I know you are aware of situations like the following: room full of stakeholders in a discussion of a project of tremendous scope. Conversation is creative, enthusiastic, out-of-the box, in-the-box, forward-thinking, historical, inclusive, exclusive, well...you get my drift. You decide that this is a “go” and eventually a PLAN is reached.  Everyone leaves the room with their individual assignments and stars in their eyes about the success of the project.  But everyone is busy...very busy...because, of course, you’re multi-tasking.

Time passes. Suddenly, there's a scheduled meeting. Someone, perhaps a leader, asks: “Where are we on this?" Silence. After a bit of throat-clearing and uncomfortable discussion, you realize that too many other things took away from each person’s obligation to this important project. Time is lost. There has been no progress because no one was in place to guarantee “throughput,” getting the output through the chaos and completed.

The ultimate goal is to get the work done and the big ideas realized.  If staff cannot designate someone to keep the project on track, let someone from outside do it for you. Some projects don’t require this. Nor do some organizations. You’ll know if yours does.

You had the great ideas in the first place. You know what it is that you want to do; you may even know how to do it. But if it isn’t getting done, or if it is a tangle you can’t quite solve, don’t hesitate to hire an expert to lead you to an efficient (and perhaps better informed) decision.

Here are some of the qualities you can expect from a experienced consultant:

Knowledgeable - A creative consultant will have experience with different types of projects and clients and can bring you the best of other models with successful outcomes.

Objective – By the nature of their role, consultants are less influenced by internal politics and able to take on roles that are hard for co-workers to adopt. This can be good cop, bad cop, or professional nag. It can just be a new voice promoting an option that was already on the table but not making the progress you were hoping for.

Authoritative – A consultant serves as “an outside expert” when the client needs an advocate with other stakeholders, including architects, construction project managers, permit or licensing authorities, vendors, and even in-house teams. 

If you're recognizing the need for a little support to bring your project to completion, we hope you will consider Heurista. We love nothing better than bringing complex projects to life!