Now here is a question which many business people face everyday. It can be a challenge for a business executive to recognize the need for a consultant. The litmus test for an executive when reviewing a challenge or project is whether or not they can see how to get to the end result. What is the path? Who has the skills? Who has the time? Do the cost/benefits of having a consultant in place make sense? All of these are important questions to ask.

So how can we create a clear decision process? First let’s see what a consultant can bring to the table:

1. Subject Matter Expertise: This could be expertise in project management, a specific industry, change management, strategy development, or any other number of skill sets, knowledge or experience.
2. Dedicated Resource: Many times the sole purpose of having a consultant is that you need an extra resource to work on a project. The resource requirement may not be permanent so hiring is out of the question or you may not have an open requisition. A consultant is a highly skilled temporary resource.
3. Focus: A consultant is solely focused on your challenge/project. There are no other work distractions in their way like there may be for someone within your organization who has to focus on their ‘day job’.
4. Methodology/Tools: Each consultant has their own methodology that they use in the work place. While your company may have some very cool tools in place, a consultant will certainly map into them the elements needed, but they will always have their own proven methodology and tools that they use to validate and ensure the effort is on track.
5. External View: Everyone within your company comes with their own view and opinion of the business. They have a bias for the known. Some come with kingdoms that they will protect. In the rare instance where you’re able to secure a resource from another division, these biases may be limited. A consultant gives you an unbiased view of the world which helps to make the best decisions for the team.
6. Flexible Workforce: With any business, the needs and climate can change. Consultants can provide resources to help you get through a resource need bubble. In the cases where you may need to lower your costs immediately, you can lower the hours worked by your consultants, understanding that you may delay your project/initiative. Consultants provide a variable cost structure versus hiring new employees which add to your fixed cost structure.
7. Culture Match: You may find that your consultant is not a good fit for any number of reasons. Simply call up the company and ask for a different consultant to manage your project. While there could be a modest productivity hit bringing a new person up to speed, a great working relationship will always speeds up a project.
8. Financial Options: There are many times where a consultant company will engage in a gain sharing model. The initial cost for the consultants is lower, but they have the opportunity for a larger cash award based on the overall performance of the initiative. Consultants become ‘at risk’ to show belief in themselves to succeed. It is important that the measurements for this are very clear.

It sounds like having a consultant engaged is very powerful. And it can be. There are also risks involved in not hiring the right consultant. You could have a huge cost and little to show for it. Here are some simple steps that you can use to protect yourself:

• Clearly identify the end goal and formalize the work to be provided
• Set clear milestones and tollgates to validate progress
• Establish a payment schedule that aligns with major milestones/tollgates
• Utilize a gain sharing model where possible to keep the consultants invested on yielding great results

The next question might be: ‘Who do you hire?’ There are a million consultants out there today. If you’re part of a major corporation that is global in nature, then a large consultant firm could fulfill the resource requirements for large resource needs. Large consultant firms typically have you subsidize the development of their staffs by charging you a premium for green resources. There are also many ‘boutique’ consultant companies that are much smaller in size and who specialize in specific industries and competencies. An advantage that these consultant companies can bring is a greater focus by their entire company. Your project/initiative certainly won’t get lost in the shuffle.

Whatever your need, a consultant can deliver a competitive advantage. And when you find one that you can trust, who cares about the success of your business as much as you do, is willing to gain share and invest in your success, then its likely that you’ve developed a professional relationship which will continue to bring great benefits well into the future.

ASIL is a ‘boutique’ consultant company. We focus on delivering a competitive advantage to our Clients in the areas of strategy setting, change management, outsourcing, corporate performance and partner management. We have a wealth of experience in Supply Chains, Customer Service and Logistics. Like many of the ‘boutique’ consultant companies, we are relatively small and solely focused on making sure that our Clients are wildly successful in their endeavors.

