Learn what consultants do and how to choose the right one. How should corporate leaders, managers, and individual workers transition to remote work in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic? Tsedal Neeley, professor at Harvard Business School, has been helping companies learn to manage dispersed teams for two decades. In this edited Q&A, it provides guidance on how to work productively at home, manage virtual meetings and manage remote teams. It can be difficult to determine the “right frequency” for remote communications.
But the important thing is to be consistent. Ask your customers how and when they prefer to receive updates. From there, follow the schedule and make the necessary adjustments. It's essential to find a consultant who has experience in your industry or who has experience with the types of problems your company is facing.
These business consultants take inventory of your current business model and discover the best way to produce the same high-quality results at a fraction of the cost and time. Opting for a virtual consultant can expand the pool of potential talent, since it would not be tied to your local market. According to The Predictive Index, 27% of the companies surveyed chose not to hire a consultant because the consultant could not demonstrate ROI. Many consulting firms, such as Nast Partners and Clear Leader Group, both IP-certified partners, have been taking advantage of virtual work for years.
A business consultant is a professional with a wide range of skills who helps business owners in their efforts. Dan Schmitz is a consultant at ON THE MARK, a global organizational design consulting firm and a leader in collaborative business transformation with offices in the U.S. US and the United Kingdom. With these best practices in mind, the best way to start doing virtual consulting is to assess your needs.
Financial consultants can specialize even more, such as financial planning and advising your company on taxes, daily expenses and the best retirement plans. A good business consultant takes the time to learn as much as possible about a company from the owner and employees. When much of virtual consulting depends on trust and empathy, long-term customer relationships go a long way. Business strategy and management consultants can bring their industry experience to your company to help you scale, acquire new opportunities and drive revenues.
You'll need to gradually adapt your existing offerings and business practices to fit a virtual environment. A business consultant can help you perform a competition analysis to obtain pertinent information on market saturation, new opportunities and best practices in the industry. While the pandemic may be the most recent catalyst, there are many reasons why consultants are opting for virtual technology. If you see any decline in profits that you can't explain, this could be another sign that it's time to hire a business consultant who can identify possible reasons for the decline and suggest ways to fix them.
