Work Wonders
Back in late 2021, we decided that instead of chatting to each other about the challenges and triumphs of people management in small businesses, we should invite you to join the conversation. And the Work Wonders podcast was born! Managing people is serious business. We bring you all the latest, practical advice without the pain. The podcast is brought to you by Aster HR https://www.asterhr.com.au/ and your hosts are Angela Gauci and Susan Rochester
Work Wonders
S5 Ep 7: How to engage a consultant
Something a little different this episode!
There could be many reasons you engage an external consultant for your business - think of an Accountant, a Lawyer, Business Coach, Web Developer, SEO expert or even a HR Consultant like us at Aster HR.
There is a definate business strategy behind paying someone external to your business, as opposed to hiring an employee with this specialist skill.
In this episode we take you through some of the decisions you need to make in order to choose the right fit for you.
You can find the show notes for this episode here
Would you like to submit a question to the show? Let us know on our website or via LinkedIn.
Brought to you by Aster HR, the Work Wonders Podcast is hosted by Angela Gauci & Susan Rochester and is recorded at Launch Pad at Western Sydney University.
All information or advice included in this podcast is general, has been developed as a starting point for your business, and should be tailored to your specific requirements. It should not be considered legal advice. We have made every attempt to ensure the accuracy and currency of this information at the time of recording. However, references to things like employment laws are subject to change. For specific advice relating to your business, please get in touch with us.
Welcome to the Work Wonders podcast brought to you by Asta HR, where we simplify the human side of business.
Speaker 2:I'm Angela and I'm Susan, let's dive into today's episode and find out what you've been wondering about. In today's episode, we're going to talk about how to work with an advisor, taking you through, how to find the right person, how to brief them, what should be in your contract, how you engage with that person and keep them accountable. So let's dive in. This is the Work Wonders podcast.
Speaker 1:Hi Angela, Hi Susan, how are you going Great.
Speaker 2:I think this would probably be one of the first episodes that we could say is slightly self-serving.
Speaker 1:Well, I think it's an important one. You might all be wondering why are they going to talk about consultants now and not employees? But I mean, it's something that small business owner, or any business owner, will do is bring advisors into their business, whether it be an accountant or a lawyer or someone like ourselves in terms of HR, for a specific need?
Speaker 2:Yeah, and it's another way of getting the work done without bringing on employees.
Speaker 1:That's right. Yeah, that's right, but there is a knack to it, isn't?
Speaker 2:there, yeah, and in some ways it is similar to finding the right employee and finding the right advisor.
Speaker 1:Really, this episode came about because we started talking about how people might work with us.
Speaker 2:Exactly. And then the more we talked about the whole process, the more we realised that of course that applies across the board. Whatever sort of advisor, or even a business coach or mentor, however you might engage with those people.
Speaker 1:Well, let's start with finding an advisor. How would we recommend you find the right person?
Speaker 2:This is actually similar to how we find employees these days, Looking for an advisor. You wouldn't go out and advertise that you were looking for somebody, but you would certainly put the word around your networks, ask them who they know you want to make sure that the person that you're bringing into your business is also an expert in their area.
Speaker 1:For example, if you want, specifically an employment lawyer, you might go looking for just that. You might be very specific about who you're looking for, if that's applicable.
Speaker 2:Yeah, exactly. But another similarity then to finding an employee is knowing what you're looking for, isn't?
Speaker 1:it yeah, true.
Speaker 2:I'm sure we've both had conversations at networking events where we've said what we do and someone will say oh, so do you do this? You had the example the other day of somebody who thought that you could just go and find them an employee. Oh yes, magically materialise the person they wanted.
Speaker 1:You have that sort of person in your phone book, don't you? Yeah?
Speaker 2:So you don't have to charge me any money.
Speaker 1:I wish I could say yes to that Exactly.
Speaker 2:So it's really having an understanding of what the advisor can do for you, as well as what you want from them.
Speaker 1:Yeah, absolutely. I'm just imagining, as you're talking, whether we would go down the path of interviewing and you could interview potentially your consultant. It might not look anything like hiring an employee, but it's still relevant to have that talk with them and further understand if the fit's there as well.
Speaker 2:There has to be the fit, doesn't there? Yeah, and I'm thinking that particularly applies with business coaches, yes, but equally applies with your accountant, your solicitor.
