The secrets of the external consultant: From targets to culture, lay the groundwork before you hire

When companies need to deliver a significant change, it is often not possible to find the necessary resources and expertise internally. This issue has been exacerbated by the widely-reported skills gap in the UK business market – a challenge to which there is no easy or quick answer. 

 

To help overcome this, and to ensure that day-to-day operations carry on with minimal disruption, firms are increasingly turning to external consultants – people with the experience and process management skills to deliver projects as seamlessly as possible.

 

But as crucial as experience is, making sure that they can fit into your existing structure and company culture is also vital. Interim staff still necessitate informed, smart hiring decisions. Here are five things to consider to ensure you make the right choice for your business.

 

Make sure both you and your potential consultant hire are clear on what is expected. Are you after advice, or a review of an existing project? Do they need to take the process from its inception all the way to delivery? What are the milestones you will be tracking their progress against? This needs to be clear in all parties’ minds to avoid any confusion further down the line.

 

It’s a simple rule: if you set out how you want a project to run – the costs of the work and a timeline for delivery – then the consultant’s support will deliver the required results. Regardless of whether they’re working by the billable hour, the scope of work must be clear at the outset. Everyone needs to understand the economics of the consultant model – they may seem to be making a good amount of money up front, but you will reap the rewards downstream. 

 

Things will only really go smoothly if you ensure that the individual has the capability to meet your timescales and deal with your constraints. Much of this can be checked by being thorough when hiring: interviews and fact-checking are vital but often overlooked in the hurry to implement. 

 

Furthermore, it’s worth bearing in mind how easy it would be to scale staff in line with the project – can you afford to bring in more people or bill for further hours as crunch time approaches? Do you have a contingency plan?

 

For any consultant being brought in, there needs to be a balance struck between the method they use for project work and their specialist sector knowledge. 

 

If they’re fantastic at execution, but don’t have a great deal of wider industry knowledge, then the wrong areas may be focused on and key issues misinterpreted. Similarly, it will do you no good at all if the project manager has a heap of specialist knowledge but no way to apply it. 

 

Equally as important as the minutiae of project delivery, it is crucial that your hire is a good fit for your company and ethos. Just because someone is brilliant, it doesn’t mean that they will be brilliant for your business. 

 

As with a permanent hire, make sure that they complement your existing team and have the ability to transfer their knowledge and up-skill your staff. 

 

It is not enough to simply have weekly meetings; there needs to be a structured framework in place for this knowledge to be imparted. Without this, once the consultant leaves, so does their insight and skills.