Find out in the latest installment of Consulting Conversations from our Director of Consulting Hank Harris. Watch it now!Probably the biggest thing I think you want to ask is the consultant's experience. First of all, potentially with the kind of business that you happen to have. And secondly, if there's a specific thing that you have the consultant doing, for example, working on strategic planning, or working on marketing and business development, or human resources, or whatever the subject matter might be. You certainly want to inquire about their experience and certifications and knowledge about that particular you know branch of study. And I think although that it may be not a specific question per se; it's important that the chemistry that you have with your consultant be good, and you need to get a feeling or that in the interview process as well. We'd love to hear from any private business owner in North Carolina that thinks we could be of some help to them and understanding ...

Director of Consulting Hank Harris answers the question in this installment of Consulting Conversations.There have been a couple of associations that have put out um codes methods for consulting. One of them was called the Association for Management Consulting Firms, which actually is no longer active. It was oriented toward big firms and small firms, and they had trouble sustaining the organization because it was so much difference between the sizes. But they did have a published code.There's another organization called the institute of management consultants, and I think that they have put out some publications on the ethical conduct of consultants as well. That said, consulting is not a highly regulated industry. It's very, very fragmented and not nearly as structured as other professions that most people are familiar with; so, even though there are codes published by these associations, whether or not they're followed by individual consultants is something that is unregulated is...

Director of Consulting Hank Harris answers the question in this installment of Consulting Conversations.The strategic planning process for most companies,...you might think of it in three phases.The first phase is going to be what's commonly called a situationalanalysis and sometimes people boil that down to the SWOT analysis, which is just an acronym for the company's current situation.The second phase is going to be some form of using that situational analysis to actually develop a strategy for the company, and that takes all kinds of different shapes and forms depending on what the client is trying to accomplish; and; what the process is that's being used but for. Simplicity's sake, let's just call that a planning process.And then, the third phase would be actually implementing the plan that's developed.We'd love to hear from any private business hunt owner in North Carolina that thinks we could be of some help to them in understanding how their business gets better or where it m...

Director of Consulting, Hank Harris answer the question in an installment of Consulting Conversations. Watch it now!That's a great question. I think that if you consider why CEOs hire consultants -- because it seems somewhat improbable on many levels -- but what it boils down to is most CEOs of a business, even a private business, they have an agenda, and they've got to get things done. So one reason you occasionally employ consultants is that you've got a sense of urgency; and, it can be very, very difficult to initiate change with people in an organization who are all used to doing things a certain way, and so, the consultant can be kind of -- I use the metaphor of sand in the oyster -- to really help change get going in an organization at a speed that it otherwise would not. A second way to use a consultant is there may be something that you want the consultant to do that either because of reasons of technical knowledge or because the consultant would be more objective, it makes ...