Making sense of strategy consulting vs management consulting for UK office managers

Understanding strategy consulting vs management consulting in a UK context

Why UK office managers keep hearing about strategy and management consulting

If you manage an office in the United Kingdom, you have probably heard colleagues talk about strategy consulting and management consulting as if they are the same thing. They are closely related, and many consulting firms offer both, but they are not identical. Understanding the difference helps you prepare for consulting projects, protect your team’s time, and translate high level recommendations into practical office changes later on.

In simple terms, both types of consulting focus on improving the business. The difference is mainly the level and the time horizon :

• Strategy consulting focuses on long term, high level questions about where the business is going and how it will compete in its market.
• Management consulting focuses on operational and organisational questions about how the business works day to day and how to make it run better.

In the UK, these services are provided by a mix of large international consulting firms and smaller specialist practices. According to industry overviews from the Management Consultancies Association (MCA), the consulting market in the UK is one of the largest in Europe, with strong demand from both private and public sector organisations. That means office managers are increasingly involved in consulting projects, even if they are not the ones who hire the consultants.

What strategy consulting usually covers in a UK company

Strategy consulting (sometimes called strategy management or consulting strategy) is about helping senior leadership make big, long term decisions. Strategy consultants typically work on questions such as :

• Which markets or regions should the business enter or exit ?
• What products or services should be prioritised for growth ?
• How can the company respond to industry changes, regulation, or new technology ?
• What strategic partnerships, mergers, or acquisitions make sense ?

These are high level topics, but they eventually affect office operations, staffing, and even the layout of your workspace. Strategy consulting projects are often shorter and more focused than large operational programmes. A strategy consultant might spend a few weeks or months analysing the market, interviewing stakeholders, and building strategic options for the board.

Typical examples of projects for strategy consulting in a UK context include :

• Designing a five year growth strategy for a professional services firm
• Assessing the UK market entry potential for an overseas company
• Repositioning a brand after regulatory changes in a specific industry
• Evaluating which business units to divest or consolidate

For an office manager, the impact is often indirect at first. You might be asked to help coordinate meeting rooms, provide data on headcount or working hours, or support confidential workshops. Later, when the strategy turns into concrete initiatives, your role becomes much more visible, as we will explore when looking at how strategy consulting affects your day to day work.

What management consulting focuses on and why it feels closer to your daily work

Management consulting is broader and usually more operational. Management consultants help organisations improve how they work, manage people, and deliver services. While strategy consulting focuses on the long term direction, management consulting focuses on how to execute that direction.

Common areas where management consultants operate include :

• Process improvement and operational efficiency
• Organisational design and role definitions
• Change management and communication plans
• Performance management and reporting structures
• Digital transformation and new tools or systems

Because these topics are closer to everyday operations, office managers often work directly with management consultants. You might be asked to :

• Provide data on office utilisation, service inventory, or supplier performance
• Support pilots of new processes or tools in your office
• Help communicate changes to staff and gather feedback
• Adjust office procedures to match new management strategy

If you want a practical example of how operational thinking connects to consulting work, resources on optimising your office service inventory show the same kind of structured, evidence based approach that many management consultants use. The difference is that consultants apply it across the whole business, not just the office.

How consulting firms structure their work and teams

In the UK, many consulting firms offer both strategy consulting and management consulting under one roof. Others specialise in one type. From an office manager’s perspective, it helps to understand how these firms usually structure their work :

• Strategy consulting teams tend to be smaller, with a strong focus on market analysis, financial modelling, and strategic options. Their consulting projects are often intense, with high expectations and demanding working hours, but shorter in duration.
• Management consulting teams can be larger and more cross functional, involving operations, HR, IT, and finance specialists. Their work often runs over a longer period, because they stay to support implementation and change.

Within both types of consulting, there are different career stages :

• Entry level roles focus on research, data analysis, and preparing materials.
• More experienced consultants lead workstreams, manage client relationships, and design solutions.
• Senior consultants and partners shape the overall management strategy and maintain long term relationships with clients.

