Are you asking for the right type of consultant to meet your needs?
When Procurement gets involved with professional services
In order to avoid monopoly by certain large consulting firms and better contain their costs, the procurement departments of major clients have adopted a practice of qualifying firms over several years (3 to 10) to supply them with “professional services”. This approach has its share of perverse consequences, but that’s a subject for another article.
Over the years, the term “consultant” has given rise to several variants to meet the diverse needs of major clients and the “resources provisioning” model has all but erased the notion of “mission-driven consultants”. Technology consulting firms have almost universally integrated “resources provisioning” (a.k.a. Team as a Service (TaaS) or staff augmentation) into their service offering because it’s easier, less demanding in terms of resource management, and offers more stable revenues streams over the long term. For some, it has even become their main source of income.
The important point is that the use of the term “consultant” without a clear distinction between “mission-driven consultant” and “temporary resource” leads to confusion and frustration, both in customers’ expectations and in the real nature of the services offered by firms.
Today, only a handful of independent consulting boutiques and major consulting firms such as McKinsey & Company, Bain & Company, Boston Consulting Group (BCG), PwC, Deloitte and KPMG have preserved a pure “mission-driven consultant” model.
Are you asking for the right type of consultant to meet your needs?
The world of “consulting” has evolved a great deal, but it still aim to meet needs defined by two poles:
- Hire temporary resources to fill vacancies in your company (often technical positions)
- Obtain the services of specialized individuals or teams to carry out diagnostics or projects (mission-driven consultants).
There are some major differences between the two:
The wrong choice is a source of conflict
Don’t think that all “consultants” are equal and interchangeable.
The character and behavior of an individual who accepts to act as a “temporary employee” under the direction of a hierarchical superior are not the same as those required of an autonomous mission-driven consultant who must complete an assignment within a given timeframe by his or her own means.
- Hiring a temporary resource with the expectation that it will act autonomously as a mission-driven consultant or advisor will inevitably lead to disappointment, which may be attributed (wrongly) to a lack of competence.
- Conversely, expecting an mission-driven consultant to behave like a “good employee” is likely to generate a perceived attitude problem with manager’s authority, and a threat to the harmony of the group. Expecting a mission-driven manager to remain on the team at the end of his or her mission will certainly produce the same result.
Before placing an “order” for a “consultant” with your HR or your Procurement department, be clear about the type of “consultant” you really want. This will save a lot of hassle for all parties involved.
© Eric Magnan, Pragmatik Advisory Services Inc, 2023
About the author:
Eric Magnan is a career consultant who founded Pragmatik Advisory Services in 2005. Since the late ’80s, he has assisted some 30 private and public companies through more than 70 missions aimed at adopting new technological solutions or new ways of working based on digital technology advances. He holds several professional certifications, which he puts down to good use for his customers through mission-driven commitments tailored to their context, constraints and needs.