Written by: Dr. Justine Chinoperekweyi, Executive Contributor
Executive Contributors at Brainz Magazine are handpicked and invited to contribute because of their knowledge and valuable insight within their area of expertise.
Organizations need support to cope with the rapid and disruptive influencing factors and patterns from the operating environment. The process of leading change during unsettled times requires approaches that elevate people’s enduring natural capabilities rather than a reliance on traditional linear, leader-centered models. The approaches should help a system to self-renew and to actualize its full potential; hence the need for Organization Development Consulting. Consultants play a significant role in the process of leading sustainable strategic change, facilitating continuous improvement, and improving people’s lives. What makes consulting pivotal in driving sustainable results within client systems and communities? This article summarizes the following four key elements from my Organization Development consulting and interactions:
The cognitive and emotional sets of the consultant, the client, and the client system
Preparatory engagements and activities
Humanizing approaches to consulting
The consulting environment and ensuing relationship
Cognitive and emotional frameworks of the consultant, client, and client system
It is important to appreciate that the mental and emotional frameworks we bring to the consulting engagement influence our effectiveness in supporting client systems. If the consultant engages with the client and client system with the wrong mindset or emotional set, there is bound to be tension and value conflict. In most cases, the wrong mental and emotional frameworks of the consultant emanate from allowing personal desires, priorities, and preferences to override the consulting scope. Consultants need to guard against overconfidence, rigidities that stem from in-depth specialized knowledge, and methodological overkill (for example, paralysis by analysis) mainly as a result of past successes or reliance on the consultant’s favorite diagnosis.
Equally important, clients and client systems should enter into a consulting engagement with a clear and learning mindset rather than imposing their values and expectations to guide the consulting engagement. Possibility-seeking rather than problem-orientation is critical in effective consulting. To reframe cognitive and emotional sets, consultants, clients, and the client system need to appreciate that there are high stakes in Humble Inquiry, meaningful exploratory dialogue, effective engagement, co-creation mindset, listening and transforming talks, and building collaborative networks & tapping into the collective wisdom. Commitment testing is essential in understanding the client’s position.
Preparatory consulting engagements and activities
Consulting is not an activity that people can bolt on at lightning speed – there are a lot of surprises in today’s dynamic environment. No matter the previous success stories and years of experience, consultants need to be humble learners who effectively listen and engage in transforming talks with the process owners. Unfortunately, most people, including corporate executives, view consultants as experts and solution providers. It’s even more unfortunate when consultants view themselves as experts working for executives and as such undermine the collective wisdom in the client system. To clarify this ‘expert consulting’ context, it is important to highlight that all clients face technical and adaptive challenges. Technical challenges can be addressed through an expert, medical doctor, top-down approach because there is one known solution to the issue. On the contrary, adaptive challenges need broad inquiry, listening, transforming talks, and effective engagement because there are many questions to be asked and the answers to one question are many.
Consultants need to appreciate the need for effective Use of Self, exploratory interviews with the whole client system, asking open-ended questions, and meaningful dialogue. Appreciative, preparatory conversations should be extended beyond CEOs and C-suite leaders, to include members of the entire organization. Effective consulting takes advantage of the wisdom in the client systems – every member is invaluable if the system wants to co-create sustainable interventions and not quick fixes.
Humanizing approaches to consulting
Traditional consulting thrived on fitting organizations or client systems into prescribed models – it was simple rote memorization of models and facilitating activities to fit the organization in that model. Most of these linear models to consulting were designed with a problem-solving mindset and as such are highly deficient in helping clients see beyond the horizon. The ability to help the client scan beyond the horizon and leapfrog existing strategies requires experience and craft in dealing with people in the client system. Consulting approaches should be integrative, leveraging on wisdom from the process owners, and capitalizing on new insights and trends. The consulting approaches should awaken process owners’ creative abilities and empower them for implementation, monitoring and evaluation. Through the emergent cascading approach, consultants should be tactful in helping clients translate strategy into implementation and operational plans. Traditional consulting approaches exacerbated learned helplessness among most organizational members as information was only made available to senior managers.
Effective consultants appreciate the high stakes in opening information systems, flowing with intuitive leaps, creating a sense of ownership among all organizational members, giving and receiving feedback, and integrating humanistic and bottom-line values.
The Consulting Environment and Ensuing Relationship
Most consulting works are treated as mere projects that temporarily help client systems to move from one point A to another point B. Such consulting work is devoid of sustainable results and the transformative power of consulting. Consultants need to create space for candid conversations and for the new to emerge. The relationship between the consultant and the client system should facilitate generativity. The consulting relationship should not be once-off relationship but a long, emerging relationship of value-creation.
Consulting work is a walk in the path if fundamentals are respected and upheld and the client system is empowered to ask itself questions and find its answers. Senior leaders need to rethink reasons for hiring consultants, based on the need at the time. Consultants need a values-based approach, understand the complexity of change, and leverage synchronicities to make connections to future possibilities.
Dr. Justine Chinoperekweyi, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine
Justine Chinoperekweyi, is an internationally recognized Organization Development & Change, Corporate Governance and Leadership Scholar-Practitioner, Facilitator, Thought leader, & Author. He supports individuals, work groups, and organizations turn breakdowns into breakthroughs through the application of OD practices and values; and with a focus on measurable outcomes and results. He has been organizing generative dialogues and numerous webinars, international forums and conferences around OD. He is CEO of Centre for Organization Leadership and Development (COLD) and President of Organization Leadership and Development Network (OLDN). He is also Academic Director in Abu Dhabi and Visiting Faculty and post-graduate supervisor for MBA and doctoral programs in different countries. He is Board of Director for International Society for Organization Development & Change (ISODC), USA and The WorkBooth Magazine, Nigeria. His OD-informed mission: 'Leading Sustainable Strategic Change, Facilitating Continuous Improvement, and Improving the Human Condition'.
