As a nonprofit management consultant, I get lots of questions from prospective clients about the process and cost of engaging my services. But, perhaps these initial questions might be better posed -- What, specifically, can you do for me? Will your assistance solve our problem or help us understand it better? And, how, specifically?
Performing your due diligence before hiring a consultant makes sense. Outsourcing carries some risk -- the risk of spending precious budget dollars on a strategy that doesn’t work or worse, implementing an intervention that actually creates more issues down the road. Making sure you are both hiring the right person AND hiring for the right reasons are prudent moves.
In his blog post, Five Rules of Innovating in a Shakey Economy, HBR columnist Stephen Wunker recommends ways for companies to hedge their bets in the current economic climate. One suggestion is to “buy vowels” which, in short, means increasing your knowledge base so that you can make better strategic decisions.
Hiring a consultant is like buying a vowel, too. If you’ve ever watched the TV game show Wheel of Fortune, you’ll remember that at each turn contestants are able to either pick a consonant or buy a vowel to help them solve a word puzzle. Buying a vowel involves risk -- it may help fill in the blanks and reveal the hidden word or phrase, or it may make you even more confused. Picking a consonant for free also involves risk -- it might not appear in the word at all, and you’ll find yourself no further down the road. Although consonants are free, there are no guarantees they’ll pay off.
The good news is that you get to choose the vowel you buy (and the consultant you hire). Rather than being just another pair of hands, your “vowel” should help you learn something you don’t already know, unveil a critical piece of the puzzle you’ve been trying to solve. Your “vowel” should help you solve a larger problem, or give you critical information that will help you get closer to solving it on your own.
So before hiring that consultant, ask the right questions. What are the critical problems we need to solve? Will this person help us reach the goals we’ve set for our program or organization? How, specifically? Have they demonstrated their ability to do so on other projects? Are we prepared to make use of their expertise right now?
If you are fairly certain the consultant will add value, and you will be able to make use of what they have to offer, then proceed. Buy that vowel. And, build concrete expectations into their scope of work. That way you’ll take a calculated risk, and it’ll be worth it. You’ll finally be able to solve that pesky puzzle.
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