Consulting salaries and progression vary by firm and industry segment, but in general, strategy consulting is perceived as slightly more focused on high level, strategic topics, while management consulting covers a wider range of operational and organisational challenges. For you as an office manager, the key point is not the salary structure, but understanding who in the consulting team has the authority to make decisions and who needs practical input from your side.

Why the distinction matters for UK office managers

Knowing whether your company is working with strategy consultants or management consultants helps you anticipate what will be asked of you and your team :

• If the consulting focuses on strategy, expect more requests for data, market insights, and confidential workshops with senior leaders. The impact on your office may come later, when decisions turn into implementation projects.
• If the consulting focuses on management, expect more direct involvement in redesigning processes, changing reporting lines, or adjusting how services are delivered in the office.

In practice, many consulting projects combine both types. A firm might start with a high level strategy consulting phase, then move into a management consulting phase to implement the chosen direction. As an office manager, you sit at the point where strategic decisions meet operational reality. The better you understand these types of consulting, the easier it becomes to protect your team’s capacity, ask the right questions, and turn recommendations into realistic actions later on.

How strategy consulting impacts your role as an office manager

Why strategy consulting matters for UK office managers

When your company brings in strategy consultants, it can feel very high level and far removed from day to day office work. In reality, strategy consulting often reshapes how you manage people, processes and resources in the office.

Strategy consulting focuses on long term direction, market positioning and big business decisions. Strategy consulting firms typically help senior management answer questions such as :

• Which markets should we enter or exit ?
• How do we respond to new competitors in our industry ?
• What strategic projects should we prioritise over the next three to five years ?

Those decisions quickly turn into consulting projects that affect office space, headcount, technology, suppliers and even working hours. As an office manager, you become a key link between strategy consultants, management consultants and the teams who need to implement the new direction.

How strategy projects change your responsibilities

Strategy consulting projects usually start at board or executive level, but the impact lands in your inbox. Typical examples projects that affect office management include :

• Restructuring or growth plans – new teams, new locations or consolidation of sites change seating plans, equipment needs and operational routines.
• Digital or technology strategy – new tools or systems require training rooms, onboarding sessions and coordination with IT and vendors.
• Cost reduction or efficiency strategy – office contracts, suppliers and facilities are reviewed, which means more data gathering and negotiation support.
• Market expansion – entering a new region or service line can mean supporting visiting teams, temporary project spaces and new compliance requirements.

Strategy consultants will usually focus on the big picture, but they still need accurate operational information from the office. You may be asked to provide data on :

• Current space usage and occupancy levels
• Office running costs and vendor contracts
• Patterns of hybrid work and meeting room demand
• Service levels from cleaning, security and other suppliers

This is where your management skills and knowledge of how the office really works become essential to the quality of the consulting strategy.

New skills office managers need when strategy consultants arrive

Working with strategy consulting firms often pushes office managers to develop new skills beyond traditional facilities and administration. The most important areas include :

• Data and analysis – strategy consultants rely on evidence. Being able to pull accurate data on costs, usage and performance makes you a trusted partner in consulting projects.
• Stakeholder management – you sit between senior management, consultants and employees. Clear communication and expectation setting help reduce confusion and resistance.
• Change management – strategy usually leads to change. Understanding basic management strategy for change, such as phased rollouts and feedback loops, helps you protect day to day operations.
• Vendor and contract awareness – strategic decisions often trigger renegotiation of office services. Knowing your contracts and service levels in detail is a real advantage.

These skills are also valuable if you ever consider a career move into management consulting or an entry level role in a consulting firm, where operational insight is highly valued.

Balancing strategic vision with operational reality

Strategy consulting focuses on high level direction, but you are responsible for making sure the office can actually support that direction. This balance between strategic and operational thinking is where office managers add real value.

