All You Need to Know About Managing Consultants Effectively
If youâre determined to take your business to the next level, itâs likely that at some point, youâll need to hire the right consultant to help you navigate through unknown waters.
But hiring a top consultant is the easiest partâthanks to freelance consulting platforms that can connect you with hundreds of consultants.
However, managing a consultant can be difficult. You see, theyâre not your employee, so you canât manage them like one. But they technically work for you, so you need to give them some direction. Well, all this sounds very confusing, doesnât it?
Thatâs why in this article, weâll discuss how to manage consultants effectively. It will help you to ensure that your relationship stays positive throughout the engagement.
Be Aware of the Leader-Follower Dynamic
Working with consultants can be completely different from working with permanent employees. The most important thing to remember here is that consultants are usually not a part of your companyâs organizational hierarchy. For this reason, a companyâs representatives, who regularly work with the consultant, shouldnât make it seem like they are âmanagingâ the consultant.
Also, when you hire the right consultant using an online consulting platform, you donât need to lead them. Top consultants are self-motivated problem solvers and are capable of taking decisions themselves. But at the same time, itâs your company and their decision will affect your future. Thatâs why you need to understand the leader-follower dynamic carefully.
This means that sometimes, you should do what the consultant says, and sometimes, you might have to take the role of a leader and âmanageâ them without appearing like a manager.
Remember, if you try to control everything a consultant does, you might ruin your relationship with them. And if you donât intervene when you should, the consultantâs decisions might be detrimental to your business.
Get Them Well-Acquainted With the Companyâs Internal Culture
Remember that movie Up in the Air in which George Clooney goes from company to company and fires people? Well, thatâs one reason why the arrival of consultants in a company can stir discomfort among existing employees. It looks funny when you watch it in a movie. But when it happens in real life, it can be challenging to witness.
Not all consultants are downsizing consultants. But still, when an outside âexpertâ shows up out of nowhere and your employeesâ normal routine change, there can be some power struggles. So itâs your responsibility to make sure that the consultant is aware of your companyâs internal culture. This will help them settle in with your staff easily.
If your company has a flat structure and employees bring their dogs to work, then thatâs a part of your culture. And if pets are strictly prohibited, and employees are forbidden from adding each other on social media platforms (other than LinkedIn). Then thatâs a part of your companyâs culture too and you need to communicate to the consultant.
Keep the Project Scope in Check
When you hire the right consultant through an online consulting platform , theyâll create a precise statement of work in which youâll find details. For example, deliverables, project members involved, budget, length of various phases of the project, etc. In short, youâll know what you are going to get for the price you pay right from the get-go.
However, things arenât as simple as they seem. Even when you hire the best consultants, the project scope might sometimes increase which may raise your companyâs overall expenditure, not to mention delays in project completion.
When a consultant proposes to increase the project scope, you should have a private discussion with your internal team and decide whether you want to go forward or not. If the answer is ânoâ, then this should be communicated in a way that doesnât affect your relationship with the consultant. Letâs consider an example. Suppose you hire a marketing consultant to improve your companyâs brand image.
Now in the middle of the project, they recommend that you should hire an SEO consultant to improve your local search rankings. In this case, itâs up to you to analyze whether this addition to the project is viable or not.
Offer Any Professional Support They Need
Itâs true that if you hire the right consultant, you might learn more from them than they will from you. However, regardless of how talented they are, they cannot conduct your companyâs break-even analysis if you donât provide them all the relevant stats. Neither can they increase your sign-ups if you donât let them interview your existing clients.
The point is: if you want to make the most out of the opportunity of working with a top consultant, you should offer them all the assistance they require from your side.
Oftentimes, due to internal politics and lack of collaboration, a consultantâs job becomes harder than it needs to be.
For example, if a senior executive isnât fully on board with the idea of hiring a consultant, they might unknowingly make the consulting engagement difficult by not replying to emails, showing up late for meetings, or not providing relevant information to the consultant. Itâs your duty, as a business owner, to ensure that this behavior doesnât affect the consultantâs motivation.
Remember, the overall quality of a consultantâs recommendations, and the implementation that follows, will depend on how theyâre treated and the quality of support from the internal team. So offer them all the help they might need during the engagement, just like you would do for your permanent employees.
Deeply Examine Their Recommendations, Ask Questions, and Learn From Your Consultant
Communicate more, not less. After a consultant is done gathering and analyzing data, theyâll offer you their recommendations.
Simply put, expect something like: âThis is what the analysis says, and this is what I recommend.â When this happens, you have every right to ask them questions and challenge their advice professionally. Even if companies hire the best consultants, itâs not uncommon for them to ask their consultants to collect more data and revise the analysis and recommendations.
The consultant that you hire wonât stay with you forever. In fact, the engagement will probably last for a few months in most cases. Thatâs why itâs necessary to keep the shortness of this timeframe in mind. You should squeeze as much knowledge as you can from the consultant. When you do this, youâll be self-sufficient after the consultant moves on to their new project with a different company.
Of course, you can easily hire new consultants using an online consulting platform if you need to. But when you already have one working with you, maximize the opportunity.
Conclusion
Managing consultants is not the same as managing an intern. Consultants come on board with certain expertise and a seniority level which makes them a bit different from other employees. When you hire the right consultant, youâll realize this immediately. Sometimes, you have to play the role of the leader, and sometimes, itâs the consultant who tells everyone what the next step is.
Keep this shifting leader-follower dynamic in mind and offer consultants all the support they need. And at the same time, feel free to raise questions if you donât agree with them.