Scaling up the capacity of the consulting community to practice conversational approaches to development - emerging lessons from work-based appreciative inquiry Stefan Cantore

Senior Teaching Fellow, School of Management

World Appreciative Inquiry Conference 28 April 2012

My thanks to my fellow inquirers at OPM: Bob Baker Liz Goold David Love Munira Thobani Paul Tarplett To the Board of OPM ( The Office for Public Management) The Universities of Southampton and Middlesex, UK

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Outline •  Why the need to scale up consulting capacity?

•  What is conversational consulting?

•  My story as a Practitioner/Researcher

•  Context and co-researchers

•  Research narrative—developing conversational inquiry

•  Emerging insights

•  Next steps

•  Third bullet point

•  Fourth bullet point

•  Fifth bullet point

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Why the need to scale up consulting capacity? •  Client demand

•  Shifts towards conversational leadership:

‘the leader’s intentional use of conversation as a core process to cultivate the collective intelligence needed to create business and social value’

(Hurley & Brown, 2009 p.2)

•  Consultant awareness

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What is conversational consulting? Conversational consulting is the practice of enabling contracted helping relationships through which people skilled and knowledgeable in conversation as a change process work with clients to create conversations that make a positive difference to businesses/organisations.

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My story as a Practitioner/Researcher

 

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Questions •  What can I do to develop my own practice as a consultant in

a way that will support clients move to a conversational approach in their leadership and organisations?

•  What role can conversation play in a client-consultant relationship?

•  What can I and my colleagues do together that will enhance our conversational consulting practice?

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Context and co-researchers

‘OPM is an independent centre for the development of public services. We provide consultancy, coaching and research to organisations that want to improve social outcomes, meet the needs of their communities and respond to change.’

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Persuading the OPM Board •  Higher levels of innovation in our organisational consulting

work when compared with competitors, a number of whom are adopting a range of conversational approaches including Appreciative Inquiry

•  New approaches to how the way a consultant works rather than what knowledge and experience they bring. This modelling of different behaviours will support clients and consultants understand in greater depth the behaviours and skills they need to work conversationally.

•  Doctorate level research that underpins the company’s consulting practice and methods.

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Research narrative—developing conversational inquiry •  Co-operative Inquiry

‘Co-operative inquiry involves two or more people researching a topic through their own experience of it, using a series of cycles in which they move between this experience and reflecting together on it.’ (Heron, 1996 p.1)

And

•  Appreciative Inquiry

To create a Conversational Inquiry Process

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Research process •  6 formal meetings between February 2011 and February

2012

•  Average attendance 4/5

•  2 hours in length

•  Recorded

‘a Co-operative or Relational development process using Inquiry (both Co-operative and Appreciative) as the relational space to enable this (development in practice).’

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Emerging insights •  Context matters

Ø Shared values

Ø Organisational support (helps legitimacy)

Ø Concerns of clients ‘present’ with us

Ø Impact on wider company

Ø Positive colleague relationships

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Emerging insights •  Process matters

Ø Group ultimately designed its’ own unique process

Ø Crafting questions a struggle

Ø Positive feel and intention

Ø Tension between personal role and co-researching role

Ø Personal reasons for being involved

Ø Radical aspirations

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Emerging insights about conversational consulting

•  The consultant can more effectively live out their values

•  A different, even slower, pace of consulting

•  A different , deeper quality of relationship with clients emerge

•  Emotional engagement with self and client

•  Higher levels of anxiety at times

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Emerging insights about conversational consulting •  Often the need to explain to clients the approach you are

taking

•  An approach to learning with the client as much as consulting ‘to’ the client

•  Deeper levels of self awareness for both client and consultant

•  Uncertainty about the value of this approach by some clients

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Emerging insights about conversational consulting •  Has the potential to change the power dynamics between

client and consultant

•  It offers the consultant a more holistic approach to life as well as consulting practice

•  There is a connection between what goes on in the inquiry process and how the relationships with existing clients develop- part of the same system

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The voice of Munira

‘More profoundly for me, it has felt like I am finding myself, understanding what values, beliefs, perspectives on subject content and unique contribution I can make to facilitating and holding conversations and in my conversational consulting role.

The experience has also made me want to integrate the approach of encouraging others to learn and contribute to topics, inquiries, challenges and problems by identifying what their questions are rather than focussing on finding the solution.’

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Next steps

What can I/we learn from the good that has emerged from this research so far that will enable me/us to grow in our practice of conversational consulting into the future?

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Thank You Due in June 2012

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References

•  Heron, J. (1996). Co-operative inquiry: Research into the human condition Sage Publications Ltd, London.

•  Hurley, T. J., & Brown, J. (2009). Conversational leadership: Thinking together for change. The Systems Thinker, 20(9), 2-8.