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Other Added - Using, Choosing, and Using an educational consultant
I just love job performance evaluations. Where else can you say things like“Since my last evaluation, this employee has hit bottom and started to dig.”“His team would follow him anywhere, but only out of morbid curiosity.”“This employee would be out of her depth in a parking lot puddle.”“She works well when under constant supervision and cornered like a rat in a trap.”Luckily, none of these statements were made BY or ABOUT me, but I’ve often wondered why those employees were hired in the first place. Was there no clue to their cluelessness BEFORE they were hired – like during the job interview?I’ve been on many job interviews, on both sides of the desk. I’d like to offer a few tips on how to weather the interview storm.First, the job-seeker’s tips:D
5. You can also ask how the consultant gets most of its work. Word of mouth is a good sign.
6. Ask for the CVs of the consultants who will be working in your organisation if you decide to sign up this consultancy.
7. Is the consultant qualified to undertake the work? This could be an academic qualification, accreditation as an inspector or training provider in one or more schemes, or qualification by experience.
8. Has the consultant been on relevant training in the last year?
9. Ensure that the consultancy agrees not to subcontract the work without prior discussion with you, the client.
10. If you are considering the consultant for staff training, ask if you can attend one of their training sessions in another school.
11. Ask for other evidence that will help you decide if the consulta
Q. What's the biggest complaint CEO's have about their Boards? A. "The Board is a waste of time - it doesn't add any value."Q. What's the biggest complaint Board members have about their Boards? A. "This Board feels like a waste of time - it doesn't feel like we're adding any value."Q. What's going on here? A. Who said the role of the Board is to add value?It's not - at least not in the context of masterminding the next I-Pod or the next strategy for outsourcing production to India. That's up to the management team.The role of the Board is to govern - some Boards are even called Boards of 'Governors'. There are 5 key elements of governing effectively:<
The aim of this document is to provide advice and guidance in choosing a consultant in the field of education. You may be the headteacher or principal of a school or college, an officer in a local education authority (LEA) or school district, or the director of a private company wishing to undertake work in the educational sector. This article focuses mainly on information and communication technology (ICT), but the underlying principles also apply more generally.
Using a consultant
Consultants, at least in the UK, have a poor reputation as a species, and yet they are in greater demand than ever. Why? Why would any organisation elect to use a consultant rather than hiring someone? There are several reasons for this.
Short-term work
Some work is, by its very nature, short-term. If, for example, you are having a new computer suite installed, you might want some advice from an external person who has no axe to grind – and whom you can blame when half the staff complain about the design, the equipment and so on!
Expertise
In a specialist area, such as ICT, it’s quite likely that the school doesn’t have the expertise in-house to do what it needs to do within a particular time scale.
Cost
Although consultants can be expensive, it is (or should be) a relatively short-term expense. And don’t forget that you don’t have all the on-costs, like pension contributions. These can add up to 20% of the salary costs. Also, if the consultant goes on holiday or falls ill, you don’t incur any extra expense.
Choosing a consultant
When choosing a consultant or adviser to assist your school in ICT, whether for Hands-On Support, training, strategic development or any other aspect of ICT, it’s important to get the right person or company for the job.
To help you do so, here is a list of questions you may wish to ask before hiring someone. You are unlikely to find any person or company who can answer “yes” to all of these questions, so you will need to bring your own professional judgement to bear on your decision.
1. Is the consultancy independently accredited by a quality assurance scheme, such as by NaaceMark or similar scheme? If not, is it seeking accreditation? Note that an answer of “No” in either case is not necessarily a bad thing. In my own experience, the work itself is so time-consuming that it’s quite difficult to go through the hoops required to prove that you can do what you’re doing! That’s why the next few questions are important too.
2. Is the consultant a member of a relevant organisation, such as (in the UK) Naace or the Society for Education Consultants? These types of organisation provide a certain degree of quality assurance in the sense that they won’t accept just anybody as members, although they will give no guarantees about the quality of work undertaken by their members. Also, they often provide useful information about the sector in which the consultant works, which in theory at least keeps the consultant up-to-date on current developments in the field.
3. Ask for details of similar work undertaken by the consultancy, and for details of satisfied clients – but bear in mind that a reluctance to supply such details may be due to considerations of confidentiality.
4. Ask for references, testimonials, or details of evaluations, ie evidence of quality assurance of the consultants’ work.
5. You can also ask how the consultant gets most of its work. Word of mouth is a good sign.
6. Ask for the CVs of the consultants who will be working in your organisation if you decide to sign up this consultancy.
7. Is the consultant qualified to undertake the work? This could be an academic qualification, accreditation as an inspector or training provider in one or more schemes, or qualification by experience.
8. Has the consultant been on relevant training in the last year?
9. Ensure that the consultancy agrees not to subcontract the work without prior discussion with you, the client.
10. If you are considering the consultant for staff training, ask if you can attend one of their training sessions in another school.
