How can you use a consultant to create and implement your strategic plan?

Looking ahead, I see consultants playing a crucial role in helping startups like mine not just adapt, but thrive in an increasingly digital and interconnected world. They can be instrumental in identifying collaboration opportunities - be it through strategic partnerships with tech firms, or cross-industry alliances, which can be particularly beneficial for a virtual assistant provider. For example, partnering with an AI development firm could lead to creating more sophisticated virtual assistant tools, thereby elevating our service offerings. As entrepreneurs, our vision can sometimes be limited by our proximity to the day-to-day operations.

En mi opinión habiendo estado en ambas partes, definir un plan estratégico con un consultor externo es viable pero no será rápido, más que una persona que nos proponga ideas debe ser quien nos hags cuestionarnos ideas y las consecuencias que no veamos de las mismas. Eso sí, ayudar a implantarlo lo veo más difícil por la dedicación en el día a día que se necesita y absorber la cultura de la empresa.

In reality, you need an external consultant to help you assess your needs, because they bring an outside viewpoint, with much experience with other clients. They will either confirm or modify your own analysis of your competitive situation, and the challenges and opportunities you face. That will then determine the scope and scale of any consulting assignment.

I agree that organizations and leaders need to clarify their needs. Part of this is a process very often done with a consultant. Often organizations and leaders will engage a consultant to develop a strategic plan that never gets implemented. The strategic plan Consultant is there to help the organization get through that process; not implement it necessarily. Implementation is a huge piece of this. It’s quite often that a strategic planning consultant will be different than an implementor. There are consultants out there who focus on implementing and breaking things down and manageable parts. I am one of them.

Businesses tend to be too internally focused; too close to "their daily reality" to see the wood for the trees. Hence an external viewpoint from a consultant is needed from the start. Moreover a consultant that asks the tough questions of the board/management vs merely playing to the board is needed. This will help unlock the true issues of the buisness and set the path to walk.

In selecting a consultant, be very careful. For starters, all the big consulting firms are less than competent. Their knowledge is behind the times, and they tend to staff projects with newbies who have no real-world business experience. And the projects take far too long to complete and hence at excessive costs. On top of that, the firms have conflicts of interest, as reported in the news daily. Also do not use platforms like Upwork or Fiverr because you likely will get a consultant who is less than competent and desperate for work. Instead, use your trusted online and offline connections to recommend a consultant.

Frank makes a fair point. Linking Assessing your Needs with Finding a Consultant is critical. My experience as both such a consultant and the receiver of such support when sitting on various Boards is the failure usually occurs when insufficient thought is given to creating a credible brief. The other error is allowing a Chair or CEO to create the brief either singly or as a duo with no buy in from the rest of the Board. I have seen too often that the appointed Consultant has been set up unintentionally to fail, which critically means the development of a viable strategy is doomed to failure. The whole Board must own the brief with regular check ins by the consultant as the process unfolds.

Word of mouth is the best way to find a consultant. Ask your trusted colleagues. More than being lured into a consulting firms' marketing with their success stories and list of brands they've worked with, you want to find someone with the soft skills that are shown, not told. Otherwise, look for people on platforms like linked in who share insights and wisdom. Be on the lookout again for self-promoters.

El perfil del consultor elegido para la implantación de cualquier herramienta o procedimiento, es tan importante como la propia metodología. Es fundamental que el consultor en cuestión comparta los valores de la organización y sea capaz de percibir la idiosincrasia predominante en la cultura corporativa para entender cuáles serán las principales barreras que debe superar.

I think Frank is being a little harsh on the major consultancy firms. I spent time briefly in KPMG Consulting as a Principal, sat on the UK Council of the Institute of Management Consultants, developed an independent Consultancy practice over many years. The brief determines the nature of the consultancy that an organisation might seek. Frank's suggestions are valid and I m a strong champion of the individual, experienced advisor. However there are times when a Board will seek to contract with the larger firms. Geographic reach or knowledge of multi country legal and trading practices are valid reasons. Advice that carries particular risk such as M&A or Brand Valuation within a strategic review may warrant access to a deeper pool of talent.

A specific contract is obviously important to specify the details of the assignment, with measurable progress milestones, and a built-in option for you and the consultant to review and modify its terms as needed.