Typical tensions you may need to manage include :

• Ambitious timelines vs realistic delivery – consultants may propose fast changes. You need to explain what is feasible without disrupting critical business work.
• Cost savings vs service quality – strategic cost reduction targets can affect cleaning, security or reception. You help management understand the operational impact.
• Space optimisation vs employee experience – strategy consultants might recommend higher occupancy levels. You can provide practical feedback on noise, meeting room shortages and wellbeing.

Management consultants, who often handle more operational and process focused work, may later refine these ideas. Your early input during the strategy phase can prevent unrealistic assumptions and reduce rework in later consulting management stages.

Practical ways strategy work shows up in the office

To make this more concrete, here are some common ways strategy consulting projects change everyday office life in UK companies :

• New reporting requirements – you may need to track new metrics, such as desk utilisation or visitor patterns, to support long term planning.
• Reconfigured office layouts – strategic shifts towards hybrid work or project based teams can lead to more collaboration areas and fewer fixed desks.
• Policy updates – changes in flexible working, travel, or meeting policies often come from strategic reviews and need to be communicated and enforced at office level.
• Tool and system changes – if the strategy includes new workplace technology, you may coordinate pilots, training and feedback collection.

These are not just operational tweaks. They are how high level strategy becomes visible and tangible for employees.

Using tools to support strategy implementation

Because strategy consulting projects often involve vendor changes, contract consolidation or new service models, the tools you use to manage suppliers become more important. Modern vendor management tools can help you :

• Compare costs and service levels across multiple suppliers
• Track contract dates and renewal terms
• Monitor performance against strategic targets
• Provide clear reports to management consultants and strategy consultants

If your company is reviewing its supplier base as part of a broader strategy management exercise, it can be useful to explore resources on enhancing efficiency with vendor management tools. Strong vendor data makes it easier for consulting firms to design realistic strategies and for you to implement them.

What this means for your long term development

Repeated exposure to strategy consulting work can significantly raise your profile inside the business. You become known as someone who understands both the strategic direction and the operational detail.

Over time, this can open doors into roles that sit closer to management strategy, such as internal project coordination, business operations or even an entry level management consultant position. Consulting focuses heavily on structured problem solving and clear communication, and office managers who work closely with consultants often build these skills naturally.

Even if you stay in office management, understanding how strategy consulting works, how consulting salaries are justified by impact, and how different types consulting projects fit together will help you speak the same language as senior leaders and consulting firms. That makes you a more influential voice when the next high level strategy is translated into everyday office reality.

How management consulting changes everyday office operations

How consulting changes the feel of day to day office life

When a UK company brings in management consultants, the office manager often feels the impact before anyone else. Management consulting focuses on how the business runs operationally, not just on high level strategy. That means your processes, systems, working hours patterns, and even desk layouts can become part of the consulting projects.

Unlike strategy consulting, which tends to stay at board level and long term planning, management consulting usually lands directly in your world. Strategy consultants might define the direction. Management consultants then turn that direction into practical changes that affect teams, tools, and workflows in the office.

Typical management consulting projects that touch the office

Management consulting focuses on improving performance and efficiency. For an office manager, that often shows up in very concrete ways. Common examples projects include :

• Process redesign – mapping how work currently flows through the office and simplifying steps, approvals, and handovers.
• New systems implementation – rolling out new HR, finance, CRM, or consultant management tools, often with tight timelines.
• Space and workplace changes – rethinking meeting room usage, hot desking, and ergonomic setups to support new ways of working.
• Service level improvements – setting clearer standards for response times, onboarding, and internal support.
• Cost optimisation – reviewing suppliers, contracts, and office services to reduce spend without harming service quality.

These types consulting initiatives can feel disruptive in the short term, but they are usually designed to support the long term management strategy that came out of earlier strategy consulting work.

Practical changes you are likely to manage

Because management consulting is so operational, the office manager often becomes the unofficial project coordinator. You may not be a management consultant, but you are the person who understands how the office really works day to day.

