As a CEO, hiring an external consultant is a serious and necessary resourcing step, focused on desired company value and results. For you it is critical to assure success, when introducing an outside consultant to the organization. The below listed questions and observations may serve as guidance in the process. 

1. What do I want to gain as a result of this consulting relationship?

Hiring a consultant must be driven by a need, a want, or a wish for better business results and must be based upon objectives you would like to accomplish. Your only justification for the financial investment will be the return on investment (ROI) through value creation for the corporation. You want to positively affect the business results through the consulting and secure its desired value. In other words, be clear on the personal and or business value you want to get out of the collaboration.

2. Do I agree on the objectives?

From experience I have seen consulting projects fail, not necessarily through 'inadequate consulting', but through lack of communication and substandard pre-project collaboration by the consultant with the client. This, followed by a near prescriptive solution, methodology implementation by the consultant, based upon its own independent analysis. 

It is critical to collaborate with the consultant on the project definition and to require a conceptual agreement with your contribution early on in the process. This agreement needs to detail the objectives, a clear definition of the business value you would like to create and measures to evaluate progress. This is clearly not an agenda with a list of tasks to be completed. 

This conceptual agreement is the basis of your project and is the main feature of your consulting agreement.

3. Do I know who the consultant will be on my project?

You are looking for lean consultancy - yet you require sufficient resources on the project. Has the consultancy company proposed a named consultant, will subcontractors be involved, or can just any one be allocated? The key to success will be for you and the consultant to work with your team, not necessarily on independently implementing a methodology, but by developing innovative and improved ways for you and the team to succeed. Require the consultant, the expert, to do the work and avoid subcontractors where possible. Remember, the consultant will temporarily operate within your organization and be part of your team. As a team and with your personal involvement, you will make the collaboration work and the project a success.

4. What is the type of consultant I hire? 

At a senior level, it is critical to your project's success to secure a named, senior and well versed business expert consultant. Someone with actual business, managerial and team leadership experience, not just a a consultant with 'consulting experience' in a certain industry segment. An experienced business leader will quickly gain trust with the team, has the right 'learning attitude' and is well equipped with business experience through past business and leadership successes.

5. Can I collaborate with this consultant?

You know your company strategy and your environment best. However, an external consultant who agrees with you on everything is probably the last thing you need at this time. A consultant will add value by thoroughly evaluating your product and organization. You require innovative and authoritative contribution, perhaps most importantly contrarian thinking. This 'unbiased' contribution is one of the main reasons for you to hire an external consultant. Your personal commitment behind the project is key. This commitment is 'visible' every where in the organization and is a major part of helping the consultant and thereby the project succeed.

Collaboration is key in this relationship and an intensive intervention need to be well directed and preferably short. This is about creating favorable and improved conditions for you and the team. This is not about the consultant.

6. Does the consultant act in a confidential manner?

You seek a consultant who is a communicator, a valuable resource, a team player, not someone who will go out on its own, implement his or her solutions and in doing so creating havoc in the leadership team and the rest of the organization. Occasionally, the consultant may bring up unexpected issues and might be disagreeing with you. This may include observations of wasteful spending and any form of waste, staff has become habituated to. It is critical that the consultant has addressed how these observations and disagreements will be communicated to you personally.

7. Do I feel I know enough about the character and capabilities of the consultant?

Past performance is a critical indicator of future performance. Your personal chemistry aside, the past performance has to be confirmed by people other than the consultant. You want a consultant who delivers results and outcomes, one who is professional, who is walking the walk and one who will be ethical in all its activities. This is another reason to hire a named consultant.

8. Is the consultant focused on my desired outcome and value?

You are rightly curious about how quickly the consulting will get positive traction in your organization. You need some "quick hits" and "quick fixes" to gain momentum and show your team that value is being created. You require these "quick hits" and "quick fixes" to be building blocks leading to growth. However, will these be considered as such by you and your team?

Also, you have probably experience with Subject Matter Experts (SMEs), who have proposed changes to processes, procedures and perhaps even some changes to the organizational structure. However, if you review the work in fairness, you will notice that the changes and improvements are nearly always incremental. People who are entrenched in the daily activities may not 'see' things the way they are and what they potentially could become. Also, frequently SMEs will choose to avoid upsetting their superior and or the colleagues and team members. This behavior holds especially true when the SME has been involved and or has been at the origin of some of the very things that need to be transformed. Therefore, most frequently SMEs marginalize a potential for transformation and deliver incremental change at most. You require a consultant without any of this organizational 'baggage', delivering the greatest value possible.

