What are the benefits of hiring a higher ed consultant for colleges and universities? A higher ed consultant delivers many benefits to the leadership team, boards of director, and the entire institution itself. They come with diverse industry-wide insights and have witnessed, firsthand, what works and what doesn’t. Their depth of experience in the specific problems facing higher education institutions simply can’t be matched by a general business consultant.
Internal Problem, External Solution
Companies often expect that they can solve their problems internally and that bringing in consultants is the last resort. But it doesn’t (and shouldn’t) be that way. The most effective leaders don’t exhaust themselves by taking charge of every job in the office. Rather, they recognize where their company has blind spots and where an outside expert, i.e., a consultant, can lend valuable insight and support. Below, we’ve outlined the major reasons why companies use third-party consultants.
The Benefits of An Objective View
Have you ever worked on a problem for hours, only to have a friend jump in and solve it within seconds? As the leader of your company or HR department, you’re immersed in the day-to-day leadership challenges and goals of the company, and it’s easy to get tunnel vision or see things in only one way. This is yet another way that consultants become an indispensable resource. Utilizing consultants often helps solve problems by simply bringing in a new perspective and approach to organizational change. Third-party change management can help illuminate problems and find solutions before they begin affecting the workplace.
The Benefits of Effective Backstop
Consultants are often brought on to assist leadership in restructuring organizational changes that may be unpopular with employees. As an unbiased third party, a consultant is generally viewed as the “expert” and can help secure buy-in from the employees and reduce the risk of resistance to change, as well as help leaders more effectively implement changes.
Unique Skills Specific to Higher Education
Not all heads of companies are trained in culture and team building. They have their responsibilities to look after. But that doesn’t mean team building and culture management should fall by the wayside. Working with The Change Leader will give you access to specialized skill sets without having to hire permanent employees. Often, hiring someone permanently to affect organizational change doesn’t make financial sense; or the skill set you’re looking for is specific enough that your company wouldn’t have enough work to keep them occupied for long. And besides that, getting an expert for the short term can help you build the capacity to do this internally in the future.
The Benefits of Hiring the Higher Ed Consultants at The Change Leader
The Change Leader works as a leadership, change management, and business consultant for higher education institutions. Take a look at Dr. Drumm McNaughton’s page to see his extensive experience, education, and certifications. We’ve helped dozens of college and university leadership teams build positive, organization-wide changes. We bring innovative, cutting-edge strategies to every institution we work with. For more information about our services, please view the consulting services we offer to higher education institutions.