The hard part is sticking to the contract. First, because there's always creep. Things come up in discovery that weren't evident, and needs change and expand. You don't necessarily want to pay someone for a 500 slide deck that tells you what you already know. It's an expensive form of valuation. Make sure the deliverables you request are actionable if they are strategic, useful if they're tactical. Scope creep is a persistent problem. While this advises you to protect your interests, a scope of work and contract should be respectful of the consultant you're working with. Consultants are valued partners, they are not just vendors you outsource to and try to get as much extra value out of them as you can.

This is very important. You're not outsourcing this. The consultant is your trusted partner. It's a two-way relationship. The fractional executive model embeds your advisor/consultant into your leadership team. It's incredibly successful because of the collaboration and partnership. The work you do together is done more efficiently without rounds of iterations and approvals. And the results are better.

The consultant should be a key member of your team, or should be the team leader to coordinate the project, with responsibility and accountability for performance.

One thing that could be helpful is including the consultant in important internal meetings. This means this person will be involved in the internal processes and also he/she will not be seen as an outsider all the time.

Exclusion of the consultant and their team (as key internal team members) sets everyone up for failure. Reason though this happens is that board/ management don't really want the external team to "uncover" their shortcomings and failures through the process. Ego is at play and careers and positions. However true leadership that is open to change management and moving the organisation forward needs to actively engage on a regular and transparent basis with the external team.

There are those who say there are strategists and then there are executors. There aren't. That's like saying there's someone who can write music but can't play an instrument. For a strategic plan to be truly executable, pragmatic, and possible, the strategist must also know how to do it themselves.

The strategic plan will be customized to your own situation as identified at the outset. However, do not think of this as an annual plan to be completed and then left sitting on a bookshelf. Strategy should cover various aspects over various time horizons, with a roadmap that has measurable milestone achievements, and which can be adapted as needed with agility as you proceed, while never losing focus on the overall goal and timeframe.

Having a "beautiful strategy map" but not actively measuring monthly results vs targets makes the map wasted. Far too many times the Map sits with board/top management but the rest of the organisation is not fully aware of where the business is going. Cascading the map, understanding the importance of lead and lag measures and setting proper targets is never truly understood by leadership. Hence the consultant needs to be with the Org through Strategy Formulation, into Execution and most importantly be part of the Review process.

Implementation is key to make everything work and choosing the right consultant is a crucial decision here. Not all consultants have the right profile for the implementation phase, so you need to assess the skill set of the consultant before moving forward with the implementation. Although it's not the consultant role to implement the plan, assisting is crucial and there are some skills that need to be in place to guarantee a successful implementation. Former retail professionals (for example), are great consultants with a broaden realistic view of how the plan could/should be implemented. In other words, when choosing a consultant you need to be clear on what you need: designing the plan, implementing it, or both.

In my experience, I see so much time & talent put into planning, and then all too often it ends up lost in the chaos of getting back to work! Be sure to invest in the work the teams took- business and nonprofit- to build a strategic plan. That’s just step #1! Don’t keep that plan on the shelf or a shared. Step #2 is to IMPLEMENT and put it into action. Break your strategic plan down into manageable & executable parts, including internal communications to stakeholders so that they understand how and why they can engage. Step# 3 is to create a dashboard & check in on the PROGRESS, noting what’s changed and has not, & course correct. Step #4 is apply and integrate CONTINUOUS PROCESS improvements and assessments to keep it fresh!

There are times to use external support but for me when it comes to internally implementing that’s a job for the internal teams, it needs to be owned and that is best done internally as it’s not a one off job it needs ongoing management and monitoring…

Collaboration with Consultants: When it comes to achieving your goals, it's essential to remember that consultants don't perform miracles in isolation. Instead, they play a pivotal role in guiding your journey towards success. Strategic Partners: Consultants are your strategic partners, offering their expertise to help you chart a path forward. Streamlining Processes: They excel at streamlining your operations, optimizing your resources, and ensuring efficiency. Problem Solvers: Consultants excel in problem-solving. They identify challenges and provide solutions to address them effectively. Step-by-Step Plans: Moreover, they assist in creating step-by-step plans, ensuring that you move towards your objectives with clarity and purpose.