The team's the limit

Not the sky. Although that may be what consultants will try and make you believe. In the end, the consultant will move on. If you need a consultant forever, then this is no longer a consultant but a fixed part of your organization (and expenses). So the consultant will move on. And leave you and your team behind. So the extent to which the processes, the culture or the knowledge will change following the consultant's intervention, depends on the team.

In my experience, a consultant hardly looks at the team in place. Typically, they will explain you all the great things that other companies out there achieve, the best practices, the state-of-the-art. And you'll be feeling pretty embarrassed that your organization has not yet achieved what everyone else out there has been doing for ages. Obviously all the other teams out there (and their leaders) are way ahead of you.

The consultant does not look at your team, and does not take into account how your team interacts and creates value for the organization. Of course, there will be a "change management" component included with the offer, with a great-looking gap analysis and a few training sessions. This analysis does not focus on the team or its members, their interactions and their experiences; it focuses on the processes, culture or knowledge (whatever the subject of the intervention is).

And that is why so many consultant interventions end up fizzling out or at the most do not deliver the black-and-white gains that were touted at the onset. An organization performs through its teams, not through the consultants that come in. Of course, consultants have their value in helping the organization move to the next level, and in bringing expertise and experience from other missions. But if your team is not the central part around which the change or improvement is built, then the disappointment (including frustration and finger-pointing) is guaranteed.