Some of the most common practical changes include :

• New procedures – updated checklists, approval routes, and documentation for routine tasks.
• Revised working patterns – pilots of hybrid work, staggered working hours, or new meeting rules to support productivity.
• Office layout adjustments – moving teams, changing storage, or updating furniture to support new workflows or project teams.
• Data and reporting – more regular reporting on office costs, utilisation, and service levels to feed into consulting management dashboards.
• Training sessions – arranging and sometimes delivering training on new systems or processes introduced by consulting firms.

Even something as simple as choosing the right ergonomic office chair can become part of a wider operational review. If consultants are looking at productivity and wellbeing, resources like this guide on ergonomic office chairs for shorter individuals in UK workplaces can help you make evidence based decisions that support their recommendations.

The office manager’s role in consulting projects

Management consultants rely heavily on office managers because you sit at the intersection of people, processes, and space. Your skills are essential for turning high level consulting strategy into something that works in practice.

In many UK companies, office managers end up :

• Providing operational insight – explaining how things really work versus how they look on paper.
• Coordinating logistics – booking rooms, arranging access, and making sure consultants can work effectively on site.
• Supporting change communication – helping translate consulting language into clear, practical messages for staff.
• Monitoring impact – tracking whether new processes are actually improving service levels and staff experience.

This is also where your own career can benefit. Exposure to management consulting projects builds your understanding of management strategy, market pressures, and how different types consulting work. Over time, that can open doors into project coordination, operations management, or even an entry level role with consulting firms if you choose to move in that direction.

What to expect from consultants in terms of workload and pace

Consulting projects often run at a faster pace than normal internal initiatives. Strategy consulting tends to have intense but shorter phases at high level, while management consulting can stay embedded in the business for longer, with a steady stream of requests.

From an office management perspective, you may notice :

• Increased meeting load – workshops, interviews, and steering groups that require rooms, technology, and coordination.
• Short notice demands – data requests, floor plans, or policy documents needed quickly for consultants to keep moving.
• Temporary pressure on teams – staff asked to support consulting focuses alongside their normal work.

Consulting salaries and working hours are often discussed in the industry, but what matters for you is how that intensity translates into the office. Being clear about capacity, realistic timelines, and what your team can support helps keep projects sustainable.

Linking everyday changes to the bigger strategic picture

It can be easy for office staff to see consulting as just another project creating extra work. Your role is to help connect the dots between the long term strategic goals and the day to day operational changes.

When you explain that a new booking system, a revised approval flow, or a change in desk allocation is part of a wider management strategy to improve efficiency or client service, people are more likely to engage. This is where understanding the difference between strategy consulting and management consulting really helps. Strategy consultants define where the business wants to go. Management consultants and office managers work together on how the office will actually get there.

By keeping that link clear, you position yourself as a key partner in consulting management, not just an administrator. Over time, that strengthens your influence, your skills, and your value in the organisation.

Choosing between strategy consulting vs management consulting for your company’s needs

Key questions to decide what kind of consulting you really need

As an office manager in a UK company, you are often the first person asked to help organise consulting projects. Before anyone signs a contract with consulting firms, it helps if you can translate vague ideas like “we need a new strategy” or “we must improve operations” into clearer needs.

A simple way to start is to ask a few practical questions :

• Is the problem high level and long term, or operational and immediate ?
  If the business wants to enter a new market, change its strategic direction, or review its overall management strategy, this usually points towards strategy consulting. If the issue is about processes, workload, working hours, or service quality in day to day work, it is more in the area of management consulting.
• Do leaders want direction, or implementation support ?
  Strategy consultants normally focus on direction, market analysis, and long term positioning. Management consultants tend to work on implementation, detailed processes, and how teams actually work.
• Is the company ready for change at office level ?
  Strategic recommendations often require later operational projects to make them real. If your company is not ready to adjust systems, roles, or office routines, a very high level strategy may sit on a shelf.

Matching consulting types to common UK office challenges

From an office management perspective, it helps to map typical business issues to the right types of consulting. This makes conversations with senior management and consultants more concrete.

How budget, time and internal skills shape the choice

In many UK organisations, the decision between strategy consulting and management consulting is not only about the problem. It is also about budget, time, and internal skills.

