RECRUITMENT: SIMON OWEN
CONNECTING WITH CONSULTANTS
Words:
Simon Owen Director at Calibre Search
“Bring in a consultant”; it is a phrase which can be tinged with fear and dread about high fees, lousy results and a poor working relationship. Obviously something is wrong, but where? The common criticisms are about the consultants output; maybe what is described as the problem is merely a symptom with no-one looking at the cause? There are times we all need support
in our role, sometimes from internal resources (insiders) such as the HR or accounts team while on others it will be from external consultants. Both groups can be many things; specialists, generalists, mavens* and possibly even mavericks, but should always be someone who has your organisations best interests as their own focus as well as your trust and high levels of integrity. You may need help for a multitude of reasons such as:
Being stretched and struggling to make a deadline;
Given a task or project which is outside your own sphere of knowledge so it is time to bring in an expert;
The need for someone to audit processes, or you see benefit in having a sanity check or second opinion that is not available elsewhere within the organisation while…
At the far extreme it could be that something needs saying and you/ the Insider feels it would be easier for others to accept, or add weight, if it came from someone outside the organisation.
28 RailCONNECT
In many respects the role that insiders and external consultants fulfil are remarkably similar, the difference is primarily the closeness of relationship, level of trust and longevity; an external consultant by their nature will not have the intimate knowledge of an organisation that an insider should possess and will probably support several bodies, either simultaneously or over a period of time. This gives the consultant
opportunity to do things that an insider may struggle with; bring knowledge from several situations/companies; ask questions which may be politically awkward and also point out facts that could be difficult to hear. A difference that someone pointed out, which made me smile, is ‘an insider brings a notepad to briefing meetings or discussions, while a consultant normally brings a brochure.’ How true that is, I don’t know, but it raises the crucial point of willingness to listen rather merely recycle previous solutions or service offerings. Finding a suitable consultant has a risk which increases with the higher value/greater importance of the project. Similarly, a consultant may be an organisation that you engage to carry out track inspections, or a freelance Design Manager to give a different viewpoint when completing
a scheme. Either way, that risk can be minimised to some extent and I’ve used the Design Manager example to help illustrate points within a selection process that may help minimise that risk.
The chances are you probably
know, or know of, the right person for the role but have not thought to approach them. Former colleagues, possibly ex-managers are a good place to start. If they can’t help you directly they will be able to put you on the right path; as you are probably aware, the rail industry is essentially a small family where most people are known to each other, or someone within. There is also researching through the likes of Twitter or LinkedIn, either asking your contacts or looking at groups to see who is active and speaking your language. Certain roles, such as design management are high profile, and so the best people will be leaving big footprints behind them in both the real and social media world. The third option is to talk to companies in the field you need assistance with and look for that meeting of minds; that thing that says you can work together. Alternatively, there are also recruitment consultants who are specialists in every field of business who will be keen to assist,
While rail projects are regional, the standards and methodologies used are national, as are the problems which you are looking to address. As such, talking to someone from a different region could be a useful exercise.
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