Working with an implementation partner can seem attractive. Great, right: having a lot taken off your hands and achieving results quickly? But is it always the best choice? In this article, Dolf L'Ortye and Lidia Swinkels, co-founders of Summiteers, share their insights on the pitfalls and opportunities of working with large external partners.

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Trust is good, but a little control can't hurt

Dolf: “There are situations in which an organization is dealing with a certain dossier that just will not get off the ground. The team cannot manage it on its own and wants to move faster. Or the dossier is so large that it simply cannot be handled with internal people alone. For compelling reasons, you may then decide to start working with a global implementation partner or accelerator, or whatever you want to call it. The concept of such a party is: we take the whole thing off your hands and solve it. Then a whole battery of consultants comes in, easily ten to fifteen people, or even considerably more. There are quite a few parties in the market that have really turned this into a proposition, more or less as their business model. Working with such an implementation partner is risky because the interests of such a party are not aligned with yours as the client. If you do not manage that very carefully, it quickly leads to loss of control, high costs, and a negative atmosphere. Employees are left on the sidelines and cannot contribute ideas, which reduces buy-in.”

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Look before you leap

Lidia: “The word partner may suggest otherwise, but this is what happens. Such a ‘partner’ has an interest in seeking out the available space and filling it in as much as possible themselves. Because that generates revenue, and that is what these parties steer towards. A lot of research has already been done and written about this. Think of books such as The Big Con and When McKinsey Comes to Town, wonderful reading, not only under the Christmas tree, but also on the beach or in a garden chair. What you as the client are told is: we are doing this, we are doing that, we have discovered more complexity, another team needs to be added here, we still need to look into that, et cetera, et cetera. Of course, there are situations in which it may be necessary to work with large external teams. So we are not saying: never do this. But we are saying: it is up to you to know very well what you are getting into and to take a number of measures to ensure that you remain in control.”

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The problem remains your problem

“We understand it,” Dolf adds. “Companies like this have a pitch like no other: the solution is already on the shelf, it only needs to be implemented, so you think your problem will disappear like snow in the sun as soon as they come in. But believe us, you cannot give your problem to someone else. The problem is yours and will always remain yours, and you need to make at least a minimum effort to solve it. And minimum does not mean a few hours a week from someone and leaving the rest to the consultant; that simply does not work, especially when it comes to large-scale matters. The consultant should not accept that either. Especially in these kinds of trajectories, the way the client role is fulfilled is crucial.”

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First sharpen the plan

“First take a good look at the nature of the work,” Dolf continues. “Is the ‘what’ and the ‘how’ of your plan not yet completely clear? Then simply do not start bringing large teams of external people on board. Of course it feels good when someone says they can take things off your hands, but at this stage you simply cannot hand over the dossier. Make sure you first get your plan truly sharp. That entire process can certainly be supported by a small team of external advisors, but above all involve your own people as well. Make sure you know exactly what you want to achieve before bringing in large-scale help.”

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Two types of execution work

“Once your plan is clear and you move into the execution phase, there are two options,” Lidia continues. “The first is that the work can be captured reasonably well in instructions and is essentially a role that needs to be fulfilled. Think of checking files related to the childcare benefits affair, handling earthquake damage in Groningen, or completing and organizing customer files at banks. This kind of work actually falls under secondment, although in practice it is often called consulting. You can define it well in instructions. It does require some thinking, but it is not of such a nature that it can completely spiral out of control. For that, it is sufficiently delineated, provided it is well governed, of course. The second option is change management work, such as standardizing the structure, work processes, and roles across different locations. Here too, you can work with external people, but this requires significantly more involvement from yourself. Again: together is the key word here, with an important role for your own people. You cannot staff this solely with external people. That does not work; you cannot fully outsource this.”

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The right way to manage

Lidia: “That also has something to do with the fact that, in those change management situations, the focus is on process and behavior. You can still frame content in a clear way; that is mainly about extra pairs of hands. But when it becomes change management, there is a stronger emphasis on the importance of process and behavior, and precisely there, knowing the specific context of an organization is incredibly important. As an external party, you cannot do that in isolation.”

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A beginning and an end

“Exactly,” Dolf agrees. “In very black-and-white terms: handling a benefits dossier has a beginning and an end. You pick it up, do all kinds of substantive things, and the outcome may be, for example, that amount X needs to be paid out, and then it is done. In the other case, it affects an employee’s way of working, which continues even after the external party has left. You change the nature of the organization. That has no beginning and end, but becomes permanently embedded in the organization. You need to do a very large part of that yourself. You can bring in external people to help, but it is very important that you stay on top of it yourself.”

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Quality assurance

“If you do decide to bring such a large party on board, at least make sure that the person managing the project is not someone who also works for that firm,” Lidia concludes. “You need to do that yourself. If you really do not have time for that, then at least hire another external person whose assignment is very clear: to ensure that they keep that party under control. It is also important to make sure you check the work those parties do. So set up a quality assurance process. If I may summarize: working with large external partners can be effective, provided you approach it in the right way. Make sure you keep control yourself, have a sharp plan, and involve your own people. Only then can you find the right balance between being relieved of work and staying in control.”

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Need help with strategy and execution?

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