Utilizing Consultants Effectively

In a rapidly changing and dynamic business environment we have to trust and rely on those who specialize in niche areas. 

When looking at outsourcing a specialty service, you have to question the reasons for bringing in an outside resource. Your management team needs to look deeper than, should we outsource our HR or AP/AR. There are many different circumstances in which a consultant can assist your organization. 

The largest failure in hiring a consultant is not what they were hired to consult on, but how the management team uses them. Many times the team will start seeking ways to reinforce their position and strengthen their choices in front of the management team. 

Many times it is not the answers to the questions you ask, but what questions you are not asking that hold the value. In the book How to think like Einstein, Scott Thorpe explains its not just about the answer you are seeking, but the question you may be unaware of. When you get stuck in a bad pattern, continuing the behavior repeatedly only increases the odds you repeat the same negative behavior in the future. 

Many times people, staff and management are unaware that a pattern is negative, until they get a fresh set of eyes to objectively review their patterns. 

So how do you break the ingrained patterns and change behavior in the future? Hire a consultant. This statement assumes that your team is discerning enough to hire the right consultant. The problem with hiring a consultant is that you are the customer and they are serving you, which means they may not give you direct and candid answers. 

I will leave the vetting and choice of a consultant to another article, and will focus on how to effectively use a consultant.   

The topic of what questions to ask has already been broached, and I would like to pursue it further. I have sat in on many meetings with consultants and management teams where 2 or 3 members of the team ask thinly veiled questions to the consultants about an area. They are not seeking new opportunities or procedures, but reinforcement that what they are doing is the best way. This is one method of a peaceful mutiny, if the leader is lost and taking the organization in a bad direction. 

Many times this is not the case, and the CEO or Board is not in the room. It is upper management disputing how to restructure, what price point to set or what avenues to pursue for additional revenue. 

This is a waste of consultant time and a form of low emotional intelligence. This is not a reason to hire a consultant. 

So how can you use a consultant effectively? Ask questions, some you may think you know the answer to already, but the important thing is to listen and think. Let the conversation develop similar to a brainstorming session, keep a positive atmosphere, don't reject or scoff at any question or point brought up. 

A consultant hired by your company is a new opportunity to grow, develop and understand your business and team better. If your company experienced cutbacks over the past few years, you may have lost the benefits of conferences. This can be an opportunity to learn, don't squander the opportunity.

Learn best practices from these specialized consultants and pursue methods of using them as personal mentors and trainers. Use them for what they are, specialists who understand and know the industry.  

Diversity in Business

Diversity in Business

I have read many books on the importance of diversity in the workplace. Not only does it promote creativity, it also provides a means of counteracting group-think. I have had the importance pounded into my brain at every seminar and training session I have attended. Just as we diversify our portfolios, we must also diversify our lives and circles to engage a new perspective.

What is diversity? I have heard it called many things; schools of thought, background, caste, sex, sexual orientation, race and even religion. These can all be true, but one interesting point I have never heard made that I feel may be germane to the conversation is age.

As a society we tend to generally associate gray hairs with wisdom and (Gray Hair = Wisdom?) years of experience. While this may be true, an old Greek proverb says, "Gray hair is a sign of age, not wisdom." While gray hairs do prove life experience they are not proof of good life experiences. The transient guy in the street corner may have gray hair, but you may not want to ask him what the meaning of life is.

So why do we associate gray hair with life experience and wisdom? Maybe it is the remembrance of a great-grandfather giving us sage advice as we sat on his lap as a child. There is something in our past that tells us older people are full of wisdom and certainty. I am not saying to disrespect our elders, but rather not to distinguish someone by their hair color as we don't discriminate against the color of one's skin.     

So then in a group, circle of friends or workplace how do we create diversity? Maybe it starts with an introspective look into our groups, colleagues and work force to see what we are lacking. If everyone in your group is under 30 years old, consider bringing in someone with gray hair. If you are in a group that remembers the great depression, maybe its time to bring in a young face.

Life is about balance and when we can be honest with ourselves and live consciously, we can bring in the balance needed to diversify and promote our organizations.