How to use external
consultants
There are of course many different reasons to why
an organisation should use external support and consultants. From
experience, we know that when an organisation should handle issues
regarding change and transformations it is definitely of great
value to have external consultants involved. Independent
consultants free from the interdepartmental tensions all
organisations have are due to their neutral role very useful in
this type of situations.
It is also easier for an external actor to identify
and address sensitive issues and stay neutral to historic conflicts
within the organisation.
Considering experience and competence about change
and transformation management the consultant could contribute with
methods and tools about how to analyse and lead the
process.
In all situations where there is a need for a
neutral catalyst to get things started and a general factor of
motivation, a skilled consultant is a very fruitful
component.
All organisations need a well functioning structure
and efficient management systems. The assigned consultant should
also secure such a development and always maintain the process of
creativity to achieve the best solutions. Our opinion is that the
consultant should primarily contribute with methods and ideas about
how to solve complex problems and secure that all relevant options
become seriously accessed. This is always important, but it is
extra important when there are very strong leaders in charge of the
management teams. The risk is that their ideas turn out to be the
only ones and that the motivation among other managers becomes too
low.
However, we are convinced that there is a huge need
for a special type of leadership that only experienced consultants
could offer. With this we mean a leadership, that at the same time
boost the existing management within the organisation, without
being a competitive force that reduces the actual organisation's
ability to handle change of its own internal capacity. Depending on
the actual situation, type of the business and dominating customer
needs the consultants have to adopt the requested role and the most
appropriate toolkit.
It is rather obvious that from the
consultant’s point of view will the treatment of a large,
mature and global business be different from the treatment of a new
start up company. From a general point of view, we do not believe
that consultants have more knowledge about how to run a specific
big global business than the existing management. Top management
within a big international company does of course in most cases
have the most comprehensive and useful knowledge of the market and
the strategic direction for the organisation. However, due to her
neutral role, a consultant could be in a better position to
contribute to the solution of complex internal conflicts and
tensions, which are rather common in huge organisations. This is in
particular common during phases of change and
transactions.
Specialised consultants that represent excellence
and have a special forefront competence about a specific issue
could know more than the top management in this specific area.
However, in situations when it comes to issues about the overall
view and the deeper understanding of the business strategies our
experience is that nothing beats the existing top
management.
On the contrary, it is rather common that a new
company with new and young entrepreneurs in charge could definitely
be in need of detailed and straightforward advises about how to run
the business. In these situations, the consultant could have a role
as a line manager or management for hire and help the emerging
business to avoid the most obvious mistakes.
As a general conclusion we think, it is very
important that professional consultants do have the ability to
adjust the character of the services and adopt a dynamic approach
to customer needs and expectations. The reason for this is to
create the ability to maximise the improvement of value in all
offerings and secure the best solutions and results in a specific
situation.
Unfortunately there have, in particularly during
the 70: th and 80: th been to many consultants that produced a lot
of talk but almost no useful action. Our opinion is that the focus
in all assignments where consultants are involved must be on
results. Therefore, it is of great importance to carry out detailed
clarifications, what regards issues about the scoop, the ambition,
the result and the resources needed to do the
job.
What the management
team really want to do is crucial for
success.
Regardless if the client represents an old and
stable operation, or if it is a fast growing emerging business, it
is important that new business ideas, directions and plans go along
with the norms, views and believes among the existing management
team.
Investing money in implementation plans based on
some external consultant’s proposals is in the long-term
perspective no good to anyone.
Without a very strong commitment within the
existing management of an organisation, a new idea is practically
domed to die. We are therefore convinced that the major players
within the organisation must be deeply involved in the work with
new directions, developing new strategies and implementation plans.
Other vice there is a considerable risk that they will be the major
reason to why the change or transaction plan becomes a
failure.
The engagement and involvement of major players
such as formal leaders and informal leaders within an organisation
is probably one of the most important rules behind successful
business development. This regardless what type of business you try
to change or develop.
This is also the primary reason behind our ambition
to strive for assignments that are dealing with the type of issues
senior and top management declared to be the most important
ones.
The history of corporate change and development is
unfortunately quite loaded with unsynchronised consultants that
support different departments within an organisation and with a
very inconsistent and destructive direction. In some situations,
could large and fast growing global organisations be competing with
it self about the same customer with similar solutions and
offering. This is of course a worst-case scenario but we have seen
it happen. We became as surprised as the customers involved did. In
some perspective, one has to say that top leadership should be
grateful that shareholders are luckily unaware of what is going
on.
Adapt to the actual
situation during the phase of
implementation.
The ability to adapt to the specific situation
during the phase of implementation is crucial and to some points a
cornerstone within change and transformation management. This is in
particularly true when it comes to the very big and global
corporations with operations spread all over the world. Our
experiences indicate quite clearly that it is easier for a neutral
consultant with experience from many different cultures and similar
assignments to handle certain things within the
process.
There is usually a gigantic work that has to be
done when it comes to change and transformation
activities.
Most organisations becomes surprised over how much
work there is to be done regarding communication and how to
pedagogically describe missions, visions, targets, strategies and
common values so that employees and managers do really understand
them regardless where in the world they are located. Just use some
bullets on the power point or mind-manager presentations are not
sufficient to create a common opinion about the message. In some
situations, there are as many opinions as there are individuals in
the audience. If a message not is, enough clarified people often
hear what they like hearing and interpret the message so it suits
their own agenda.
Even though this is not the prime reason to use
external consultants, it is quite useful to use external
consultants that reduce the workload on certain key persons. These
key persons could instead be focusing on other types of issues that
are more important. They could also work with issues that not could
be out sourced.
Our
belief
We are convinced that our philosophy regarding how
to use external consultants that always adjust their methods and
tools to what is needed in the specific situation, is one of the
most fruitful contributions an organisation could find when it
comes to handle cost effective and successful business development
and change.
Furthermore, in the today’s business life we
are convinced that this knowledge and these skills will become even
more important as the speed of change increases and the business
environment becomes more complex.
The new and fast growing virtual dimension we after
the consolidation of the Internet have as natural component in most
types of business is becoming leverage to new business concepts.
Some of the new business concepts will probable change the existing
paradigms and be so comprehensive that they over a night could
convert a healthy business into a very troublesome
operation.