11. Ask for other evidence that will help you decide if the consultan
Employee retention matters to all companies, for many different reasons. A high turnover of employees not only results in a loss of skills, a waste of training time already spent but also indicates something wrong within a company that might need addressing.Turnover levels vary between different industries, and labor turnover in occupations such as call centers and the retail industries might not be so critical to a company as in the scientific, engineering and manufacturing industries. Higher rates of employee movement occur in areas of low unemployment, as would be expected, and varies according to geographical area.In a business where experience is valuable, a high turnover of staff can be damaging. This experience could be of the product, of the suppliers or of customers. Examples of the
Expertise
In a specialist area, such as ICT, it’s quite likely that the school doesn’t have the expertise in-house to do what it needs to do within a particular time scale.
Cost
Although consultants can be expensive, it is (or should be) a relatively short-term expense. And don’t forget that you don’t have all the on-costs, like pension contributions. These can add up to 20% of the salary costs. Also, if the consultant goes on holiday or falls ill, you don’t incur any extra expense.
Choosing a consultant
When choosing a consultant or adviser to assist your school in ICT, whether for Hands-On Support, training, strategic development or any other aspect of ICT, it’s important to get the right person or company for the job.
To help you do so, here is a list of questions you may wish to ask before hiring someone. You are unlikely to find any person or company who can answer “yes” to all of these questions, so you will need to bring your own professional judgement to bear on your decision.
1. Is the consultancy independently accredited by a quality assurance scheme, such as by NaaceMark or similar scheme? If not, is it seeking accreditation? Note that an answer of “No” in either case is not necessarily a bad thing. In my own experience, the work itself is so time-consuming that it’s quite difficult to go through the hoops required to prove that you can do what you’re doing! That’s why the next few questions are important too.
2. Is the consultant a member of a relevant organisation, such as (in the UK) Naace or the Society for Education Consultants? These types of organisation provide a certain degree of quality assurance in the sense that they won’t accept just anybody as members, although they will give no guarantees about the quality of work undertaken by their members. Also, they often provide useful information about the sector in which the consultant works, which in theory at least keeps the consultant up-to-date on current developments in the field.
3. Ask for details of similar work undertaken by the consultancy, and for details of satisfied clients – but bear in mind that a reluctance to supply such details may be due to considerations of confidentiality.
4. Ask for references, testimonials, or details of evaluations, ie evidence of quality assurance of the consultants’ work.
5. You can also ask how the consultant gets most of its work. Word of mouth is a good sign.
6. Ask for the CVs of the consultants who will be working in your organisation if you decide to sign up this consultancy.
7. Is the consultant qualified to undertake the work? This could be an academic qualification, accreditation as an inspector or training provider in one or more schemes, or qualification by experience.
8. Has the consultant been on relevant training in the last year?
9. Ensure that the consultancy agrees not to subcontract the work without prior discussion with you, the client.
10. If you are considering the consultant for staff training, ask if you can attend one of their training sessions in another school.
11. Ask for other evidence that will help you decide if the consulta
Thrashing out mistakes in manufacturing engineering was developed by the Japanese as a tool of mistake proofing that helps reduce waste in areas such as time, energy and resources. The idea stresses on producing zero defects as a part of a quality tool kit to prevent human errors. Although Poka Yoke is applied differently in different situations, the common thread that binds them all is its simplicity; it uses small tools at the point of the anticipated mistake generation itself.Empowerment of Employees As A Tool of Poka Yoke DevelopmentThe beautiful part of mistake-proofing is the empowerment of employees to identify, suggest ways out and execute the plan to iron out the cause of the mistake at its point of origination. In fact, anybody from a manager to a line employee can be allowed to compl
To help you do so, here is a list of questions you may wish to ask before hiring someone. You are unlikely to find any person or company who can answer “yes” to all of these questions, so you will need to bring your own professional judgement to bear on your decision.
1. Is the consultancy independently accredited by a quality assurance scheme, such as by NaaceMark or similar scheme? If not, is it seeking accreditation? Note that an answer of “No” in either case is not necessarily a bad thing. In my own experience, the work itself is so time-consuming that it’s quite difficult to go through the hoops required to prove that you can do what you’re doing! That’s why the next few questions are important too.
2. Is the consultant a member of a relevant organisation, such as (in the UK) Naace or the Society for Education Consultants? These types of organisation provide a certain degree of quality assurance in the sense that they won’t accept just anybody as members, although they will give no guarantees about the quality of work undertaken by their members. Also, they often provide useful information about the sector in which the consultant works, which in theory at least keeps the consultant up-to-date on current developments in the field.
3. Ask for details of similar work undertaken by the consultancy, and for details of satisfied clients – but bear in mind that a reluctance to supply such details may be due to considerations of confidentiality.
4. Ask for references, testimonials, or details of evaluations, ie evidence of quality assurance of the consultants’ work.
