Why Your Business Needs an Organizational Development Consultant
Navigating organizational changes can be difficult and risky for business owners, especially with the uncertain market conditions. Not reaching its potential may leave organizations at risk of significant revenue loss, or worse, failure.
However, hiring an expert is one of the ways companies can mitigate these pitfalls and prepare for the future. In this article, Arkiay highlights the reasons why a business needs an organizational development consultant. First, let’s examine what this specialized business consultant does:
What is an Organizational Development Consultant?
Acting as independent contractors, organizational development consultants are experts in organizational planning and development. Their main focus areas include:
- Evaluating a company’s existing operations and recommending improvement areas.
- Developing organizational plans to ensure profitability as well as the health of a company.
Organizational development consultants will typically be excellent communicators with a managerial or director-level background in IT, HR, or other related fields. Leveraging industry knowledge, hard and soft skills, as well as secondary education, an organizational development consultant will bring a lot to the table.
How Can Organizational Development Consultants Benefit the Business?
Organizational development consultants are typically sought out by struggling companies that need to make change(s) to ensure profitability. While their practice areas may vary slightly, business owners can expect organizational development consultants to help with the following:
Organizational Evaluation
In order to understand your business and how you can best benefit from external consultancy, an organizational development consultant will conduct a thorough evaluation of current practices. During this phase, consultants will observe and research your company’s culture and processes. This in-depth analysis of the organization gives consultants a starting point to make recommendations and decide on next steps.
Managing Change
When business owners think of change management, they may often assume this means an organizational structure change, like reductions or additions to staff. While personnel changes may be recommended by a consultant, organizational development consultants will focus on other areas for improvement such as:
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- Working with the management team to discuss and implement changes based on the consultant’s evaluation
- Shifting role duties or retaining top talent
- Navigating changes to work practices as well as corporate culture
Change management is a difficult task for every professional, which is why we suggest hiring an organizational development consultant to provide a non-biased and structured approach.
Problem solving/team building
Regardless of industry or organization, having a strategic plan to solve internal problems is critical to your company’s health. Based on the initial evaluation, organizational development consultants will identify existing issues and work with management teams to solve them.
Whether these problems are due to your company’s business model or if they’re employee-driven, a consultant can offer solutions and guidance on how to resolve future issues in-house. In addition to solving problems, consultants can also offer tips to bolster team building. Team building is imperative for companies, especially as many individuals are feeling disconnected from their teams while working remotely.
Process Consulting
Organizational development consultants spend a great deal of time researching different business methods in order to find a tailored approach for your company. They use these findings to identify and implement successful business practices. Working alongside the business owner and management team, consultants will help reinforce existing and new processes.
That is why it’s important for business leaders to be transparent about their process challenges as well as receptive to the consultant’s suggestions. Consultants will usually make suggestions based on processes that are outdated or no longer fit for purpose. To ensure your company’s success post-consultancy, try to remain open about suggestions and be sure to ask relevant questions.