Interview

A few things not going right here:

• What you have outlined here (1-5) is a process/approach, and NOT a framework. Its the trivial approach you will follow to help the client turnaround
• Steps #1/#2 should get covered in your clarifying questions. If you have not spent a few minutes and a good few questions getting to know the client, the problem, and the situation better, you have severely impacted your chances of success in the case.
• You need to understand what will the “framework” or “structure” be here for? Primarily it will like step #3
• Step #4 will be your analysis of the framework and reaching a conclusion
• Step #5 is a separate task. If specifically required by the interviewer or case prompt. The approach of implementing the turnaround can also have its own separate framework if required.

It is difficult to create a structure without asking clarifying questions, knowing more about the client, what did they do in the new country, why they feel it failed etc. These are all clarifying questions that you need to sort out with the interviewer before you begin creating a structure for turning around the situation.

1. Context and Goals

The first thing you need to do in a case is to actually understand the context and the case objective.

I don't know what they mean by “operations”, I don't know what their goals were, and I don't know what they mean by “failure”.

Failing because of not being able to recruit a team is different than not being able to get clients, and it's different from not being able to be profitable.

I can't stress this enough: if you don't know what problem you are trying to solve, you can't solve it. There's no adequate framework for that.

2. Your framework

Your framework is basically…  replying the question back to the interviewer. He wants you to find a solution, and your framework is… to say that you will look for solutions and then pick one. Not very insightful. 

While what you are stating is not wrong, it also does not add any value to the interviewer, and does not move you closer to a solution.

3. What is a framework

Let's imagine the problem is that they can't get any sales. Then a framework could be to look into their sales process step by step (for example using a sales funnel) and identify where the problem is. For example, are they able to:

• Find potential targets?
• Reach out to targets and generate commercial meetings?
• Turn those meetings into leads / requests / Requests for proposals?
• Are they able to win those proposals?
• If not, why do they lose those proposals?
  • Price
  • Technical Knowledge
  • Delivery time or capacity
  • Brand / credibility
  • Other?
• Do they get repeat business on existing clients?

Hi there,

Your framework is “obvious”. Every single project involves looking at failures and ways to turnaround.

A firm isn't going to pay you millions of $ to just say “we'll look at the problems and fix it”.

I need the following clarifying questions answered before I can give you an OBJECTIVE-driven, structured framework:

• What does this IT conglomerate actually do?
• What do we mean by “operations”? What does this actually look like?
• What does failure mean and what does turnaround mean?

You needed to ask these questions in the interview.

If you don't have answers to these, I can't (and no one can) actually create a strong framework to solve the problem.

Hi there,

I like question-based structures. They tend to be more creative and closer to the actual structures that consultants develop. 

High-level, your structure is the typical Diagnostic > Design > Implementation structure that consultants use. I don't see a big problem with it, though I would adjust how you communicate it. 

I'd want to comment though on the feedback you received. If this was a candidate who gave the comment that you took too long, I'd ignore it. 

It's a common misconception that candidates have that you should not take a lot of time to think through your answer. If this is feedback from the actual interviewer, it helps in the future to ask follow-up questions to better understand the nature of the feedback. 

You can also check the following guide that goes deeper into different structuring techniques:

• Mastering Brainstorming: A Consultant's Guide

Best,
Cristian