Good Political Strategy Tutorials
Consultants have many other functions as well, and most departments within the organization can find political strategy a number of consultants that focus on their particular areas of functionality to aid them. Sometimes consultants can simply be used as additional manpower, fill-ins for key employees on personal leave, plug-ins providing necessary functionality on short notice for the short term.
These are not temps you may call in for a day or two while someone is out with the flu. They can be highly-trained, experienced executives that have been in many different corporate situations and reached a amount of comfort with the commonalities in procedures within their area between companies to be effective quickly. They are typically not utilized in situations where the term is shorter than a month, as the cost of lost opportunity for a stint that short drives the hourly rate beyond the return value.
Expectations inside this situation are relatively high, as the consultant will be asked to step into any range of situations already in place and under way, and gather sufficient information from internal sources to keep these projects moving forward effectively, in an extremely short time period, but without injecting much of their very own influence or changing the direction of the project. This is a tough gig, and successful consultants are to be highly prized and respected because of this set of skills that make such performance not just possible but routine. When projects are critical, and the schedule is inflexible for any range of reasons, this could be a good option for mid-size to large organizations.
Some organizations use consultants as outboard manpower to plan and implement special projects outside the standard scope of the department or organization, or for projects that are of vital concern to the organization's success but only come up rarely.
Changing membership databases for a non-profit organization is a prime example of this type of consultant use. An IT or Association Consultant who has been through many such changeovers and data conversions can be an invaluable resource for such a critical undertaking that most organizations only face every few years. Hiring a consultant under such circumstances will expand and extend the organization's scope of expertise for a short period, and take advantage of specialized knowledge that isn't needed on a regular basis.
The expense of the consultant is far outweighed through the savings gained by avoiding a misstep during the process and crippling your organization, however temporarily, while the problem is investigated and fixed. The consultant can prevent you from making a poor purchasing decision, and mitigates buyer's remorse by making the correct match between user and product.
Sometimes that special project requires some specialized expertise in order to allow a "pet" project to be executed properly, and that expertise doesn't exist in house. If time is a factor, and there is no time for internal staff to develop that type or degree of expertise, a consultant may be a great solution. The can function directly with your internal staff, provide the expertise essential to move the project forward effectively, by-pass the internal chain of command and the inherent internal politics, and propel the project to a successful conclusion quickly and effectively.
