Evaluation of the work of a consultant
From Wikipractice
Contents |
Introduction
A consultant is mainly engaged because he has certain competence required by the customer. His work should be estimated in terms of capacity to apply its talent to the needs of the customer.
Three methods can be used to measure his performance.
The specifications of the work
The first method consists in comparing the performance of the consultant with the specifications of the work presented in the service offer or in the contract.
This method implies a review item by item of the offered service to verify if the consultant carried out all the activities and if he respected his commitments. The evaluation must be objective and serves for determining the quality level of the accomplished work.
The approach must be substential with the other contracts granted to the same firm or to the other firms. Similarly, the considered criteria must be substential with those used to estimate the performance of the persons inside the company customer.
The short-term profits
The second method is to measure the contribution of the consultant concerning the improvement of the financial position of the company.
Normally, there is a relation of cause to effect between the work of the consultant and the certain direct profits. Because the consultant was expressly opened to make certain changes, the impact of its work should normally be reflected in the state of the financial results.
Although certain projects are difficult to measure, each should add a value to the company. However, it is normal to assign enough delay between the end of the intervention of the consultant and the identification of profits.
The evaluation should be made on a quantitative base the most possible, for example, sales increased further to a program of improvement of sales? Did the program of improvement of the profits reduce the costs of direct manpower? Etc.
The long-term profits
The third method and maybe the most important are the contribution of the consultant in the long-term profits of the company.
In realizing his work, the consultant should contribute to heighten the level of competence of the staff of the company by passing on the maximum of his knowledge.
He should lead and to develop the staff in his speciality, in his methodology and in his approach to resolve problems.
The consultant should provoke better attitudes and an increased morale by creating an interest and a desire to the staff of the company to go farther and to accelerate the growth rate of the company.
The consultant should be the catalyst to allow the changes to come true and to reorganize the sectors of the company in a constructive direction.
