Having been in the industry for 34 years now in various positions from a bakery apprentice to Executive Vice President for a global food manufacturer i have had over the years had numerous emotions about the validity and the use of external consultants. Some the consultants have been extremely good advisors and some not so good. What separates them is the experience and suitability obviously but there success can be measured in achieving what the have been briefed to do, but how good is the project outline?
Therefore we need to ask ourselves how do work out which consultants are a benefit and those that aren’t a benefit to your organisation, well it depends on how you work with and manage them, in reality a consultant needs a very descriptive job specification with a framework to work within. The consultant needs and must understand the end goal for the project for which the organisation is paying them as well achieving the strategic objective.
As with your own full time employee’s the corporate vision and strategic goal is a basic fundamental and understanding this is critical this needs to be supported by all, this also includes the consultants engaged by you.
Understanding this is a critical process and unless you set the project specification which is based our your corporate goals as to how you want the project to be executed then you can’t hold an external resources such as a consultant accountable. Your organisation won’t reach its desired objectives. Think carefully about what you want to happen and what you consider to be the fulfilment of project. it would be wise to ensure you have the agreement of your management team at the sametime.
Project briefs need to be achievable and with mutually agreed timelines, and clear objectives. once this is set then you have a great foundation and your expectations will be realised. I have seen some good reputations destroyed because this basic fundamental has failed and not been correctly executed. The worst case scenario is when a consultant has been left to there own devices.
When a consultant enters a business and is told review my business and report back to me…… thats a failure before the relationship has time to form. what do you expect to happen? failure for both parties.
There are many questions that need to be considered prior to an engagement of a consultant by any organisations, what is the skill set missing within the organisation that needs to have a consultant brought in ? have basic requirements of the project outline been considered and formulated into a solid project brief?
Does your management team and structure understand the project brief and more importantly do the buy into the project? once these questions have been considered and full engagement has been obtained internally then the desired outcome will be achieved.
