When your project management office is handling a large, complex project with multiple sub-contractors and a main lead contractor, you may think that project consulting is an additional overhead and yet another line of communication to manage. Going to a consultant for help might be considered as something that only large corporations would do. However, using the services of a consultant doesn’t necessarily have to be the preserve of the end client or main contractor. A firm further within the supply chain can benefit enormously by investing in expert advice to support and coach their project management office.
Since time immemorial, sound advice from an experienced and objective perspective has been considered a valuable asset, often received from someone who is a few years older.
There’s nothing like bringing in extra experienced capacity, diverse expertise and specialist knowledge that you might not have available to you normally. It’s the best thing to do when you are facing issues within your project. Soldiering on with the same approach without trying something different can lead to a situation where you are throwing resources and effort into a far greater extent. A consultant can step in and bring in new thinking, and a more flexible approach and improve efficiency and effectiveness across the entire project.
If your project is taking more of your time up and still not progressing as it should, project consulting may offer a much-needed pause – where you slow down briefly to gain an objective viewpoint and then speed up using their extensive specialist knowledge and skills gathered from different industries and domains. As their perspective won’t be coloured by the internal history or politics of an organisation, they will be able to introduce best practices that align with the organisation’s goals, all in an impartial way. This is invaluable when you need an expert who can step back and identify and address any issues or inefficiencies that those who are deeply involved in the project daily might be missing.
Spending wisely, saving more
Efficiency is key to any project and a consultant will have developed processes and methodologies for managing projects over the years which will improve the execution stage of your project. Furthermore, they can scale their involvement up or down depending on the phase of the project. Once the project has reached a certain stage, your project consultant may no longer be needed and that flexibility means more efficient spending.
Overall, project management consultants bring a wealth of knowledge, commercial skills, and resources to the table, making them a valuable asset. This means that spending in the short term could save a project thousands in the long term. Why wouldn’t you invest in the day rate for a consultant? £1,000 spent on their advice today could save you £20,000 tomorrow. Or maybe they open up further opportunities in your project, generating more revenue from the work your technical resources have become experts in?
Sourcing specific skill gaps.
Hiring a consultant provides access to additional resources and skills that may not be available internally. For smaller, subcontracting companies, resources are often overstretched. So, while hiring a consultant comes at a higher initial cost, it can be more cost-effective than hiring full-time staff with similar expertise for short-term or specialized projects. Project consultants can also be called upon to coach and train staff in areas where they may lack skill or experience.
Strategising, smoothing transitions and speaking to stakeholders.
Project consultants are adept at identifying risks and developing risk management strategies to mitigate them. Having their experience to hand will help ensure smooth transitions during project implementation as well as any managing of stakeholder expectations.
Effective project management is essential for businesses, and it’s not always the best strategy to wait until it goes wrong before involving project management consultants. It makes sense for project management consultants to be involved from the initiation phase or sooner to be able to influence the project early on and give it more chance of reaching a successful conclusion. They do say that prevention is better than cure!
We want to help our customers stay ahead of the curve, seize opportunities, and drive continuous improvement within their projects. From strategic planning to implementation and project delivery, it’s our depth of experience that allows us to confidently drive progress and propel projects forward.
So for that reason, as specialists in our field and consummate innovators, constantly seeking new ideas, methodologies and technologies to enhance project performance and deliver results, we will be launching our own specialist consultancy and coaching service later this year. It will, however, be available for a much-reduced cost in return for taking part in our pilot scheme – to thank participants for giving time to provide feedback/testimonials.
If this is something that would interest you, please do get in touch today for a no-obligation discovery call. We would love to help you to scale new heights and deliver the excellent results your project requires.
