Best practices for integrating a consultant

A consultant is a person of expertise. He or she works for an external company on a one-off basis. In the field of logisticsa consultant is at your service to improve the operational efficiency your company's operational efficiency reduce your costs for greater customer satisfaction.

Halfway between external service provider and employee, the consultant's status can sometimes be ambiguous. However, they may be required to spend months within a company to carry out their assignment. Hence the importance of onboarding to make them feel a fully-fledged team member.

Integrating a consultant can be a daunting task. In this article, Procemo gives you the keys to a successful onboarding onboarding.

Understanding the importance of integrating a consultant

The consultant can have various roles, including : 

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• Improving a company's operations in a particular area. This may concern the general organization of the company, or human resources, etc. 

• Outsource a company's activities. In logistics, for example, you can outsource purchasing management so that you can concentrate solely on high value-added tasks. 

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When a consultant joins your company for an assignment, he may find himself in a tricky situation. Coming from an external company, they have to find their place in your corporate culture. From the outset, this means solving the various problems they may encounter. 

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Good integration means good collaboration. The consultant's onboarding will set the tone for the rest of his or her assignment. Naturally, your aim will be to create an environment in which your service provider can flourish, for a strong employee experience.

Planning a consultant's onboarding

Once the consultant has been recruited, it's time to think about integrating him or her into your company. Here are a few steps to follow to ensure successful onboarding. 

Anticipating your arrival 

The arrival of a consultant must be prepared in advance. Before he or she joins you, you need to think about the expectations of the assignment and the objectives you want to achieve. Once this is clear, you'll be able to share information more easily with your new employee. 

Make sure you define the consultant's working conditions in relation to other employees. Is the consultant entitled to telework? Does he or she have access to the company restaurant? These are just some of the questions that need to be clarified to ensure a smooth onboarding process.

Before the consultant arrives, everything should be set up as if he or she were an internal employee of your company. This will give them a first impression of their new working environment. Think about : 

• prepare your office access badge ; 

• reserve a dedicated workspace ; 

• prepare your computer equipment ; 

• create an individual e-mail address. 

To make him feel like a full member, invite him to join the collaborative tools you use every day: Zoom, Slack, Google Drive... You'll be demonstrating transparency with him so that he feels 100% confident in your company. 

Don't forget to send them a personalized e-mail before the big day specifying: the company organization chart, the documents they need to read, access to the premises, arrival time... You can also prepare a "welcome pack" with your company's goodies.

D-Day

Ideally, you should plan a welcome breakfast on D-Day to formally introduce yourself to the rest of the team: 

• discuss the consultant's future assignments within the company  

• Let him introduce himself and talk about his experience; 

• finish the speech to give him confidence. 

The welcome breakfast can already help the consultant to forge professional and even personal links with the rest of the team. 

Creating links within the company 

One of the obstacles to integrating a consultant is creating a social bond with the customer. Even if a consultant's assignment is short-lived, he or she must be considered a full-fledged team member. 

The consultant needs to get to know the rest of the team, so that he or she can feel part of your company and work with you. If one of your colleagues misses the welcome breakfast on D-Day, this can be the subject of an ad hoc lunch. 

Don't forget to invite the consultant to your company events: workshops, team building, seminars... This will make it easier for him to integrate into your work culture during his assignment. You'll also be able to learn more about him and his working methods, so you can better support him during his assignment. 

Supporting him in his mission

For a consultant to successfully complete his assignment, he needs to be given personalized support by an internal contact person during his assignment. He will then be able to obtain the information he needs, as well as being put in touch with certain people. 

Right from the onboarding stage, this contact must : 

• define the practical details of theproject (including schedule, deliverables, etc.); 

• communicate the expectations of this mission; 

• be clear about your objectives ; 

• set up regular check-ups to monitor progress. 

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If necessary, you can also set up a personalized training plan to make up for any shortcomings the consultant may have. 

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Be realistic in your support of the assignment. Don't make the consultant work long hours, or he won't feel at home in your work culture. The consultant is not there to solve all your company's problems; on the contrary, he comes for a predefined mission. 

Trusting him 

Dare to let go. If you call on the services of a consultant, it's not to inflict extra work on yourself. Over the years, the consultant has also developed his or her own working methods: trust them! 

The advantage of hiring a consultant is that you can benefit from his or her expertise in a particular field. Giving him room to maneuver during his assignment so that he can take the initiative himself. You may be surprised. 

Regular updates on the progress of your project can be a way of building trust. Feedback from him can let you know how the project is progressing, whether you're satisfied with it, and so on. You can then concentrate on the essential tasks. 

As an external collaborator, the consultant also has a global view of your company. You can ask him for feedback on your company. What could be improved? What working methods should you adopt? These are just some of the questions your consultant from an external company can answer. 

Conclusion

The external consultantmay find it difficult to integrate into a brand-new company. Nevertheless, his onboarding sets the tone for the rest of the assignment. So it's important to plan ahead for their arrival and integration.

Remember, you'll never turn a consultant into an in-house employee. They remain a temporary collaborator to your company. But with successful onboarding, you can ensure the success of your successful collaboration.

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