Collaboration: What is the role of a consultant?
Some projects can be handled by your in-house team. For others, you’ll need to hire specialized companies to provide specific services. Some projects, especially those that require building a shared vision, often benefit from the expertise provided by a consultant who can bridge strategic planning, design, and implementation. A consultant who has worked through similar projects can bring experience from peer institutions, anticipate and solve challenges, and work objectively with all stakeholders. A consultant can lead complex projects and integrate best practices. They can help get the work done faster, keep it on budget and on schedule, and provide creativity and practical know-how. And when done right, they free internal team members up for other important tasks.
“Consultants don’t necessarily know more than you do. They just move faster through the ideas you hire them to bring to life because they have done it before and aren’t tangled up in the day-to-day work you have to do. A good consultant helps you clarify and then realize a vision that was already taking shape.”
– Anne Manner-McLarty, President & Lead Consultant, Heurista
The advantages of working with a consultant can best be illustrated by an example. The Delbarton School has a strong reputation and is in a period of growth. In tandem with a multi-year fundraising campaign, facility renovation and construction projects, and a renewed focus on brand identity, the Headmaster convened a committee to develop a comprehensive plan for improving storytelling on campus. At first, the committee was charged with developing historical displays in just two locations although there was an awareness of the interconnected nature of the storytelling. The scope of the work has since grown to include donor recognition, naming opportunities at St. Mary’s Abbey and the Delbarton School, exterior wayfinding and interpretive signage, a number of displays, and other environmental graphics. Taken as a whole, the new elements communicate the Delbarton Difference, helping prospective families, current students, alumni, faculty, staff and visitors celebrate the distinctive characteristics of the Benedictine education offered by Delbarton School and St. Mary’s Abbey.
Heurista was recommended to Delbarton by the donor recognition firm, Eleven Fifty Seven, who had enjoyed a several year, project-by-project relationship with both the school and the abbey. Upon hearing the scope of charge laid out by the Headmaster, Eleven Fifty Seven’s president, Evelyn Flock, immediately recognized the need for a plan that connected design and great product outcomes to a master plan. Heurista was contacted by the school and after several interviews engaged to provide a series of services: an assessment and written recommendations report; a phased scope of work with design concepts, budgets and timelines; and project management for individual projects.
Through the planning, design and implementation phases, Heurista worked in tandem with internal stakeholders for content development, reviews and approvals, and process design for those aspects of the project that will be updated over time. Three companies were selected to provide design detailing, fabrication, and installation services: Eleven Fifty Seven was awarded the donor recognition and the updatable displays; Creative Dimensions provided interior and exterior environmental graphics; and Morris Signs was chosen for campus entrance signs. Each was selected based on their area of expertise, price, and quality of work. Under the broad umbrella of “consultant,” Heurista offered program planning, design, content development, and project management.
