Staffing mind games

Consultants want to get staffed on the best projects. But they often operate under time pressure and asymmetric information. It's like playing a high-stakes poker game with your career.

Let me tell you about Laura (name is altered for privacy reasons).

She is a second-year Associate at McKinsey.

Laura is a high-performing consultant. On every project, she receives glowing reviews from partners. Her problem-solving is exceptional. I’ve witnessed that myself when Laura was doing practical exercises in my coaching program.

But this year, she struggled with staffing.

It’s a bit counterintuitive, right?

How can a high-performing consultant struggle with staffing? Generally, yes, that shouldn’t be the case, but Laura had special circumstances.

First, she is from a small office that experienced a sudden drop in business activity. You know there’s a saying: “A rising tide lifts all boats.” But the opposite is also true. "A falling tide lowers all boats." This is what happened to her office.

Second, this year she is aiming for an EM promotion. So she only needed projects with JEMing opportunities. This significantly limited her staffing options.

So, suddenly, she risked going from a high-performing consultant to a ‘Concerns’ case simply due to staffing and utilization issues, which were primarily out of her control.

We worked together throughout the whole review cycle to navigate this difficult situation.

I wanted to give you an insight into how difficult it is to navigate this complex environment, even if you are a senior, high-performing consultant.

Here are a few challenges Laura experienced.

1. PD is not your friend

For whatever reason, the PD (staffing coordinator) was not helping Laura. In fact, quite the opposite happened.

The PD was pushing her on projects that were not aligned with Laura’s development needs (JEMing opportunities and specific industries). Multiple situations occurred when PD aggressively forced Laura to take clearly bad staffing options. They were setting Laura up to fail.

I helped Laura navigate interactions with PD. Initially, she felt immense pressure to take the bad options. She didn’t know how to push back and protect her own interests.

Laura later learned that PDs can’t force you to get staffed on projects. Well, strictly speaking, they can do that, but it would set a significant negative precedent in the office. They generally don’t like to make the impression of forcing people on projects. It destroys morale in the office.

Instead, PDs will try to apply psychological pressure, making you accept the staffing on your own, even if it doesn’t align with your priorities and needs.

What can you do in this situation?

Try to use the Evade and Escape tactic. React empathetically and politely. But don’t agree to be staffed. After some time, they either find another option or the opportunity falls apart. But be ready to have at least three waves of pressure applied, including your DGL (evaluator) and other partners.

Remember, PDs have 50 people like you to cover. They have a very specific incentive for office utilization. That is why their main objective is to get you staffed no matter what. Take this into account when speaking with PDs. They are not your friends.

2. Staffing discussions

Another big challenge for Laura was talking to different leadership teams about staffing opportunities.

It’s a mind game. Ideally, you want to get staffed on the best projects with the best leadership possible. But leaders often try to sell you their ‘not-so-perfect’ projects. This is especially true if you are a high-performing individual in high demand. There will be more aggressive attempts to lure you into the projects you don’t want.

That is why it’s helpful to have someone experienced who can decipher different staffing situations and help you navigate these complex conversations.

We worked with Laura to see which projects best fit her. Multiple variables needed to be optimized: industry, project type, team setup, leadership reputation, and duration. Throughout the staffing process, Laura chatted with me, providing updates. And I advised her on the next steps and how to communicate with partners.

That helped Laura avoid some pretty bad projects and get staffed on the best ones that worked for her.

3. Preparation for performance reviews

Finally, Laura had to prepare well for her mid-year performance review. We knew this review would be critical and quite sensitive as her circumstances required a stronger narrative and framing to avoid a negative outcome.

For whatever reason, her DGL had a negative bias toward her in the past. He always focused on the negative points. That was the biggest area of risk and concern for Laura because, typically, DGLs have a massive impact on the outcome of review cases.

We worked together to prepare for the review and carefully mitigate these risks. Laura mobilized her support group, framed her case, and communicated her impact during this cycle.

As a result of these activities, Laura protected herself from a negative outcome that would otherwise have been lethal for her so late in her tenure. Now she has the final battle in the next cycle to get promoted to an EM role.

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Watch my latest YouTube video if you want to learn more about preparing for your next performance review at McKinsey.

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Why am I sharing all of this with you?

I wanted to give you a very practical example of how even high-performing senior consultants require help navigating this complex work environment of MBB consulting. Every decision is important and can lead to huge negative or significantly positive outcomes.

We worked with Laura within my coaching program for MBB consultants, the Hero’s Journey. I support consultants not only through active learning in skill building but also by advising and mentoring them on important career decisions. I provide this support throughout the whole consulting journey and even beyond.

If you are an MBB consultant who needs mentorship support like Laura got

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.

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