External Consultants: Your New Best Friends?

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External ConsultantsYour New Best Friends?

• Dr Simon N Davey
• Managing Associate
• Preponderate.network
• www.preponderate.net

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Wed love to but we dont have time

• "Here comes Edward Bear now, down the stairs
  behind Christopher Robin. Bump! Bump! Bump! on
  the back of his head. It is, as far as he knows,
  the only way of coming down stairs. He is sure
  that there must be a better way, if only he could
  stop bumping for a moment to think of it.
  A.A.Milne

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What is an external consultant?

• They work for someone else
• They have an outside view
• They tell it like it is
• They earned the right to be called a consultant

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Why use external consultants?

• Experts in specific issues
• Previous experience
• Different perspective
• NOT Someone to blame when it goes wrong

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What makes a good external consultant?

• Empathy
• Experience
• Expertise
• Credibility
• Someone you feel comfortable with

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The Trusted Advisor

• Evidence of competence
• Evidence of experience
• Evidence of interest in you and your organisation
• A good attitude towards work (professional and
  friendly)
• Olu fast became a friend and trusted advisor

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Where do you findgood consultants

• Recommendations from people you trust
• Trusted directories e.g. NCVO
• Recommendations from organisations/media you
  trust
• Making contributions to groups/charities/issues
• NOT usually out of the phone book
• Consultants are like children dont get one in
  a hurry

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How do you select a consultant

• Take recommendations and do background research
• Make shortlist of candidates
• Invite them to tender (theyll need a good
  brief)
• Interview the strongest candidates
• Decide which ones fit the bill (group decision)
• Agree a workplan/fee structure
• Sign on the dotted line

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How do you get the best out of them?

• Know what you want
• Brief them well (provide as much detail as
  possible)
• Agree the project in writing
• Communicate well be honest, constructive and
  easily contactable
• Dont be defensive if you hear something you
  dont like
• Hold review meetings and keep an eye on progress
• Dont interfere!

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Telling them what you want

• Agree with colleagues/management that this is
  what you really want
• Agree tangible deliverables
• Brief the consultant (a good consultant will shy
  away from something he/she cannot do)
• Badly briefed consultants fail regardless of
  ability/effort
• Keep in close contact with the consultant during
  the project
• Never, ever, ignore your consultants questions!

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Bite Sized Chunks

• Keep it simple
• Start small and work up
• Dont expect a new consultant to know your needs
  overnight
• Get success in early (use staged targets)
• Break the project into bite sized chunks

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Its a Partnership

• Menage a trois
• You, them and the project
• Take responsibility

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Issue Management

• If you dont like them, dont hire them
• If you dont trust them, dont hire them
• If they mess up once, work it out
• If they keep messing up, sack them
• Nearly finished x3 we dont have a clue what
  were doing
• Always have a back up plan

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But youre only a charity

• Beware the favour
• (Some) consultants do have heart
• What effect will a discount have on service?
• Get someone with experience of the sector
• Dont mix volunteering and paid consultancy with
  same consultant

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Beware The Wonder Consultant

• No one is perfect
• No one knows everything
• Cheap isnt better
• Good consultants rarely give it away

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Beware the Gifted Amateur

• What have they done before?
• Who have they done it with?
• Is this sufficiently similar to this job?
• Do they have the time and resources to do the
  job?
• Are they credible?
• If youre worried now, youll be petrified later

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Good Projects Sometimes Fail Anyway

• IT projects rarely work to expectations
• Successful IT projects are a result of technical,
  strategic, management and partnership excellence
• You get back what you put in
• You can never guarantee success

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Case Study Success

• Good brief with tangible, understood,
  deliverables
• Well chosen consultant with good skills match
• Effective partnership from first meeting
• Close working relationship
• Effective issue management
• SUCCESSFUL project

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Case Study Failure

• Good brief with tangible but misunderstood
  deliverables
• Well chosen consultant with good skills match
• Partnership good at first but breaking down
• Arms length working relationship
• Scope creep
• Miscommunication around issue management
• FAILED project

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How to make every project fail

• Forget the brief and just get on with it
• Dont tell them what you want and why
• Pick the cheapest person for the job
• Demand its done in half the time it should take

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Why do Consultants Mess Up

• Overcomplicated projects
• Bad management/communication
• Mismatch of expectations
• Bad day at the office
• Maybe they werent so great anyway

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Fitting square pegsinto round holes

• Dont ask Jonny Wilkinsonto win a penalty
  shootout inthe FOOTBALL World Cup

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QA

• Why/what cant you do yourself?
• What are external consultants good for?
• Arent they all profiteers?
• Experiences

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Preponderate.network

• "A network of consultants and professional firms
  providing complete project solutions to
  businesses, charities and the public sector
  whilst supporting the local communities in which
  they work."
• Dr Simon N Davey
• Managing Associate
• E simon_at_preponderate.net - T 0705 018 8707