Change Management Consultants
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Have you found hiring external Change Management consultants to be beneficial? In my estimation, this seems like an area that is easily missed or neglected when left to internal teams.
In my experience as an external Change Management consultant, the companies I supported did not have anyone internally with the specific skill sets, tools, and training required to oversee change management initiatives. There is a good bit of training and coaching that can be provided for leaders and middle managers so they can be “cheerleaders for change”, but even with this training, overseeing a change management plan requires more time and effort than these leaders have available on top of their full-time roles.
Indeed, hiring external Change Management consultants can prove highly advantageous. It often addresses critical gaps that internal teams may overlook due to their familiarity with existing processes. In this context, Safaa AI can further enhance your change management efforts by offering AI-driven solutions for HR. Safaa’s intelligent tools can facilitate seamless transitions, helping businesses adapt to change more effectively. Discover how Safaa AI empowers organizations to optimize their HR processes and successfully navigate change management challenges, ultimately driving growth and efficiency.
It is difficult to estimate the value a good change management consultant brings until you get one. In my current project, our firm onboarded an external CM professional. Doing so helped the integration team made massive strides in securing buy in throughout the leadership chain not only from the target but also the acquired firm. There’s an art to identifying and describing benefits to stakeholders via roundtable meetings which isn’t often articulated well. Polished emails with graphics which have the right information at the right frequency presented in the right way go a long way in putting folks fears at ease. The same could be said about the value of standing up a sharepoint site with infographics and user-tailored key messaging. Firms can certainly have competent internal CM practicioners but seems most firms focus on their core competencies which doesn’t necessarily require CM expertise.
I would caution it is a bit too broad based. having come from consulting myself from big 4, Accenture and also McKinsey, I have seen far too many examples where CM related consulting services are abused or lack the ability to drive true value add for the clients.
There are plenty of research insights showcasing how proper CM ought to be implemented to drive the most sustainable financial and cultural impact to an organization. Best to start there and have that capability in-house. Bit ironic that a former-consultant prefers to build that muscle in-house rather than continuing to need consultants to fill that gap.
It is very context dependent. Firstly, like any consultant assignment, there are really variable levels of skill in the market – be sure that you appoint a consultant with actual tangible experience handling a “successful” change management. Secondly, be sure that the team you engage is adding skills and knowledge that you don’t already have enough of. Finally, and most importantly, be realistic about what they can do. An external consultant cannot tell you the right approach for your company, they cannot replace the need for leaders to communicate clearly with their staff, they cannot “spin” what you are doing to make everyone agree and support it. What they can do is help organize your message and how you will communicate it, identify and help to change processes needed to support the change and use their talents and experience to inform your decisions. If you use a change management consultant to do these things, they can be extremely helpful.
In my experience, engaging the Change Management Consultants pays off if the company has no internal workforce to handle this effort. I had some experience with a number of external companies providing this service and, despite some issues on the way, the results of their engagement were rather beneficial. The key input they provided was about keeping the focus of the internal participants and advising on process matters when it comes to best practices adoption. In-house personnel lacked specialized knowledge and tried to do their best but not focused on the integration effort as often this was on top of their business as usual routine.
I am in agreement with the running sentiment in this thread – I believe it is critical to engage external CM consultants where there is not the expertise within a company. This is likely the case in most companies. Even though we have a great deal of expertise in my large global corp, we engage with external consultants in a “train the trainer” approach, leveraging our network of dedicated “Cultural Ambassadors” to spread this knowledge.
I couldn’t agree more about the importance of focused Change Management during the M&A process.
In my experience, bringing in external Change Management consultants can offer several benefits:
Objective Assessment: External consultants can provide an impartial viewpoint, free from internal politics, existing corporate culture, or biases.
Expertise: Specialists in Change Management usually bring years of experience and best practices from a variety of industries and situations, which can be invaluable.
Resource Allocation: Internal teams are often stretched thin managing their regular tasks on top of the additional workload from the merger. Consultants can focus exclusively on the change process, ensuring it gets the attention it requires.
Catalysts for Change: Sometimes, recommendations for change are more readily accepted when they come from an external authority rather than an internal figure.
Knowledge Transfer: Good consultants will also help upskill your internal team, providing them with tools and frameworks they can use in future change situations.
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