Written by Alessandro Dotta – Underground Metals Lead and Principal Mining Engineer at MEC
So, your operation is well-staffed with qualified, trained employees. Your people are pretty committed to a particular project, and everyone seems to be pulling in the same direction. Yet, despite this, you’re not making the advances you’d like to see; there’s progress but the rate is frustratingly slow or the results minimal. You may have considered engaging the services of a technical consultant then dismissed the idea because, well, your team already has plenty of expertise.
Sound familiar?
Well, experience shows that engaging an external consultant can deliver enormous benefits beyond the solving of your initial problem. Here’s how.
A new set of eyes
A consultant brings a new pair of eyes to your operation and a breadth of experience and knowledge from previous secondments which can help identify potential areas for growth or points of weaknesses. As a new arrival on site, the consultant can be objective and not weighed down by past practices or experiences. In this way, having a consultant seconded to your operation is like having your own specialist who can diagnose problems quickly and prescribe remedies.
Collaborative approach
The proximity of an onsite consultant enables a much closer collaborative working relationship with clients. Part of MEC’s approach is to listen closely to, and appreciate the skills of, your onsite experts. This kind of alliance is invaluable in making progress, so the consultant is not merely simply imposing a solution but enabling the team to take ownership of it.
Building relationships
A secondment allows the relationship to develop. When time is money, having a designated consultant who already knows and understands how your operation functions means that any future problems can be resolved speedily.
Sharing knowledge
And finally, training opportunities are enhanced for your team. With your own consultant, you have the capacity to develop the skillset of your employees, to build skills and knowledge which might not otherwise have been available to them.
It’s well worth considering. These observations about the wide-reaching benefits come from feedback from clients and on-the-ground discussions with employees who are appreciative of that ‘second sight’.
Call or message me to find out more about what I can offer your operation.