9. Does the consultant guarantee its work?

In collaborating with the consultant, the project may potentially have minor iterations, nonetheless, you require someone who will guarantee the work they do. A well versed business expert and past leader who has codeveloped the project with you, will be happy to guarantee its work. After all a consultant who guarantees its work, walks the walk of their own delivery. They have everything at stake and in working together, so do you. One more reason to require a named and well versed business expert consultant.

10. What is the consultant's fee structure?

You want to secure business value through desired results and outcomes, all within a controllable budget. Recently quite a few negative stories have emerged in the press about consultancy projects which went 'out of control' and amounted to excessive cost with no seeming value to the client. My suggestion to you is to avoid the ethical and fiscal management challenge of managing hourly billing and search for a consultant who works fixed price. This way, the consultant's approach is driven by the business value and desired results you both have agreed upon. The consultant will deliver the results in the shortest timeframe possible, so you can start benefitting from the value immediately.

Conclusion

Hiring an external consultant can be a very rewarding and valuable experience. In collaborating, the consultant can become an excellent resource and business partner, creating value through partnership. A collaboration with immediate and future payback. It is up to you to make it work. 

Best regards,

Johan

In part 1, I highlighted several reasons why I feel an incoming CEO and leader needs to develop a creative, collaborative and trusting relationship with HR and its leadership. In this second part, I will provide additional reasons why I feel this is essential to success.

Face to Face wins over any thing else

Depending upon the size of the organization, make every effort to personally meet with every individual who reports to your HR leader, if possible during the first months following your arrival. You want to ensure that you are supporting the culture you'd like to develop through behavior and walking the integrity walk. In addition, your 'fit check' of individuals who are in these positions, or the one's who are just about to be hired at this particular managerial level is essential. It gives a clear signal to the rest of the organization that HR is not 'out there', but is an integral part of the organization. Of course you discuss your 'findings' with the HR leader on an ongoing basis.

Ask and it will be given to you

Request for a HR specific questionnaire, for example using Zoomerang®, to be prepared and distributed to all personnel. Although these questionnaires are usually being managed by HR and send to the rest of the organization, you want to start with HR and obtain valuable employee comments on how HR is currently being perceived. Starting with a HR questionnaire, provides focus and allows a preview of your communication style; open, direct and inviting to all. You show organizational accountability and present the HR team as a "key and important business area." 

A few examples of questions you could use (suggest you use 10 questions or less):

- How are HR's goals linked to our strategic company and your personal goals?

- How does our organization measure HR's effectiveness?

- What do you need, want or wish from HR to support your goals?

- HR leaders in our organization are usually?

- What can you give, provide to, or do for HR to support their goals?

Of course, you will provide the organization with full access to the data of the questionnaire in a practical, non-threatening and non-blaming fashion. You avoid this will become one of those executive 'Boomerang' questionnaires. In these cases, people honestly and dutifully complete a questionnaire and remain forever in the dark about the data and the possible related actions. However, they do know that in 'their world' nothing has been done - for nothing has changed.

Policies, Procedures and Quality

I suggest for you to agree with the HR leader on an independent professional review of all (corporate and country operations) HR policies and procedures, with the aim of reducing the number and complexity. Through this action you promote transparency, clarity of action and removal of bureaucracy. 

You want quality (= method preservation), defined as committed to working to the highest ethical, scientific and quality standards and ensuring compliance with all regulatory requirements, applied everywhere in the organization. You require 'HR business based,' critical and risk based thinking in all of your organization's leaders and team members, not 'just' in HR.

It is all about synergy

Agree with the HR leader on the creation of cross-departmental "synergy teams," composed of operational and junior-to middle-leadership, being led by one of your direct reports. The teams address better ways to achieve the strategic and tactical goals and the removal of barriers to accomplish the work. Make it a priority to meet with these teams every month over breakfast for the first six months and invite team members to bring all you need to know to the table. The only rule is, no gossiping and no trashing of coworkers and leadership. Team meetings will have no formal agenda and you will distribute action item reports to your executive team members, to the rest of the organization and to the governing board - creating full transparency.  Your openness and interaction about this with HR leadership is critical - HR is your partner and show this to every one through openness and active collaboration.

