Collaborative Consultants - a rare breed?

Companies who are more cynical about the use of business consultants should consider making a fundamental shift in the way they think about management consulting.


The current preference is for expert-based “knowledge,” meaning that consultants present themselves as acting as trusted advisors to clients, providing outside diagnoses of problems.

Unfortunately, in many cases, these consultants’ suggestions are based on a well-defined body of academic and third-party research, but not necessarily on firsthand experience with the challenges faced.

The consulting approach of “knowing” is more hands-on, involving close cooperation with the client company. One of the advantages of this method, is that information about a given business, industry sector, or project is not merely transferred from consultants to clients, but rather created or learned, during a process of mutually beneficial or active collaboration.

When problems crop up the collaborators have a mutual incentive to solve them — an approach that ultimately spreads more information, accountability, and knowledge throughout the entire team.

Conclusion
Organisations will experience greater benefits if management consultants shift their focus away from the traditional expert-driven, learn-as-u-go approach and instead explore more collaborative and mutually beneficial, client–consultant projects.