Reasons Why CEOs, Boards, Top Executives Must Use Outside Help to Improve Performance and Results, Solve Their Problem and Achieve Their Goals!

It is very rare for an individual, company, business or organisation, to achieve great things in any field without some kind of outside help and support. Many CEOs, Board Leaders and Professionals especially in Africa ignore seeking outside help to solve their problems, change or improve their performance and results and achieve their goals because they do not understand what benefits they get and some overestimate their own abilities and underestimate what outsiders could contribute to their success.

In Europe, America and other developed parts of the world, successful companies, businesses and economies use a lot of outside help in the form of #consultants, advisors, #strategists, coaches, mentors, trainers, teachers and resultsicians. This is one of the major reason why these companies, organisations and economies outperform their competitors.

1. Outsiders provide perspectives that you may not have

2. Outsiders often have some knowledge that you do not have

3. Outside helpers have critical skills that may not be available in your company, business or organisations.

4. Outside helpers have the independence of thought that insiders may not have

5. Outside helpers have talents that you may not have

6. Outside helpers have strategies that you may not have

7. Outside helpers have expertise that you may not have

8. Outside helpers have solutions that you may not have

9. Outside helpers have experience that you may not have

10. Outside helpers have

Many decision-makers make the mistake of viewing payments to the outside helpers as a cost. They do not think about the LEVERAGE they get if they get the correct and competent outside helpers. Instead of thinking what they pay to outside helpers as cost, they have to know that it is actually a serious INVESTMENT. Instead of thinking about cost;

Think about the return on the investment in the outside helper.

Many CEOs, Boards and other top decision-makers avoid outside help simply because they do not want to pay money to the helpers. They never think about how the money they avoid paying to the outside helpers could solve the problems they are facing. If it is a company facing viability problems and incurring loses, the money they think they will save by not using it for outside help will still be lost and the company may still collapse eventually.

It is also important to know what kind of outside help that you need and in what format. In many cases, companies, organizations, businesses and economies wait until it is too late to get outside help. They get them only in emergency cases when they have tried and tried other means. This is time-wasting! Using outside help when performance and results is already good is the best strategic move because you minimise the decline in performance and results. Outside helpers can be a a great source for new ideas, new strategies, new ways of doing things and better approaches, thus keeping you ahead of the competition and staying on the leading edge of things.

Bad Decision Making in Hiring Consultants

Many decision-makers make bad decisions when hiring consultants. The results are either they do not higher outside helpers when they must or hire the wrong ones who do not give them their best possible results. Here are some of the mistakes;

1. Looking for the cheap or cheapest-This is a very big mistake. Many cheap outside helpers are cheap because they lack experience and they lack confidence or a solid track record of results. Cheap is often expensive
2. Mistaking formal academic qualifications with consulting capability: A person may have a good education and still be a bad consultant or helper. Remember a helper is there to solve problems or help you achieve your goals; this requires more than general academic education. Successful and effective helpers are that effective not because of their knowledge, but their approach. Most solutions do not come from the helper's knowledge, but from thinking and strategy and approach. Infact, many helpers are always learning and researching in their areas of help; the only thing is that they do not get certificates for their self-education.
3. Trying to interview a helper the same way you interview for a formal job position. In many cases outside helpers are experts in areas that you may not have expertise. So it is very difficult to know what they are capable of doing beforehand. Also your situation may be unique and past experience may not be that relevant to your situation. It is good to have some idea on whether the person will deliver, but after a certain point you just have to trust your guts and go for it. Usually, if you are hundred percent certain about an outside helper, there is something you are missing. Intuition and gut feeling often leads you to the best hiring decision. Relying on academic qualifications where they are not key to success is a bad decision.
4. Seeking Consultant and Outside Helpers Only When You are In Trouble: I have already this!
5. Using the same helpers over and over again. You may have your favourite consultant that you use over and over again. This is not bad because some consultant are that good in what they do. However, if you do not try new consultants in the same field, you might be missing something big. Not all popular consultants are the best in what they do. Seek out new consultants even the most obscure. In business, if you use the same consultant that others use in any field, you will be able to keep up with your competition in that area but chances are high that you may not get head of them.

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?Simon Bere, 2023