If there’s any constant in the business world, it’s change.

Change presents opportunities and excitement, but it also serves up challenges.

A business, whether big or small, sometimes needs expert advice on managing the shifting environments of growth, shrinkage, competition, human-resources strategies or new markets.

That’s where Western Management Consultants comes in. WMC, probably Canada’s oldest name in business consulting, has been around since 1975 under the same banner, helping executives, managers and directors reshape their work in successful, creative ways.

Mauro Meneghetti, left, and Dale Hughes of Western Management Consultants thrive on helping clients succeed.

“We are unique in the marketplace because we bring a full-range of management consulting services, and we can deliver them on engagements that are as small or as large as is required,” says Western Management’s Mauro Meneghetti.

“We’ve gone from engagements of a few days to multi-year, multi-million-dollar projects, and we do that with that objectivity and independence.”

People in the business world go to Western Management when they have a clear problem – or when they suspect a problem, but can’t quite define it.

Their goal might involve strategic planning or the implementation of a new financial system. Maybe a total reorganization of personnel is needed, or just some fine-tuning.

Perhaps there are new regulations to meet, or emerging competitors. WMC has a long-established, broad view of the business landscape. With five offices across Canada – in Calgary, Edmonton, Toronto, Vancouver and Saskatoon – the firm has 50 senior professionals providing consulting expertise to business, government and not-for-profit organizations. Western Management is efficient, keeping bureaucracy to a minimum to ensure the client is always the focus of activities. Many of its people have two university degrees and/or are certified management consultants.

One reason they are needed is the impact of globalization.

“There is pressure to be competitive, not just in your own little world, but across the planet,” Meneghetti says, “and that pushes people to do things.

“There’s also a lot of emphasis right now on mergers and acquisitions, divestitures, reorganizations – things that fairly dramatically impact the fabric of an organization. Whenever you have that situation, you have a lot of change and therefore you need some help with it.”

There’s also a modern business affliction called “lack of slack,” the absence of down time that was once commonly built into the work days of managers and employees. With sufficient slack, they could recharge their mental batteries or suddenly shift gears to take advantage of new business.

“People are working flat-out these days,” Meneghetti observes. “It’s not unusual for people to be routinely putting in overtime, at the manager level, at all levels.” A manager or executive might come up with a brilliant thought, then quickly conclude: “Yeah, that’s a great idea, but I’m not going to get to it.”

WMC has seen that happen many times.

“We can serve as an extension of that person and help make some things happen that ordinarily that he or she wouldn’t have the capacity to handle.”

Of course, there are other options in the phone book when choosing a consultant, but WMC has some distinct advantages. One is its conscious decision long ago to avoid entanglements with suppliers that could taint their employees’ judgment, Meneghetti says.

“We don’t have software and hardware affiliations that a lot of the bigger firms now have. Our recommendations don’t get tainted by that.

“If I can give you a simple solution versus one that’s going to keep three people busy for a year, I’m not influenced to go to the bigger, more complicated solution.

“I think that’s a very important part of objectivity.”

Another part of objectivity is the lack of office politics and other baggage that can interfere with a company’s genuine efforts to effect change completely in-house with no consultants bringing a clear analysis.

At WMC, that analysis begins with a meeting designed to diagnose a problem or desired new direction, not an instant prescription. Then, WMC continues to provide the same consultant assigned initially, to ensure continuity and trust with the client.

It’s a process that creates positive word-of-mouth advertising for the company and also brings a lot of repeat business.

While WMC deliberately avoids creating a consulting dependency in the client, its past customers often face new challenges and know where to turn.

“We’ve got several clients in Alberta that we’ve worked with for 10 or more years.”

Meneghetti admits he does it a bit for himself, too. “It’s very exciting when we can come into a situation where we can help someone make a difference with their company.”