A primary value of our firm, Authenticity Consulting, is to provide free, highly
practical resources to expand learning and productivity for people around the
world. The Free Management Library is
one of the world's largest collections of well-organized, free resources for
personal, professional and organizational development. The Library has gotten
up to 1,000,000 visitors per month and it regularly serves 200 countries per
week. We hope these free series, "Introduction to Consulting" and
"How to Do Consulting," will expand the number of effective consultants
for all types of organizations.
I'm Carter McNamara, the author of each of the two series. Over the decades,
I've been very fortunate to have dedicated mentors and colleagues who have helped
me to develop my consulting skills. I've also gleaned much knowledge from an
MBA and PhD in the general fields of organizations and management. Most of my
learning comes from my experiences as an internal and external consultant with
a wide variety of organizations and applications.
My passion is to share my learning and materials, especially those that are
highly practical and can benefit others of limited means. It's a privilege for
me to share these series on consulting. I invite you to get to know me even
better by viewing the presentation
Getting to Know Carter McNamara, Author of the Consulting Series.
Thank you, and I hope you'll enjoy -- and greatly benefit -- from these two
series.
Based on "Field Guide to Consulting and Organizational
Development"
The vast majority of the content in these series is adapted from this book
by Carter McNamara. This comprehensive, easy-to-reference book gives guidelines,
tips and tools for all aspects of consulting. The book is extremely useful,
not only to external consultants, but also to leaders and managers - change
agents working together "in the trenches" to successfully guide change
in their organizations. More information about the book is available at Field
Guide to Consulting and Organizational. Development
Goals of These Series
Make Consulting More Available and Accessible
It can be very expensive to read many books and take many courses
to learn how to consult for successful change in organizations. Our free series
conveys the most important knowledge for internal and external consultants to
accomplish that change.
We recognize that many people are extremely busy, and don't have
the time to attend workshops over several days, so we've designed these series
to include short, practical and focused presentations, each about an important
aspect of the consulting process. Each presentation ends with suggestions to
yet more resources.
Clear Up Misconceptions About Consulting
Many people believe that consultants only give expert advice. Actually, consultants
can use a variety of approaches to be helpful, including ongoing coaching, facilitating
and training. We describe each of these roles and when to use them.
Another misconception is that consulting, especially management consulting,
is a highly scientific endeavor with strong focus on accuracy, validity and
reliability. Actually, many consultants focus instead on relevance, practicality
and utility.
Still yet, another misconception is that the consultant always remains highly
objective and detached from the client's situation. Actually, the most useful
and long-lasting impact -- and the most learning for the client -- comes from
a highly collaborative, working relationship between consultant and client.
Focus of These Series
On These Aspects of Consulting
Roles, goals and types of consultants;
What consultants generally do and
How they do it -- along with
One powerful approach to consulting.
On Overviews to Acquaint Viewers
The nature of these series is overviews -- they are not detailed,
how-to manuals for addressing every situation that a consultant might encounter.
No one consulting book can provide that level of information. However, the guidelines
provide a broad foundation from which to get started in consulting and to learn
from your experiences. Each presentation ends with suggestions to additional
resources.
On Guidelines, More Than Theories
A wide diversity of audiences are very interested in consulting, ranging from
theorists to practitioners. The consulting process encompasses many aspects
of research, analyses, problem solving and guiding change. Consequently, there
is wide range of information about various theories associated with consulting.
Our overviews provide guidelines to do consulting, rather than details of various
theories.
Not On Running a Consulting Business
There are already a large number of books and other resources about starting
a consulting business. They can easily be found by entering the phrase "consulting
business" in any search engine on the Web, including the Amazon book store.
However, there are very few resources for actually doing the roles, goals and
processes of consulting. One of the goals of these series to is help fill that
void.
Audiences for These Series
We've designed the presentations to appeal to a wide range of
audiences, including:
For-profits, nonprofits and government.
Anyone who is new to consulting and wants to learn more about it.
