What follows is very much a personal take on how to get the best from your consultant, writes consultant Susan Royce.
For me there are three key factors:
? Decide how you want to work with your consultant ? do you want an expert or an enabler?
? Invest time upfront in agreeing what problem you want to solve.
? Make sure that the consultant spends as much time as possible on what you are paying them for ? their knowledge, skills and experience ? and as little time as possible on administrative tasks.
So what do I mean exactly by experts and enablers? Experts collect data, go away and come back with a solution, while enablers work with an organisation, supporting, informing and challenging the organisation as it finds its own answers. Most consultants can work in both ways but are more comfortable (and effective) in one. Both approaches have their strengths and are appropriate in different circumstances. Understanding what kind of consultant you want is key to getting the right result. The table below sets out my views on the strengths and weaknesses of each, together with guidance on when best to use them.
Most projects which fail, do so for one reason: the problem which the project was designed to solve was not correctly or completely identified. Very often problems which seem quite discrete, such as an accounting system not working, are actually only symptoms of a deeper issue (as an organisation, we do not know how to share information). Addressing the symptom will not cure the disease. Investing time and energy in exploring the problem at the outset is the best guarantee you have of eventual success.
Consultants are not cheap, so do not pay them to arrange meetings with your own staff or board, dig around for information that you could/should have supplied yourself or cancel a meeting at the last minute. In my experience this type of activity can account for up to 25% of the cost of an assignment. The organisations for whom I have ?gone the extra mile?, and so to whom I have given of my very best, are the organisations who were willing to invest time upfront both in exploring the problem and planning the assignment, were honest with themselves and with me about the problems they faced, and they were open to new directions and ideas. They were also courageous enough to admit that sometimes the emperor?s clothes were rather transparent. And finally, they remembered that I had other clients and a personal life too!
Susan Royce is a chartered accountant who works with arts organisations.
t: 01223 263212; e: susan.royce@virgin.net