Speaker 1:Yeah, there's certainly compliance issues. Like you think about an accountant or a lawyer, you know a lot of people would go to them because it's necessity. You need someone with that sort of skill to be able to assist you with those level sorts of things. And, yes, that absolutely plays a part. But it is important to just stop and think you know, is this the right person for me? Can I get along with them? Am I, you know, loving what they're doing for me or what they could do for me?
Speaker 2:And it's not just about you know whether you get on it's. Do they understand my industry? Do they know what I do in my business? Yeah, can they get their head across the different facets of their business? I mean, we often find that, don't we? Once we engage with a client, we suddenly discover there's all these other aspects of the business that we didn't know about before. But we're good at learning on our feet. Most advisors business advisors would be.
Speaker 1:So that's the stage where you're starting to learn more about each other and you might be giving them a bit of information or a bit more context of what you're looking for, what the scenario is. I think that's a really important part of the stage, isn't it? Of the process?
Speaker 2:Yeah, and I think also part of that is you know, obviously you can get whatever help you want if you're willing to pay for it. So part of that is also being clear in your own head about what you can afford. So you're not going to go to one of the big four if you only have a couple of hundred bucks to spend.
Speaker 1:Yes, yeah, that's right. There are different sort of people out there. So you know, we've talked about business coaches or advisors. There's definitely people out there who might be a one man band that's all that they do. Or there are larger people that might have people across the country that go out. So, yeah, it's definitely worth knowing your own budget as well and choose the right fit for you for that purpose, as well and there's such a wide range.
Speaker 2:I'm just thinking particularly with business coaches. You know we from time to time look at what people are charging and I would say that in Australia at the moment you could get business coaching session For anything from well free through Business Connect and places like that. Through to $1,000 or more, depending on who you pick. So don't be afraid to ask those questions when you're hiring someone. Don't go down the road of what I call mutual mystification, where you're not letting them know and they're not letting you know yeah.
Speaker 2:And everyone's a little bit. Oh, I think this might be a good fit. Oh, I don't know, you know, I'm not really sure.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:It's much better to get all that out in the open to start off with and move on if it's not the right person, instead of wasting your time and theirs, as it turns out.
Speaker 1:And another similarity to recruiting an employee. You know, when you're in that interview stage of an employee and you just have to start to use your gut and understand if there's a good fit there, it's really hard to measure all that emotional stuff, but it's sort of the same with this. If you're trying to find the connection between you and an external advisor or consultant, you still need to have that sort of gut feeling, don't you? Is this a good match? Can I work with them? Can I accept their advice? You know, will they listen to me? All of that I know. With our clients we've had feedback, which we love. That is that you know we listen to them, we give them time, we help them feel calm and understood, and all that is really really important to us and, as I'm sure it is, for our clients as well.
Speaker 2:Yeah, exactly, whereas there might be other clients who just want to get the job done yeah, exactly. Here's what I need.
Speaker 1:Sort of handing it over. Yeah, that's right. Hand it back when you're finished. Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:But I will say, when I had my own business, that when I ignored my gut, that's when it all went pear-shaped you know, that's like when you said, don't just what did you say?
Speaker 1:mystification.
Speaker 2:Yeah, mutual mystification.
Speaker 1:I like that. Yeah, don't just kind of get fooled into thinking, oh, they were kind of nice, maybe it'll be okay.
Speaker 2:And remember that because someone was a good fit for someone you know, it doesn't necessarily mean they're going to be a good fit for you. You know you could have people who rave about this marketing expert who did all this stuff for me, but when you speak to them, it could be like you're speaking a different language.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's so true.
Speaker 2:One more point about briefing before we move on is making sure that you give your advisor all the relevant information. Yes, that's so important, isn't it? Because if you're sharing the right information.
Speaker 1:Yes, that's so important, isn't it? Because if you're sharing the right information with them, it gives a really good picture of what you need, and they can often meet you where you're at.
Speaker 2:Yeah, exactly. Are you feeling overwhelmed by all the things that you need to do to manage people in your business? We've got changes to legislation, different generations in the workplace, managing the expectations of the people that your business. We've got changes to legislation, different generations in the workplace, managing the expectations of the people that you employ. Why not hand all that over to the experts and get on with what you do best? The experienced team at Astro HR can quickly give you the advice that you need and get you headed in the right direction With our HR support and coaching for you. With managing people, it all becomes so much simpler. Schedule your free call today at astrohrcomau. Now let's get back to the episode. So you've identified the right advisor. You've briefed them about what you want, because, before you even identified them, you were very clear about what it was that you needed. Now it's time to get stuck in. So, angela, what do you think are the important points in engaging?