Anyone who is considering hiring a consultant and wants to know more about
what a consultant does, and what the client should do in consulting.
Training centers that want to train people how to consult to organizations.
Firms that hire consultants and want to understand more about how those
consultants could -- and should -- work.
Technical consultants who want to expand their skills, for example, to be
management or Organization Development consultants.
Educators who want to teach learners about the profession of consulting
and how consulting might be done.
People who want a more systematic approach to consulting, yet ensure their
approach remains suited to organizations with limited resources.
Preparation for Viewing the Videos
Suggestions to Benefit From Presentations
There are a variety of ways that you might use the presentations to deepen
your learning about consulting. The best way to learn consulting is do to it.
Until that happens for you, please consider the following suggestions:
Scan the list of topics on the home page of the Free
Management Library. During each series, whenever you encounter a term or
practice that you want to know more about, you can find it in the Library by
using the Search box in the upper, right-hand corner.
Take notes as you go through the presentations, about any really good points
that you appreciate, questions you might have or suggestions for your consulting.
Remember that you can pause, or replay portions of, a on YouTube by controlling
the scroll bar below each video.
Watch other YouTube videos about consulting by searching for that term in
YouTube.
Buy a book or two on consulting. The Additional Resources
About Consulting section, below, has links to various resources that suggest
various books.
Form a discussion group and discuss each presentation.
Volunteer to a local nonprofit to provide your consulting skills. You'll get
even more experience and will likely cultivate a network of other consultants,
as well.
Terms in These Series
The following terms are referenced in these series. They are used
with the following definitions:
"Problem" -- We used this term to refer to the priority that the
consultant and client are working to address in the client's organization.
Many people might prefer a more appreciative term, such as "priority."
We invite them to substitute that term, if that helps the content of these
series to be more compatible to them.
"He" and "she" -- Throughout these series, we've often
resorted to these two gender terms, to avoid monotonous repetition of phrases,
such as "the client" and "the consultant."
Various consulting terms are referenced throughout these series, and are usually
defined when first used. For your reference, here is a Glossary
of Consulting.
Video Series -- Introduction to Consulting
We strongly suggest that you view each presentation in the order
listed below. However, if you're interested in the agenda in each presentation,
here's an
Index of Presentations and Agendas.
What Consultants Do
This section will give you a broad overview of the field of consulting,
including major types, goals and working assumptions for professional consultants,
key roles to play and when, and how to switch between roles. You'll also dispel
some common myths about consulting. Then you'll explore the differences between
an internal consultant and external consultant.
What is Consulting?
Myths of Consulting
Which Consultant Role and When?
Internal and External Consultants
What Clients Do
One of the most important questions to answer for any consultant is, "Who
is my current client?" It's critical to accurately answer that question,
but not as easy as new consultants think. This section helps you answer that
question. The section also helps you to effectively involve your client, including
the Board, if necessary.
Who is the Current Client?
How Much Should Clients Be Involved?
How to Involve Board If Needed
Maintaining Professionalism
You should be clear about your own principles for effective and ethical consulting.
Those principles provide a consistent inner compass during complex and challenging
projects, and can be used to describe you to your client, as well. This section
gives guidelines for developing principles, as well as further increasing your
skills as a consultant.
Principles for Effective and Ethical Consulting
How to Minimize Legal Liabilities
How to Improve Consulting Skills
Video Series -- How to Do Consulting
Meeting Requirements for Successful Change
It's very important for a consultant -- especially management and Organization
Development consultants -- to have basic understanding of the requirements for
successful change in organizations, and how to work collaboratively with clients
to meet those requirements. If you do your job well, you should encounter resistance,
because you're helping people to change -- and change is rarely easy. So this
section tells you how to deal with resistance, as well.
