Richard Day is a Chartership pioneer. An experienced professional at AtkinsRéalis, he was one of the first 25 consultants to receive the Chartered Management Consultant (ChMC) accreditation in 2020.
His experience has made Richard a strong advocate and supporter of accreditation within his firm. He said:
For me it was about getting the recognition, from industry experts and specialists outside my company, that I am performing at that certain level, rather than just being told that by my seniors. Understanding that amongst your peers and in other companies there is a benchmark is crucial for the profession.
Achieving ChMC was a catalyst to Richard’s professional growth, providing him with opportunities to stay up to date with the latest trends and best practice.
He explained:
Being part of the Management Consultancies Association (MCA) community and engaging in networking events allowed me to understand what our clients and competitors are doing.
For me, being a part of a wider community has enabled me to be aware of the trends that are happening in the industry and to make sure we can
react to them accordingly.
Richard stressed Chartership’s significance in creating parity among professionals from all backgrounds, promoting equality of opportunity and diversity within the profession. He said:
ChMC accreditation recognises your consulting experience and expertise, irrespective of whether you came through an apprenticeship, a degree, or had a career change from an entirely different industry. It gives professionals, regardless of their background, access to this level of recognition.
ChMC’s focus on ethics and behaviours is crucial for Richard.
He outlined the benefits it offered:
One of the main competencies you have to evidence to gain the ChMC is around ethics and behaviours. ChMC accreditation forces the industry and the profession to have ethics at the forefront of their thinking. Being asked to focus on social value, integrity, and respect creates a really positive working environment.
Richard is committed to breaking down barriers to a career in consultancy. He said:
It is about taking exciting individuals who have apprenticeships, who are doing amazing things in our industry, and shouting about that more. It is meeting and engaging with school pupils to make them realise that there are fantastic routes to consulting, and it doesn’t necessarily have to be the traditional, ‘go away for three years and do a degree’ path.
The focus should be on schools and making sure people realise that they can have a career path into professional services that doesn’t necessarily
involve a traditional degree.
Even for a person of Richard’s experience being Chartered has boosted his professional self-esteem.
He said:
It has given me confidence in the work that I do. It is important that there is now a Chartership for management consultancy because it sets that high standard. It gave me a good chance to reflect on my experiences to date, to reflect on the challenges and how I overcome them. The process of going through Chartership three years ago was hugely reflective, allowing me to review my career to date and what I have achieved which was very rewarding.
Our clients are starting to look at ChMC as a key component in evaluating bids and in the delivery of our work as well. They are looking for more companies to have this exciting recognition.
ChMC is motivating us to become a more diverse profession.
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