The steadily accelerating pace of change in today’s world forces priorities to shift constantly, often even before the ink is dry on our last set of priorities and plan of attack. Geoffrey Bellman points out that we increasingly live in a world of quick responses based on informed intuition rather than well thought out plans. When management can no longer plan or act fast enough to keep up, it is often a good business move to seek out the assistance of someone who can bring an organization the level of assistance needed to achieve success. Consultants can address four key variables critical to success: time, expertise, objectivity and facilitation.

1.Time.

Most healthcare organizations have more ideas and projects than they have people to operationalize them. In spite of the best of intention, these projects get lost in the shuffle of daily operations and often do not generate the gains that could be achieved if time were on leadership’s side. A consultant can provide the extra time, leadership and focus needed to make new projects a reality and leave organizational leaders to stay on top of the day-to-day issues of running the healthcare organization.

2.Expertise.

Often healthcare organizations would benefit from specific expertise that they do not have in-house. Frequently, the person needed in that role would only be part time and many professionals are not interested in a parttime position. Partnering the expertise of a consultant with the working knowledge of an organization’s management and staff can create value-added solutions that might otherwise be unrealized.

3.Objectivity.

Creating change is rarely easy. Leaders frequently fall prey to the “Not Here”, “That’s Impossible” and “When Remembering Replaces Thinking” syndromes that staff can easily get caught up it. Often, employees are to close to the situation to understand all the ramifications. Because of the independent nature of a consultant, he or she can evaluate situations without internal biases. This objectivity coupled with organizational involvement can create value-added opportunities and solutions that might not otherwise be identified.

4.Facilitation.

Politics exist in all organizations. While they are commonly defined as “the way we get things done”, they also tend to create our greatest frustrations when an organization is trying to get those things done or create change. Often, the independence of a consultant can facilitate using positive politics to get an organization to its goals and mitigate the negative politics that act as barriers.