Dr. Strangegov: Or How I learned to stop worrying and accept consultants

This post is written by Joseph Maltby, U.S. Federal Government

• **The problem: **Public servants get frustrated with consultants.
• Why it matters: Consultants are here to stay and we can’t serve the public without knowing how to work with them.
• The solution: Learn how to have productive relationships with consultants and even how to use them to boost your own career.

Love them or hate them, contractors and consultants in government aren’t going anywhere. Whether you think they represent the brilliance of public-private partnership or the slow erosion of the government’s ability to do its job, they’ve become an integral part of the public sector model, at least in the United States.

When I was new to government, I found consultants incredibly frustrating. They often don’t fully understand the history or the constraints of the organisations they advise, but they also aren’t the ones holding the bag when things go wrong. They can siphon leadership time and attention away from junior staff ideas. There are many government leaders who seem to hold their own workforces — the ones they hired — in low esteem compared to consultants who sometimes would repeat the same things staff had been saying, but at a severe markup. (I recommend the book “The Management Myth” by Matthew Stewart on the topic of excessive faith in consulting and business philosophies.)

"Consultants bring frustrations, but they also bring opportunities."

There are those in government who take the “if you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em” approach and move to consulting firms with a few years of experience. Despite the workload, the lifestyle offers variety in work and a level of compensation that the public sector just can’t beat. Personally, I think there’s no substitute for the influence inside government, especially if you keep these three lessons about consultants in mind:

1. Understand the incentives

There’s only so much you can accomplish by saying “no”. You need to understand your consultants’ goals and incentives so you can use those to get the best outcomes. Learn how their performance is measured inside their company, how they please their bosses — the government is their client, but they have an internal boss — and most importantly, how they get compensated under the contract. You can use that information to steer them towards actions, habits, and solutions which accomplish their goals while also serving yours, and most importantly, which serve the citizen.

Read the contract, talk to the contracting officer and programme manager, and get to know the consultants you’re working with. It helps to remember that there are many different kinds of consulting arrangements and contract structures, ranging from one-off external reports to situations where a contractor sits in the government and provides nearly all the same functions that an employee would.

Also try to understand the incentives of the managers and leaders who hired these consultants. Different organisations and different leaders have different goals for using consultants. Maybe they want the flexibility and responsiveness that a government workforce doesn’t always provide. Perhaps they need external cover for a change to justify it to their own bosses. It’s hard to persuade those you don’t understand.

2. Use the tools at hand

Consultants bring frustrations, but they also bring opportunities. Do they have access to a skill set you and your team lack and can be harnessed for your own goals? Can you expand your own skills by working with them? You may have to push for this because most consultants would rather give you a fish than teach you to fish. You can also ask for write-ups and explanations of their process in the guise of oversight or as independent deliverables. Your organisation is paying a lot for their skills, so get something out of it for yourself!

Rather than being frustrated by the blind faith government leaders sometimes place in consultants, use it to your advantage. Make sure you feed the consultants the information and perspectives that will help them see the problems and opportunities you want to highlight. I’ve seen more than one skillful government employee launder their idea or critique through a consultant to get leadership buy-in.

3. There are teachers everywhere

There are plenty of bad or redundant consultants out there. But it takes a special set of skills to thrive in an environment where you have to constantly prove your worth to clients. Good teachers are everywhere; there’s no reason to limit yourself to the public sector. Consultants always have to manage up. Watch how they do it and use that to super-charge your own career. The reality is that even senior leaders have to persuade more than they can command.

I’ve become a better listener from working with consultants and watching how they said “no” without ever using the word, how they asked for more information without sounding ignorant, and how they always managed to get our leadership to feel ownership of ideas. When you’re trying to help someone, it’s easy to do so in a way that makes them feel dependent on you and many senior leaders don’t like feeling vulnerable. Being able to make them feel like your idea was also their idea and to take ownership of the solution is an incredible asset if you want to make real change.

Consultants want to make money, but many have the same aspirations of making an impact as any public servant. Work with them where you can. Find ways to see them as fellow travelers in your public service journey and you’ll be amazed what you can accomplish. — __Joseph Maltby __

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