In this article, I will give two scenarios:

1. As the internal professional in the feild, and having crafted the terms of reference for a consultancy service to be sourced externally, you are in a pre contract meeting with the external consultants.

2. As a customer in a cosmetic and dermatological products shop, you are looking for a solution for your skin care and appearance and you are referred to the products consultant.

In the first scenario, colleagues will agree that the internal professional is equipped with what the organisation seeks to achieve by the consultancy and also has knowledge about what the consultant ought to do to achieve the set goals. This puts the internal official and the consultant on equal footing on most issues and it serves as an effective check on the performance of the consultant. In the second scenario, the customer probably has little or no expertise on cosmetics and science of the skin and therefore would rely quite heavily on the examination and recommendations of the product consultant.

In governance, actors may from time to time find themselves in either of the situations alluded to above and my aim is to discuss attitude and approach to consultations that would assist in getting the best from the resource available to us.

I have found that mutual, professional and general respect between peers in a certain feild is important. The recognition that whereas you may belong to the same profession, your roles in that engagement are different is critical. Avoid having an attitude that makes the other feel inferior simply because they are on the inside looking out or the outside looking in. Focus on effective collaboration and consciously work on ensuring that you are not crossing professional and personal boundaries.

As a party that knows next to nothing about the subject under review, but is holding the means (most likely finances!) to achieving the objective, one should be mindful not to profess to be the expert but also must send a message that they would like to get the best their money can buy. Usually, sharing as much experience as possible with different products would help the consultant determine what you could have been doing wrong or right in the past. The moment you posture that your money is all that is required for you to get a good service and because of that, what you say or want must go, you are headed for turbulence! Either, the consultant will give up on you due to your persistent unreasonabless and ignorance or will let you purchase what you want and not what you need! The purpose of the consultation in this case would have been defeated.

It is all about attitude and approach which equals strategy!

I hope colleagues will share their experiences and tips as we continue to share!