Published on: June 2, 2025 / update from: June 2, 2025 - Author: Konrad Wolfenstein
Advice is dead - live the accompaniment! Why classic business concepts fail and what seems instead-picture: xpert.digital
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Why well-tried business methods fail today and what works better
In a time of rapid changes and increasing complexity, classic management consultancy faces fundamental challenges. Despite the continuing growth of the industry, the signs are increasing that traditional advisory approaches no longer meet the current requirements. At the same time, new models of cooperation are developing, which rely on accompaniment instead of pure advice. This report analyzes why many classic business concepts fail and which alternative approaches offer better chances of success.
The crisis of the classic management consultancy
Management consultancy has been a rapidly growing industry for decades, which, however, is increasingly under critical observation. Despite their popularity as an employer and the high awareness of top consulting companies such as McKinsey & Company, Porsche Consulting and Boston Consulting Group (BCG), the references to fundamental problems in the classic advisory model are increasing. Numerous studies show that many advisory projects fail, millions of resources are burned and that companies are even advised to advise.
The consulting industry is at a turning point: While it remains attractive, the weaknesses of the traditional approach are becoming increasingly obvious. Stefan Dangel, Managing Director of Etecture, even goes so far to say that the “classic management consultancy dies out” if it does not change fundamentally.
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Why classic consulting concepts fail
The fundamental weaknesses
The reasons for the failure of classic advisory concepts are diverse and deeply anchored in the structure and philosophy of the industry. The main causes include:
Missing expertise and lack of interest
Clients often attest insufficient expertise, while at the same time there are often too little interest in the projects for the clients. This leads to a dysfunctional relationship in which the necessary support does not exist.
Inadequate resources and bad project management
Neither consultants nor clients often provide the necessary funds and information. There are also defects in project management and the technical implementation.
Unclear expectations and communication problems
Cooperation is made difficult by unclear expectations and poor information transmission. In the worst case, consultants and clients work against each other instead of each other.
Underestimation of internal resistance
The socio-political aspects of an organization are often undervalued by consultants, which significantly complicates the implementation of changes.
The problem of standard solutions
A particularly critical point is the tendency to rely on standardized solutions:
Sale of short -term management trends
Classic advice primarily sells short -term management trends, which are often implemented unreflected in consulting projects.
“One Fits All” approaches
Modern knowledge from organizational psychology emphasize the individuality and dynamics of organizations. Nevertheless, many consulting models are still based on the assumption that linear, for all suitable interventions, are the right tool for the design and change of organizations.
The dependency trap
The dependency that arises in many consulting projects is particularly problematic:
Prevention organizational learning
Management consultants often prevent organizational learning. This lies in the sense of your business model, since you shorten a problem to solve it without the customer company being able to accomplish a learning performance - and thus remains dependent on the advice.
Follow -up orders as a business principle
About two thirds of all consulting orders are follow -up orders, which underlines this dependency structure.
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From advice to accompaniment: a paradigm shift
The new role of the process attendant
As an alternative to the classic advisory approach, the concept of process support is increasingly developing:
Definition of process support
The process support aims to enable the target group independent learning. The participants are supported in developing themselves independently and independently. It is about the design of a common development path.
Role of the companion
Process attendants see themselves as a temporary companion in the design of communication, decision-making and change processes. They offer their process and method knowledge and support the different perspectives of those involved.
Focus on self -reflection
In the process support, the initiation of self -reflection processes is central. Accompanying work with impulsive questions and methods that enable the participants to develop new perspectives and solutions themselves.
Systemic approaches in organizational development
A particularly promising approach is systemic organizational development:
Definition of systemic advice
Systemic advice is a multifaceted consultation method that focuses on relationships and interactions within systems - such as families, working groups or social networks. It is based on the idea that individual behavior and problems cannot be viewed in isolation, but can always be understood in the context of the surrounding system.
Holistic view
In the case of organizational development on systemic principles, the individual, team and company level and their interaction are always included in the development process. Organizations are understood as social systems in which the behavior of the individual are influenced by the system and the development of the system by the individual.
Sustainable change
Systemic organizational development sees itself as a continuous process because the environment is constantly changing and have to be constantly adapting.
Successful accompaniment concepts in practice
Participation -oriented processes
Approaches that rely on the active participation of all those affected are particularly promising:
Fit processes
Participation-oriented optimization processes (so-called “fit processes” for “fair-innovative-transparent”) aim to implement structures that support the actors in the development of independent solutions. These processes must always be designed as “self -supporting processes”.
Common solution development
As part of operational advice, innovative concepts in the field of work organization and human resources management are developed together with all operational actors. What is special is the participation -oriented consulting concept.
Coaching instead of consulting
The differences between coaching and consulting illustrate the paradigm shift:
Coaching vs. Consulting
While Consulting makes expert knowledge and “best practice” solutions available with the support of an expert, the client himself is coaching. In conversation, the coachee learns to recognize and solve its problems independently, which automatically adopts the solution.
Ability instead of dependency
The coaching process enables the coachee to further develop its attitudes and behavior in such a way that it can achieve effective results and can use new techniques in the future that lead to problem solving.
The change in the consulting industry
New requirements for consultants and companions
The transformation of the industry places new requirements for consultants or companions:
New perspective
Advice in the digital age needs a completely different perspective. Instead of lying from the bird's eye view from the CEO office, the focus must be on the base-i.e. on how powerful and efficient the units are that develop new products close to the customer.
Bottom-up instead of top-down
In the digital economy, innovations work bottom-up-in shorter product cycles and in direct exchange with the target group.
The role of in-house consultations
A remarkable trend is the rise of in-house consultations:
Increasing popularity
The study results of the 2024 consulting ranking show an enormous increase in the popularity of in-house consultations. Allianz Consulting was able to get first place in the segment of in-house consultations and can be found under the top 6 company consultations throughout the ranking.
Deeper knowledge
Due to their direct integration into the company, in-house consultations can often develop a deeper understanding of the specific challenges and corporate culture.
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Meaning of new work and diversity
In addition to the methodological changes, the focus of the content also gives importance:
Decisive factors in the election of the employer
The results of the Consulting Excellence study clearly show that the factors "diversity" and "New Work" play a role in the election of the employer.
Focus on well -being
Successful accompanying concepts lead to a resilient corporate culture that focuses on both the organization and the individual employees. This promotes not only performance, but also the innovative strength and the well -being of everyone involved.
The future lies in the accompaniment
The classic management consultancy as we know it is about the end of your life cycle. Their standardized solutions, top-down approaches and the tendency to create dependencies no longer meet the requirements of modern organizations in a complex, rapidly changing world.
The future belongs to concepts of accompaniment based on systemic approaches, process orientation and real participation. These methods enable organizations to develop their own solutions and to learn continuously instead of being dependent on external expert knowledge.
For companies, this means that when choosing external support, this means less on classic consultants who present finished solutions, but rather on companions who promote the organizational learning process and enable sustainable changes from the inside.
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Konrad Wolfenstein
I would be happy to serve you and my team as a personal advisor.
You can contact me by filling out the contact form or simply call me on +49 89 89 674 804 (Munich) . My email address is: wolfenstein ∂ xpert.digital
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