It seems companies can never have enough “expert” opinions and input. They hire consultants, agencies, advisors and specialists all in the name of productivity and performance. The funny thing is more often than not these experts do more harm than good to the companies they are brought in to help.
I am one of those experts.
I have recently wrapped up a contract with a client who was not only falling victim to "expertyteace (expert-tight-ass)" they were beginning to drown in it. The upper level management would not listen to their staff, clients, retailers, brokers or anyone other than hand picked "experts" who were referred to them by other "experts". They would not invest, support or engage any opportunity with out the approval of the “experts” making the company a bit of a “tight ass” when it came to investing in its community and basically bringing things to a stand still. Ironically the experts were brought in to formulate strategies to engage their communities and grow the brands awareness in the market place on a grass roots level.
Of course every one of us experts has awesome credentials, how could we not, we were referred by other experts who were referred by experts and hired by the real experts.... management. More amusing is how each new “expert” is more qualified than the others or the last one and as such everything must follow the new experts direction. Each new expert will throw the old expert under the preverbal bus, debunking their shortcomings, blowing out their efforts and will be very quick to take credit for anything that comes their way. It’s a kind of predatorily corporate cannibalism. New eats old until new gets eaten by newer.
In theory how could anything be wrong with this cycle?
The reality is companies should be hiring experts. It is a great way to vet a theory, challenge a strategy, support directional shift and engage new markets. It is a great way to get an educated and informed opinion needed in decision-making process and most importantly get an outsiders opinion. Unfortunately the process gets skewed and all to often the ones who should be the decision makers “punt” and leave the process of deciding to the experts, who more often than not are not qualified to make decisions on behalf of the company. Welcome to CYA executive style: If the experts decision is a “winner” for the company it’s a victory for management, if it is a failure, it is the expert gets canned.
This system is fundamentally flawed and creates a win-win for all who are in charge of hiring experts, but exposes the company, its investors and employees to huge risk. In addition, there are some pretty nasty and often destructive side effects to the process.
The most notable side effect of over reliance on experts is the creation of toxicity with in the company. It can become so bad that can destroy a perfectly good team. This infectious wave sweeps through the company creating distrust, low moral, in fighting and ultimately it undermines the entire company and brand. Leaders need to be acutely aware of how moral is being affected, be transparent, inclusive and take charge of the decision making process at all times. If not they risk loosing not only the respect of their team members, but also control of their company.
The irony here is the real experts on your business are more often than not your clients, your staff and your community. The folks in the trenches tend to have real organic dialog with your customers and can tell you more about trends, risks and opportunities than any expert. They just need to be empowered to listen and share.
The best companies I have worked for have spent considerable time and effort to create channels of communication and tools that engage team members on every level of the organization. They hire experts to flush out ideas and look at best practices to engage team members in its implementation and execution. They are not afraid of the outcome or the possibility that someone may be better suited to run the show than they are…they revel in the possibility of finding that someone and empowering them to take the reigns.
For me, I keep doing what I do and have found that the tread marks from the bus tires seem to heal much faster now than they used….
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