You haven’t got time to repeat yourself.
Another consultant comes in and you have to go through the same onboarding steps all over again. Same process overview. Same organogram familiarisation. Same technology stack upskilling and same key staff introduction.
But what if you didn’t need to repeat yourself?
What if the consultant came in already knew the key players, the ways of working, the best way to get hold of your brand team and knew who needed sign-off before your web updates could be released before they started?
Historical Consultancy Onboarding Challenges
Onboarding is only as strong as the process being followed during the handover. The best placed person to complete it often has the least amount of time to do so. Even when they do the process, if not comprehensive, can miss important areas, leading to business continuity vulnerabilities.
Do these end results seem familiar?
· Wasted time searching for answers and key contacts
· Key details missed which can result in delayed or missed deadlines, or increased costs
· Disgruntled colleagues at having to answer the same questions again
· Negative perception and reputation about your team/department/work
This process is compounded even further when you have to bring in consultants who are replacing other consultants, where there is an abrupt change of staff, or where remote working (Covid-19 induced) is now the norm.
Introducing Osmosis to your Consultancy
At yechte we have developed a new model of digital consultancy that works for small, medium and large businesses. It works when we are partnering with clients directly or through recruitment firms. It also works when we partner with wider consultants who are looking for the expertise we can bring, e.g. data scientists.
This model includes six tactics to decrease onboarding time for your first consultant – but this model then enables you to accomplish even faster onboarding time for any subsequent consultant you may need through osmosis.
As a digital consultancy all consultants you retain at your business are our staff. They are not individuals who are sourced by recruitment consultants. They are trained by us, looked after by us and are accountable to us. They also share key learnings from your business are captured and shared with us.
When they come on board, they are representatives of the partnership we are beginning with you. That partnership ensures that we at yechte get to understand and share the fuller picture of your goals and how you work as a business with our team.
One way our osmosis is achieved is through our playbooks. The specific knowledge and wider context of each project our consultants support you on is not just shared anecdotally in a weekly catch up with the yechte team.
It is also recorded and updated in a playbook.This playbook can be used for any additional consultants joining – or replacing if resources need to be swapped out.
Our consultants also update the wider yechte team of any significant changes or key insights crucial to ensure nothing is missed should you need to expand your team with us.
yechte takes responsibility for the knowledge establishment of this playbook and dissemination to the wider team as and when it is required.
The End Result of Osmosis for Your Business
So what does this mean for you and your business? Looking back at the historical challenges onboarding has had with consultants this new model now means the following for you:
· Minimised time searching for answers and key contacts as they’re already recorded
· Key details understood which can result in met deadlines and maintained or reduced costs
· Happy (and surprised!) colleagues who don’t have to answer the same questions again
· Positive perception and reputation about your team/department/work
If this insight article has piqued your interest and you would like to learn more about how we have helped businesses navigate their way through various Covid-19 related business challenges then please feel free to drop us an email or call and we’d be happy to give you our take on any challenges you may have.