In this stage, the consultant enters the organization and also enters into relationships with consultees.
This stage consists of the following phases:
Dan meets with the members of the organization that has requested his consultation services. He makes an effort to convey an attitude of humility and openness to learning about the needs of the organization. As Jennifer, the head of the organization, relates their current needs and expectations, he is careful not to assume that he fully understands all her expectations. Dan is observant and also makes inferences regarding the unspoken, implicit expectations Jennifer and her colleagues may have. He asks questions regarding possible implied expectations and also provides information to correct or shape expectations that are unrealistic.
In this stage, the consultant is concerned with understanding the problem, explored broadly in the Entry Stage, more deeply and clearly.
The phases of the Diagnosis Stage include:
In Module 3, you will be reading Chapter 5 on the Diagnosis Stage and Chapter 10 on Behavioral Consultation and Collaboration. The Behavioral Consultation Model complements the Diagnosis Stage. As noted in your textbook, “all consultants make at least occasional use of behavioral approaches to consultation” (p. 209). Further, behavioral approaches (for example, collecting baseline data on the behavioral performance of consultees) are often used by consultees in the Diagnosis Stage.
Karen meets with a group of consultees. In this meeting, she is interested in finding out what data the consultees have collected to give her a fuller picture of the nature of the organization’s problems. She is pleased to learn that they have been collecting useful data for the past two years. She uses this data as a basis for recommending potential approaches to addressing the organization’s problems.
In this stage, the consultant takes action to solve the problem(s) diagnosed in the preceding stage.
The phases of the Implementation Stage include:
Stage 3 is paired with Chapter 9 on Mental Health Consultation. Mental health counseling practice is strongly associated with implementing a treatment plan. In the implementation stage of consultation, the focus is also on the implementation of a plan. However, for consultants, this plan is designed to benefit an organization or system. Much like mental health practitioners, consultants for organizations recommend interventions that are evidence-based.
Denise is a consultant for a group of professionals who are members of an advisory board for an organization of approximately 60,000 members. In a previous meeting, Denise led the advisory board through a process through which they came to the conclusion that “improving advocacy services for organization members” should be a priority for the next three years. Simone is chair of the advisory board. Prior to the meeting, Simone and the other advisory board members reviewed the Board Book, which included descriptions of three possible interventions. At this meeting, Simone cites key factors (for example, evidence-based practice, cost-benefit analyses, and skills possessed by staff members) for the intervention selected by the advisory board. Denise and the advisory board agree on an intervention and draw up a timetable for adopting the intervention.
In the Disengagement Stage, the consultant evaluates the effectiveness of the consultation process and gradually reduces involvement with the consultee system.
The phases of this stage include:
Stage 4 is covered in Chapter 7 and is paired with Chapter 11 on Organizational Consultation and Collaboration. One of the models of consultation commonly used in organizational consultation is the Purchase of Expertise model. Frequently (though not always), the consultant is external to the organization. He or she is hired to use their expertise to solve or fix the problem, and when that is accomplished, they disengage from the organizational system. Disengaging with an organizational system is an important stage that should be handled with considerable care and skill.
Wyatt has successfully assisted a national organization whose presenting problem was attracting and retaining new members. He was able to establish himself as a welcome and integral player in bringing about the solution to this organizational problem. He has served as a consultant to this organization for a two-year period. During the problem solving process, he has observed that key members of the organization have acquired the necessary skills to monitor and maintain the solution independently. As a result, he now spends less time and energy engaging with the consultees. He has begun to prepare the consultees for maintaining the solution without his assistance.