By Craig J. Cantoni

This article was published by The Wall Street Journal on March 10, 1997, with the title, "The Consulting Mystique."

Even the most progressive companies, with the most participatory management, waste money on consultants instead of using the experts already on the payroll.

A manufacturing vice president, displeased with his company's slow progress in establishing self-directed teams at its three circuit-board plants, asked an associate of mine to find the roadblock. It turned out to be in his office.

Usually, though, consultants are like archaeologists on a dig, solving problems by uncovering solutions that lie buried under layers of organizational sediment.

It is said that a management consultant is someone who charges clients $2,000 a day for advice they could get from their employees for nothing. As a consultant, I can attest to the truth of that statement. Even the most progressive companies, with the most participatory management, waste money on consultants instead of using the experts already on the payroll.

One CEO asked my firm for help in redesigning his company's pay and performance-management programs, expressing frustration with his workers' low morale and lack of motivation. The CEO reluctantly let us interview a cross-section of employees, and was surprised to learn the source of the problem — him. It seems that the CEO would respond to customer-service problems by questioning employees in an accusatory tone. He saw himself simply as trying to improve the quality of service, but he was undermining employee morale and motivation. Had he asked his employees how to improve morale, they would have given him the same advice we did: Let employees know you care about them, give them positive feedback, and ask for their help in improving customer service.

In another case, a manufacturing vice president, displeased with his company's slow progress in establishing self-directed teams at its three circuit-board plants, asked an associate of mine to find the roadblock. It turned out to be in his office. Because the VP did not seem open to plant managers' ideas, they were afraid to tell him that his vision for the plants required stemming the high turnover among production workers, caused by poor working conditions and low wages. The company's penny-pinching culture was at odds with the VP's goal of establishing teams — a conflict he could have uncovered without our help by treating his plant managers as consultants.

In both cases, consultants were brought in to find answers that the employees had all along. The companies could have saved a lot of money by turning to employees instead of outsiders.

Unusual cases? Not at all. Those of us who have moved from the executive ranks to consulting are amazed by how our recommendations now are accepted more readily — and at far greater expense — than when we were corporate employees. Why? We're not much wiser, more knowledgeable or better at persuading people than we were. Why do so many companies fail to capitalize on their employees' knowledge? One reason is that familiarity breeds contempt. Just as spouses often forget what attracted them during courtship, many executives see nothing but imperfections and mistakes in their employees once the initial infatuation wears off. By contrast, consultants aren't around long enough for their blemishes to become noticeable. I once served on the senior staff of a $3 billion company whose CEO was so fickle that employees would place bets on how long it would take new executives to fall out of favor. The cycle of courtship and contempt was repeated over and over, but the CEO never seemed to realize that it was his unrealistic expectations, not the people who worked for him, that needed changing.

And, after all, who was going to tell him? However much we may talk about "employee empowerment" and "enlightened leadership," the executive suite often remains a realm of huge egos and power struggles. Employees are smart enough not to go swimming in these shark-infested waters — waters that are much less hazardous for consultants, who after all have other clients. The relationship between superior and subordinate is inherently unequal; that between client and consultant far less so. Being able to walk away from an assignment gives the consultant an aura of independent thought and honesty.

Oh yes, there is another reason why consultants are listened to more than employees. Sometimes a consultant actually knows more than the people on the payroll do. That should be the only reason for retaining one. Usually, though, consultants are like archaeologists on a dig, solving problems by uncovering solutions that lie buried under layers of organizational sediment. Sometimes this requires sifting through the accumulated artifacts of corporate life — all the memos, reports, studies, plans, budgets and vision or mission statements. But many times it's just a matter of asking employees for advice.

Think what would happen if executives did the same. Employees would know the fun and satisfaction of being a consultant. Companies would get invaluable advice from thousands of experts. And my firm might go out of business.