are shaping those sectors. The same applies to the content of what different departments do, such as IT, compliance or HR.

Still, we make sure this is never the reason clients hire us. Our starting point remains: “You know your business or your department better than we do.” Of course, we share our observations about an industry or organisation, and clients appreciate that. But our real added value lies elsewhere.

We are experts in organising change

We are experts when it comes to how organisations are designed and how change is realised. In fact, clients usually engage us specifically for this combination of expertise.

We can tell you everything about different types of operating models – organisational structures, roles and mandates, decision‑making forums – and about ways of organising in order to realise strategy. We also know how to design such a model, because that is where change already starts, and how to implement it. Think of realisation roadmaps and programme and project management – what we call orchestration. That is our what.

What truly sets us apart, in my view, is our how. How we design, how we plan, and how we actually make things happen. That is the second part of our expertise: how to drive change. Here too, we can explain the different approaches you can take, how to make the right diagnosis, what works in which situation, and why.

One of the elements that makes our approach distinctive is our strong focus on development. Development creates movement, and that is a crucial part of the how.

The magic is in the partnership

We combine our expertise with that of the client – and that is where the magic happens. You can see this reflected in the promises on our website: we make sure it gets finished, we do it together, and you will learn from it.

You'll recognise this: bring together a group of people, each with their own top talent, add someone who takes the lead – a coach, conductor, captain, whatever you want to call it – and you get magic. This role suits us very well.

The client brings in their specialists, depending on what is needed: expertise about the business, customers and value proposition, legal, HR. We are part of the orchestra as the ones who know how to organise. And because we also take the lead, it not only gets done, it is also an enjoyable process.

Choosing the right partner for your strategic challenge

Are you facing a strategic challenge? Then ask yourself: what kind of expert do I need? Someone who knows everything about my industry, someone who knows everything about a specific subject such as compliance, or a partner who does what we do: understands how to organise and how to change.

All forms of expertise are equally valuable, in my view. The nature of the challenge and your context determine what is needed.

Look for a partner who:

• Truly listens and asks the right questions
• Has experience with similar challenges
• Recognises, applies and strengthens your expertise

Finally, a small note on the term expert. Yes, we are experts in the sense that we know a great deal about what we have described above. But above all, we are advisors – and that, to me, makes the difference. An advisor always works with the client, is there for the client, and pays attention to the shared process. We are advisors with deep expertise.

Need help translating strategy into action?

We are Summiteers. We create movement, make complexity understandable, make large challenges manageable, turn a vague idea into something concrete, and help difficult things succeed. We call that strategy execution.

Could you use some help with this? Get in touch Contact Graham at graham.osullivan@summiteers.nl or 0867022319.

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