• Budget and consulting salaries level
  Strategy consulting at top tier firms often comes with higher consulting salaries and therefore higher fees. Management consulting can also be expensive, but there is usually a wider range of consulting firms, including more specialised or mid market options. As an office manager, you may be asked to help compare proposals and understand what is realistic for your budget.
• Timeframe and working hours impact
  High level strategy projects can be intense but shorter in term, focused on analysis and workshops. Management consulting projects that change operations may run longer and affect the working hours and workload of your office team. You will need to plan how much disruption the office can absorb.
• Internal skills and capacity
  If your company already has strong internal strategy management skills, it may only need targeted external support. If operational skills are weaker, management consultants might add more value by building processes and tools your teams can maintain.

When a mixed consulting approach makes sense

In practice, many UK companies end up using both strategy consultants and management consultants over time. Sometimes this happens in one large programme, sometimes in separate phases.

Typical patterns you may see :

• Strategy first, operations later
  A strategy consultant helps define the long term direction and high level goals. Later, a management consultant designs and delivers the operational changes in the office and across departments.
• Operational pilot, then strategic scale up
  A management consultant runs a pilot in one office or function to prove a new way of working. Once results are clear, a strategy consulting team may help scale the model across the wider business.
• One firm, two capabilities
  Some consulting firms offer both strategy consulting and management consulting under one roof. For an office manager, this can simplify coordination, but it is still important to be clear which team is doing high level work and which team is handling operational detail.

Practical decision checklist for UK office managers

When leadership asks you to help organise consulting support, you can use a simple checklist to guide the discussion :

• Can we clearly state if the main need is strategic (direction, market, long term) or operational (processes, workload, service levels) ?
• Do we expect the consultants to deliver a high level strategy, or to work closely with teams on day to day changes ?
• What is the expected term of the engagement : short diagnostic, or long implementation ?
• Which level of the organisation will be most involved : board and senior leadership, or office teams and line managers ?
• Do we have internal people who can translate strategic recommendations into concrete office actions, or do we need management consultants to do that ?
• Is the budget more suited to top tier strategy consulting firms, or to more focused management consulting providers ?
• How much disruption to normal work and working hours can the office realistically handle during the consulting projects ?

By asking these questions early, you help your company choose between strategy consulting, management consulting, or a mix of both, in a way that matches real needs and office level reality. This also positions you as a key partner when it comes to consulting management and the success of future projects.

Working effectively with consultants as a UK office manager

Building productive relationships with consultants

As an office manager in a UK company, you often become the practical link between consultants and the rest of the business. Whether your company has hired strategy consultants for high level, long term planning or management consultants for operational improvements, the way you manage the relationship can make or break consulting projects.

Your role is not just administrative. You are coordinating people, information, and expectations. That means understanding what type of consulting is happening, what the firm has been hired to deliver, and how it will affect day to day work in your office.

Clarifying scope, expectations and working style

Before consultants start their work on site or remotely, make sure the basics are crystal clear at office level :

• Scope of work – What exactly are the consulting projects meant to cover ? Strategy consulting usually focuses on market position, long term direction, and high level management strategy. Management consulting tends to focus on operational processes, team structures, and performance.
• Deliverables and timelines – What documents, workshops, or tools will the consultants provide ? When are key milestones due ? This helps you plan meeting rooms, communications, and internal deadlines.
• Working hours and access – Will consultants be on site full time, part time, or mostly remote ? Do they need access to secure areas, systems, or specific teams ? Clear rules reduce disruption and protect data.
• Decision making level – Are they advising senior leadership only, or also working with middle management and operational teams ? This affects who you need to involve in meetings and feedback loops.

Having this information written down, even in a simple internal note, helps you manage expectations across the office and avoid confusion about what the consulting firm is actually there to do.

Translating strategic language into office reality

Strategy consultants often speak in terms of market positioning, strategic options, and long term value creation. Management consultants may focus on process maps, KPIs, and operational efficiency. Your colleagues, however, will usually want to know : what does this mean for my daily work ?

