Managing Your Expectations for Success with Trainers and Consultants

What word springs to mind when you think of past experiences with trainers and/or consultants?

Unhappy?

Frustrated?

Satisfied?

Pleased?

Assuming you’ve hired a competent trainer/consultant, do you know what the primary difference is between those that have had a negative response versus those that have been happy with the experience?

Managed expectations.

By managing YOUR expectations, not only will the process be smoother, you’ll be able to work in a more aligned fashion with the professional you’ve hired, which means that your ultimate result will be what you expected and paid for.

Project management is a complicated process with numerous moving parts, as you know. One of the biggest hidden issues is that expectations between all stakeholders is often murky. You know what YOU want. You know what you want your team to get out of the process, but do they? Have they bought in to the end result or will they secretly sabotage all you’re putting in place? Does the consultant understand your desired outcomes well enough to be responsive? Are there other stakeholders in the organization that will be or need to be involved in the process, and do they know what is expected of them and why?

Managing expectations also involves making sure the timeframe of the process, and its execution are spelled out and that parties are accountable. With loosely defined benchmarks, disappointment is almost guaranteed. Make sure the scope and time frame of your process is understood by all stakeholders.

Even the best consultant or trainer will occasionally run into issues that require mid-course corrections. If you have set out the guidelines, timeframes and have established communication will all those involved, the resulting success of the process is more likely.

It starts with you. Your expectations and pre-work and an experienced trainer and/or consultant will get you to your goal.

For information on how Boxer Advisors can help you with your training and/or consulting needs, check out our services and put our 20+ years of experience to work for YOU!

Boxer Advisors is a full-service consulting, training and coaching firm with more than 50 professional consultants, facilitators, and coaches and carefully selected partners providing services to Federal agencies and Fortune 1000 companies since 1996.

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