I do agree with the author's point of view that the consultant shall be treated professionally and to certain extent as human beings, not slaves and only do works in accordance to the agreed scope of works. It is clearly spelled out in the agreement in terms of deliverable and when to deliver.
However, I beg to differ with some of the points mentioned in the article such as ;
But the most bizarre request is wanting the work done yesterday. I told my consultant friends to tell their clients that there is no such thing as the Delorean time machine, which Michael J. Fox used for time travel the movie trilogy Back To the Future.
What makes a consultant’s job more challenging is that being a good consultant is not just about doing so-called “consulting” work, but it is also about stroking the clients’ huge egos.
My disagreement are based on the following premises ;
1. There scopes of works are very clear. If anything beyond the scopes of works and what have been agreed, always refer to the clause and any party can terminate the agreement as stipulated in the terms and conditions ;
2. Again, the deadline shall be stipulated in the agreement. When the client mentioned the deadline as yesterday, the consultant has all the right either to accept or not to accept the job. Simple.
3. More often that not the following are the situations based on my professional experiences ;
3.1. In many instances, the consultant appointments are made by the top management without the employees being "consulted" or the reasons behind the appointment are not properly explained. Naturally, the employees felt that the management sort of not having trust to its own employees capability and feel insecure of the outcome that the consultant may recommend for the management's action- especially when it involves job security and personal benefits that is being provided by the company. The implications- resentment and reluctant to give full co-operations to the appointed consultant ;
3.2. It costs a "bomb" to pay the consultant. They are paid handsomely which is supposed to be for the fees of "new brains" and " new fresh ideas". However, it was not always the case. Not only, consultant hassle the employees for information after information, asking tonnes of documents after documents [ worst if it is irrelevant documents], having numerous meetings and discussion after meetings- all are done at the expense of employees time and resources only to find out, the final products are below the expectations and negatively impact the employee. Even worst, if the recommendations are something that the employees have long proposed for management's action;
3.3. Perception among the employees that the management trust consultant more than own employees, again result in resistance and resentment behavior of the employees, which sometimes may cross the lines. This relate to my observation No. 1 ;
3.4. The consultant are not competent and capable. The employees do have certain level of expectations, and unfortunately the consultant themselves have failed to demonstrate the right capability and competency. This is very damaging as the employees are of the opinion that the consultant are actually learn from them, extract all the knowledge from the employees and table to the management the findings that claim to be theirs. Then, the consultant apply the knowledge to another clients for the benefit of the consultant's company;
3.5. The solutions to the problems are provided by the employees with consultant play more of facilitating roles, which obviously result in employees not happy with the process;
3.6. There is a "fine line" between "consultant and contract labor/manpower ". So, each parties in the agreement shall decided what roles the appointed person shall play ? Either as contract labor/manpower or a consultant. If a consultant, one have to demonstrate to be seen and appears to be seen by the stakeholders as real consultant. So,clearly spell it out in the agreement.
3.7. Few consultants behave like they are the only person on earth who knows the whole world and lacking the appropriate human touches and sensitivity due to cultural differences make the customers unhappy.
3.8. Consultant shall be "projects based" and "time based" and not permanently work in an organization as consultant. There are few consultants who work with the organization for far too long.
3.9. Always appoint consultant that for " special" , " critical" and "unique" assignments where the existing employees are not capable of doing the scopes of works due to lack of experiences to meeting company aspirations;
In the end of the day, the consultant does have a choice, whether to accept the appointment [ if the deadline was yesterday, politely do not accept the appointment ] and the agreed scopes of works, deliverable, deadline and any deviations from the latter shall allow both parties to terminate the agreement.
If the consultant has demonstrated all the requirements as per the contracts, professionalism, right capability and mindset then any inappropriate behaviour treatment such as shouting, screaming and yelling received from the employees shall be duly reported to the management.
We have also office joke that defines consultant is not someone whom we are consult for solutions, but rather they are the " CON-MAN" in every steps of the process.
I acknowledge few consultants that I have worked with are professional, knowledgeable, experience and capable with the right mindset and behaviour, considering the cultural sensitivities of the people the consultant were dealing with. . All the proposals were value adding and creation, awesome, practical,unthinkable and " wow" the employees.That is what I call and deem the real "CONSULTANT" !
The company shall encourage the staff to learn from good consultants- system, people and process so that the company can build the capability internally within the organization !
DISCLAIMER:Notice :Opinions, stories , thoughts expressed are blogger's own and do not necessarily represent the views of the institution or the organizations by which the blogger is employed or any specific person who so ever, either dead or alive.
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