As an office manager, you can add real value by :

• Reframing high level strategy into simple, practical implications for teams, such as changes to reporting lines, tools, or workflows.
• Checking feasibility of suggestions against real constraints like current systems, existing contracts, or staffing levels.
• Highlighting examples of how similar changes have worked (or not worked) in your office or industry, based on your experience.

This translation role is especially important when consulting focuses on management strategy that will later need operational support from your office.

Coordinating data, people and logistics

Most consulting firms rely heavily on data and interviews. Office managers are often the ones who make this possible in a structured way.

• Data and documents – Help consultants access accurate information on finance, HR, operations, and systems. Clarify who owns which data and what the approval process is.
• Stakeholder access – Schedule interviews and workshops with the right mix of senior management, middle managers, and front line staff. Strategy consulting usually needs more senior input, while management consulting often needs more operational voices.
• Meeting management – Plan realistic agendas, avoid back to back sessions, and leave time for internal debriefs without consultants present.
• Confidentiality and compliance – Ensure NDAs, data protection rules, and company policies are respected. This is especially important in regulated UK industries.

Good coordination reduces frustration on both sides and keeps consulting projects on track.

Managing communication between consultants and staff

Consultants sometimes underestimate how their presence can worry staff, especially when the term “strategy management” or “restructuring” is mentioned. As an office manager, you are often the first person employees come to with concerns.

To keep communication healthy :

• Share clear messages from leadership about why the consulting firm has been hired and what the expected benefits are.
• Encourage questions and collect recurring concerns so they can be addressed in Q&A sessions or internal updates.
• Set boundaries so consultants know how to request information without overwhelming teams with ad hoc demands.
• Monitor morale during intense phases of work, especially when working hours are longer or when staff feel under scrutiny.

Transparent communication helps maintain trust and keeps the focus on improvement rather than fear.

Understanding different types of consulting and their impact on you

Not all consulting is the same, and the type of engagement affects your workload and required skills.

Knowing which type of consulting is in play helps you anticipate the level of disruption, the kind of information required, and the support your colleagues will need.

Developing your own consulting aware skills

Repeated exposure to strategy consulting and management consulting can actually support your own career development. Office managers who understand how consulting firms work often become key partners in change initiatives.

Useful skills to strengthen include :

• Basic consulting strategy concepts – Understanding terms like market segmentation, operating model, and performance metrics makes discussions easier.
• Project coordination – Planning timelines, tracking actions, and following up on tasks linked to consulting management work.
• Data literacy – Knowing where data lives, how reliable it is, and how to present it clearly.
• Change management – Supporting people through new processes, tools, or structures recommended by management consultants or strategy consultants.

While consulting salaries and entry level roles may not be your focus, understanding how consultants think and work can open up internal opportunities in management strategy, operations, or project management.

Keeping a balanced, long term view

Consulting projects can feel intense and sometimes disruptive. However, your position allows you to keep a balanced view between short term inconvenience and long term benefits.

When working with consultants, keep asking :

• How will this recommendation affect our office in six to twelve months ?
• What support will teams need to make this change sustainable ?
• Which examples projects from past initiatives show what works in our culture and what does not ?

By combining your practical knowledge of how the office really works with the external perspective of consulting firms, you help turn high level ideas into realistic improvements that fit your company, your market, and your people.

Turning consulting recommendations into realistic office‑level actions

Breaking big recommendations into office sized actions

Strategy consultants and management consultants often deliver impressive slide decks, detailed reports and high level roadmaps. As an office manager in a UK company, your value is turning those strategic ideas into practical, operational changes that actually work in your building, with your people and within your budget.

A simple way to start is to translate each consulting recommendation into three questions :

• What changes in our day to day work ? (processes, tools, space, communication)
• Who is affected at office level ? (teams, roles, external providers)
• What can we realistically do in the next 30, 90 and 180 days ?

This helps you bridge the gap between high level strategy and the operational reality of your office.

