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"Don't ask yourself what the world needs. Ask yourself what makes you come alive and then go do that. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive."
-Harold Thurman
You get some outside perspective and help on an organizational problem that you and your group want to get solved.
What kinds of consulting?
- Facilitation
- Conflict Resolution
- Managing Change
- Training
Facilitation
Facilitating meetings and working groups means keeping tabs on group goals and norms, maintaining focus on task, and monitoring group process. Having a designated facilitator lets the group focus on its work while the facilitator is responsible for noticing and surfacing group patterns.
Group process patterns might include:
- who is more or less active or vocal,
- who is silent,
- dynamics of power,
- patterns that surround members of different genders, ages, ethnicities, or cultures.
Conflict Resolution
I also facilitate conflict and difficult conversations between parties who are committed to improving a professional relationship. Having a neutral third party in the room can help to mediate a conversation that might otherwise result in a further damaged relationship. I help parties focus on listening, paraphrasing, and mutual understanding.
Managing Change
Change is difficult, especially in groups. Sometimes group leaders need help coming up with a strategy for change. Some of the change management questions I ask inclucde:
- Is the group ready?
- Are the leaders prepared to sponsor and lead?
- Are tools in place (communication, training, education)?
- How will resistance be addressed?
- What structures will measure and reinforce the desired outcome?
Training
I enjoy creating and delivering custom training materials. My strengths are a combined knowledge of (a) instructional design, (b) strong presentation skills, (c) adult-learning and experiential education models, and (d) relating training to a business or organizational goal.
Some questions I ask that help me develop powerful training content:
- Who is the intended audience? What are they prepared to learn?
- What is the purpose of the training? Specifically, what are the learning objectives?
- How do the learning objectives relate to business goals (money, time, quantity, quality) or organizational goals?
- How will the training materials be used after delivery? How will new employees retrieve the content?
- How did you decide training was the most powerful or relevant intervention for the problem at hand? What is the thinking behind the decision to train?