While acting as a consultant there are operation two levels
- Content
2. Relationship, looking at feelings
Four elements for an affective consultant-client relationship:
- Responsibility
- Feelings
- Trust
- Your own needs
The consultant’s assumptions according to the book
- problem-solving requires valid data which is objective and is personal, so they are facts.
- Effective decision-making requires free and open choice.
- Effective implementation requires internal commitment.
Goals of a consultant
Goal 1: Establish a collaborative relationship
Goal 2: Solve problems so they stay solved
Goal 3: Ensure both attention given to the problem and the relationship
Developing client commitment
- Our goal is to build commitment at each step of the consulting process.
- How? Removing obstacles for implementation
Ed Shein’s 3 Roles of the consultant’s relationship
- Expert role
- Pair-of-Hands role
- Collaborative role
Problem with “Expert Role” Consultant
- Managers don’t develop the skills
- Commitment may be low because managers are not involved.
- Problems never fully technical
Problem with “Collaborative Role” Consultant
- Does a manager really want this? Expert role manager may see you as foot-dragging and a pair-of-hands role manager may see you as going out of your role
- takes longer
How do we stage this 50/50 relationship by adding client involvement to our skills?
We involve them in the steps of the consultant process.
Problem with “Pair-of-Hands” Consultant
- Dependent on how well the manager can understand the problem and create an action plan.
The 12 stages of the consulting process
Stage 1: Define the initial problem
Stage 2: Decide whether to proceed with the project
Stage 3: Select the dimension to be studied
Stage 4: Decide who will be involved in the project.
Stage 5: Select the method
Stage 6: Do the discovery
Stage 7-9: Funnelling the data and making sense of it
Stage 10: Provide Results
Stage 11: Make recommendations
Stage 12: Decide on actions
