Many organisations use their own people. They are cheaper than consul- tants and may even have been recruited from consulting firms in the first place. However, if they are seen as a `prophet in their own country who is not believed', the result may be that they have less credibility than an exter- nal consultant. If you propose to use your own people, check them out as thoroughly as you would an external consultant. Look for evidence that they really know what they are talking about and that they can deliver the goods. Nowadays the use of `benchmarking' is becoming commonplace and is invaluable both to the commercial and the non-commercial sectors in improving performance and finding better ways of structuring and running organisations. Looking at other organisations enables you to look beyond your own immediate local problems and see how others really work. That said, I have found that using a combination of consultants, internal staff and benchmarking is often the most productive route into the imple- mentation maze if trust in the proposed solutions is to be generated: G Consultants can give a dispassionate view based on their own specialist knowledge and bring to bear considerable experience in a particular field.