Gathering Intelligence

Although the Analyst would have asked about your and your key people's concerns during the Opening Conference, that is only the beginning.

Often the firm will provide a long list of questions intended to help uncover underlying issues for you both personally and professionally.  Since it is often difficult if not impossible to separate the individual from the company a good Analyst will explore both facets.

Next, a facility tour will help orient the Analyst.  This is the first active step used to become acquainted with the company's resources including its physical environment and people.  Key people introduced during the tour will have the opportunity for personal and confidential interviews with the Analyst.

The interviews are crucial.  From them a composite view of the company's interactions, activities and issues will be brought to light and compared.  People see the same thing differently from one another and the truth is found somewhere in between the different points of view.

Your Analyst's next step is investigative.  Whether plowing through financial and operations reports, tracking processes and people interactions or customer contact through sales and marketing and service, a comprehensive view is developed and analyzed.

Periodically, as information is gathered, you will be asked to validate findings, perform some specific tasks to expedite the process--including developing your wish list or company plan.  Findings and planning meetings will be held to make sure useful information is developed and a mechanism for realizing objectives is decided.  Expect that the company plan you develop, either alone or with the assistance of someone you trust, is reviewed the first day and that findings will be presented the second day of the survey.

Do not be surprised to find that you cannot solve all of the problems on your own.  It would be a rare occurrence.  Certainly you will be aware of the majority of the findings and might even know how to handle them.  Your problem is, you have not finished with them.  All too often business owners and leaders find that they simply do not have the time or resources to put even simple issues to bed because they are wearing too many hats and jump from one fire to the next.

Once a business runs its owner instead of the other way around it can be very difficult to find a patch of daylight.  This is where a good consultant can step in and help.  Just as you might hire a sub-contractor to perform some specific task (paint the walls, fix the plumbing) a consultant has the experience and know-how to step in and fix business issues.  And the best part is that they will come in to fix the issue and then move on since they are not permanent employees!

You must be sure that you have clearly identified the issue(s) and agreed upon the time to have them fixed properly.  These decisions can be aided by the Analyst and should be clearly spelled out in the written agreement used for any consulting services.

More about this in my next post.