Ten Fundamentals of Process Consulting: Fundamental #10

Dear friends,

Born from the foundational texts of the humble inquiry and process approach, the Ten Fundamentals of Process Consulting are designed to help us understand the theory and practice of being in the Process Consulting mindset.

Whether you are a Process Consultant helping a Client, a CEO leading a team, a department head bringing together leaders to solve an emerging challenge, embodying these fundamentals can be helpful to you in charting your course. For the sake of this series of blogs, we will be using the profession of Process Consulting as our lens. Knowing full well that these fundamentals are practiced by anyone seeking to help another human.

Expressed in the triad below, the ten fundamentals form our DNA as Process Consultants. They are a starting point in our work with others and our traits as we prepare to show up in service to them. In this way, they are distinct and set apart from the core competencies of Process Consulting.

Integrating the ten fundamentals into your leadership is a lifelong journey that will help you become exemplary in their practice.

Leading up to the Society for Process Consulting’s inaugural conference, we offer these fundamentals for your use, iteration, and adaptation, modeling our willingness to improve, learn, and grow as humans through this publication.

Living into the WWWWWH framework enables the Process Consultant to assume a listening posture from the very beginning. The iteration provides the opportunity to reflect back to the Client what the Process Consultant hears and understands before they begin assisting with anything. How embarrassing it would be to start with a Client only to discover you are discussing a subject other than what the Client intended. [1]

WHY? the mission, is the “brain” of the process.

WHO? the people who play important roles, are the neck that turns the entire beast in the intended direction.

WHAT? the body, is the substance of the process—the objectives that need to be met.

WHEN? the front foot, represents the deadline we strive for. We work backwards from there to HOW.

WHERE? the domain or geography of the process, can be like Eeyore’s tail. Sometimes it is crucial and sometimes drops off.

HOW? the back foot, are those sequenced action steps that walk us through the process from beginning to end. [2]

To a certain extent, we have kept the best fundamental for last! Process Consulting begins and ends with these six questions.

As with all adult learning, imagery can be very helpful. I've lost track of how many times I've used the above image with Clients and other consultants. We start on the right side of the brain when we answer WHY, WHO, and WHAT and continue to the left side of the brain when we answer WHEN, WHERE, and HOW.

After using this framework for a few years, I noticed that my brain began getting used to its language. The back and forth nature of the questions drove my work with Clients towards clarity. With this habit firmly in place, I recognize how powerful these questions are and how quickly you can lose sight of their use. 

If you have any comments about fundamental #10 or any of the Ten Fundamentals of Process Consulting, please don’t hesitate to call or email me. I’d love to learn your prospective.

We will be reviewing all ten fundamentals at the Society’s upcoming conference on 11 - 12 November 2024 in Philadelphia. Please sign up through this link today!

As always, if you’d like to learn more about the Society for Process Consulting, please don’t hesitate to give me a call.

Best,

Lon Swartzentruber

Interim CEO Society for Process Consulting

[1] Listening Helping Learning, Mark L. Vincent, page 27. Tenth Power Publishing, 2022.

[2] Process Consulting Training 101, Society for Process Consulting, Lesson 1.

Please take a moment to learn more about the Society's upcoming conference.

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