How to Get the Best out of Hiring ROI Consultants

Dear Colleagues

Completed five years with Exponential Advisory. It has been a great experience to be associated with like minded HR professionals.

Today I share my experience of being a consultant.

Many a times HR professionals ask, how does it benefit us hiring you or any other consultant.

I tell them it is a call every company has to take. There are many aspects to it and questions to ponder

1.  Why does a company want to hire a consultant? Is it a need or a want?

2.  Does the company have the requisite skills? Eg. Do we have skilled people in the area of ROI, HR audit or HR analytics.

3.  Is there a plan in place on how do we recognize the right qualified and experience consultant?

4.  Once that person is on board how best can the company utilize his/ her presence.

5.  Is there a road map to follow?

6.  How much time do we give the consultant to check if this association is working?

7.  Is the consultant charging one time professional fee or will the consultant be on a monthly retainer. If it is monthly, then what must be the monthly outgoing?

8.  Last but not the least what is the ROI on this consultant?

ROI Objectives to Hire Consultants

Reaction level

• Does the consultant give the company value addition
• Are the people working with him comfortable
• Will you recommend the consultant to other departments or other professionals
• Does the consultant give confidence to apply the techniques

Learning level

• Do we understand what the consultant is trying to say
• Is he able to transfer his knowldege 
• Are we able to gain specific knowledge and skills from him
• Is the consultant training employees enough so that we have the confidence to apply the skills learnt

Application level

• Employees apply the tools explained by the consultant
• Employees do the tasks themselves 
• Employees set the process
• Employees follow the process set 

Impact level

• Increase revenue
• Improve productivity
• Reduce attrition
• Better processes in place

Degree of Consultant Involvement 

Consultants can be involved in varying degrees depending on the task and the budget of the company. 

Consultants can be divided into 3 categories 

1.  Consultants as advisers: Here the consultant provides only advise and provide next steps solutions.

2.  Consultants as working partners: Here the consultant works with the concerned department as a team.

3.  Consultants as performers: Here the consultant performs all the tasks on his/ her own. Please note that the third category of consultants is very costly. And unless there is a radical change to be made, better it is to go for the second category. Here they work as a team, so there is a lot to learn and  implement.

Signing off

Lv

Sonali Wagle 

www.exponentialadvisory.co.in