More and more executives and decision-makers hire independent consultants addressing internal capacity and capability gaps to support important projects and initiatives. Corporations, consultancies, and investment firms are all turning to independent business consultants and subject matter experts to help tackle pressing issues, like strategy development, transformations, re-organizations, or M&A topics.

If you’re considering engaging a consultant through expertpowerhouse, we have compiled some best practices and recommendations you should keep in mind.

Before reaching out

Prepare a project brief

The more detailed the requirements are laid out, the better will be the match of candidates to your specific project needs.

Define project dates

Clarify the start date and length of the engagement. To identify rightful candidates, it is great to know if there is some flexibility or if the timings are fixed. Also, knowing the length of an engagement is important information for the interdependent consultants and their planning.

Define budget

You should have a clear view on the budget that you are willing to allocate to the external consultant. Transparency on the budget helps to identify consultants that tick all boxes: expertise and financials. Having no upfront clarity on the budget might lead to wasted time by starting the engagement process with experts that will never fit budget requirements.

Selection process

Review short profiles

Providers like expertpowerhouse will share profiles of the matching candidates they have identified. Take some time to check the profiles and short-list the most interesting candidates.

Have get-to-know discussions with the most promising candidates to also check for personal fit

Introductory calls with candidates don’t need to be long. They should give you the opportunity to get-to-know the candidate better, ask for specific and relevant experience and most importantly check for the personal fit. Projects require generally some close collaboration and therefore, specifically the personal fit is very important.

Project start

Take time to plan the project and brief consultant

As in every project, it is of utmost importance to have a clear project plan with milestones and deliverables. This is even more important when engaging external consultants to complement your team or to independently work on a specific topic.

Define clear deliverables

Clear deliverables need to be defined and discussed with the independent consultant. Clear communication ensures that all parties are on the same page and understand the timeline and deliverables.

Define clear expectations of client and consultant

Similarly, a clear and open discussion on expectations is important. Hereby, expectations of the client but likewise of the consultant are important to consider and to discuss openly upfront.

If you are ready, visit expertpowerhouse.com to find and engage your vetted consultant to support your projects.

‍