5. You can also ask how the consultant gets most of its work. Word of mouth is a good sign.
6. Ask for the CVs of the consultants who will be working in your organisation if you decide to sign up this consultancy.
7. Is the consultant qualified to undertake the work? This could be an academic qualification, accreditation as an inspector or training provider in one or more schemes, or qualification by experience.
8. Has the consultant been on relevant training in the last year?
9. Ensure that the consultancy agrees not to subcontract the work without prior discussion with you, the client.
10. If you are considering the consultant for staff training, ask if you can attend one of their training sessions in another school.
11. Ask for other evidence that will help you decide if the consulta
What makes a company successful over the long, long term? What characterizes the service relationship between companies and customers who do business together for decades, even generations?How can your company stay close to your customers even as times change, technologies change and expectations continually rise?What can you do to ensure your company’s future offers are relevant and valuable in the market?One powerful step forward is to explore your customers’ future needs and interests by cultivating Service Encounters of The Third Kind. In these unique encounters, your precious and loyal relationships for the future are built by your words and actions – today.Let’s start by looking closely at Service Encounters of the First and Second Kinds.Service Encounters Of The Firs
3. Ask for details of similar work undertaken by the consultancy, and for details of satisfied clients – but bear in mind that a reluctance to supply such details may be due to considerations of confidentiality.
4. Ask for references, testimonials, or details of evaluations, ie evidence of quality assurance of the consultants’ work.
5. You can also ask how the consultant gets most of its work. Word of mouth is a good sign.
6. Ask for the CVs of the consultants who will be working in your organisation if you decide to sign up this consultancy.
7. Is the consultant qualified to undertake the work? This could be an academic qualification, accreditation as an inspector or training provider in one or more schemes, or qualification by experience.
8. Has the consultant been on relevant training in the last year?
9. Ensure that the consultancy agrees not to subcontract the work without prior discussion with you, the client.
10. If you are considering the consultant for staff training, ask if you can attend one of their training sessions in another school.
11. Ask for other evidence that will help you decide if the consulta
For more than twenty-years, Carla’s primary focus was working her way up the corporate ladder in the Human Resources department of a large publicly traded company. Day after day she worked hard to meet the demands of her superiors and colleagues, until one morning she woke up with a sickened, sinking feeling in her stomach.It was her career, she realized. Having spent nearly half of her life working in an unsatisfying job, with few genuine accomplishments and the goals of her youth long forgotten, Carla had hit midlife and she didn’t like it. To alleviate the feeling in her stomach, Carla began making a conscious effort to pay more attention to the gap between the reality of her life and the dreams and passions she once had. She was determined to pounce on her one last chance for a career that could m
5. You can also ask how the consultant gets most of its work. Word of mouth is a good sign.
6. Ask for the CVs of the consultants who will be working in your organisation if you decide to sign up this consultancy.
7. Is the consultant qualified to undertake the work? This could be an academic qualification, accreditation as an inspector or training provider in one or more schemes, or qualification by experience.
8. Has the consultant been on relevant training in the last year?
9. Ensure that the consultancy agrees not to subcontract the work without prior discussion with you, the client.
10. If you are considering the consultant for staff training, ask if you can attend one of their training sessions in another school.
11. Ask for other evidence that will help you decide if the consultancy is the best for this particular work in your school, such as a client list (but note point about confidentiality above), examples of video work, published work or a website.
Using a consultant
Once you’ve decided on a particular consultant, have an agreement drawn up that ensures, for example, that you will be kept informed of progress. For example, it may not be unreasonable to ask for a summary every 2 weeks, if you are an LEA and the consultant is working in your schools.
Once you’ve hired a consultant, make sure you get the best value for money. This means some or even all of the following, depending on the particular circumstances:
Have a clear set of aims and objectives that you are both agreed upon. This may be developed in discussion with the consultant before signing on the dotted line, but there must be a clear set of expectations by the time the consultant starts work.
Make sure that the consultant has the tools needed to do the job effectively. This could mean access to the computer network, desk space, essential contact information and so on.
Ensure that you have all the contact information you need too: phone and fax numbers, a mobile phone number too, perhaps, with the facility for leaving messages, and an email address.
Put in place whatever is needed to enable the consultant to “hit the ground running”. If, for example, you spend the first morning discussing what the consultant should do, you’re throwing money down the drain: all that should have been agreed beforehand – unless, of course, there is a need for a sudden change in plan, although even in those situations there should have been a contingency plan (a “Plan B”) in place.
Don’t keep asking the consultant to do more and more in an unplanned kind of way. If more work is needed, discuss whether it could feasibly be done well in the agreed time, or whether more days need to be allocated for it.
Conclusion
With proper groundwork when choosing a consultant, and sound planning, hiring a consultant to help you with your ICT work can be an excellent means of achieving the aims of your organisation.
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