The role of a consultant

Businesses evolve. They don't just turn up one day with everything working. 

Few take the time to set up with clear systems, processes, management behaviours, structures and behaviours right from the beginning. In reality, businesses evolve as the market place evolves. New people come into your business, or leave. You get new technology or the environment in which you operate changes and you adapt.

Yet, when problems arise, you need to take a step back and assess what is working and what isn't.

You need to revisit your vision and purpose and assess whether you are still on the right path. You may have taken a wrong path or purposefully changed direction without updating your toolkit.

Business can become a tangled mess and the layers, interdependencies, behaviours and culture that evolve create complexity.  One turn of the dial here can have significant impact on a process further down the line. Updating a working policy can cause all kind of legal and contractual headaches. One person leaving can leave huge gaps in knowledge or rock the team dynamics. It is difficult to see the cause, and only see the effect, so you try to fix the issue, not the real issue. 

And here is a big truth that you might not want to hear...

You often can't see what is in front of you because you have become embedded or "institutionalised" in the business. 

If you were once employed into the business, in those first few weeks and months, you could probably see all of the issues in the business. You were an outsider with looking with objective eyes. Soon, you become part of the organisation. You make decisions, hire people, change things and begin to add value. And you become emotionally involved. You care. You turn a blind eye to things that were staring you in the face when you first started. You understand how complex things really are and focus on the quick and easy wins and leave the hard stuff for another day. Except that day rarely comes.

Why Every Leader Needs to Become a Consultant in Their Own Business

If you really want to be a strategic leader, you need to become a consultant in your own business from time to time.

That might sound odd—after all, you are the leader. You know your team, your operations, your strategy. But here’s the truth: leading and consulting are different roles, and switching hats can offer powerful results.

What consultants do that leaders often don’t

A consultant brings a specific set of skills and a fresh lens. They’re not caught up in the day-to-day. They look across the whole system, diagnose problems, spot patterns, and help teams focus on a particular outcome or objective.

They ask:

• What’s working?

• What’s not?

• Where are the blockages?

• What’s being avoided?

• What needs to evolve?

They do this without the emotional ties, internal politics, or operational distractions leaders face every day.

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve run focus groups where employees say, “We’ve told management this before. Why do we need a consultant?”

It’s a fair question. In a perfect world, leaders would pick up on every issue and course-correct immediately. But in reality, most problems don’t start out as big issues. They whisper before they shout. And by the time they’re loud enough to be noticed, they’ve often grown roots, across teams, systems, and culture.

That’s why taking time to act like a consultant is so important.

The objectivity gap

When you're in the business every day, it’s hard to step back and work on the business. Leaders try. Strategy days are booked. Off-sites are held. Big ideas are captured on whiteboards.

But too often, the diagnosis is surface-level. We leap to solutions without understanding what’s really going on. The same themes repeat. And people feel frustrated—like no real change is happening.

Becoming your own internal consultant

You don’t need to hire an external consultant every time something goes wrong. But you do need to create space to think like one.

That means:

• Stepping back regularly to assess your organisation holistically

• Asking the uncomfortable questions

• Looking at the relational dynamics, not just the metrics

• Seeing the system, not just the symptoms

A consultant gets involved in planning, implementation, education and evolution. Leaders can do the same—when they step out of the doing, and into reflective inquiry.

Key takeaway:
Great leaders know when to step back and see with new eyes. Becoming a consultant in your own business isn’t about detachment, it’s about perspective. When you think like a consultant, you gain the clarity and courage to lead change that actually sticks.

Before you even create a strategy, you must diagnose the real issues and before you do that, you need to ensure someone is able to interpret the information. The analysis of the information is critical.

You could create a simple questionnaire to gather information, or create forums, working groups, feedback loops or get data from within business systems and reports. Focus on the central question, your hypothesis and then find the right approach to gather information to answer the question.

Now you are ready to analyse. What is the information telling you?

You really do need to remain objective here. Many of the decisions or actions that lead to the "issue" were ones that you, as the leader were involved in. Perhaps you bought the technology, hired that person, designed the process, and now you find it isn't working, you might defend or deflect attention. You might be too close, so must practice detachment. 

I recommend being inclusive in the diagnosis stage. My including others you will gain new insights, different experiences and perspectives that adds richness to your analysis. You might believe something works for you, without understanding the pain and frustration it is causing another team or even your customers. You might find a quick fix, not aware of the implications on other systems and processes. Creating an inclusive culture is critical in creating success.