Hiring a business process consultant can be a turning point - or a costly distraction.

In my experience, companies don’t usually hire a process consultant too early.
They almost always hire one too late.

At the same time, there are situations where hiring a process consultant is simply the wrong move - and I’ve said “no” to projects for exactly that reason.

Let’s clarify both sides.

When companies usually wait too long

There are a few signals I see repeatedly when organizations finally reach out - and by then, the cost of change is already higher than it needed to be.

1. The team is constantly stressed

Stress is not just a people issue  it’s a process symptom.

When teams are:

  • always “busy” but rarely calm,

  • firefighting instead of progressing,

  • compensating for missing structure with personal effort,

it usually means that processes are unclear, fragmented, or silently broken.

At that stage, people are holding the system together instead of the system supporting people.

2. Owners and managers are doing operational work

This is one of the clearest red flags.

When founders, owners, or managers:

  • manually fix errors,

  • chase information,

  • coordinate tasks that should flow naturally,

they are no longer leading — they are acting as glue for a broken process.

Strategic thinking disappears not because leaders lack vision, but because the organization demands constant intervention to function.

3. Excel files everywhere (with very familiar names)

If your organization relies on spreadsheets named something like:

Complete_2025_assets_Final_version_4.xlsx

…you’re not managing data - you’re managing uncertainty.

Multiple versions, unclear ownership, and manual consolidation are strong indicators of:

  • missing process ownership,

  • unclear rules,

  • systems that don’t reflect how work actually happens.

Excel is not the problem.
Using it to compensate for structural gaps is.

When hiring a business process consultant makes sense

A process consultant is useful when there is something to align around.

You should consider involving one when:

  • the business is growing but structure hasn’t caught up,

  • people are compensating for missing clarity,

  • technology exists but doesn’t cooperate,

  • decisions are slowed by uncertainty or rework,

  • leadership wants to step back into strategy.

In these situations, process work is not about efficiency alone — it’s about restoring coherence.

When you should not hire a process consultant

This part is equally important — and less often said.

1. When there is no clear vision or direction

Processes are not neutral.
They exist to serve a direction.

If a company cannot answer basic questions like:

  • What are we trying to become?

  • Who are we serving?

  • What kind of organization do we want to build?

…then optimizing processes is premature.

In those cases, hiring a business consultant or working on vision and direction first is the right step.

Values may still be evolving, and that’s fine.
But without at least a minimal sense of direction, process optimization becomes guesswork.

2. When the real issue is not process, but viability

This is the hardest case, and it has happened.

I have advised companies not to hire me at all, and in one case, to seriously consider stopping the business.

Why?

Because the combination of:

  • accumulated knowledge debt,

  • missing documentation,

  • fragmented responsibilities,

  • and lack of internal capability,

meant that fixing processes would require an investment completely disproportionate to the business’s potential return.

They insisted anyway, even after I clearly explained the costs.

A good consultant should not sell optimization where reality requires a different decision.

Process consulting is not a silver bullet

A business process consultant cannot:

  • create vision for you,

  • fix structural market problems,

  • replace leadership decisions.

What a process consultant can do is:

  • make work visible,

  • reduce friction,

  • restore clarity,

  • and create systems that support growth instead of fighting it.

But only when the foundation is there.

A simple rule of thumb

You’re probably ready for a business process consultant if:

  • you know where you want to go,

  • but the organization struggles to get there consistently.

You’re probably not ready if:

  • you’re still unsure why the business exists,

  • or hoping that “better processes” will magically create direction.