There's an old saying that ' a consultant is someone who borrows your watch to tell you the time and then charges you £50 for the privilege' , something that will strike a chord with many business people. Although this is an 'anti-consultant' line it does illustrate what many managers use consultants for.
I've lost count of the number of times I've been told by a manager that 'Everything you're saying I've already told the management - they won't listen to me, but they will listen to you because they're paying for your advice'. The reason this works is that companies tend to assume that their employees have their own agenda when they recommend change - and see external consultants as providing an objective view of the world.
I think this external view is something that we should promote in a psoitive way - after all it's our knowledge of a range of companies and approaches to problems that is our stock in trade.
4 comments:
I quite often use the watch joke with clients, since they understand their business far better than someone on a flying visit from outside. The comment I add is that I am looking to see if their watch is working properly. So there is some added value I hope.
A great point Jennifer,in the case of some clients I guess it's 'is your watch working at all - and has it ever occurred to you to look at it rather than using a sundial' :-)
It also illustrates that people value things they pay for (us) more than things they don't (they discount the money they are paying their staff). Because they invest in us they are keen to listen to us - even if we are telling them what their staff know. Obviously good for us, but a sign that managers could improve their management techniques.
Hi Gill, I have had this raised (in jest) by clients; my normal retort is that just because a client owns a watch (or any other resource) doesn't mean he knows how to use it. Our task as consultants is of course to help the client to get good value from all of his resources (including his watch:-))...
Post a Comment