How To Use Consultants Effectively
Seven Ways to Get the Most Out of Your Relationship with McVinney & Company

Many organizations hire consultants to optimize their business strategy by outsourcing certain work. We applaud that, and know the value that it brings to the organizations that do it well. In that spirit, consultants are hired to do many unique and comprehensive tasks and activities that may lie outside the expertise of your core staff, or are simply not part of the daily work of the company. For example, McVinney & Company is currently providing outsourced training and development services for companies too small to have their own in house training managers or “OD” (Organizational Development) professionals. In addition, we are always being asked to facilitate ongoing business strategy and product development activities.

Just because the work you hire an outside resource to do for you may lie outside your core technology, does not mean you should abandon those consultants to do their work totally unattended. In short, when you hire us (or any consultant for that matter), there are some specific guidelines you can follow to be sure you get the best from the contract you sign. Here are some things you and your management should remember when supporting outside consultants to keep the relationship lively, on target, and working for your desired outcomes:

1. Clarify and Share the Consultant’s Role From the Beginning

If we have started our relationship with you on the right foot, the proposal you agreed to should have some pretty clear guidelines and descriptions of the roles and responsibilities of us, the consulting partner. Nevertheless, the role of the consultant may be obscure to others in the organization if it is not made extremely clear by the hiring management. When the contract is negotiated with the consultant, be sure that the roles spelled out in that agreement are shared wit h the project team, other managers, and all those who may come in contact with or be affected by the work of the consultant. Likewise, if the role of the consultant changes over the course of the work, which it often legitimately does, be sure that is made clear to all involved as well. Clear roles and the responsibilities that accompany them make for smoother working relationships and a decrease in uncertainty about how to deal with outsourced agents.

2. Schedule Your Consultant’s Time With You Wisely

This doesn’t mean you have to be their time mangers or “bosses” as such, consultants tend to be self starters and are interested in keeping to schedules and deliverables more than most, because their compensations is usually directly tied to it. It does mean, though, to be sure your consultants are able to work effectively when they are on your clock. For example, when you are expecting a consultant to complete a research report for you, and necessary information is held in your database – don’t take three weeks to get the database open to him. Waiting for customers to get consultants access to information, is one of the worst time mongers. The consultant is going to charge you for the time he waits in front of the computer for information to be available. This is true of access to your people as well. If the consultant stands by all day for someone to come and talk, and no one does, guess what - she still bills! Likewise, if you schedule time with the consultant to do some focused work or creative problem solving, or coaching or some other activity – avoid time consuming interruptions and other distractions – you are paying them to wait.

3. Make sure your consultants have access to your people:

There is nothing like spending $500 – $3,000 a day for a consultant to come to your facility in order to work with the project team or its leader, and have those people be unavailable. Of course, in our embedded model of consulting project leaders and their teams are setting up meeting times with each other directly. Nevertheless, beware of situations where consultants are paid to be “available” but there is no schedule of specific interactions or meetings. Paying a consultant to sit in one of your cubicles with no one “using” her expertise is a grand waste of your outsourcing dollar. Furthermore, if you pay a consultant to be available to coach or support a team and then pull everyone out for a re-scheduled meeting somewhere else or pre-empt meetings that have been scheduled with your consultant – you a re going to pay for his time anyway. There is a special opportunity when scheduling outsourced resources to ask yourself if the sudden change in plans is really as important as it seems at the moment. We have seen some managers whose time management is really quite cavalier learn to think differently quite quickly about their own people’s time when a paid outsourced agent is charging them for their inefficient planning!

4. Be Sure You Hold Yourself and the Consultant to Timelines and Deliverables

Most consultants are eager to make deadlines. After all, in addition to their revenue, their credibility rides on producing meaningful and timely work for the customer. However, if those deadlines and deliverables are not clear to you and to the consultant, valuable work can go unfinished or even lost. Furthermore, just because consultants are self starters and can work independently, doesn’t mean they, like most team members, don’t want boundaries and expectations to be jointly set and followed. It helps everyone manage performance when those things are clear, and clear to everyone involved in the consultant’s circle of contacts.

