Introduction

Even the best managed organizations may come up against occasional bumps in the road and require an external expert opinion on matters ranging from Finance, IT, HR, Branding, Marketing, Strategy Formulation, and Competition Analysis to Motivation and Morale Boosting of the Employees. Frankly speaking the list is endless. So how do you ensure that you get your money’s worth from consulting engagements?

You may have heard the old adage: Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day; teach him to fish and you feed him for life. Unless you are hiring interim consultants to fill temporary gaps in manpower, your objective should be to learn how to fish i.e. build capacities within your organization and reduce future dependence on consultants.

A successful consulting engagement requires active participation from the client before hiring the consultant, during as well as after the engagement is over.

Do your homework

Define the problem you are facing. Identify the parameters which need to be worked upon and how success will be measured. What information do you need from the consultant and how will you use that information? (If you don’t do this, you’ll be paying the consultant to do it for you!)

Then, request free consultations to fine-tune your requirements. Evaluate at least two consultants (or consulting firms) to get a feel of what the likely ROI will be if you decide to go with any one of them.

Identified your consultant? Now Negotiate

Once you have zeroed in on the consultant you want to hire – NEGOTIATE!  Negotiate on the cost, irrespective of whether you want to go for value based pricing or per diem billing. In addition to direct cost also negotiate on the time required for completion of the engagement, any incidental overheads like daily transportation, whether you will pay for business or economy class travel within and outside the country, if required. In case of long term engagements requiring relocation of the consultant, will you bear the relocation costs for the consultants and their family?

During the engagement

Once the consultants have been engaged and the confidentiality agreements, etc are out of the way, be completely honest with them, and give them access to all the relevant data. Share any past attempts that you have made at solving the problem at hand or any untried solutions that you have in mind. Participate in the diagnostic process and involve the consultant in implementation of corrective action.

Be open to trying out new SOPs (Standard operating Procedures) during the consultation instead of waiting for the engagement to end. A successful innovation is more likely to be institutionalized as compared to ten recommendations in a lengthy report. Identify learning gaps within your organization and take the consultants help/ recommendations for bridging them.

Continuing improvements after the consultant has left

Readiness and commitment to change is essential for the organization in order to sustain the improvements. Use the learning acquired during the consulting engagement to lay the foundations of smart decision making capability within your organization.