USING MANAGEMENT CONSULTANTS
TO TROUBLESHOOTA management consultant has been described, or dismissed, as
someone with a briefcase 50 miles from home. Robert Townsend
(1970) has suggested that consultants are people ‘who borrow
your watch to tell you what time it is and then walk off with it’.
Calling in consultants in desperation can indeed be an expen-
sive and time-wasting exercise. But they have their uses. They
bring experience and expertise in diagnosis. They can act as an
extra pair of hands when suitable people are not available from
within the organization. And, as a third party, they can some-
times see the wood through the trees and solve problems or
unlock ideas within the company which, sadly, are often inhib-
ited by structural or managerial constraints.
There are, however, a number of rules, as set out opposite,
which you should be aware of when contemplating bringing in
consultants.
314 How to be an Even Better Manager