Clients frequently ask consultants to investigate possible alternatives and make a recommendation to resolve an issue or decide on an operational change. After considering the recommendations, good clients usually make a decision, and making a decision is always followed by owning that decision and its related outcomes.
That ownership should manifest is project sponsors communicating and presenting decisions and outcomes throughout the organization and other stakeholder groups. From my experience, a lack of sponsor ownership is the primary reason projects fail. Frequently sponsors are afraid to own an unpopular decision and stand in the face of a negative reception, so they throw the consultant to the lions instead. I have witnessed this worst practice more times than I can count, and it has NEVER had a positive outcome. The illegitimacy of the presenter is quickly transferred to the results and recommendations they are presenting.
In January, my local newspaper (The North Shore News) contained an article about a public hearing on a decision to install parking metres in a commercial area. Guess who gave the presentation and answered the audience's questions and accusations? You got it - the consultant. Also you can also guess, the audience attacked the consultant's credentials and heckled him so badly that a moderator had to quell the room twice. But the audience's reaction was predictable since the consultant has no authority to make or own the decision, nor any influence on the audience, since he was not a City official. Of course, agency leaders should have made the presentation and taken audience questions (with the consultant's support from the sidelines) as they possess the legitimate authority to make and act on the decision.
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