When and Why You Should Work with a Consultant
Implementation leadership comes in many forms. In digital transformation projects there are several characteristics of implementation leadership required for a successful project.
- Domain / Industry Expertise
- Project Management / Implementation Methodology
- Change Management
Transformation Experience
In a business transformation engagement, project leaders face complex challenges in process redesign, organizational change, and technology adoption. An effective leader has the following traits:
- Efficient – Experience helps the leader identify patterns and intuitively select the proper tools and techniques.
- Adaptability – The nature of transformation is dynamic and unique by industry, corporate culture, and process. Experience enables quick adaption through an understanding of best practices.
- Problem-Solving and Decision-Making – There are techniques for problem solving that are applied based upon the team and circumstances. Selecting the most appropriate technique leads the team to superior choices.
Conscious Competence Model
Have you ever heard someone say they could do something with their eyes closed? They are referring to unconscious competence. It’s the pinnacle of the conscious competence model which outlines four stages of learning.
- Unconscious incompetence: The person does not know what they don’t know.
- Conscious incompetence: The person becomes aware of their lack of knowledge or skill.
- Conscious competence: The person acquires the knowledge or skill, but needs to actively think about it during execution.
- Unconscious competence: The person performs tasks and makes decision effortlessly and intuitively.
Consultants reach the stage of unconscious competence through deliberate practice, continuous learning, and execution of diverse projects. Implementation leadership by a consultant with unconscious incompetence to draw upon their deep expertise, experience and intuition to navigate the complexities of business transformation.
Consulting vs. Coaching
Consulting and coaching are different approaches to leading a team to a desired outcome.
- Consultants provide direct guidance to analysis and problem solving based upon their expertise and specialized knowledge.
- Coaches empower teams through asking questions and encouraging self-reflection on the problem at hand.
Choosing a consultant vs. a coach for your team depends upon the creativity, expertise, diversity of experience and other factors (like budget) within your organization and team. Larger organizations with the internal resources and expertise may choose a coach for independent thought and powerful questioning. Conversely, a staff constrained but budget rich organization can hire high priced consultants with deep industry experience to assist in doing the work.
The choice of consultant vs. coach is often project and scope dependent. For example, a coach may be engaged by the senior executives to guide them through transformation while concurrently hiring consultants for specific projects within the journey.
Internal vs. External Leadership
The direction of a company is driven by its internal leadership. However, the executives within an organization can choose whether the direction within a project or initiative is led with internal or external resources. In an enterprise resource planning (ERP) implementation, management often chooses to have the experts in the specific package lead the project.
The key to choosing internal versus external implementation leadership is the internal level of knowledge within that specific project domain. Does your team know what it does not know? Does your team possess unconscious competence in that subject matter? The project leader does not necessarily have to be a consultant who tells you what to do, but needs to know what are the critical decisions that need to be made. Knowing where the hidden mines are that can blow up a project can save time, resources and the executives a$$ before something goes wrong!
Independence vs. Representation
An independent advisor does not represent the specific product or technology being implemented. The independence has some advantages and potential disadvantages:
| Advantages | Disadvantages |
| No Bias As they are not responsible for the sale of the product, they have no quotas or competing interests other than those of the client. Personalized Service: Independent consultants often provide more personalized attention. You are typically working directly with the person you chose and can foster a closer working relationship. Flexibility: Independent consultants can adapt to your unique needs. They’re not tied to any particular technology or vendor, so they can recommend solutions that align with your specific requirements. Expertise: Many independent consultants are seasoned experts in their field. They bring a wealth of experience and insight which can be invaluable to your project. | Product Knowledge Independent consultants typically do not have access to the software publisher or internal knowledgebases of large consultancies. The independent consultant is often not privy to internal product development or roadmaps in advance of release as compared to a company which represents the product. Limited Vendor Relationship – A company representing a product can negotiate better pricing, or escalate vendor support issues more effectively. Limited Resources: Similarly, the independent consultant must either possess the knowledge or be part of a network of professionals to add staff to a project compared to a larger organization. |
System Selection Example
I was recently brought in by a large reseller of systems to help a company create a vision of their future business management systems. The company has been using the same technology for 20 years and had heavily customized it to match their historical processes. Through a coaching style of listening, parroting and questioning, I was able to help the company begin the transformation from current legacy systems thinking to more modern digital processes.
As an independent consultant, albeit hired by a company representing multiple products, my questions were not leading the company towards any particular solution. The insights provided were theoretical and generic to modern technology. For example, the structure of the legacy database required an order be tied to a single warehouse. Warehouse location changes or orders sourcing from multiple resulted in excessive rework. In most modern ERP systems, the relationship between order and warehouse is at the “line” level providing a many to many relationship as opposed to a 1 order to 1 warehouse structure. Alternatively, the existing legacy system could have been further modified to change the structure. However, changing systems might actually be less expensive due to the heavy customization and would definitely offer more opportunities for process and behavior improvement.
Conclusion and Next Steps
Choosing the right implementation leader with the appropriate expertise, considering biases, and promoting independent thinking can lead to the best results with the fastest return and lowest cost. The choice between an internal resource, an independent consultant or a representative company depends on the company’s specific situation and needs.
To learn more, watch the Corner Office video series and check out the additional blogposts on this topic.
- Traditional versus Rapid Implementation – Part 1
- Traditional versus Rapid Implementation – Part 2 – Three Key Factors
- Rapid Implementation for ROI
- 6 Additional Factors Impacting the Implementation Approach
If after watching the videos you are still uncertain of the best approach, contact us by filling out a discovery questionnaire. We have different forms for all of our services to make the initial consultative as effective as possible.
Our initial, no obligation consultations are always at no charge.