Lea Remigio

It’s a sweet gig being a consultant. I can go into an organization and get to know them a bit, recommend some data solutions, write up a lot of official looking charts, complex specifications and processes, collect my check, then pull a Kaiser Soze.

Poof! And just like that, I’m gone before management has a chance to begin rolling out all of my big ideas and recommendations.

Nah. I am not an evil genius. At least, I’m certainly not a genius and usually not evil. Neither do I have a habit of disappearing. The point is, don’t work with a consultant who could.

I have wanted to write on the topic of what to look for in a non-profit technology consultant for a while. Recently, Tracy Kronzak posted “The Ethical Consultant”, in which she said a lot of the things I had on my own list, only better than I probably could have said them. Tracy is a Salesforce consultant, but her post applies to a lot of software or data tracking systems that non profit organizations might use. Like me, her gripe is with consultants who don’t always work in an ethical manner, whether out of ignorance, laziness or on purpose.  Having worked in the social services arena for the last 12 years, I’ve seen plenty of technology consultants I’d like to shake and scream at. It’s an awful feeling to come into an organization, look at the other consultants they work with and know that your client (or employer) is being fleeced. If a consultant is going to cater to nonprofits, I think she should be in it for someone other than herself. And she should always do her best. Nonprofits don’t deserve the flunkies from the for-profit consulting world, but that’s sometimes what they end up with.

In her Ethical Consultant article, Tracy made the following points, among others:

• An ethical consultant does not recommend solutions that can’t be maintained by available organization resources,
• An ethical consultant works to promote self sufficiency, and
• It’s okay for a consultant to say “no” or “I don’t know” (in fact, I’m really wary of people who do not use those words regularly).

I am paraphrasing her in my bullet points above. Please read her post, because I’m not rewriting her good work, but I do have a couple of additional thoughts.

Are You Part of My Tribe?

First, look for consultants who either exclusively cater to or have some decent references from other nonprofit organizations. Preferably like-minded organizations. Most freelancers who work mainly with a for-profit or corporate client base will have to work extra hard to understand the budgeting, funding and cultural needs of a social services organization. I’m not saying that people can’t cross over or that capable corporate-level consultants can’t discount or donate valuable time, but a lot of what I call soft factors can affect the efficacy of a workflow plan.

Soft factors are things like: What motivates your staff to come to work each day? (Probably not a high salary.) How involved is your board of directors in management decisions? What’s their tolerance for risk and change? These are the kinds of things that might represent a learning curve for people who have never worked in a nonprofit environment.

Also remember that a higher hourly rate may not necessarily equate to higher quality work.

Do You Speak My Language?

Closely connected to the consultant’s ability to say “I don’t know”, find someone who speaks your language. Beware of the chronic jargon users.

As indicated in my 65 slide PowerPoint presentation, the take-away for our constituents is that the flux capacitor methodology is a paradigm for how we produce benchmarks which factor in external criteria and stakeholders.

I’ll be the first to admit guilt. I’ve used some jargony words at times (I especially can’t pass up an opportunity to say flux capacitor), but I deserve to be stopped and questioned when I use these words. Anyone who is unwilling to speak in terms a layperson can understand probably isn’t someone you’re going to love working with or managing. Anyone unable to speak in terms a layperson can understand probably isn’t smart enough to do the work in the first place. Or maybe they are too smart.

Even the Best Consultants

Unless you are paying her to help you expand available resources, a thoughtful consultant will recommend solutions which utilize (and sometimes stretch) the resources that you already have. Consultants may know what’s best, but maybe not what’s reasonable. In most consulting relationships, I don’t have the opportunity to meet and work with organization staff enough to know their capacity for change. So even though I may be recommending a plan that’s theoretically within your capacity, I typically won’t be around to enforce the plan and process changes. If I redesign your client intake data entry process, turning your 6 step process into 12 steps of required data entry fields, your staff may revolt. A good consultant will ask you questions such as, “are we striking a balance between tracking meaningful data and overwhelming staff with data tracking responsibility?”, and “will your users hate me for this?” Take a consultant plan with a lick of salt and a squeeze of lime. If the plan is aligned with your goals but seems a bit overwhelming, consider expanding the implementation timeline and roll it all out incrementally.