Academicians as Consultants: Travelling Between Two Cultures

Advice on developing a consulting practice is offered to academicians who are interested in initiating part-time consulting work while maintaining a primary focus on teaching. Steps in this process are assessing one's marketability, contacting the agency, developing a project work plan, and completing the work. Marketable skills include: conducting planning studies; developing a survey instrument or sampling; grantsmanship skills; and substantive knowledge or expertise in a specific subject area that can help agencies provide services, improve client compliance, or improve outcomes. The following aspects of applied research must be acceptable to the academician: use of less than reliable data; loss of control over the study's focus; competing interests regarding the outcome; problems that often cannot be clearly defined; and providing practical advice rather than qualified research findings. The individual must also establish time availability for consulting. Networking is the process of developing and using contacts and is necessary for increasing understanding of the system and maintaining links with agencies that need consulting services. Defining a work plan includes written specification of the consultant's role for the agency, time frame of the work, agency input, and reimbursement. Tasks involved in completing the work include developing and maintaining a working relationship with the agency staff and followup to ensure full use of the consultation product. (SW)