Cultivate Human Capabilities In Client Systems To Drive Strategic Change
- Dec 16, 2021
- 6 min read
Updated: Feb 22, 2024
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.
As consultants, what can we do differently to awaken client systems, support client systems to actualize their potential, and ensure the client system can talk to itself about itself, and self-renew?
The executive team of a mid-sized manufacturing and distribution firm convened for an ad hoc meeting to deliberate on the organization’s operational and strategic issues. The CEO presented the need to bring experts to solve the overwhelming adaptive challenges. A resolution was passed on outsourcing an external consultant to proffer solutions that will enhance the organization’s effectiveness and health. Immediately, recommendations were made on the ideal expert and solution provider who could execute the proposed mandate.
After the meeting, the executive secretary sent an invitation letter to the recommended ‘expert consultant’. In the invitation letter, the consultant was asked to submit a technical proposal within five working days. Interestingly, the consultant provided a 35-page proposal within two working days. The proposal contained published data from academic journals, practitioner journals, and global consulting firms. The HR Director and Chief Strategy Officer (CSO) reviewed the technical proposal. Impressed by the proposal, on day 5, a contract was signed after a meeting that was Chaired by the CEO, and attended by the executive secretary, HR Director, and Chief Strategy Officer.
The consultant was given the conference room as the workstation. The HR Director and Chief Strategy Officer were tasked to support the consultant with the necessary information. Within 2 working days the consultant created questionnaires and an interview guide. The HR Director was asked to administer the instruments on a sample of employees using google forms. The interviews were conducted by the consultant and supporting documents were requested and furnished after the interview sessions. Furthermore, the HR Director was responsible for selecting participants and sending interview notifications 24 hours in advance.
The process was executed smoothly as completed questionnaires were returned ahead of time. The consultant used their own software to present, analyze, and interpret the data. Within 10 working days, a detailed report was generated with interesting recommendations supported by graphs, charts, and tables from the data gathering process. The consultant prepared the implementation schedule in consultation with the HR Director and CSO, and the full plan was presented to C-suite leaders for adoption. After the presentation, the consultant exited the client system excited of having successfully completed the project. The client system was left with a List of Recommendations, Implementation Plans, Activity Logs, and Checklists which were to be religiously followed.
An EXCO meeting presentation by the CEO a few weeks after the consultant had left indicated that nothing much had changed – the organization was bubbling in illusionary hope. Interestingly, most Activity Logs and Checklists were being completed ahead of schedule. C-suite leaders and middle managers were excited by the recommendations but indicated that there were fundamental issues around implementation. Employees indicated their awareness of the consultation process but didn’t know much about the essence, process, and outcomes; except a few points that were shared by the CEO at the all-staff meeting and some points that were raised by their immediate managers during weekly departmental meetings. Stakeholders who read the consultant’s report appreciated the depth of insight and structure of the report. However, though interesting, the report had abstract and broad concepts distanced from reality.
Interestingly, more than 20 scheduled in-house meetings were concurrently conducted during the consultation period. A review of these EXCO, management, and staff minutes of meetings indicated a disconnect with the consultant’s work and report. Employees indicated that the consulting exercise was a waste of time and resources. Some employees criticized the training and team building interventions that were proposed by the consultant. Two months later, the organization contracted with another consultant who facilitated a different transformational approach.
The story of the transformational consultant indicated that prior to contracting, the consultant conducted a series of exploratory sessions with the senior leaders in the organization. The consultant reviewed and discussed the preceding 2 months minutes on meetings for each functional area and noted widening disconnect. With reference to the questions and stories that were used by the consultant, one executive was quoted saying “the interactions were thought-provoking as the consultant ignited collective imagination and asked relevant penetrating questions”. While working with a diverse supporting team, the consultant facilitated formal and informal meetings with members from all levels of the organization. Interestingly, the consulting team led a few of the conversations while allowing the organizational members (process owners) to champion the deliberations. On several occasions the consultants were seen moving around the premises, chatting with the security personnel, the janitors, customers, and some guests. After 5 working days, most employees at the organization knew or have had a conversation with the consultants. Though the consulting contract was not yet signed, shifts in people’s mental frameworks were evident.
The Lead Consultant then requested for a contracting meeting and during that meeting, the direction of the consulting engagement was redefined and a lot of thought-provoking ideas were shared. The contracting meeting was attended by the CEO, C-suite leaders, managers, supervisors, and leader of the workers council. For some time, the contracting meeting was more of a brainstorming session as members were eager to share their thoughts. During scope of work discussions, the consultant whispered to the CEO and said, “You have an amazing team here”, to which the CEO nodded in agreement. The consultant facilitated a session on designing an evaluation plan and evaluation methodologies for change initiatives and interventions. A co-creation approach was adopted in designing a comprehensive technical proposal.
Interesting stories are shared of how organizational members self-organized and started co-creating diverse, cross-functional work clusters. Organizational members extensively used Information Technology systems to communicate and collaborate. The consultants became an invisible force, but remained a pillar of the different self-organized clusters. The Lead Consultant’s role shifted from being perceived as the ‘messiah’ to becoming part of the system and facilitator of the conversations and interventions.
At a dinner meeting with some members of the organization, the consultants were asked to share wisdom bits to leading sustainable organizational change. I passionately spoke about the need to amplify human capabilities in client systems. I reiterated that ‘Every system has some positive core strengths, as consultants, we are not experts, but we support the system to appreciate, harness, and manifest those strengths, actualize its potential, and ensure the system starts talking to itself about itself’. Following the discussion, we then facilitated a thought-provoking discussion around the following points:
Knowledge for use exists on a continuum of inquiry.
Create psychologically safe space for the new to emerge through exploration and exploitation
Help people dissociate with habitual ways of thinking and open their minds to new and different thoughts.
Listen to the stories of many and partner with them for co-creation. Ideas need to be further developed in dialogue with others.
Elevate, magnify, and refract human spirit and capabilities through Humble Inquiry and Appreciative Inquiry.
Convey possibilities and be comfortable peddling difficult conversations.
While reflecting on the two consultation approaches based on their lived experiences, members of the organization identified the following from the interactions with the first consultant:
The client viewed consultants as experts and solution providers. This perspective disempowered the client system while treating the consultation engagement as an event. The consultant became the centre of attention, organizational members were relegated beyond the periphery, and a few C-suite leaders sat at the margins.
Consultants were driven by certain preconceived notions which were not informed by the realities of the organization. The reliance on the technical proposal treated an organization as a closed system.
Though there was engagement through questionnaires and interviews, the process was ineffective. Crafting questions and merely sending them to participants does not account to effective engagement.
The consultation process was treated as an event rather than a process; hence the capacity of the system to self-organize was not attended to.
The focus of the consultation process was predominantly on solving problems and not awakening the system to the expansive world of possibilities.
There was no plan for effective translation of consultation recommendations to operational and implementation plans.
,
Therefore, as consultants we need to pay significant attention to the consulting process and the intellectual journey that we take clients through. Our evaluation plans and methodologies should clearly determine the shifts in clients’ structure of reality or mental & emotional frameworks. Our work should ensure the client system can actualize its potential, nurture collective imagining, and drive continuous growth and development.
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'.
