Consulting is more than giving advice

Of all the relationships that executives enter into with outsiders, perhaps none is so tainted by misunderstanding as the engagement of management consultants. To executives, consultants may seem concerned mainly with prolonging their assignments and unable to appreciate the practicalities of managerial issues. Conversely, consultants may see their clients as short-sighted and lacking the backbone necessary to make important decisions. How can such stereotypes be done away with? By starting at the beginning of the assignment. Mr. Turner maintains that if managers and outside advisers work out in advance what is expected of each party during their work together, the chances of solving problems are improved. He suggests that managers and consultants structure the engagement according to a hierarchy of goals--which proceeds from the most basic objective, providing information, to the most sophisticated, permanent improvement of organizational effectiveness. The best way to move up that hierarchy is for executives and advisers to work together to identify needs and develop solutions.