Requirements for Successful Change
Collaborative Consulting for Change and Learning
Consultant as an Instrument of Change
How to Deal With Resistance
Conducting Collaborative Consulting Process
This section explains goals and guidelines for conducting each phase of the
collaborative consulting model mentioned above. The phases are highly integrated
and cyclical in nature. If the consultant and client agree they're stalled in
a particular, phase they can cycle back and resume progress.
Phase 1 -- Contracting
Phase 2 -- Discovery and Feedback
Phase 3 -- Action Planning
Phase 4 -- Implementation and Change
Phase 5 -- Evaluating Project Results
Phase 6 -- Terminating Project
Tutorials -- Learn For-Profit Organizations
If you plan to consult to for-profit organizations, it's very useful to understand
the business practices in that type of organization. The Free
Nonprofit eMBA has the following free, online self-directed tutorials:
Module 1: Program Orientation -- Getting the Most from
This Program<
Module 2: Starting and Understanding Your Organization
Module 3: Role of Chief Executive Officer
Module 4: Building Basic Skills in Management and Leadership
Module 5: Building and Maintaining an Effective Board
of Directors (for corporations)
Module 6: Developing Your Strategic Plan
Module 7: Marketing Your Products/Services and Promoting
Your Organization
Module 8: Managing Finances in Your Organization
Module 9: Staffing and Supervising Your Employees
Module 10: Managing Ethics in the Workplace
PTIONAL: Module 11: Conducting Complete Fitness Test
of Your Business<
Tutorials -- Learn Nonprofit Organizations
If you plan to consult to nonprofit organizations, it's very useful to understand
the organizational practice in nonprofits. The Free
Nonprofit Micro-eMBA has the following free, online, self-directed tutorials.
Module 1: Program Orientation -- Getting the Most from This Program
Module 2: Starting & Understanding Your Nonprofit
Module 3: Understanding the Role of Chief Executive
Module 4: Developing Your Basic Management & Leadership
Skills
Module 5: Building and Training Your Board of Directors
Module 6: Developing Your Strategic Plan
Module 7: Developing and Marketing Your Programs
Module 8: Managing Your Nonprofit's Finances and Taxes
Module 9: Developing Your Fundraising Plan
Module 10: Supervising Your Employees and Volunteers
Module 11: Designing Your Program Evaluation Plans
Module 12: Conducting Final Fitness Test of Your Nonprofit
Optional: Module 13: Managing Ethics in the Workplace
Additional Resources About Consulting
The following links will help you to learn even more about consulting:
This video tells more about the many resources for consulting and consultants
in:
Our Free Management Library,
that provides one of the world's largest collection of free resources about
personal, professional and organizational development -- including about all
aspects of consulting and consultants.
We've learned a great deal about consulting over the past decades and we want
to thank those who contributed to our learning. The entire list would go on
for many Web pages, but here's are a few of the key people. Thanks to you all!
Peter Block, whose Flawless Consulting book is the foundation for
much of the collaborative consulting approach described in these series.
Carl Rogers, whose self-directed therapies, are the foundation for practitioners
who choose to work collaboratively with our clients.
Existential philosophers, especially Kierkegaard, who remind us of the importance
of living an authentic life.
Paulo Freire, the populist and adult educator, who first exposed me to the
principle to work from people, rather than at them.
Myles Horton, founder of the Highlander Folk School, who conveyed the principle
that "you make the road by walking."
Reginald Revans, who first developed the Action Learning process, which
embodies so many of my own values about learning from actions.
Leaders in the field of Organization Development and consulting, for example,
Richard Beckhard, Edgar Schein, Peter Block and Peter Senge.
Friends, who've reminded me that I've been given much, and have much to
give, including Deane Gradous, Michael Patton and Bill Monson.
Andy Watson, of ANDVD Media, who worked
tirelessly to guide us through the design and technical considerations to
develop these series.
Teri McNamara, who continues to support me as my life and business partner.
Share Your Feedback With Us
We'd appreciate your feedback about the two series, including reactions, suggestions,
concerns, questions and suggested additional materials. You can send email to
carter@authenticityconsulting.com
. Thank you!
