Basically, I think she wants to "Boss" me. But my contract/engagement letter is with the Directors....just a bit stumped on how to deal with her that's all.
Best wishes Georgie
-- Edited by Georgie on Thursday 22nd of November 2012 01:53:40 PM
I have been working on site for a client for a while now but just recently they have taken on an "Office guru, Business Development, Forward thinking, Taking the Business Forward" person. Now, I have the impression that this person is going to "manage" me , and I have to report to them if I can't go in one day etc.
As my letter of engagement was with the owner, detailing the duties I would perform , where do I stand with this? It's been fine up until now as I have just gone in, done the work and left . I don't want to be "managed" I like "managing myself"
Any thoughts would be helpful, even if you think I am just being difficult....
watch this instructional video of how to deal with management consultants.
The key phrase is at 00:36
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CUaSQBHgH-0
More seriously though I know that consultants can be very disruptive and will often want to change for the sake of change to show that they are doing something even if that leads to reduced productivity which will be blamed on those doing the work not doing it properly rather than things not broken should have been left well alone.
The real Kryptonite to consultants is to ask "why" as many of them don't understand what they are doing and regurgitate what they think management want to hear in a form that management don't understand but will agree too as they feel that they will be judged a fool if they admit to hearing the equivalent of white noise coming from the consultants lips.
Good consultants with reasoning behind the Why defence are expensive so it's unlikely that your employer will have found one of those.
If the consultant is looking at proper BPR (Business Process Re-engineering) then there may be fundamental changes in the pipeline for the business as a whole and you would be wise to keep abreast of everything that is happening and make sure that your manager understands the implications of what is being suggested.
At the end of the day it needs to be made clear to the consultant right from the start that you are not an employee. If there are changes to the systems to be implemented then you need to be kept informed of the changes but how you then do your work or what steps your work involved is of non of their concern (why am I thinking a cost return analysis of a bank rec by this consultant here).
Good luck Georgie.
All the best,
Shaun.
p.s. I am a management consultant and whilst I would sit and talk to people on the front line to explain why things are changing I would not dream to seek to micro manage them. Maybe thats all that this consultant wants to do? Just discuss the changes that they are thinking of. If however they go down the micro managing route I personally would be prone to using the technique shown in the above video link.
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Shaun
Responses are not meant as a substitute for professional advice. Answers are intended as outline only the advice of a qualified professional with access to all relevant information should be sought before acting on any response given.
Just make sure that she realises that you do not work for the company.
As such the client can tell you what to do but not how to do it.
On the working for the Directors, not the wonder woman. I am now reading your post as she has actually been taken on rather than being a consultant in which case as she is permanent and you are a service provider she does then speak for the company and by definition the directors so whilst they can override her as a permanent member of staff she will speak as though through them.
Douglas McGregor's work on Type X and Type Y people not mixing would be relevant to this scenario in that you cannot successfully have an autocratic manager over self motivated staff or for that matter a passive manager over unmotivated staff.
This situation falls into the first of those two scenarios and I guarantee that if this person attempts to micro manage you then the relationship with this firm will fall apart.
Ironically, if the consultant does not know of, or understand and apply the work of Douglas McGregor then they are not a real consultant and no wonder woman.
I come across a lot of consultants like that in the day job. Sound all confident, spurt off lots of ideas in consultant speak gibberish but know absolutely nothing.
These people are very, very dangerous to the health of a business.
On the bright side though business owners are not as stupid as the consultants seem to believe that they are and in the majority of cases that I've encountered those consultants don't tend to last very long.
Shaun.
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Shaun
Responses are not meant as a substitute for professional advice. Answers are intended as outline only the advice of a qualified professional with access to all relevant information should be sought before acting on any response given.