Speaker 1:an advisor. Okay, now we're actually doing the doing yeah we're starting to get things done. I think it's similar again to an employee relationship, where you want to start to think about the outcomes that you're getting and, ultimately, holding someone accountable.
Speaker 2:So the easiest way to do that is going to be to document what the expectations are.
Speaker 1:Yes, absolutely. I know that's important for us with our clients.
Speaker 1:We go through the process of saying, okay, you want A, b and C done. This is our plan and this is when it will happen and this is what we will achieve for you as the overall outcome and I'm sure there's other advisors out there like us that do similar you want to know that so that you know ultimately, what you're paying for, I guess. Well, definitely that's important. Yeah, but I guess it's a bit of an awkward thing to keep someone accountable when they're not your employee and you're paying them and all that. But it's important, yes.
Speaker 2:And the thing that I would point out here is as soon as you notice the things going off the rails, that's the time to speak up and do something about it.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:It's your money.
Speaker 1:Yep, absolutely. And just because they're external to your business doesn't mean that they're any less important to what's going on and, overall, to how your business is succeeding. Yeah, I agree with you, you need to be proactive.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think we say that quite a lot, don't we? On this podcast.
Speaker 1:Preventative rather than remedial. Reactive, Remedial yeah.
Speaker 2:What's the old thing about? It's better to have a fence at the top of the cliff than an ambulance at the bottom. Yes, please do Okay, so we've engaged our advisor, coach, whoever. We've been working with them for a while, but things are starting to slip. We've got to have that tough conversation. What's the best approach?
Speaker 1:Well, again, it's being proactive, isn't it? Because it's your business. You don't want to be paying for something that's not giving you the outcomes you're asking for, or, goodness, goodness, even worse taking things in a different direction or missing things. So I think it's just about starting the conversation with them, and it's going to be an awkward one, but you need to have a chat with them and just take them back to what you were asking for or what those outcomes were Go back to that document.
Speaker 2:Yeah, actually, we've had experience of this. Yeah, unfortunately, and we're both sort of screwing our noses up going, yeah, well, that's, you know, it's not fun, no, but we just want you to know that it happens to anyone.
Speaker 1:Yeah, we did use an external consultant for a particular thing and we, just like we were advising you here to do, we tried to set out the objectives, we talked very deeply about what we were looking for and the sort of expected outcomes weren't happening. So the way we dealt with it was to have that conversation with the person and just reassess. You know, is that your understanding? This was our understanding. You know, can we just talk about what's not working here? We gave it another shot and tried to readjust things and just make sure that communication was really clear.
Speaker 2:And that it wasn't something that we'd been doing that had sent things off the rails.
Speaker 1:And then the test of time. Unfortunately, things didn't improve. In fact, they got a little bit worse, and so we made the decision to say, look, thank you so much, but unfortunately I don't think this is the right fit for us.
Speaker 2:Your services are no longer required. Yeah, all the best to you. Yeah, that's right.
Speaker 1:No hard feelings, but it's just about. Look, this is my decision for Asta HR and you know it's never easy.
Speaker 2:So I guess, in summary, you know it's never easy. So I guess, in summary, you know, before you even go out looking to bring someone like that in to help you, you need to think about am I capable of handling something like this if it doesn't quite?
Speaker 1:work and knowing exactly what you're bringing them into your business for. You know we talked about at the beginning a lawyer or an accountant. I mean, that's pretty easy to put one-on-one together and figure out why you'd need them. But you know, do you need a business coach, and what are they there for? Do you need a marketing person? Is it social media? Is it website? Is it HR? Like us, you know being very clear about what's the purpose behind that and I think it's worth mentioning in terms of the way that you work with us. We'd love to go through that process with you. So we'll first get to know you over a very friendly phone call or a video chat and understand your business and listen to your concerns and what you're looking for and take you through those steps that we're expecting you to do with anyone. We obviously respect that ourselves as well, and we'll take you through that process to understand the outcomes that you're looking for and work with you to design what you need.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so we hope that's been helpful and gives you a bit more confident about getting that external help that you might need to drive your business forward.
Speaker 1:Yeah, because, especially as small business owners, we can't do it all. Sometimes we like to think we can, you know, but it's absolutely okay and you deserve to have that expert advice external to your business coming in. Exactly you deserve it. Thanks for listening to the Work Wonders podcast brought to you by Asta HR. Hit the subscribe button now to never miss an episode, and if you'd like to continue the conversation with us, you can find us over at asterhrcomau. See you in the next episode.
