ICT Management > Strategy & Planning, Managing ICT Projects

Choosing and using consultants

By Lasa Information Systems Team

Many organisations find they have not been ‘delivered’ what they expected from an external consultant. This article provides tips to help you and your external consultant work more effectively together.

In order to work effectively with a consultant you’ll need to define the project, communicate its purpose, get the right people ‘on board’, document the contract, and manage the relationship with a consultant.

The tips below should help you get the advice you hoped for, and avoid misunderstandings on both sides.

1. Define the objectives that you want to achieve.

Ask yourself honestly why you need an ‘external consultant’. Is it their area of expertise? Is it to save organisation time? Or about organisational change issues? Are you after an objective/independent view? Are you trying to overcome political barriers? Etc.

Describe the work you want done and clearly specify the things you expect from the consultancy project. Consultants are not ‘magicians’ - outcomes and ‘deliverables’ need to be realistic.

Understand clearly how you expect your organisation’s purpose and mission will benefit by relating the objectives to your organisation’s Development Plan, not on a ‘wish list’ vote of the staff.

Decide on the timescale, fee budget, areas of expertise, scope, barriers and any constraints, e.g. data protection, privacy, or confidentiality issues concerning the project.

Clarify your own role, which key staff will be involved? How will their time be made available to work with the consultant?

2. Involve others in your organisation to agree objectives for the project

Consult with appropriate stakeholders such as staff, managers, users/ clients/members on the nature of the development, problem, or issue.

Define your specific needs for the type of expertise you want the consultant to have. E.g. is it about organisational systems? ICT? Staff capacity? Organisational change? A skills issue?

3. Short-list up to three consultants, and ask them to provide written proposals.

Only ask consultants to quote for work that are qualified to carry out. This isn’t always easy, as sometimes you are not sure what you need. If you have gone through the items under point 1 your requirements should be clearer at this stage.

Any ‘principled’ consultant approached will signpost you to another consultant if the project clearly lies outside their ability, experience and/or expertise.

Potential consultants will normally be happy to send you basic information about themselves and talk with you about your needs, without charge to help them ‘scope’ and help identify the nature of the project.

The consultants should have a grasp of the issues in the voluntary and community sector and how they will take these into account in their understanding of the project process.

Ask potential consultants to submit written proposals, which should include:

• Their understanding of the problem or issue
• The ‘Brief’/ summary of the work to be done
• Names and background experience of the individual(s) who will do the work.
• Examples and case studies of previous work.
• A declaration of any ‘reselling’ or issues that might affect the ‘bias or independence of their proposals’.
• References (preferably from voluntary sector organisations)
• Other support provided by the consultant’s organisation.
• Work plan and any reports or documentation that will be supplied to you and in what form.
• Any professional bodies they are recognised or registered with.
• Fees, expenses and schedules of payment
• The inputs required from you, in terms of such things as:  your time, other staff time, their access to more information.

4. Brief the consultants properly

Prepare a concise brief which clearly defines the objectives, scope, timescale, reporting procedure and constraints of the project and agree it with others in your organisation, people who will have an influence on the outcome of the project.

Make clear what ‘deliverable’ the consultant will produce for you e.g. a report, presentation, training, data, research findings.

5. Meet the named consultant(s) who will do the job and make sure that the 'chemistry' is right

Successful consultancy requires goodwill and a good, candid rapport. Meet the consultant(s) who will be doing the job and brief them well, using the written brief and any background information that you or they think necessary.

Select the consultant that you feel has the best qualifications and experience and who you feel you can work with comfortably and honestly.

Use any other proposals you have receive to refine, change the brief at this stage and discuss, ‘contrast and compare’ the proposals.

Talk through your chosen proposal/s with the potential consultant before making a final decision to ensure that you have any concerns answered. If you are not happy with any aspects of the proposal do not feel pressured into accepting them. Continue discussions with the consultant until full agreement on the proposal can be reached and include this in the contract.

Expect them to use your language, `not consultants speak` or terms that ‘mystify’ the process for you.

6. Ask for references from the chosen consultant(s) and follow them up

Ask the consultant chosen for names or written references from former voluntary sector clients in order to verify the consultants' suitability for the assignment.

7. Review and agree a written contract before the project starts

Be clear about what happens if the terms of the contract have to be changed during the project.

Be clear what the liabilities are if the project contract is cancelled.

It is best that the person who signs for your organisation has a significant influence and interest in the ‘next step’.

There should be a stage to ‘sign off’ the contract and give feedback to the consultant.

8. Work with the consultant and be involved throughout the project

Employing consultants effectively demands a commitment of staff time and money by you.

Remember that you must keep in touch with the progress of the assignment if you are to get the most from it. Consultants are likely to be most cost-effective when working to an agreed programme and timescale. Make sure there are regular progress meetings and that the consultant keeps you fully briefed on progress against the work programme.

To implement the recommendations and move to ‘next steps’ it is often most cost effective to involve the consultant(s) together with your management. If you and your staff need to provide input, make sure that you do it within the agreed timescale. Extra costs may be incurred if you hold up the progress of the consultant’s work programme. Consultancy requires your investment not only in fees but also in staff time.

Consultancy projects are usually most effective when the initial scoping is done at your premises (i.e. the consultant comes to see you for the initial visit). You should aim to involve the stakeholders in the project as early as possible so that they partly "own" the recommendations and have an interest in the results.

Consultancy projects are often most effective when run as a joint team of consultant/s and staff at your organisation, and the contents of the consultant's report are agreed with the staff at a progress meeting.

9. Ensure there are no surprises in the public report

Ensure that the consultant does not save ‘surprises’ for the public report. The consultant's report is often his or her most tangible 'deliverable'; but it must be in a format which is beneficial to you.

Perhaps, ask the consultant to draft a final report for you to see before it is made ‘public’.

The final report should contain no surprises. If there are ‘very confidential or contentious issues’, ask for these to be put into a private letter rather than in the report itself. Make sure the report is written in a way you and your staff can understand and use.

Ask the consultant to make a presentation to you and your colleagues, if this will help discussion on the report’s recommendations and ‘next steps’.

Some consultancy projects will not result in a written report. If this is the case, make sure you understand what the ‘tangible’ deliverable will be before work starts.

10. After the consultancy has ended

To ensure there is a legacy and continuing value of the consultancy project it is beneficial to think of this project as part of a process rather than the final result.

Has this part of the process increased the opportunity for change, resolution, innovative solutions? If so, who will continue, guide and/or implement the outcomes of the ‘deliverables’?

Review, what went well and not so well in the process of working with the consultant.

There may be more input required from the same or a different consultant - the ‘next steps’ cycle then starts again at point 1.

Further resources

NCVO Book: Getting Value from Consultants