The Organization-Consultant Relationship:
A Guide for Making It Work

by Carol Lukas, author of Consulting with Nonprofits

Ask any group of nonprofit executives about using consultants or trainers and you'll probably get a handful of horror stories about problems they confronted... "Their style didn't fit with our organization," "They never understood what we are all about," "We'd rather do it ourselved, it's too much trouble." Like any relationship, the nonprofit-consultant relationship will encounter problems. The most common reasons why these relationships fail are:

• The consultant has the wrong skills for the project
• Expectations aren't clear
• The consultant addresses symptoms instead of core issues
• The consultant isn't managed or held accountable for either the process or the results

But far more common are the success stories—those of consultants who have helped organizations move to new levels by crafting new strategies, solving persistent problems, discovering efficiencies, or facilitating partnership relationships that transform the organization and result in greater impact. Another group of nonprofit executives might report: "Our consultant focused on our most important programs and helped us eliminate those not contributing to our mission," " We got beyond years of circular discussions that never went anywhere," "We dramatically improved program outcomes thanks to our consultant's expertise."

A productive nonprofit-consultant relationship requires mutual respect, influence, and accountability. Hiring a consultant and building this relationship is an investment of your organization's scarce resources. If you are clear about your needs, take the time to find the right consultant, carefully negotiate roles and expectations, and then monitor the consultant's results, you are more likely to see a return on your investment.

Know When to Hire a Consultant
There are several situations in which hiring a consultant makes sense. Your organization may lack the expertise to solve a problem. In this era of tight budgets, nonprofits can round out slim staffs and save money in the long run by hiring specialists insuch areas as technology, event planning, or marketing. You may need to move beyond where you are. A consultant can bring new perspectives and skills to do big picture, strategy, or creative thinking. Some consultants can bring access to research, program models, or promising practices from around the country. Your organization may be having difficulty achieving a specific goal. A consultant can challenge your thinking, help your organization approach the problem in a new way, help identify roadblocks hindering full participation, or help shift unproductive decision making or communication norms. You may need an objective point of view. A consultant can give you a fresh view of what you are doing or how you do it, making breakthrough improvements possible.

Find the Right Consultant
Once you've decided to invest in consulting assistance, you will benefit by paying attention to some of the following search and selection practices that experienced nonprofits have learned.

• Plan ahead. It may take time to locate a consultant to fit your needs, and consultants' schedules are often booked far in advance.
• Write a Request for Proposal (RFP) that outlines what you want done, the qualifications and experience you'd like, the project budget, and the procedure and deadline for submitting a proposal. Even if the project is small, the discipline of writing even a one-page RFP will be worth your effort.
• Assemble a pool of candidates. Ask other nonprofits. The most promising candidates are those who've worked successfully with other nonprofits in your field or community. You can also request names of candidates from funders, nonprofit management support organizations, intermediaries, corporations, forprofit consulting firms, and colleges and universities.
• Interview consultants using a prepared set of questions that probe their experience, industry and process knowledge, skills, style, and values. Compare their responses.
• Fit the consultant to the job. A perfectly competent consultant will perform poorly when given tasks that aren't suited to her/his strengths, orif personalities clash.
• Check references, and not just the references they give you. Check with your colleagues.
• Have at least one other person help you make the decision. Involve people who need to buy in to the work the consultant does.

Get It in Writing
A written agreement will protect you and the consultant, and increase the likelihood of a successful engagement. Consultants usually prepare a proposal, although the nonprofit may want to use their own contracting form. A written consulting contract or agreement should specify:

• The goals of the project or results you hope to achieve, against which the consultant's work will be evaluated;
• Scope of work, including quantifiable parameters such as the number of people to be interviewed or the number of meetings or trips;
• Work plan outlining steps at which progress will be monitored, timeline, and organizational and consultant responsibilities;
• Technical and human resources the consultant will need such as access to mailing lists, historical documentation, financial information, or staff and board time and participation;
• Intellectual property rights for the organization and the consultant;
• Concrete deliverables the consultant will produce, such as a strategic plan, written report, summary of research findings, meeting agendas, or employee handbook; and
• Projected costs and billing arrangements. If costs are estimates, the contract should state terms under which the consultant can exceed the estimates.

Manage the Consultant and Your Relationship
Build a relationship with the consultant characterized by open, honest discourse and mutual influence. Withholding of knowledge or opinions by either party will reduce the potential benefit to the organization. With this kind of relationship, it is easy to keep a pulse on how things are going. Check in frequently to make sure the project is on schedule and that tasks are being done to your satisfaction. Talk through concerns, questions, and problems as soon as they crop up. And remember, the meter is running; use the consultant's time wisely. Show up on time. Don't reschedule meetings at the last minute. Do your homework. There is no magic potion that will ensure you find the perfect consultant and they perform to your expectations. Attention to a few key elements will help you achieve your goals: hire the right consultant at the right time for the right reason; get the agreement in writing; and manage the consultant's work and your relationship with them.

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