Why use Consultants? Four key themes (and some handy tips)

One of the most common questions that we face from executives and management is; why do we need consultants? More specifically, this then flows into a conversation of how well the executive team knows their own business, why they can do things better than any third party – and the list goes on.

Well, the simple answer is – they are right. We sincerely hope that they know your business better than anyone else. After all, it is people, their knowledge and their attitude that drive a business towards its ultimate goal; creating value (we can debate what value really means another day).

But, in reality, consultants can have a negative reputation – charging excessive amounts for short-term strategic interventions, that result in amazing PowerPoint slides, all of which are more often than not archived and only implemented when the consultants have left the premises. This leaves a bad taste in the mouths of the employees, who often argue that the actions are not beneficial and don’t reflect day-to-day business realities.

Take a step away from this perception. We would like to prove to you why consultants are valuable, and more importantly, why you do need them. We have limited this to four themes to illustrate this concept:

[Time and expertise] – [Politics] – [Good knowledge across industries and functions] – [Fresh perspective]

1. Time and expertise

In most cases, when we meet with the CEO to have an exploratory conversation about their business, strategic imperatives and what changes are needed to grow, they have many aspects of the solution in their heads. The problem is that they simply don’t have the time, or experience, in dealing with strategy design and execution, to be confident in doing this themselves. And there is a catch 22 here; because if they do this themselves, they generally take their eye off what matters the most – running their business effectively and looking after current customers.

An easy example to contextualise is growing your business into Africa. Firstly, you need a strategy for what it is that you want to achieve; you then need to analyse and validate the market data that is available and make informed decisions based on a desired set of potential outcomes. All of this then needs to be packaged into a business case (either for Board review or third party/ funding review) – and this is simply the start of your journey. From here you need to have the right team to deliver on this strategy, time to negotiate with partners, access to the right capital and the ability to pilot this to test your assumptions.

There are countless other examples, all of which require time and in many cases, expertise that you simply don’t have in place until you have a proven business and/ or revenue flow. This is a great example of where specialised strategic consultants can assist you.

TIP: Make sure the consultants partner with you on this journey. Don’t just get a PowerPoint deck or a detailed business case document; have confidence that they can negotiate with partners on your behalf, that they can get the funding and have access to partners for you – in essence, make sure that by the time they leave you, you have a business and/ or strategy that is sustainable and executable.

2. Politics

It is sometimes hard for companies to do what is right (sacred crows etc.), particularly when it comes to the tough decisions; from changing the entire course of a company that has been successful for 40 years, to operational issues such as laying off jobs, salary reviews etc. As consultants, we have the unique ability to be independent and make these decisions without affecting our careers. This could also be why many employees have a negative perception of consultants, as we generally are only brought on board when things are changing – you don’t need consultants for business as usual (outsourcing is another topic which we will not delve into in this article, but does have the potential to add tremendous value to an organisation).

We as consultants have the mandate and authority to recommend what is right for the business. When these changes are implemented, the CEO and Executive team can simply blame us in the short-term, and take the credit for these game changing moments when these strategies start paying dividends. Of course, if they don’t bring about the desired changes, the Executive team is ultimately accountable.

Tied with politics is the ability to bring people together and coordinate the company’s strategy in a considered manner. This is typically done as the company is willing to facilitate a process that they are investing in. This is a more subtle offset of political power, but is as important in the execution of any successful strategy.

Tip: Involve your employees in relevant steps of the journey and get their buy-in at an early stage; these projects should be owned by your company

3. Good knowledge across both industries and functions

As seasoned consultants, we can confidently state that we have had the privilege of serving across a wide range of sectors, in a variety of operational functions. This certainly does not mean that all consultants are specialists at everything, nor does it mean that they only specialise on one competency. In fact, this is a common balancing act at the larger consultancy firms, with neither sector specialists nor competency specialists having a commanding lead in what makes sense in business. Rather, you as the client, need to select the right people, from the right consultancy practice to suit your requirements.

The reason behind why consultants have an added layer of knowledge and material that they can access is that they serve multiple clients in the same sector and serve multiple clients facing similar problems across different sectors (e.g. African Market Entry Strategy, Business Case Design, Outsourcing Models etc.)

This allows them to provide you with effective solutions that have similar attributes, using case examples, networks and established frameworks. At this stage we will bring up the term, ‘Best Practice’, something that most Executives hear time and time again. This is simply knowledge that is institutionalised at many of the consulting firm (in the form of white papers, databases, post-project reviews, etc.); however, much of the information exists in the collective heads of the directors and partners in these firms.

Tip: Select the right consultancy firm for your assignment – and more importantly, select the right team members and get the senior partners involved. This is sometimes a problem for the larger consultancy firms, as the partners are over-priced and over-stretched, providing the smaller clients with insufficient time to add real value.

4. Fresh perspective

We are often amazed by the value that consultants can add, based on mundane observations and insights. This is the classic case of what a fresh set of eyes can achieve – and surprisingly enough, these simple comments and tactics can add tremendous value to an organisation. This is perhaps a function of both day to day employees and executives falling into the trap of focusing on what they are being measured on for this fiscal year, or perhaps this month. Of course, a fresh perspective also allows for innovation, adjacent growth opportunities and methods to optimise your business; but never discount the basics.

Tip: Set aside time to have conversations with your chosen consulting team. Strategy is not about market validation, road-maps or operational plans, it is about ensuring all the parties are aligned, working off the same base and focusing on what matters most to the company.

Conclusion

Finally, we would like to change the way you think about consulting. Consulting is based on relationships and partnerships where the right individual or team makes his or her skills and knowledge and experience available to an enterprise in an advisory role, including implementation. In other words, this is about advising you – not consulting to you.

And the key word here is implementation – if your advisor cannot implement what they are advising, in partnership with yourself, stop the project and find someone who can.

This article has been written by Grant Fagan and Patrick Winter who have over 45 years of consulting experience between them respectively. They have both managed consulting firms, locally and internationally, and have embarked on a partnership to provide a unique end-to-end strategic advisory and deal-making platform for companies; globally.

Contact them on [email protected] or [email protected] for a conversation about your business.