Reasons to employ a management consultant.

What are the benefits of a management consultant?
Are management consultants necessary?

The good, the bad and the ugly.

The good reason to employ a professional firm of management consultants is to get an independent recommendation on how to address a specific problem. The absolute essentials are
• Agreeing defined and understood terms of reference for a study
• Vetting the actual consultant/s put forward by the firm
• Exerting no influence on the study and mandating all affected managers to cooperate fully

The bad reason is to fill a gap in management talent. If an insider can do the job and that person is missing, then employ him/her

The ugly reason is to substantiate a decision already taken.

The management consulting dimensions

Fundamentally there are two critical dimensions of change in the organisation of a management consulting assignment.

The first dimension is technical. The client expects considerable technical expertise. It might for example be in strategic planning, manufacturing process, international finance, IT or in many other specialist areas. But, first and foremost, the client is buying specialist knowledge of a specific consultant and backed by the broad bank within his/her organisation. In dealing with the problem in hand, the consultant applies a rigorous problem identification method. This includes collecting, verifying and cross-checking facts, challenging assumptions and impressions and subjecting all findings to thorough diagnosis.

The second dimension is human. The client and the consultant must identify their respective roles to make sure that these are complementary, supportive and understood. The aim is to get the client’s full cooperation so that there is collaboration throughout. In this way, the solution is a joint achievement. In the author’s book Violets, you will note the practice of appointing a “secondee” from the client staff at an early stage. This is one way to achieve the human dimension.

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