4 Reasons You Don’t Need To Spend on a Strategy Consultant

Companies spend thousands and millions of dollars on external consultants to help them with their business strategies. Tom Wright. CEO & founder, Cascade, discusses why companies do not need an external consultant and how to create and execute successful strategies without them.

Business strategies used to be conceptual. In the best case, employees felt like subordinates to the company’s centralized concept. In the worst case, they were not involved at all and felt as if they had nothing to do with strategy.

This disconnect happened because a certain group of people claimed ownership over the company strategy — particularly executives, consultants, and heads of strategy. But nothing ever got done. We saw businesses push their strategies from one quarter to the next, justifying their failure with “not the right time” or “we had too much on our plate.” In reality, strategies fail because the wrong people claim ownership over them. 

The latest strategy evolution moves away from exclusivity and toward radically inclusive strategies. We are seeing these strategies actually succeed, driving business revenues and growth. The strategies are executed without business consultants, at a fraction of the cost, and with a strategy execution platform.

Read on to discover four reasons you do not need a strategy consultant and how to navigate the business world without them.

1. A very expensive framework that is not scalable

Hiring a consultant should make sense financially since a typical strategy case costs anywhere between $500,000 and $1,250,000Opens a new window , according to RocketBlocks. But can you justify hiring a strategist year after year just so they can string together a new framework for your company strategy?

That is right: hiring a consultant is not a one-time thing. Why? Because they do not solve your strategy struggles. Consultants can only implement frameworks while your problem lies with execution.

So, what is the ROI for the frameworks?

According to Source Global ResearchOpens a new window , less than 50% of clients report that they got more value from the consultant than the fees they needed to pay.  

Why? Because these consultants will not stay around to track your strategy execution and progress. They will not join team meetings and track alignment between teams. They will make zero effort toward implementing all their grand ideas.

That is on you. Before long, you will be back to square one.

2. Consultants do not have access to tribal knowledge

Let us be honest: most consultants have a cookie-cutter approach to developing a strategy. Sure, they will tweak it here and there, but, in reality, they have a one-size-fits-all approach. Except it does not.

Sure, a consultant will “research the current state” of the company and market. But, their results are nothing in comparison to the in-house knowledge your employees have built over the years of working with your product, clients, and customers. 

The consultants are too detached from your vision, everyday interactions, and processes to truly understand the problem — strategy execution.

3. Invest your resources into ACTUALLY executing strategy

Your employees are your biggest strategic investment. Empower them with the right tools to identify and capitalize on opportunities that will drive better business outcomes and move the company toward your vision. 

Employees need access to the strategy at all times, the freedom to create and adapt it, and track their progress. Suddenly, there will be no need to hire an outside consultant every December when the planning begins. 

Lean on your leadership skills, employees, and the right platform to actually get things done.

4. It is time to digitally transform your strategy

Transforming your strategic approach to a digital platform will accelerate business growth and help your company dream bigger and execute better. Because, with the right tools, you will improve organizational alignment, communication, and overall transparency.

The right strategy execution platform brings your team together and facilitates strategy planning, execution, tracking, and adapting, all while fostering alignment and collaboration at all levels. 

No more stiff solutions and outdated frameworks.

Strategy is too important to outsource.

You cannot keep consultants on your payroll forever, especially when they cannot bring you what you need. Time and time again, they fail to align employees and educate them on how the parts of the strategy should fall into place, connecting them to the bigger picture.

You need an effective approach to a radically inclusive strategy that generates results.

Here are several critical elements you need to consider:

• Involve everyone in the planning stage. Whatever framework you use, make sure everyone understands it, can access it at all times, and work together at scale.
• Connect plans to on-the-ground execution. Strategy without execution is just a hypothesis. Every person in your organization needs to understand how their work contributes to the strategy. This way, you make strategy your and business as usual prioritizing becomes easy because everyone knows what will move the needle. 
• Measure and improve. A strategy without metrics is useless. You need everyone looking at your strategy’s KPIs to make informed decisions with complete visibility into the current state of your strategy. 

This way, you can give employees a voice in the company strategy, encouraging them to dream bigger, execute better, and drive growth from within — without consultants.

How do you create and execute successful business strategies without an external consultant? Share with us on FacebookOpens a new window , TwitterOpens a new window , and LinkedInOpens a new window .