To Partner or Not To Partner?

In today’s increasingly complex market landscape, more and more organizations are partnering with consultants to help them navigate ambiguous challenges, optimize operations, and continue to drive growth. One of the things that we at RiverWalk often tackle is helping organizations sort through when they should retain a consultant and more importantly (in our opinion), when they should not.

While we’re told there are lots of benefits to hiring consultants (at least at RiverWalk) that you can check out here, having clarity is key when it comes to the decision of whether or not you retain a consultant. Clarity often involves scoping around gaps that you hope a consultant can fill and the expected role a consultant plays related to your desired outcomes, etc. This kind of scope and clarity is often the difference between a consultant feeling like an additional expense vs. a wise investment.

For example, one of the most compelling reasons to retain a consultant is to gain access to their deep expertise and specialized knowledge. Consultants often have years of experience in specific industries or functional areas, which enables them to bring a level of insight that internal teams may lack.

But not all expertise is equal, so we often advise leaders to make a list of what they see as the gaps hindering their progress in order to help them define the scope of the consultancy needed. When an organization confidently knows what they don’t know, it means they could also research and acquire new expertise in more cost effective ways than paying for a consultant to simply give them all the answers to the proverbial test.

Imagine a company looking to implement a brand new IT infrastructure, and needing knowledge about the latest technology trends and tools. They could of course retain a consultant, or they could seek to gain that expertise in other ways given their defined gaps and the ease of access to open source knowledge in today’s information age.

Contrast this with times where the leaders don’t even know what they don’t know, like an All-American organization look to globalize their marketing efforts or a non-profit organization needing to take a completely new strategic direction post Co-Vid… in this light, retaining a consultant who has expertise in these areas to guide and support the organization is a drastically different investment.