Complex business problems rarely exist in silos. Functionality issues with a single business system create a ripple effect that generates negative repercussions throughout your organization. Often a business’s executive team identifies an issue that needs to be solved, then seeks a management consulting firm to solve it. To save time or money, the executives outlay the problems and await a solution without allowing their hired firm to interact with other members of the team. 

A single voice does not provide enough information to allow consultants to effectively solve a problem. Where an executive may be frustrated that they cannot get a particular report, a lower-level team member likely knows why that specific report cannot be generated. It is imperative to hire consultants you trust to interact with your whole team. This will speed the discovery of the root causes of your business problems and shorten the time necessary to implement effective solutions.

You have done your due diligence and after vetting many prospective management consulting firms, you have selected the best firm for your project. Whether you are seeking business continuity planning, cloud strategy, data management and insights, IT management, or effective enterprise resource planning, if your chosen consulting firm is not provided with the tools and resources they need, you will not get the results you want.

An effective consulting firm will outline objectives for the project and recognize the need for partner insights to achieve them. Donyati’s primary objectives are to define the most valuable data-driven insights, define the necessary digital-based innovations and improvements, then build the playbook to deliver results. Even if we are called in to address one specific problem, our consulting team will still want to understand your business operations holistically in order to ensure the solutions we provide work across your entire enterprise. Multiple voices are required to achieve this. Those directly and indirectly affected by the problem are best equipped to provide the information required to build toward a solution. 

This is one of many reasons why your consultant wants to work with your team. In fact, the best consulting firms view building trust with the team as a top priority. The faster they can get assimilated, the faster they can ask the right people the right questions and ensure they can deliver the right results. While it is possible that your staff could be concerned, or even upset, about an outsider coming in to evaluate your business’s processes, transparency from your leadership team can help keep this in check. You can expect your consultant to alleviate this concern as well.

Most management consultants view meeting new people as one of the best parts of their job and because consultants are process-driven by nature, they have a system for growing acquainted and building rapport with their clients’ staff. The work the business consulting firm has performed in preparation for partnering with you and the knowledge they bring to the table is naturally disarming. However, it is advisable for the executive team who is managing the consulting firm to designate times for the key players on the staff to meet with the organization tasked with infusing positive change.

Representatives from the best consulting firms will come to this meeting with an agenda that demonstrates their preparedness and how greatly they value the time they will be spending with your team.

During these meetings, you can expect that your business consultant will:

• Be Prepared. Consultants love to research and if time permits they will learn about the people they are meeting beforehand. They may ask you for assistance with this, but will surely check LinkedIn or other publicly available sites. The consultant having knowledge about members of your team prior to the meeting demonstrates attention to detail and develops rapport as your team members feel valued.

• Use Tools To Remember Each Person. Meeting a high volume of people in a condensed time frame is challenging. Your management consultant will be engaged during the meeting and take lots of notes. While many of these will be specific to the project, some will be to help remember the people they are meeting. Consultants are skilled at relating to new people and will look for personal associations to make working together easier and avoid awkward moments at the coffee machine.

• Gauge Your Team’s Reactions To Their Presence. A business consultant knows that they have been tasked with coming in to make things better, but they also know that there will be varying levels of acceptance and appreciation from the team members they interact with. Some may be excited that they are getting the help they need, while others may be embarrassed that they couldn’t solve the problem or upset that they weren’t tasked with solving it themselves. The best management consulting firms see this regularly and are adept at making sure everyone feels respected, valued, and heard.

• Ask Permission To Follow Up. The consultant has been tasked by executive leadership to do a job, and assistance from key team members will be required, but management consultants ask this question as a sign of respect. It shows that the consultant finds value in the team member’s input, and, as a bonus, provides an opportunity for the consultant to determine the team member’s preferred method of contact. Some people immediately respond to emails but don’t like being interrupted in their office while others are the opposite. Knowing these preferences saves time and creates a harmonious working environment while the management consultant is present.

The tone set in these meetings lays an invaluable foundation for the entire project. As an executive, you must encourage active participation and transparency from your team. Remember, if you are frustrated by a business problem to the point where you are seeking outside help to solve it, there is a very good chance your staff is equally frustrated. It is very important for the business consultant you hired to receive perspectives and feedback from team members at all levels of your organization. 

This feedback will drive the project plan, and ultimately, the resolution of the business problem you hired the consultant to address. Imagine how much easier the implementation, integration, and adoption of the business consulting firm’s solution will be if your team has an ownership stake and feels like their contributions helped the company get where it needs to be.

Donyati specializes in approaching problems from multiple perspectives to provide enterprise-level solutions for your business issues. We humanize business consulting through partnerships and interactions with team members at all levels of an organization. We know that multiple perspectives are necessary to inform business decisions that drive improvements across the entire company.

If you have a business problem and are not sure you have the resources to solve it, please contact us today and let us show you how our unique problem-solving approach drives the results you are looking for.