The Consultant Trap: When 'do it for you' backfires
A typical story?: A prestigious consulting firm arrives with frameworks and templates. They analyse, interview, and deliver an impressive strategy deck. Everyone nods during the final presentation. Six months later? The recommendations gather dust, and nothing has changed.
This is the “do it for you” consultant trap which may even become the “do it to you” trap.
During my career, I’ve witnessed this pattern repeatedly. Leadership faces an opportunity or challenge and brings in external consultants. Despite their expertise, implementation falters. The statistics are sobering: 70% of transformation initiatives fail according to McKinsey¹, and research from Bridges Business Consultancy indicates only 30% of strategic initiatives achieve their intended outcomes².
Why? The problem isn’t consultant expertise – many are brilliant, and the solutions proposed may have great insights. The issue lies deeper in three fundamental flaws of the traditional consulting model:
1. Superficial Understanding
Einstein once observed, “If I had an hour to solve a problem, I’d spend 55 minutes thinking about the problem and 5 minutes thinking about solutions.” Yet traditional consulting often reverses this wisdom. With the cost of a well-resourced team of consultants, a short-term engagement is an economic necessity. There is a need to rush to solutions before truly understanding your organisation’s culture and constraints. They gather information through interviews in a “do it for you” approach, missing the deeper insights that come from working alongside your team. Only by rolling up sleeves and working with your people can consultants truly grasp both the technical challenges and cultural dynamics that shape success. The result? Traditional consultants deliver recommendations that look compelling on slides but stumble in practice.
2. Creating Dependency
When you outsource strategy, internal development capability atrophies. Like having someone else do your workout, you might gain a short-term reprieve, but you won’t build lasting strength. Each new challenge requires another consulting engagement, creating a costly cycle of dependency.
3. Missing Ownership
Strategies handed down from external experts often face passive resistance. When people aren’t involved in strategy development, they see it as imposed rather than owned. If the team charged with implementing the strategy isn’t actively engaged in its design the chances of success fall.
The cost extends beyond consulting fees. Organisations lose time, momentum, and opportunities. More critically, they fail to build the internal capabilities needed for sustainable success.
But there’s an alternative. Instead of consultants “doing it for you,” imagine working alongside experts who help you develop and implement strategy yourself. This “do it with you” approach:
- Builds lasting strategic capabilities through hands-on learning
- Creates genuine ownership by involving your team in strategy development
- Ensures recommendations align with your organisational reality
- Develops solutions that stick because they’re created with implementation in mind
- Leaves behind enhanced internal capability, not just another deck
The key question when choosing strategic partners: Are they here to do the work for you, or help you build the capability to do it yourself? The answer determines whether you’re investing in sustainable success or buying temporary solutions.
Organisations can’t afford to outsource their strategic thinking. They need partners who help them build the muscles to handle any challenge. That’s why Arkaro follows a four-step journey:
- Understand – We invest time to deeply grasp your organisation’s unique context and challenges
- Co-create – We work alongside your team to develop practical solutions that fit your reality
- Enable – We build your internal capabilities through hands-on experience and coaching
- Sustain – We ensure the changes stick by embedding new practices into your organisation’s culture
Arkaro consultants have personal exposure to many sides of this debate, bringing both experience and energy to provide lasting value. This methodology ensures solutions aren’t just implemented, but truly embedded in your organisation’s DNA.
References: ¹ McKinsey & Company (2019). “Why do most transformations fail? A conversation with Harry Robinson” ² Bridges Business Consultancy (2022). “Strategy Implementation Survey”
💬 We’d love to hear from you! What are the biggest challenges when using consultants? Drop us a message or connect with us to learn more about Arkaro’s approach to change and performance improvement.
"We don't just coach - we get on the pitch with you"
Mark Blackwell
Mark Blackwell is the founder of Arkaro, a consultancy that helps organisations develop and implement practical, effective strategies. Unlike traditional consultants who ‘do it for you’, Arkaro works alongside clients to build lasting strategic capabilities.
Arkaro
Arkaro is a consultancy specialising in Strategy, Innovation Process, Product Management, Commercial Excellence & Business Development, and Integrated Business Management. With industry expertise across Agriculture, Food, and Chemicals, Arkaro’s team combines practical business experience with formal consultancy training to deliver impactful solutions.
You may have the ability to lead these transformations with your team but time constraints can often be a challenge. Arkaro takes a collaborative ‘do it with you’ approach, working closely with clients to leave behind sustainable, value-generating solutions—not just a slide deck.
