Extra time on your hands due to the Covid-19 crisis? Unsure of your future employment or consulting situation? 

Try our special Fast-Track Process Consulting 101 course. The condensed course is only $1,500 (normally $2,200), with the same content as our regular PCT101 AND you earn Certified Process Consultant status. It’s all online with personal guides/mentors to help propel you forward.  You will learn:
• How process consulting is different
• How to build your consulting pipeline and ecosystem
• The art of creating client agreements
• The elements of a strong business plan

Register now - starts APRIL 1 or APRIL 3 – your choice!

- Kim Stezala

As process consultants we often facilitate client meetings, so it is easy to fall into familiar patterns that begin to feel mundane. In need of a bit of inspiration to change the routine, I was happy to discover Priya Parker’s book The Art of Gathering: How we meet and why it matters. There are two concepts that struck me as particularly useful.

The first is the idea of “pop-up rules” for meetings, social gatherings, dinners, etc., to ensure that all participants are operating from the same set of rules, and to not assume how people will interact or behave. Parker suggests that the host should establish some rules at meetings. For instance, at a social gathering a rule might be “no talking about your job” or “the first person to pick up their phone pays the bill.” For a business meeting, a rule might be “people in the same department can’t sit next to each other.”

The other concept somewhat contradicts my values, so I imagine I will have a harder time implementing it. Parker asserts that in our quest for inclusion, we possibly overlook the importance of EXclusion in who should attend a gathering; we are driven by the fear of leaving someone out or being accused of exclusionary practices. I really had to think about this. Part of process consulting is to be iterative and inclusive. We strive to define the “who,” as in who needs to be in the room, why they should participate, what they will contribute or gain, and how they will be engaged. Some take inclusion to the extreme and invite everybody but we have all experienced sitting in a meeting and wondering “Why am I here?” the whole time wishing we were somewhere else. Parker also gives suggestions on how to handle the inclusion/exclusion dilemma in social settings, which can be just as crucial to client relations as a formal board meeting.

If you are intrigued by Parker’s ideas, I suggest viewing her 10-minute Ted Talk at https://www.priyaparker.com/. Her courageous facilitation of a “cage-match” style argument about the future vision of a company will make you glad you took the time to watch it. I know I am.

- Kim Stezala

I had a wonderful interview with Kay Edwards, founder and CEO of Outsight Network, who described the upcoming Fearless Weekend. To find out what to expect, please listen to the attached recording of our conversation. It's only 12 minutes long, and those 12 minutes could be what it takes for you to choose to come be fearless with us! We'd love to have you join us for the retreat by Lake Michigan in October; visit the event calendar on our homepage to register. Listen to the recording now.

- Hallie Knox

Do you ever feel like you are stuck? You have an idea but you aren't sure if there is a market for it or you are not sure if the format or price point is correct. Do you have an old presentation that needs a refresh? Need to pivot but not sure how or where?

As an idea person I spend a lot of time thinking about these things but with a full workload I usually just put them in my "idea folder" (yes, I have one of those) to be unearthed at some undisclosed date in the distant future. Let's face it - it takes time and attention to be creative and nurture our ideas. Which got us to thinking...how could we help members and hold space for this to happen?

The Society for Process Consulting is collaborating with Outsight Network to craft an event for consultants, thought leaders and business owners to spend quality time together, helping each other, while innovating, networking and improving our own businesses or organizations.

We invite you to join us at Fearless Weekend on 12 October 2019. We are offering this retreat to help members step out of the office or out of the field and dig deep into building ideas, skills and relationships, all while recharging your mindset in a beautiful location along the bluffs of Lake Michigan. Download the flier below for more information or visit here. Early bird registration ends 30 June 2019 - that is also the deadline to submit your proposal to share your idea. P.S. We won't choose the presenters - registered participants will!

- Kim Stezala

As a process consultant, sometimes it is difficult to not step in and solve the problem for a client. Sure, I bring a level of expertise in my field and in facilitation, but I am NOT the expert in that leader’s or that organization’s culture – THEY are. 

This revelation is apparent when conversing with Sandra Quick, a 30+ year educator extraordinaire with street cred to match, who is the instructor for our next course:  Building Capacity for Cultural Congruence (BCCC)

Options for cultural competence training abound, but this course is specifically for CONSULTANTS who CARE about navigating the seen, unseen and behind-the-scenes cultural forces and interplay within any given organization. 

The BCCC course also offers participants a reality check about their own cultural assumptions and how that affects the consultative “helping” relationship. Are you stepping on toes? Encouraging neediness? Building co-dependency? Assuming you know the cultural nuances? To build a better practice, we as consultants must constantly adapt, learn and challenge ourselves, ultimately, to benefit the client.

Sandra says it best: “Cultural competence assists in understanding your own cultural values, beliefs, opinions and feelings. The practice of acknowledging and accepting others’ differences is paramount to understanding the dynamics of difference.  Developing and adapting your skills from learned cultural knowledge will lead to cultural advocacy. Cultural congruence is the ability to adapt practiced skills to fit the cultural context of the client being served.”

Are you ready to up your game as a culturally competent consultant?  To learn more about the instructor or register for BCCC, which starts May 15th,  click here. 

- Kim Stezala

Perhaps you remember the Consultick from the Dilbert cartoon. This funny and all too painful caricature of the consulting profession is the antithesis of what we do and is what drives the idea of process consulting. Rather than sell, tell and disappear as a consultick might do or trade on what may have worked elsewhere, the idea of process consulting is to work with client-defined and client-owned objectives, taking the risk of learning together.

Process consulting, as enshrined in the work of folks like Peter Block and Edgar Schein, is the central commitment of the Society for Process Consulting, now offering a professional community and credential that rises to the highest of consulting standards and ethics.

I got started in this field in 1989. In 2001, we established Design Group International  as a community of practice for people with deep expertise and a commitment to work beside their clients to meet client-defined objectives rather than to bleed them.

As this community grew we discovered there was no consistent training for professionals, and no standards-bearing organization to keep raising the quality of process consultants. We wanted this for those who joined our community of practice. As a result the Society for Process Consulting was born and placed under the capable direction of Kim Stezala.

We look forward to the day—and believe it possible—that CEOs will expect consultants they retain to be co-learners with them, and to follow the standards set by the Society for Process Consulting.

-mark l vincent