Make Sure You Need a Consultant

Before you engage a consultant:

  • Consult as many reference sources as you can lay your hands on - industry journals, the Internet, colleagues in the same or other industries. Sometimes it's amazing what you can get very cheaply or for free.
  • Know exactly what issue it is you want them to address (at least for the first phase of the assignment). Consulting reference sources will have helped you define the real issue.
  • Have a rough idea of the value to you or your company of getting good advice about this issue. This helps to put the consultant's fees in perspective.
  • If you're engaging a consultant to investigate a problem, commit to doing something about the problem. If your company isn't willing to change if you uncover a practical solution, then you need to learn to live with the problem.

Sizing Up Your Garden Variety Consultant

In choosing a consultant, consider the following characteristics:

  • Understanding Does the consultant seem to get it? Does the focus seem to be on your issue or on previous consulting assignments that were 'just like this one'? It's great if the consultant has worked on a similar issue, but at the briefing he or she should be looking at what's unique about your situation not concentrating on how to re-use previous work.
  • Practicality Does the consultant strike you as someone who recognises the realities of business, someone who's likely to give you suggestions that are practical? No matter how impressive it looks, you can't implement a slide pack.
  • Honesty When you engage a consultant, his or her behaviour inevitably reflects at least partly on you. Beware the consultant who has never been wrong and who never says 'I don't know'.
  • Lucidity In the end, it all comes down to communication. A great solution, poorly communicated, is no solution at all. If the consultant can't communicate in clear, jargon-free, structured sentences then you should look elsewhere or recognise that you will need to do all the internal communication.