You’re responsible for developing your firm’s people... and often, everything else.
Openside partners with Learning, Talent and Development professionals in boutique consulting firms – providing the specialist development expertise, diagnostic tools and high-quality delivery that your firm needs, without adding to an already full inbox.
We know what your week actually looks like.
In a boutique consulting firm, one person often carries the entire people agenda. Payroll. Recruitment. Onboarding. Compliance. Culture. “All active”, all demanding, all on the same desk.
Talent development sits on the list. You know it matters – the Partners know it matters, but designing, sourcing and delivering a relevant, impactful development programme takes time, sector expertise and a dedicated resource you do not currently have, even with AI.
The result is a skills gap that grows quietly. Consultants who are technically strong but underdeveloped in the commercial, client and communication skills that determine how far they go – and how well your firm competes.
Openside helps close that gap by taking on your talent development, translating learning into performance improvement, and demonstrating a measurable return on training investment for you to show your Partners.
Here’s our process.
01
Start with the diagnostic
Before we recommend anything, we help you understand where the real gaps are – using our Talent Development Pathway, our learning diagnostic tool and a structured capability framework. Included as part of how we work. No separate charge.
02
Align with your strategy
Every programme we design is built around your firm’s strategic positioning and commercial objectives. Clients use our tailored programmes alongside their existing learning curricula, or we design a complete learning academy.
03
Deliver and measure
We deliver face-to-face, live online, or via eLearning – in whichever format works for your firm. Openside’s ‘Vienna’, our learning measurement platform, tracks how skills are applied so you can show Partners the impact of any training intervention.
As the client, you stay in control. We deliver the transformation.
We know how wary HR professionals in consulting firms can be when working with external providers. The last thing you need is a supplier who makes it look like the development agenda has been neglected – or who positions themselves as the replacement for a function you own.
That is not how Openside works. Our role is to provide the specialist diagnostic data and high-quality delivery to support your training initiatives. Openside’s client admins can access our Client Portal for a clear picture at every stage of the programme.
You define the brief. You own the relationship. We build and deliver the content that makes your people strategy visible and credible.
Your workload reduces, your professionals develop at pace, and your Partners see the impact.
Let’s not just do ‘training’. Let’s deliver measurable behavioural change.
Many external providers offer a one-off training ‘event’, without establishing root causes and addressing underlying behavioural challenges. Openside offers something far more insightful: evidence that skills are being applied, behaviours are changing, and there is a measurable return on the development investment.
Vienna, our learning measurement platform, is available for every programme we deliver. It allows you, and your Partners to see not just who attended, but how the learning is translating into day-to-day performance improvement.
When you present the case for development investment, you go with data. Not a proposal.
A structured framework for growth from entry level to Partner.
The people strategies we’ve seen stall are those without a clearly defined development pathway. A visible framework – one that shows your people what is expected of them and what support is available and encouraging them to invest in their future with the firm.
Openside has built this. The Talent Development Pathway maps the cognitive and behavioural skills that matter at every stage of a consulting career – junior through to Partner – providing the structure for a personalised development curriculum.
Click on the link below and use it as a starting point for your own diagnostic conversation with us.
30 years. 30,000+ professionals. Proof that this works.
92%
Average relevance-to-role score vs 55% industry benchmark (Gartner)
30,000+
Professionals developed across consulting, legal and accounting
98%
of all participants would recommend Openside to colleagues
4.8/5
Global facilitator effectiveness score, as reviewed by alumni
“Our collaboration with Openside has been more than a transactional relationship. It has been a partnership, a true exercise of Openside as a trusted advisor, an incredibly helpful driver of executive alignment and a key enabler of culture change in our firm. We have been working with Openside for more than 10 years, and the latest programme has surely been the most successful and impactful.”
– Talent Partner, Global Management Consulting Firm
“We can now see, with evidence, how training translates into business impact – not just immediately after a course, but months later.”
– Head of Learning & Development, Global Consultancy“Hugely informative and useful for giving me a toolkit for approaching and breaking down big problems.”
– Healthcare & Life Sciences Management Consultant, UK
In the format that works for your firm.
Boutique consulting firms rarely have the luxury or capacity to pull entire teams into multi-day residential programmes. Openside is built for flexibility.
Face to face
Immersive, high-impact sessions designed for senior cohorts and critical development moments.
Live online
Facilitator-led virtual programmes that retain the energy and interaction of in-person delivery.
eLearning
Flexible, self-paced modules that reinforce and extend learning across time zones and schedules.
Coached application
One-to-one and small group coaching to embed learning in real work, not just classroom scenarios.
Our Partnerships
Ready to find out if Openside is the right fit?
If you would prefer to explore the framework first, the Talent Development Pathway gives you a clear picture of what structured consulting development looks like in practice.
A 20-minute discovery call is all it takes. No presentation, no proposal, just a conversation about your firm’s current situation and how Openside can support you and your firm’s growth.