Ten Fundamentals of Process Consulting: Fundamental #6

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 teammates to solve an emerging challenge, embodying these fundamentals can be helpful to you in charting your course. 

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 later this fall, we offer these fundamentals for your use, iteration, and adaptation, modeling our willingness to improve, learn, and grow as humans through this publication.

Just as every interaction reveals diagnostic information, so does every interaction have consequences for both the Client and the Process Consultant. Therefore, you own everything you do and assess the consequences to ensure they fit the goals of the helping relationship. [1]

Of any of the ten fundamentals this one always catches my breathe. As and Enneagram 2 (The Considerate Helper), I strive to always be helpful. There are plenty of examples when I've gotten my "help" wrong. Believe it or not, your desire to help doesn't mean your help will actually be helpful. 

Early in my consulting career, I was with a Client walking the grounds of her school. She was having challenges with her board (as headmasters often do) and in particular the board's role in helping her advance the mission of the school. So I offered to host a training on a BoardSource's roles and responsibilities of being a board member. She was all over it and enthusiastic for the training and how it could help shape the board. 

Well the training backfired and I learned a very important lesson that day. Many people have very different definitions of what it means to be a board member. This intervention would have more helpful if we would have started by posing a question, such as "What does being an exemplary board member mean to you?" Or "What are the top three learning needs you have in becoming an excellent board member?"

Pretty simple questions when it comes right down to it. 

So as you consider walking in a Client's front door, remember even that is an intervention. 

If you have any comments about fundamental #6, please don’t hesitate to email me. I’d love to learn your prospective. Please watch this space for the 7^th fundamental next week.

We will be reviewing all ten fundamentals at the Society’s upcoming conference on 11 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] Process Consultation Revisited. Edgar H. Schein, page 17. Addison-Wesley, 1999.

Please take a moment to learn more about the Society's upcoming conference in Philadelphia PA 10 - 12 November 2024!

If you'd like to write a blog post for the Society for Process Consulting, please send an e-mail to admin@societyforprocessconsuting.com.