The Different States of the Consulting Process
The consulting process involves giving respect to the audience, identifying with the client, being equipped with a good base of information, alluding to the real day-to-day facts, and making the audience crave for more information. Each of these stages is important in ensuring that the overall goal of the consultation process is achieved with minimal resistance by the client and the audience (Lucas, 2008).
The professor accords respect to the audience from the point that he enters the room to address them. This is exhibited when he appreciates how much the audience already knows. Thus, by doing this he is winning the faith and trust of those who may be skeptical about what he speaks and how he acts. This shows how keen he is concerning the application of emotional intelligence in order to understand the mood of the audience.
In addition, he maintains that the audience is part of the system and gives credit for any effort made as a result. This is why he gets credit for being good at using creative approaches to analyze his ideas. Furthermore, he believes that understanding of the information in his area of study is essential.
Thus, it is difficult for the audience to challenge the professor as the information he presents is verified. More so, when he talks he ensures that he alludes to what happens in the real life situation and this helps in supporting his assertions. He also winds up his talk by making the audience crave for more by arguing that much is yet to be accomplished (Lukas, 2008).
Management of the Consulting Process
Proper management of the consulting process requires broad knowledge in the area of consultation, skills in creative approach analysis, auditing the client’s business capabilities, evaluating business opportunities, sample consulting contract, and the ability to use emotional intelligence. It should be mentioned that these aspects combine into a perfect means through which one can create the best consulting process while ensuring that everything pertaining to the process is not compromised (Schein, 1998).
The skills in creative approach are of utmost importance as they enable the manager to come up with new and innovative ideas that will improve the business comparing to others (Haan, 2004). This approach largely depends on a common sense rather than on what one necessarily knows.
It is through the approach that the business gets information that may be borrowed by other businesses requiring to streamline their operations to develop (Lukas, 2008). More so, it is important to audit the client’s business capabilities and know exactly the potential of the business in terms of the growth of assets and overall value.
The fairness of the Anecdote at the Beginning of the Article
The anecdote at the beginning of the sentence is fair. It comes clear that the driver outlines the obvious facts about the shepherd and his flock. Besides the shepherd does not ask the driver about that, meaning that the initiative comes from the consultant. Finally, taking the dog instead of a sheep, it shows how unprofessional and shallow the management consultants can be. Thus, one may question the necessity of such a profession if the specialists cannot bring any new information or just be helpful to their clients (Skapinker, 2010).
References
Haan, E. (2004). The consulting process as drama: Learning from King Lear. London, UK: Karnac Publishing.
Lukas, C. (2008). Consulting with nonprofits: A practitioner’s guide. Saint Paul, MN: Amherst Wilder Foundation.
Schein, E. (1998). Process consultation revisited: Building the helping relationship. London, UK: Addison-Wesley.
Skapinker, M. (2010). The consulting process: A flair for stating the obvious, New York, NY: McGraw Hill.