Conclusion

As a new leader you undoubtedly have been mandated to drive organizational and business growth. Inherently this will imply a culture transformation. Your efforts are significantly affected by the quality and the type of support you mobilize from HR and its leadership. 

From experience it is vital as a leader to accept accountability for HR. When you choose to lead, you decide to find and use the "hidden power of HR." In doing so, you will be well on your way to be supported by a vision sharing HR leadership. This will collectively move you and the organization closer to the short-term successes and long-term goals.

You are well aware that: "You cannot change your destination overnight, but you can change your direction overnight" - Jim Rohn

Best regards,

Johan

In my work, I am regularly challenged by actions of leaders who seem to underestimate the power of Human Resources (HR). The HR leader and its organization can either help you as a new Chief Executive Officer (CEO) to become a leader, or to become a lagger. 

Collaboratively Creating Value

Incoming leaders are wise to invest in the relationship with the HR leader by spending quality dialogue time together. As CEO you want to carefully present your values, mission, vision and short- and medium-term goals and the mandate given to you by the governance board. You also like to learn about the HR leader and its organization, and welcome a strategic view, one which goes beyond personnel records and fringe benefits. Also, as an incoming leader you are advised to meet with every one who touches the talent acquisition chain of events.

You need to address and review how the existing organization has been staffed.  How does the organization comply with applicable federal, state and local laws and regulations? 

Discuss and explain why you want transparency and full disclosure on all existing and future issues. You want the organization to be ethical (100% of the time), compliant (100% of the time) and have systems in place protecting the company and its workforce, such as;

- A professional and properly documented background check of all people in the organization, including contractors and "1099" contractors. If not available, require for a reputable outside firm to handle this and complete soon. 

- Require independent review of a random and representative sample size of employee records. You like to include for example, how a file is structured, what is filed where and by whom and who has access? If you have drug and alcohol screening as part of the hiring process (highly recommended!), require for example a report on how the data is managed and what experiences the companies has to date. 

- A proper ethics and compliance program. If not in place, discuss this at an upcoming board meeting and suggest proper organization and staffing of this function. Remind the board about its shared accountability and the potential liability of not handling ethics and compliance properly. 

As an incoming leader, do these 'minimal checks' shortly after arrival in the company, so you are informed and accountable.

Independence is Key

Require a direct organizational and hierarchical reporting relationship and communication line with HR leadership. You can let the HR leader act with independence and be in full control, yet you have influence where appropriate. You show support to innovative, positive and business constructive HR activities, in line with the companies mission and vision, strategic goals and unambiguous and accessible to every one.

Professionals Create a Professional Environment

Ensure well qualified and trained professionals and people who fit the organizational culture are active in HR and will be considered for future roles. You assure the HR organization is staffed and managed with professionalism and integrity. You lead and further build a sustainable, credible and trustworthy organization, a place where people like to work. 

Although professional training may not be seen as a guarantee for success by some, from personal experience I can share that hiring the alternative is often counter productive to success. A lack of professional standard in HR may over time become a liability to you and the organization.

Focus Magnifies Results

Nowadays, HR leadership often includes oversight of many functional areas. Many of these functional areas are specialized functions and may not be considered directly related to HR's core activity. Some may lead to potential conflict of interest. I suggest to avoid this pitfall by envisioning and collaboratively creating a focused and functional HR organization. You like to create a focused HR team that for example;

- Continuously monitor the labor market for workplace trends

- Adaptation of candidate sourcing styles based upon need and market trends

- Establish vision and supports hiring the best person for the role at the best cost with the shortest lead time

- Develop alignment of the human capital planning with strategic goals

- Create metrics that clearly define contributions to organizational goals

- Continuously build on the need for increased transparency and a reduction of bureaucracy within the organization

- Constructively collaborate with colleagues, suppliers, partner organizations and the market 

You require a HR leader with focus to add measurable value to the executive leadership team. You ask for an innovator, a visionary leader with business and people representation, direct and extended community focus and the right balance of advocacy and inquiry. An executive, a colleague, able to support you in an evolving organization and market. 

HR is part of your every day accountabilities and your decision to take this seriously, may soon result in, what some times is referred to as "defining leadership moments".

In part two of this article, I will provide additional suggestions on how you and the HR leader can creatively collaborate and build success.

Best regards,

Johan