Consulting on the Inside

Having been a full-time employee at various organizations and a consultant as well, I wasn’t aware of the term internal consultant. A good friend of mine shared the concept with me over coffee. They work as a full-time employee with an organization as a consultant. They can work on various projects with the viewpoint of someone from the outside. Without the stigma of a consultant who might only recommend solutions their company offers.

Internal Consultant

Working on the inside of an organization as a consultant aligns the goals and outcomes. Where some consultants constantly pitch their products and services you can focus more on optimizing the work and providing value. There are a few negatives though too. Where an external consultant can work with a new organization the internal consultant is a full-time employee. If they find the environment to be problematic they need to find a new job.

Navigation

One of the important aspects of being an internal consultant is the ability to understand how to navigate the organization. When you are on the inside you understand the true power structure. For instance, many times the power doesn’t come from positional authority. There are people who may have the ear of the right people. So internal consultants can influence the influencers.

Role dilemma

The dual roles as a consultant and as an employee can lead to some dilemmas. On one hand, you want to push the organization to change. On the other hand, as you push things you have to remember this is your full-time employment. As a consultant, there is some level of pushing you to do as an outsider. Also, the insider might be aware of more political baggage the organization has. This can be both a pro and con.

Expertise

Consultants will usually focus on some aspect of the work or a technical realm. So as an expert you would be thought to have up to date skills. Although depending on the organization you work for they may or may not be keeping up with what is changing. This could lead to your skills becoming obsolete or you having to do some self-study to stay on top of the changing aspects.

Process

We also can be experts in the process. Helping the business fine-tune their procedures can be quite profitable. Perhaps you have some domain knowledge of the industry. A friend of mine is an actuary. He works with a large insurance company and helps them enhance their systems with the changing laws that affect insurance.

Trusted advisor

Larry worked in the manufacturing industry for many years. In his final stop with the organization, he became an internal consultant. After years of being a plant manager and Vice President of Manufacturing, he had earned the role of a trusted advisor. During the final years of his professional tenure, he would work with the various plants that had challenges. His experience served the company well.

Opportunities

As corporations change they have begun to see the options. Bringing in external consultants can have an adverse effect on the organization. So there has been a sea change where more roles are opening up for internal consultants. Organizations are starting departments of internal consultants that they can deploy to projects that need their expertise. Look for this change to spread and grow over the next twenty years. As the work world changes so will many of the positions that inhabit it.

Originally posted on TomHenricksen.com