“Should I Bring Someone In from the Outside?” (A Guide for Leaders Planning the Big Event)

"Should I Bring Someone In from the Outside?" (A Guide for Leaders Planning the Big Event)

You’ve got a big event on the horizon—an offsite, a strategy summit, a leadership development day. Calendars are cleared. The stakes are high. And the question inevitably arises:

“Should we run this ourselves… or bring someone in?”

It’s a good question. And the answer, as with most things in leadership, is: It depends.

Let’s look at the trade-offs—both obvious and less so.

When Going Internal Makes Sense?

If your goals are straightforward—basic knowledge transfer, celebrating wins, or building internal connection—internal facilitation might be the right call. You know the people, the politics, the acronyms (which may or may not require translation), and the organization’s quirks.

Bonus: It’s budget-friendly, and can reinforce internal ownership.

But here’s the rub: when a senior leader facilitates, they’re not just guiding the experience—they’re also performing, protecting turf, and juggling optics. The group might filter what they say. Real talk gets replaced with polite head nods. And if anything gets awkward? Well, there’s no neutral third party to hold the space.

When Bringing in the Outside Edge is Worth It?

Now, if your goals go deeper—realignment, team reset, surfacing tension, solving complex challenges, or building capability under pressure—then bringing someone in is an investment in outcomes, not just optics.

External facilitators (at least the good ones) bring fresh eyes, tested frameworks, and an ability to push without triggering defensiveness. They ask the questions no one internally will. They notice what’s said—and what’s left unsaid. And they design experiences that move people beyond “agreeing in theory” to actually behaving differently.

At Soares Consulting, we’ve walked into rooms where trust was thin, collaboration was lagging, or everyone was pretending things were fine. Our job isn’t to stir the pot. It’s to create the kind of experience where people can finally name the hard stuff, hear each other clearly, and build something better together.

How to Decide?

Here’s a quick gut check:

• Do you need alignment, insight, or transformation? → Consider bringing someone in.

• Do you just need coordination and celebration? → You may be just fine internally.

• Will candor be a challenge if someone from your org is leading?→ Bring in a neutral.

• Is your biggest goal to make it “safe” or to make it productive? → You know the answer.

In the end, it’s not about who leads—it’s about what kind of experience you want to create. If the stakes are high, the issues are layered, and you want lasting impact… sometimes the best decision is to step back—and let someone else step in.