Sometimes a fleet manager knows his or her fleet operation needs improvements, but he or she is struggling to identify what to change, and how to do it. This is where an outside perspective can be beneficial.
Having a consultant review the fleet operation can provide guidance on what can be improved and how to implement changes. Take a look at some of the advantages an outside consultation can provide for your operation.
A consultant is typically an expert in his or her field, according to LinkedIn. While a fleet manager has the responsibility of overseeing the entire operation and all the roles in it, the consultant can provide his or her expertise on one particular area. The consultant can share his or her knowledge with the fleet manager to make improvements to the fleet operation. The fleet manager – and fleet as a whole – can benefit from the consultant’s previous experiences with on-the-job training and consulting with other operations to help determine how to solve their problems.
A consultant can usually look at the current state of the fleet operation and offer some quick fixes. While he or she might do a deeper dive into the operation and its current set up later, there are typically some items that will stand out to a consultant that can be changed right away. This can help the fleet manager feel productive to see changes taking place.
It can be difficult for a fleet manager to make hard decisions or major changes to an operation he or she is closely attached to. If he or she is too close to his or her staff, it can be too difficult for the fleet manager to realize what tough staffing changes need to be made. It can also cause him or her to be too involved in day-to-day decisions and not be able to see the bigger picture of what needs to be altered to achieve the operation’s larger goals.
According to LinkedIn, a consultant is not part of the operation, and therefore doesn’t have the same attachment the fleet manager does. This allows him or her to offer an outside perspective and recommend hard changes.
Consultants can help motivate fleet managers to act on new ideas for his or her fleet. The fleet manager might be in a rut just going through the day-to-day grind but talking to an outside resource can help inspire new ideas and encourage him or her to make changes.
While a consultant can inspire some immediate changes to the fleet operation, some of the items might be more long-term. Once the consultant and the fleet manager have built a relationship, this can encourage him or her to reach out to the consultant again in the future to bounce new ideas off of, or to check in on long-term projects.
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