By Stacy L. Waters, The Waters Consulting Group, Inc.

It’s strange how a change in one’s normal routine can alter an entire perspective. These days I spend much of my free time learning to think like a “forensic accountant.” That is, to learn how to better utilize the information gleaned from financial statements in order to more quickly respond. In short, forensic accounting trains one to look beyond the numbers and deal with the business reality of the situation.

Improving upon this skill made me wonder if our clients would be better equipped to deal with the world of consulting if they were given a few tips on how to think like a consultant. Not that a consultant thinks more rigorously, but simply differently in many cases.

As part of our firm’s commitment to the highest level of ethics coupled with corporate social responsibility, why not share some tips?

The Art of Delegation
So let’s start with delegation. A good consultant knows how to delegate, but more importantly, when. It is not for the wrong reason, but instead, for reasons that normally prove to move projects faster and more efficiently toward the goal line than say, a more democratic approach.

However, as a client, you should work to never find yourself in a position with a consulting firm that makes you feel as though you are doing all the work. If you find yourself doing more tasks than you had allowed time on a project, it is okay to take a step back and ask the consultant. Sometimes, because no one else knows the details well enough, it will only be you that can take on these tasks.

However, the smaller or more detailed tasks of any project need to be assigned to those within the organization that may be better suited for it. In short, during any project, you should always question if it is you or the consultant that should be doing this.

Review the final proposal and resulting contract if you are unsure. If the tasks still fall upon you, then see if it is something you can possibly delegate to another member of the team who would welcome the opportunity to be involved with the project. The point is, always question to ensure that the best person for the task is actually being assigned that task.

Avoiding a Shot in the Foot
We all know the saying, “Don’t shoot the messenger.” In this case, you need to make sure it is you that keeps all of your ten little piggies intact. If you have hired a professional to render his or her expert opinion on something (from the installation of traffic signals to the development of a new policy manual) make sure that you get such final opinions in writing. Consultant credentials for contracted projects are something that is reviewed at the time of the competitive bid process. However, as the project progresses, make sure that you have the opinions and deliverables documented and approved by the professional consultant.

Just because you are the one delivering the results of the findings (the message), does not mean you are the expert for all questions that may come your way.

A good consultant will be there by your side during such presentations in order to help with the technical and strategic questions. Your job is to make sure that you can at least address the difficult questions in case the consultant cannot be there. Also, good consultants should always be willing to render their opinion on matters that fall within the guidelines of the written contract.

Use Your Institutional Knowledge to Your Advantage
Many local government leaders think that their department heads have difficulty offering the same objectivity on a subject than a consultant because the department head is too close to the situation. As a result, the department heads often times totally remove themselves from the process. Big mistake!

Inserting yourself (and your institutional knowledge) in a helpful and collaborative way will serve the project and the organization well. Your talents in objectively analyzing data are very different from a consultant’s method of collecting independent data.

If you think you will be seen as biased (consultants often face this hurdle too at the start of a new project), then it is up to you to instill trust through facts, data, historical examples and even anecdotal stories in order to get senior management’s attention.

In short, you need to work to position yourself as a valuable insider to the project and then work to ensure that your thoughts and opinions are not only heard, but are often sought out by the consulting team and the senior management team.

Ask the Right Questions
There are few worst mistakes a consultant can make than to show up on-site without being prepared. Asking questions that were already provided by the client in the formal request for proposal or other subsequent documents is not only embarrassing, but the professional kiss of death.

You don’t need to be a walking genius on every topic. However, when dealing with a consultant on a project in which you are involved, you do need to develop a sound strategy that will communicate that you know the finer points of the project.

Your ability to ask the right questions in order to gather necessary information will become invaluable to you. Getting valuable data to ask the right questions usually is not the most difficult part. Instead, it is panning through the data to find the nuggets of gold that will prove to be the largest tax on your time when developing your communication strategy. Remember my forensic accounting story.

You are not looking at just the numbers. You are trying to determine exactly what those numbers saying to you. Treat data for your project with the same amount of respect and always with a certain amount of questioning. Sure, you’ll need to ask some close-ended yes-or-no questions, but your most valuable questions are the open-ended kind that will lead to an ongoing conversation to unearth those nuggets of golden information.

Put Your Organization’s Best Interest First
Plant yourself and grow. In most cases, we all go further on projects if we plant ourselves and grow with the project. That is, we stay committed as long as things are healthy and growing.

Focusing on the needs of the organization is always the first step in a success for a project; whether that is a planting of ideas, resources, or a combination of both.

With this said, sometimes, for the project to succeed, you may not be the best choice to lead the project or even participate on the project team. If you realize this and fail to bow out, then you are not putting the organization’s best interests first.

A good consultant always knows when she is in over her professional head and level of expertise and should always decline the work. An excellent consultant will do this and then will try to assist the client in finding a better source while remaining confident their place is secure within the organization.

It can be frightening to take an objective look at a situation and realize that the organization’s best option leads to your role disappearing. Others usually recognize this kind of integrity, and it ultimately leads to stronger professional relationships.

We all know that demystifying any particular field is normally met with great resistance from those that make a living at mystification. Over the past few months, it has become startlingly clear to me that local government leaders can increase their effectiveness by thinking a little more like an outsider – a consultant – when they are working to create or install a project that is highly dependent on a consultant’s assistance and complete collaboration.

And if I can learn to think like a forensic accountant, then anyone can learn to think like a consultant for sure. Best of luck to you in all of your future collaborations with both your internal and external consultants.

This column is provided as a courtesy to the Alliance by Stacy Waters of The Waters Consulting Group, Inc. It is a monthly comment on issues of importance in the human resources arena. It is intended to provide general information and must not be construed as legal advice. Reproductions are allowed as long as credit is given to The Waters Consulting Group, Inc., and the Alliance for Innovation.

The Waters Consulting Group, Inc., (WCG) is the nation’s largest, privately held firm specializing in human resources, compensation and executive search consulting for local governments. WCG’s services have shaped and influenced hundreds of local governments in the area of compensation system design; strategic performance systems; organizational analysis; succession planning; training and development; and talent location through executive search for more than 30 years. The firm also powers and manages, through its Web Site Division, the annual salaries and benefits surveys and other local government-focused surveys for numerous public associations. A stable of full-time seasoned staff, including certified compensation professionals and certified management consultants ensure our continued success and longevity in the public sector industry. For more information, visit www.watersconsulting.com or call 800.899.1669.