Making a positive impact

The Times recently sat down with David Orr, product lead at Mott MacDonald and UN Global Compact 2022 SDG Pioneer, who recently picked up two awards for his incredible impact on clients and the environments in which they operate.

“Management consultancy is about mobilising stakeholders and building the right frameworks to achieve your goals. In my case, those goals are social and environmental. I’m interested in how companies and communities can work together to make a positive impact” says David.

David was the 2023 winner of the Chartered Management Consultant of the Year award and Times Consultant of the Year. This is part reward for his work leading a digital team that works with Mott MacDonald’s clients on major infrastructure projects to reduce carbon emissions.

“If you can think about carbon at an early stage on these projects, which tend to use huge amounts of steel and concrete, you can make an enormous difference,” he says. “We also focus on the idea of democratising decarbonisation – that is, working with clients to get their entire supply chain on board to really drive this change.”

But such projects only account for half of David’s time at Mott MacDonald. He also works with policymakers in the battle against climate change. For instance, with the government of Kenya and teams there, David works to support carbon reduction pathways, having undertaken similar work in India. “Kenya has targets to significantly reduce carbon emissions, which is awesome, but the question is how to do it,” he says. “We’re using digital tools to make sure they have the right data from every sector, from the national airline to the port authority to energy transmission companies, and that everyone’s voice is heard.”

It is vital work that management consultants are well-placed to lead, David believes. In emerging economies especially, David points out, the need to address the infrastructure gap while pursuing decarbonisation is a particularly challenging task. The skills and best practices that consultants have developed are vital in achieving that balancing act. “Sound project management is vital, as these works don’t always finish on time or on budget and they’re often taxpayer funded,” he explains. “It’s crucial to identify the risks upfront to ensure every stakeholder has the same expectations and that the project then proceeds in a way that is codified and structured.”

Bringing multiple stakeholders together is a critical element of infrastructure development, David adds. “You’re building projects that have to link up, whether it’s a new airport that needs a train station or a water treatment works that will add to the existing network,” he explains. “You’re also having a real impact on people, so you need to be talking to community groups too.”

David’s efforts to bring discipline to large-scale infrastructure projects have driven successful outcomes. David’s work has positively impacted a project in Pakistan to advance medical collaboration in response to the Covid-19 crisis, work on efforts to improve girls’ education in South Sudan and an urban development programme in India.

The quality and impact of such work has been widely recognised beyond the two awards secured this year. The United Nations Global Compact, which leads efforts worldwide to get businesses to adopt sustainable and socially responsible policies, recognised David as its 2022 Sustainable Development Goals Pioneer for Climate Mitigation.

The award was made, in part, for his work at Mott MacDonald to advance the 2050 Carbon Calculator, a digital tool incorporating existing and emerging green technologies. It is an energy model that governments, other stakeholders and the public can use to think about how to decarbonise a region or country. The outputs provide the basis for the development of evidence-based policies that are tailored to that specific area.

“Winning that award was very special and humbling,” David says. “It felt as if it proved I’m on to something with the work I’ve been doing, but more importantly I think it showed that, with a supportive company behind you, it’s possible to blend management consultancy and sustainability work to really drive positive impact.”

David credits his success to the support given to him by Mott MacDonald. The firm encouraged him to become a Chartered Management Consultant (ChMC), supporting him with a mentor through the process. At 29, he is the youngest person at Mott MacDonald to have achieved ChMC status.

Launched in 2021, the ChMC accreditation was developed to set and maintain the highest standards in management consulting and to reward consistently high professional competence and achievement.

Such rigour was an important consideration for David. “I was conscious that it was a new award and could see value in being an early adopter, but I was also reassured that it was as challenging and robust as some of the chartered awards in other professions,” he says. “It certainly felt rigorous when I was doing the work, because there are more than 50 competencies where you need to show clear examples of your skills and experience.”

While the workload was demanding, David believes the ChMC accreditation can play a valuable role personally and professionally for management consultants. “At a personal level, you’re hopefully making yourself eligible for more interesting and demanding projects because you’ve demonstrated you have the capabilities required to manage them,” he explains. “For the profession as a whole, having that single stamp of authority is important. I think management consultants have often been recognised for particular projects or initiatives, but the chartered status can give that aura of professionalism you see in other sectors.”

It also helped that the work to become accredited felt connected to David’s role: “The first theme in the programme is ethics. In some of the complex and challenging environments where I find myself working, having an ethical approach as a foundation is so important.”

David believes that ethics is of growing importance for management consultants and its inclusion in the chartership programme will ensure more of his colleagues have the skills needed to deliver services around the field of sustainability.