How to use Visual Graphics correctly?
MBB firms have Visual Graphics to help consultants with slides. But many consultants use them incorrectly. Let's discuss what is the best way to use this service.
How to use Visual Graphics correctly?
MBB firms have Visual Graphics services to help consultants with slides.
But many consultants use them incorrectly.
Here's why...
I remember when I just joined McKinsey.
I was pleasantly surprised to learn that there is a dedicated service with hundreds of trained people in India to help me make my slides.
"Wow! Now my life will be much easier," I thought.
But I was sooooo naive.
Consultants use VG to save time but sacrifice quality.
I often saw this very wrong sequence.
Imagine a consultant is asked to create a critical slide.
They would work on this slide for just a few minutes and then send it to VG for visual improvement.
At this point, they can’t work on this slide for a few hours until VG completes their work.
Once the consultant receives the improved slide, it's still far from the expected quality. Yes, it looks much better, but the content is still pretty rough, with no insights or so-whats.
Now, look at this from the manager's point of view.
Effectively, a consultant spends the whole day on this slide.
Expectations grow very quickly.
They expect the slide to be absolutely perfect.
But your manager receives a half-baked slide without any original thoughts or insights.
This is when your manager gets extremely disappointed and negative.
So, what is the better way of doing this?
Instead,
→ You must have the skills to create client-ready slides without depending on VG.
The more you rely on VG early in your journey, the less you learn this critical skill of creating great slides.
But there are some valid use cases for using VG services, mostly when you want to outsource laborious, low-value work.
Here are some valid reasons for using VG:
- Create non-essential slides while you focus on killer slides;
- Update the template of reused pages from the library;
- Check for consistency of existing large documents;
- Make changes when it's laborious work;
But never outsource critical slides where you need to problem-solve and polish the quality of your outputs and ideas.
If you want to learn how to create great slides, read this post: How to Create Great Slides.
You know, I focus on a very narrow segment:
- active MBB consultants (generalists);
- experienced hires;
- post-MBA or post-PhD;
- in their 30s;
- second-year consultants (>12 months tenure);
- in good standing (not negative rating);
You joined MBB Consulting to radically change your career. You can't afford to fail and waste your time.
This narrow specialization allows me to provide very precise and tangible advice to these consultants to accelerate time to impact.
If you are struggling as an MBB consultant, this is where I can help you.
The consulting journey is complex and treacherous.
Walking it alone is extremely difficult. It’s helpful to have the support of someone experienced (me, wink wink) who has gone through this journey and helped many others.
That is why I developed a coaching program for MBB consultants to help them achieve high performance and become successful.
If you are an MBB consultant and sick of struggling with performance and development, I would like to speak with you.
Book a Free 1-1 Consultation to discuss whether I can help you through my coaching program. There is no commitment, and you can ask any burning questions in a risk-free environment.
Read this post to learn more about the Hero’s Journey coaching program.
P.S. MBB firms have Visual Graphics services to help consultants with making slides. But don’t use it on critical slides to save time and sacrifice quality. It’s absolutely essential to build the skills of making great slides without depending on VG services. Outsource only manual and laborious work.