HOW TO USE A CONSULTANT       HOW TO USE A CONSULTANT       A Consultant is a 'time-shared' brain who enables you to increase your knowledge base quickly. Enormous work experience comes from behind the business interface which the Consultant presents. The Consultant must be a guide and facilitator through a project so that you do not waste time in discovery and you leverage your own time to the maximum. They give you an impartial opinion but also force action by giving "external" deadlines to an organization. A True Consultant is not a "contract laborer" and this use of their time wastes the enormous knowledge which they should be giving to your organization.   The Consultant's Role in ISO 9000     An ISO 9000 Consultant must first take your leadership through an assessment of the business and analyze "the ISO 9000 gap" between "where you are" and "where you should be". They must explain the Standard to you so that you are clear on exactly what you have to do. The Consultant must provide you with a plan to achieve registration, which fits with your business. An ISO 9000 Registration plan must have a flow, contain a timeline and show the points at which key skills must be acquired by your organization. Building deadlines into your timeline ensures you maintain calendar integrity. A plan is critical for the Consultant to provide for you, as you are entering a completely new process and need to know what the key activities are in the process.       What to look for in a Consultant     Ask your prospective Consultant to show you the training materials they will use and check them for simplicity and flow. Meet the trainer personally, if this person is different from the Consultant, ensure they have the necessary skills. Their training should not just tell you what has to be done, it should also tell you how to do it! In addition to leadership involvement, training must include employees to draw in the other people in the organization. The Consultant must evaluate your procedures as they are developed. Good procedures will be produced by a combination of your knowledge and the Consultant's experience. ISO 9000 is about process improvement, but the people improvement activities must not be neglected. The consultant must develop the teamwork and involvement, which enable you to later operate an effective quality system. This is how a good consultant will help change your organization to become more efficient and more effective. The Consultant gives you the skills you need and facilitates progress by answering all those "small but critical" questions on the way. They help you to set and meet deadlines. Above everything, they save you time, time, time! "It's a wise person who learns from their mistakes. It's a genius who learns from the mistakes of others." If you use the Consultant as a contract laborer you will waste a valuable resource and it's an expensive route. Used properly, a Consultant gives you the knowledge for the future development of your quality system and you have ownership of the quality system that is created.     Previous Page Top of page