Hi,

What you describe remind me my beginning at McKinsey.

First of all it's normal to find it complicated to adapt yourself to the way of working at McKinsey.

I can Give you 5 advices:

1. When your EM or Associate give you a task, always clarify till it's crystal clear for you. It's his/her job to be clear. You can ask him/her to draw the slide, to help you structure the database, etc.

2. If you see that you won't meet a deadline, raise your hand asap. EM hates to discover last minute that the job is not done

3. When you're lost try to take a step back and to see how what you're doing contribute to the objective of your project (EM, Partner). Looking at the final objective will help you to see really focus on the most important things.

4. On the communication side, I would say the same : ask yourself what the objective of this email, phone call, etc. It will help you to have the right focus + always structure your written communication

5. It's normal to feel what you feel, wait 6 months and ask a feedback session every 2 weeks to see what you need to correct. And ask for actionnable feedback.

Hope this helps

Alexandre

(editiert)

Hi there,

First of all, I am sorry to hear about the poor experience thus far at McKinsey!

I think this is an interesting question that may be relevant for many people. I would be happy to share my thoughts on it:

• First of all, while it is absolutely normal to feel overwhelmed in the first couple of weeks/months, I would highly advise you to reach out to a coach about the feedback you have received.
• Without further context, you might have either taken the feedback overly harshly, or there really is the perception of you underperforming.
• Lastly, I would advise you to work on the feedback given - or reach out again to ask for constructive feedback you can actually work on - either way, and consider talking to a mentor/advisor at McKinsey.

If you would like a more detailed discussion on how to address your specific situation, please don't hesitate to contact me directly.

Best,

Hagen

(editiert)

Hi there,

hard to generalize individual experiences and challenges - nevertheless - just my two cents in addition to Alexandre's answer, which I find very helpful and would follow

0) Satisfaction = Reality - Expecations. 

So spend time really being crystal clear upfront on expectations from your EM and on client on your module (through EM if the setting is that you are not “welcome” to freely interact w/ client) i.e. WHAT is the definition of SUCCESS of my module 

1) Figure out your main stakeholder “working style”. Figure out the non-written rules to satisfy your main stakeholder (EM) and abide to them (e.g. he is a micro-manager vs. a big-picture thinker…) - look for “working styles profiles" on internet and try to catalogue him + act accordingly

2) Start reasoning as soon as you can in “EM mode” and “client mode” based on the definition of SUCCESS on point 0)

i.e. always ask yourself 

→ What is the 20% important “stuff” that I should do that will enable to reach the above definition of success for the project from my EM's point of view? Discard the rest unless asked explictly by MDP or needed to satisfy your main stakeholder working style

→ What is the 20% imporatnt “stuff” that I should do that will enable success for the above definition of success  point of view? Discard the rest unless asked explictly by MDP or needed to satisfy your main stakeholder working style

2) During feedback sessions with EM agree on specific and practical improvement actions - e.g. agree that you will do thing xx to show improvement within zz. Next session show up with written/tangible proof that you really tried hard to do that and the trajectory is improving. Trajectory matters a lot

3) Build relationship w/ client stakeholders via strong content, strong structure and being a human-being vs. robot. Do not underestimate the power of that and devote at least 15% of your time to that - the ROI will be good

4) Find a mentor (e.g. a more experienced consultant) that you can resort to when in doubt

→ Figure out a way to keep providing some kind of value for him/her, to keep this positive loop going 

Disclaimer: I, like most of MBBs new joiner, had a hard time adapting to consulting working mode. It gets better over time as long as you LISTEN and show TRAJECTORY improvement. Do not beat yourself and show CONFIDENCE

Hang in there champ!