How do you improve performance from the inside as an internal consultant? Is there a difference between an external consultant’s work and an employee’s?

WHAT MAKES A PERFORMANCE CONSULTANT?

According to Hale (1998), performance consultants are experts in advising on, analysing and measuring performance, yet also facilitate the client’s commitment to taking responsibility for supporting performance. They are not inclined toward a particular solution and do not make recommendations until there is enough data to support them. External and internal consultants share many similar characteristics as both help their clients address problems and improve business results. In the context of performance, it could be in the improvement of an individual (for example, skills or knowledge); a team (for example, group dynamics or job redesign); or the organisation (for example, systems, structures or processes).

WHAT MAKES AN INTERNAL CONSULTANT?

You are a member of the organisation and may be employed as a performance consultant, HR advisor, HRD specialist, learning and development consultant, organisational development professional, training manager, change management specialist or even career development manager. The list goes on. Regardless of the different job tasks in each position, you are an internal consultant. Some professionals do not consider themselves internal consultants as they are seen as staff serving other departments in their organisation and/or a subject matter expert (SME) holding a support role within the organisation. Nevertheless, internal consultants are valuable to any organisation and people in these positions are often accountable for all or a combination of the following job outputs:

• Developing and growing partnerships with sustained clients;
• Identifying and qualifying opportunities for performance improvement;
• Conducting performance assessments, including gap and cause analysis;
• Managing multiple performance change interventions (solutions); and
• Measuring the results of performance improvement interventions.

The challenges faced by internal consultants are plentiful. They may include:

• Finding the balance between the need to belong and be objective enough to hold a neutral role;
• Establishing and maintaining strong relationships within the organisation yet being able to confront other staff members, speak the truth and, at times, maintain client confidentiality;
• Working through the chain of command and red tape, reporting relationships to your bosses (direct, senior level as well as those in the dotted lines) and juggling organisational politics;
• Having the flexibility to play multiple roles – as a neutral outsider, an expert, a change agent, a leader, a team player, a process facilitator, and even a devil’s advocate; and
• Managing between the day-to-day tasks of the job and the specific tasks involved in projects (performance improvement interventions).

Unlike external consultants, the organisation is the only client for internal consultants and the client-consultant relationship does not end after a project. Internal consultants are on the inside throughout the whole process of the variety of performance improvement solutions. In other words, there is little or no option of walking out – your credibility, reputation, relationships and own career are on the line.

THE CONSULTING PROCESS

There are a number of models that the consulting process may follow. Most adhere loosely to the following phases, although in real life the process is never straightforward and at most times overlaps.

Defining the request

Contacting

For external consultants, this is where they enter, lay the foundation of the consultant-client relationship and seek an understanding of the client’s need or problem. External consultants need time to learn and explore the organisation to determine if the project is appropriate. For internal consultants, this may be when a colleague from a different department comes into your office and says something along the lines of: “My sales people need time management training”. In another scenario, a senior manager may make a comment on production problems while at the water-cooler; in another, you may need to respond to new regulations or the generation of new products. Internal consultants hold an advantage here as they already have inside knowledge of the organisation: its mission, business goals, culture, structure and processes, and well-established relationships with the people. Regardless of how the contact was first initiated, this is a meeting where both you and your colleague (client) explore, clarify and determine whether to move forward.

The important note here is to define the need and focus with the end result in mind. You should ask, “What is to be achieved at the end that is valuable to the organisation’s goals and the relationship to human performance?”

Agreement

Taking the time to review and clarify expectations, confirm roles and verify the actions of each party will enhance the success of the project. Items that always need to be included in the agreement are goals and outcomes, project steps/approach, deliverables and timelines, resources, support and confidentiality issues on the data collected and results. Unlike external consultants, this agreement for internal consultants could be verbal or written and/or done in a formal or informal manner depending upon the culture of the organisation.

Investigating the request

Information gathering and assessment

This is to collect information and validate the facts. Methods and sources of information vary from structured interviews, surveys, and observation, to review of policies and procedures and so on. Using the HPI (Human Performance Improvement) approach is extremely useful. Developed by ASTD, this is the systematic process of discovering and analysing important human performance gaps, planning for future improvements in human performance, designing and developing cost effective and ethically justifiable interventions to close performance gaps, implementing the interventions, and evaluating the financial and non-financial results.

HPI would encompass the learning issues, structures/processes and work environment barriers that cause the performance gaps. These analyses would also help decide the nature of support required, the cost effectiveness and the preliminary design of interventions.

Recommending options

Feedback

This is the presentation of the findings from the information gathering and assessment steps. It is useful to present an objective and clear view on the findings without blame or judgement, in a format that is easily digested by the client. Be prepared to confront tough issues as well as objections. This phase also determines the client’s willingness to move ahead with the project.

Alignment

Once the work is done to identify and align business needs, performance needs, learning needs and needs of the work environment, the intervention could then be selected. The consultant needs to confirm and agree with the client on the selected intervention and the approach to achieve the desired outcomes. This leads into the planning process, identifying the necessary resources and support and determining the measures of success. This alignment enhances the success of the project as well as preventing damage to the relationship.

Implementing the solution

Depending upon the intervention selected, the internal consultant needs to manage the project, gather formative evaluation data and make mid-course corrections. The intervention focus may be individual, small group or even organisation-wide, hence the internal consultant needs to help relevant people adapt to the changes. Knowing your abilities and limitations as well as the culture of the organisation might also mean hiring the services of an external consultant as a more effective solution. At times, the internal consultant might not even play a part in the intervention but you would be adding value to your organisation just to check on the status of the project.

Measuring the results

The initial discussion should have provided the measures of success including the data sources and methodologies. Evaluating the results of the intervention could indicate what is working and what is not for continuous improvement; identify the overall success of the intervention; improve the planning and implementation of future projects; improve the internal consultant’s own skills as well as increase credibility, support and confidence that the consulting interventions are cost effective and valuable to the organisation. In addition to Donald Kirkpatrick’s famous 4 Levels of Evaluation, you could also consider Jack Phillips’ Return on Investment (ROI) model.

Based on the preceding information and analysis at the earlier stages, you must choose an evaluation model or a mix of models, and with the feedback from the client, decide on the methods to be used. It is important to secure collaboration with the client at the early stage – if their commitment, cooperation and contributions cannot be secured, the evaluation will probably fail. Criteria and standards of judgement, the time and funds available and the climate of the organisation need to be considered in the acceptance of the evaluation approach.

CONCLUSION

There are a lot of challenges and opportunities for internal performance consultants. As long as you follow a structured process and keep some tips top of mind (see Table 1), you will hold the key to success. Not only will you increase your own credibility, you will add value to your role in the organisation.

REFERENCES

Hale, J. 1998, The Performance Consultant’s Fieldbook – Tools & Techniques for Improving Organizations and People, Jossey-Bass/ Pfeiffer, San Francisco.

Scott, B. 2000, Consulting on the Inside, ASTD, USA.

Re-published from “Improving Performance from the Inside” in Training and Development in Australia, vol.31, no.6, December 2004, pp 6 – 9. Australian Institute of Training & Development (AITD) by same author, Elaine Yin-Tantouri

Also available on Linked in: http://www.linkedin.com/pulse/article/20140813130727-5398941-improving-performance-from-the-inside

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