Prioritising consulting projects with limited time and budget

Consulting firms often propose several workstreams at once. From an office management perspective, you rarely have the working hours, budget or staff capacity to do everything immediately. You need a simple, transparent way to prioritise.

A practical approach is to score each recommendation on three dimensions :

• Impact on business performance (cost savings, productivity, compliance, employee experience)
• Effort at office level (time from your team, disruption to staff, changes to suppliers)
• Risk (operational risk, health and safety, data protection, reputational risk)

Then you can build a small roadmap of consulting projects :

This kind of simple structure shows management consultants and strategy consultants that you are treating their work seriously, but also realistically.

Translating strategic language into operational tasks

Strategy consulting often uses terms like “market positioning”, “strategic capabilities” or “long term value creation”. As an office manager, your task is to convert this language into concrete actions that affect facilities, processes and people.

For each strategic recommendation, ask the consultants to clarify :

• Which office processes are touched ? (reception, mail, meeting support, travel, health and safety)
• Which systems or tools are involved ? (booking tools, HR systems, document management)
• What success looks like at office level ? (measurable indicators you can track)

This is not about challenging their expertise. It is about making sure the consulting strategy can be executed by real people with real constraints. Many strategy consultants appreciate this, because it increases the chance their high level work delivers results in the UK market.

Building a realistic implementation plan with consultants

When a consulting project ends, there is often a risk that the report goes into a shared drive and nothing changes. To avoid this, involve both strategy consultants and management consultants in creating a simple implementation plan before they leave.

A practical plan for your office should include :

• Clear owners for each action (not just “the business” or “operations”)
• Specific deadlines that reflect real working hours and peak periods in your office
• Dependencies (for example, you cannot change seating plans before IT has moved equipment)
• Required skills (do you need training, external providers, or support from HR or finance ?)
• Checkpoints where you review progress with senior management

Ask the consulting firms to provide examples projects from similar UK organisations, including realistic timelines and resource assumptions. This helps you challenge any overly optimistic planning and align the plan with your team’s capacity.

Managing change with staff and stakeholders

Even the best management strategy will fail if people in the office do not understand or accept the changes. Office managers are often the first point of contact for questions, complaints and informal feedback.

To support change effectively, focus on :

• Simple explanations of why the company invested in consulting and what will change in practical terms
• Two way communication (short surveys, drop in sessions, feedback channels)
• Visible quick wins that show staff the benefits early, even while long term projects continue
• Consistency between what senior management says and what actually happens in the office

Management consultants can often provide templates for communication plans, but you will need to adapt the tone and detail to your specific office culture and the UK employment context.

Tracking results and feeding back into strategy

Consulting focuses heavily on measurable impact. For office managers, this means setting up simple, reliable indicators that show whether the new management strategy or operational changes are working.

Useful measures at office level can include :

• Space utilisation and meeting room availability
• Response times for key services (IT, facilities, reception)
• Staff satisfaction with the working environment
• Cost per head for office services, compared with industry benchmarks where available

Share these results with senior leaders and, when appropriate, with the consulting firms. This feedback loop helps refine future consulting projects and shows that your office is not just a cost centre, but an active contributor to strategic goals.

Using consulting experience to build your own career

Working closely with management consultants and strategy consultants can be a strong development opportunity for an office manager in the UK. You gain exposure to high level decision making, different types consulting and how the wider business operates.

To turn this into long term career value, consider :

• Documenting your role in consulting projects, including outcomes and lessons learned
• Building skills in basic project management, data analysis and change management
• Asking to join key workshops where strategy and operations are discussed together
• Understanding how consulting salaries, entry level roles and career paths work, in case you ever want to move into a management consultant or strategy consultant position

This experience strengthens your profile inside the company and in the wider UK market, especially as more firms expect office managers to contribute to strategic and operational decisions, not only administrative tasks.

By approaching consulting management in this structured way, you help ensure that high level recommendations from consulting firms become realistic, sustainable improvements in your office, supporting both day to day operations and the company’s long term strategy.