So the next time you hear someone say, ‘Why Consultants?’ you can provide some perspective on the value and risks associated with hiring a consultant. Building a successful consultant relationship can deliver great benefits to your company through gaining their perspective, accessing their knowledge base and utilizing their resources. Consultants enable you to deliver more without adding fixed costs or additional infrastructure.

contributed by Michael Vigil

Co-Author of Driving Complex Change

Spotlight: Spring Is In The Air

Spring is just around the corner and the climate continues to warm up for Mergers and Acquisitions (M&A). Businesses cooled off on their buying sprees over the past couple of years in order to get things under control. Now with the promise of growth and the cash to fuel purchases, many companies are again entering the M&A waters.

When we look at the M&A process it can be categorized into five key steps:

• Step 1: Pre-Planning and Evaluation for Strategy Development: clearly defining your objectives and targets
• Step 2: Corporate Evaluations: selecting the few and understanding the fit
• Step 3: Negotiations: creating the best deal, incorporating benefits and risks
• Step 4: Decisions and Announcement: go/no go, with messaging to the troops
• Step 5:Implementation: making steps 1 through 4 worthwhile and successful

The single greatest pitfall experienced by most companies involved in M&A occurs during step 5 the implementation phase. This critical phase will ultimately determine if the original value proposition will ever be achieved. The logic follows the 80/20 rule of thumb. Typically less people are involved in the first four stages and then the masses are involved in step 5. This step takes more communication, planning, involvement and commitment to get the organizations on the same page and working together. The challenges are tremendous and the pitfalls are waiting for their next victim.

So how can you increase your potential for success? We recommend that you consider the following five items:

• Relentless focus on values and cultural alignment - everyone's work is bound by their values and the culture they choose to create
• Empower effective management - selecting the right leaders enabled with proven processes to drive change is criticals
• Develop a realistic integration plan - stretch vs. break and communicate more than less
• Minimize Boardroom schisms - a united executive front will achieve more
• Manage the expected outcomes - monitoring progress and results is fundamental

There are no short cuts and it will likely require about 50-100% more effort than you originally estimated to enable the implementation. The heavy lifting begins after the announcements. Successful M&A implementations require experience, tools, process, and on-going support. So are you in shape and ready for the challenge?

contributed by Pete Pazmany

Industry Trends

Transformational Leadership – Key Components

The term’s transformational and transactional leadership were coined by James MacGregor Burns in his book “Leadership”. Burns defines leadership “as leaders inducing followers to act for certain goals that represent the values and the motivations-the wants and needs, the aspirations and expectations of both leaders and followers.” Leadership principles are timeless, while the models that examine those principles may change. The transformational model offers one of many good ways to examine leadership and the type of leader, and follower, who are ideally suited for today’s and tomorrow’s strategic environment. The way leaders influence followers is based upon their shared sense of what is important, worth doing well, and expending energy on it. The more significant the endeavor, the more the undertaking itself takes on an importance greater than either the follower or leader.

How do leaders develop the bonds necessary to make transformational leadership possible? According to Bernard Bass, author or “The Ethics of Transformational Leadership” there are four interrelated components essential for leaders to move followers into the transformational style.

• First is idealized influence; genuine trust must be built between the leaders and followers.
• The second component is inspirational motivation; provides followers with challenges and meaning for engaging in shared goals and undertakings
• Next, intellectual stimulation; helps followers to question assumptions and to generate more creative solutions to problems.
• Lastly, individual consideration; treats each follower as an individual and provides coaching, mentoring and growth opportunities.

contributed by Deborah LeBaker

Product Highlight

The MAX Partnering™ Corporate Performance Management tool suite is an integrated set of tools based upon industry leading methodologies. These tools help drive companies to higher levels of excellence by setting performance goals, routinely measuring performance, identifying opportunities for improvement, defining corrective actions, and driving root cause solutions. Focused readiness assessments provide a comprehensive set of industry best practice observations, recommendations, and actions that enable your organization to maximize performance and profits. Deliverables are tracked by the system and automatic notices are sent to ensure projects stay on track and advise project management of potential delays. To see a 5 minute presentation of the features of this suite of performance tools, click here.

For a full feature description of the MAX Partnering™ software application, click here.