How to get real value from consultants
I learned how to use consultants long before I became one. Early in my career, I worked for a manager—let’s call him Andrew—in an environment that would feel pretty tough today. We had two consulting firms working for us, and Andrew gave me very clear instructions:
Stay all over them.
Ask difficult questions.
Push them.
Be provocative.
If a consultant said, “You’re one of our most difficult clients,” we took it as a small victory. It meant we were pushing for value, not just accepting their work at face value. At the time it felt confrontational, but the lesson stuck: clients must stay active, engaged, and demanding. Switch off, and the value switches off with you.
Seeing the Other Side
Years later, when I became a consultant myself, it all made sense. At Scottish Courage, the Finance Director met us every month to review exactly what we had committed to deliver. Line by line. No drama. No suspicion. Just clarity.
He always said:
“I’m not doing this because I don’t trust you. I’m doing it to make sure we’re on track and to spot anything we might be missing.”
It sharpened our work, forced us to deliver, and made the engagement more honest. That’s the difference between clients who get value from consultants and those who don’t. It’s not about the firm or the proposal, it’s about ownership.
When Consultants Are Useful
Consultants bring value when you need:
Specialist expertise
Extra capacity
An injection of pace
Honest external insight your organisation can’t give itself
The mistake isn’t in using consultants. The mistake is using them without clarity, control, or accountability.
There’s a simple way to avoid that, three rules Andrew drilled into me years ago:
Rule 1: Be clear on what you want from them
Listen to pitches, compare bids, challenge ideas, but then take control of the brief. It’s your organisation, your outcomes, and your money. You decide what the consultants are there to deliver.
If you don’t define the work, they will, and it will suit them, not you.
Rule 2: Own their work
This is the most overlooked part of consulting. You should have the PowerPoints, Excel models, analysis, documents, and reasoning. Someone in your organisation must truly understand them.
If you don’t own the work, you haven’t bought capability—you’ve bought activity. Activity evaporates the moment consultants leave.
I’ve seen drawers full of disconnected consulting work. I’ve seen banks of desks - that’s the Bain team, that’s the Accenture team, that’s the PA team. I could go on - consultants as far as the eye could see! All sitting side by side, with no one able to explain the overall story.
That isn’t consulting. That’s outsourcing your brain.
Rule 3: Check they’ve selivered
Before moving to the next phase, go back to basics:
What did they promise?
What did they deliver?
Can you see it, measure it, and use it now?
A new proposal means nothing if the current outcomes aren’t real. I prefer making one firm accountable for the full journey. If they promise £20 million in savings, they need to show how each phase contributes and then deliver it, not just write it on a slide.
Using Consultants Well
Stay in control, and consultants can transform your organisation. They accelerate delivery, inject expertise, and provide clarity you don’t have internally. Step back, and you get expensive reports with no real change.
The formula is simple:
Be clear on what you want.
Own the work.
Check the delivery.
Do that, and you get value for money and build capability that lasts long after the consultants are gone.