5. Give Your Consultants Appropriate Level and Range of Authority

The authority level of your consultants must be in line with the needs and expectations of the project itself. Usually, all an effective consultant needs for authority is the power to call a meeting when necessary and agreed upon, and the latitude to facilitate and help groups set and keep schedules and deliverables. Some process consultants need the authority to speak with individuals at will (in order to track progress toward goals and provide feedback and coaching), and some need authority to access certain databases or project areas within the organization. In addition, an outside consultant may need access to computer and human support. It’s not uncommon for the project team with a clerical assistant or administrative help to support the consultant as well.

6. Listen to the Consultant!

Our best customers know why they hire us; it’s because of the fresh perspectives and deep, varied experiences we bring to the table. Usually, we have worked in many more organizations than our customers and have a wide picture of the industry or ones similar to yours. Also, we study organizational and business dynamics all the time, and keep up on trends, research and current events. In addition, if we are worth our salt, we push you to be creative about the way you are thinking and acting in your own market and business area.

One qualifying word about this: When we say, “listen to us,” we don’t mean we shouldn’t listen to you first. Our most prominent skill should be our ability to listen to what you need and help you discover and implement the most satisfactory solutions and strategies to get you where you want to go. You should hold us accountable not for telling you how to do “it”, but for providing excellent levels of facilitation, coaching and information sharing to help you succeed on your own terms. There are too many consulting companies with big, prominent names giving the wrong advice and setting individuals and teams back instead of lifting them upward. You need us to help you find your own authentic and most creative path.

7. Treat Your Consultants as Professionals and Think of Them as Partners

I once had a customer who announced to me after we had signed our contract to launch an employee empowerment program, that “I would find he keeps consultants on a tight leash.” When I asked what this meant, he indicated that he saw us as “just another employee” hired to do a job and leave. An unfortunate view that I had to relieve him of in order to assure our mutual success. The approach I used was to demonstrate that a “short leash” was not necessary. And then I began to help him learn to trust his full time employees more, so he could stop treating them like dogs as well. He did, over time, let go, and even allowed some measure of creativity to flourish within his organization.

This syndrome is why there is a great call for “empowerment” these days. The manager in the story above had spent so many years “infantalizing” his work force, that empowerment was a necessary therapeutic response. Most organizations that institute empowerment programs are guilty of the same cultural history. We, as consultants, see this quickly when we too are treated like expendable hired hands, second class members, carpet-baggers or untrustworthy agents from the outside coming to take all we can get. The attitude needs to be one of a partnership. The assumptions are that we are working together to advance the goals of the customer, and achieve our own professional calling simultaneously. Successful and highly regarded consultants don’t do what they do because they can’t get a real job – we get jobs all the time – it’s one of the things we are best at doing! If you see us as seasoned partners at whatever task we have chosen to do together, then the relationship is a deeply professional one – like you would hope to have with a doctor, a financial consultant, or a lawyer in your personal affairs – that is, someone you can trust has your best interests in mind and knows things you need to know to achieve the outcomes you want to reach.

Finally, in addition to accepting your consultants as fellow professionals and business people, remember they need to be respected as independent agents running their own companies and supporting their own staffs. Therefore, be sure they are paid on time and promptly. This keeps them loyal to you as a preferred customer and shows your good will at accepting their guidance and facilitation. We have seen a few excellent working relationships between organizations go sour because of non-payment of regular invoices. This creates distrust, because everyone indicates the value of business interactions by how they compensate one another. Cut the bureaucratic tape and keep your ongoing consultants well fed and regularly supported to assure they continue to be able to do the best for you.

In conclusion:

Outsourcing work to other organizations and consultants with particular expertise outside by essential to your core technology is a positive fact of business life in the complex age of information and global networks. Make it work for you by choosing and keeping the right relationship. Then, keep those relationships healthy and vibrant by following the simple guidelines and suggestions we offer here and expect the best, and watch your company thrive!