The 5 principles to working successfully with consultants
It’s been a few tough weeks for the consulting industry with daily articles like the below highlighting the softening market, and negative impact of the PwC Tax scandal putting a spotlight on the other Big4 firms, calling for more regulation and scrutiny.
Having spent 15 years in ‘big consulting’ before starting Tightrope, I’ve seen both the good and the bad. I’ve seen clients thrive with the help of great consultants, and I’ve seen clients get poor results, from low quality work, and poorly structured projects.
I’ve penned down my top 5 take aways, or principles, that organisations should consider when bringing consultants in.
Get to know your consultant: The normal RFP process has a huge focus on cost and capabilities. Can you do what you promise? And, can you do it for a competitive fee? Two important criteria but not quite the most important ones. Great outcomes are achieved if you find a cultural and collaborative fit with the consultant. They take time to understand you, and you take time to get to know them and allow them to understand your business. I don’t believe in big paper-based RFP processes to find good consultants, but would recommend a more collaborative process, with co-creation workshops, to really get to know the consultant that you are inviting to come into your business to help with the most critical challenges you are facing.
Choose people, not brands (or choose boutique firms, not big behemoths): Having moved from big consulting to boutique consulting, I have come to learn that there are great people everywhere, as there are underperforming people everywhere. With small firms, what you see is what you get. The people you talk to during the sales process will be the people who will deliver the work. With big firms, you have sales teams and senior partners doing the selling and junior teams doing the work. So, consider if a smaller firm would be a better option for your next project. Most people in smaller firms were trained by those big firms so you will get the same (or better) quality for half the fees.
Collaborate: No good outcome is possible without being an active participant in the process. You can’t just outsource the work to the consultant and expect a tailored recommendation if you don’t contribute to the process. Failed consulting projects always have shortcomings on the two sides, consultant, and client. Therefore, make sure you and your teams have the mental capacity and time available to be part of the consulting engagement throughout the process, and take ownership of the recommendations at the end.
Don’t become dependent: In some of Australia’s biggest companies, consultants have replaced the workforce, creating a dependency on them to get anything done. Leadership have lost focus of what capabilities are core to the success of the business and outsourced it to consultants for the opportunity of cost efficiencies. I personally think consultants are great for helping organisations to go through strategic reviews, large transformations and other project work that required additional capabilities and capacity. But the goal should always be to then bring the outcome back in-house, build capability in-house and reduce the consultant dependency.
Show loyalty: Do repeat work with trusted consultants, bring them back in for the next challenge your business is facing. Consulting is a tough industry, it’s very competitive and the expectations of growing revenue and profit means that leaders are incentivised to try and win at any cost. By rewarding the great consultants with long lasting profitable relationships, the outcomes are always better, both for the client and for the consultant.
These principles are core to why we started Tightrope. A desire to have great impact for the clients we work with, collaborate with them, get to know their business challenges and partner with them to drive change and positive outcomes.
Next time you need strategic advisory help, or support with your transformation, consider doing your search for the perfect consultant differently. Consider smaller firms, find consultants that come highly recommended, that take time in the sales process to get to know your business.
Don’t hesitate to get in touch if you need help finding great consultants. Have a look at what we do on our website, give us a follow on LinkedIn, and if what you need is not in our wheelhouse, we’ll connect you to the best talent out there. We’ve been working with some amazing partners across marketing, digital, technology, design, and brand over the past 2 years so we’re happy to make introductions.