Sometimes as management consultants we quickly discover that the mission we were assigned will not address the root cause of the problem in the best possible way. We face a dilemma: either to continue the mission as it is originally defined, or to challenge the mission's scope. The later is the right way to go, but it involves confronting the mission's sponsor about his original assumption.

You might ask: how can we get a mission's definition wrong? Management is a soft topic, and client sponsors tend to have a biased view of what is going on. Not because they lack skills, but simply because their position prevents them to collect objective information. Hence the importance of hiring an external consultant. The original problem definition is often very fuzzy, such as "we can't deliver projects on time because we have a lot of quality problems". The sponsor naturally assumes that the mission's objective is "to solve quality problems in projects". But analysis may show that the quality problem is only one among many problems. The consultant must then disentangle the cause-and-effect relationships to discover the root causes. In our example, the root cause might be an inadequate team structure combined with the lack of software development processes. The mission then takes a whole new direction.

The challenge is to educate the sponsors about the mission behind the mission. Wise sponsors will appreciate the consultant's initiative, but some may balk at their assumptions being challenged. However, it is our duty as independent management consultant to highlight the real problems and solutions. As you may guess, management consultants rely more on interpersonal and communications skills than on project management, finance, or strategic planning. Indeed, what's the point of doing things right if we don't do the right things?