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In This Issue Training Programs Each newsletter, we will provide links to training programs in which the Cleveland Consulting Group, Inc. is directly involved. Coaching Workshops Master's Degree in Diversity Management. Leadership Development Conflict, Confrontation, & Negotiation Introductory Workshop Quick Links Find more articles and resources |
In this issue we start a conversation on Shadow Consulting. Highlighted professional and executive development programs are for programs at the Gestalt Institute of Cleveland's Becoming an Effective Organizational Intervener (BEI), Conflict Confrontation, & Negotiation, (CCN) and the Coaching Program. BEI is focused on increasing the effectiveness of consultants and executives. The basic issue is that to induce change we must interrupt the system or it will continue as it has been designed. Furthermore, BEI increases the effectiveness by enhancing the skills to influence others (employees, clients, etc.) whether you have formal power or not. CCN is a program focused on how gestalt theory informs us in addressing conflict, confrontation, and negotiation. All three topics have become critical or core competencies of effective executives, coaches, and consultants. This brand new program will be quite exciting. Enjoy the newsletter, and please forward it if you know someone who might be interested. If this newsletter does not serve your needs, just click unsubscribe below. Bountiful blessings Herb StevensonPresident/CEO Shadow Consultant:
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Client |
SC Role |
Level of System |
Project Leader and Lead Consultant |
Coaching and/or Consulting |
Intra-personal--consciously or unconsciously, what and/or how I think in relation to different life situations, often referred to as the experiences, knowledge, and stories that I carry from all of my life's experiences. |
Project Leader, Lead Consultant, |
Coaching and/or Consulting |
Inter-personal--consciously or unconsciously, the interaction between one person and another. It focuses on what you and I respond to and/or how we respond to each other as we co-create our relationship and the roles we play in the intervention. It addresses the exchange between us. |
Project Leader, Lead Consultant, |
Consulting: |
Small group-- consciously or unconsciously, what we choose as a group to respond to and how we choose to respond to each other via conflicts, problems, or situations of the group as we co-create our relationship and the roles we play in the intervention. |
Project Leader, Lead Consultant, |
Consulting: Process and/or Content |
Organization--consciously or unconsciously, what we as an organization choose to respond to and how we choose to respond to each other or to conflicts, problems, or situations within the organization as we co-create our relationship and the roles we play in the intervention. |
Knowing the role combined with naming the levels of system the shadow consultant will intervene enhances the effectiveness of the shadow consulting process.
A critical component of shadow consulting is the client perception. The client system, juxtaposed to the consultant, will want to know why a shadow consultant is needed. More in the past, consultant fears rose quickly about the possibility of losing the contract because the client would infer the lack of competency to fulfill the job. More recently, client systems are aware that large scale and complex, transformational change requires a multidimensional approach. Each level of system has its own set of dynamics, much like a kaleidoscope. Even though the colors and geometric designs remain basically the same, each turn of the kaleidoscope reveals a different view. The same applies to the different levels of system and the use of the shadow consultant. Each level of system presents a different view of the overall system as does the shadow consultant differ from the consultant.
Client systems typically find that the addition of a shadow consultant for the project leader, lead consultant, change team, and/or the overall project increases the effectiveness of the initiative and therefore the intervention. The focus of the project tends to stay crisp and clear, thereby supporting sharper interventions that lead more directly to the desired outcomes. The shadow consultant provides an organic element to the process allowing a refinement of the intervention in process.
Cady, Dannemiller amd Eggers (2003), after interviewing the experts of whole system transformation , noted that successful whole system (WS) change methods include five common elements. The first common element is that the WS method addresses the "system" and its "boundaries" as an organic, living entity that seeks balance. The boundaries are the definitional restraints that seek to maintain "things as they are" while often sitting outside the system awareness. The shadow consultant provides a different view and often is able to see the dynamics of the system and its boundaries from a different view than the internal project leaders, consultant, or consulting team, thereby increasing the chances of supporting a shift in the systems dynamic equilibrium that seeks to return to the existing homeostasis.
The second common WS change element is "purpose". "Purpose focuses on the reasons for the transformation. At its core, purpose answers the question, How will the system be different?" (Cady, Dannemiller, & Eggers, 2003. When the intensity and complexity of the WS change process is in full swing, the level of complexity tends to blur the details allowing the purpose to blend into the details. The shadow consultant holds the meta-view of why are we making the change, what will the system look like on the other side of the change cauldron, and are we staying on course for the changes we seek.
The third common element of WS change is to remember the process is a "journey". "Each of the founders of whole system transformation methods appears to see the change journey as some form of well-researched road map, articulated in terms of the purpose of each step and the requirements between steps (Cady, Dannemiller, & Eggers, 2003). Translated into shadow consulting terms, there is a meta-process of all whole system change. This meta-process follows an innate phenomenon that is often lost in the complexity and is frequently brought forth when the work becomes more difficult, such as when resistances begin to surface or the change process slows down like thick molasses, frustrating the project leader, lead consultant, and/or change team. Realizing that the change process is like a large cauldron where various ingredients are brought forth into a container, heated, stirred, and cooked until the ingredients alchemically change allowing some thing brand new to emerge, the shadow consultant is able to support the change team members to broaden or deepen their view to refocus onto the meta-process thereby maintaining a double vision of the larger system processes as well as the lower levels of system during the change process.
The fourth common WS change element is "theory". "Good theory is the result of good research" (Cady, Dannemiller, & Eggers, 2003) and good shadow consulting is the result of lots of experience. Schooled in the various WS change theories through study and actual practices leads to an innate understanding of what is happening in the WS change process as well as how different WS change methods can be commingled to create something new or something different that specifically applies to the system at hand. Typically, the shadow consultant will bring something to the change team that might not otherwise exist.
The fifth common element of WS change methods is "values". "[E]ach of the WS change founders...[was]... profoundly and totally driven by values about people, learning, caring, confrontation, and empowerment" (Cady, Dannemiller, & Eggers, 2003). The shadow consultant acts to remind the project leader, lead consultant, and/or team why they have committed so much of their time and resources to supporting a whole system change. WS change requires that "we have to live our values with every breath we take, every word we utter, every design we use. Any incongruity will bring the system to different results...Our challenge isn't to attempt to alter the environment, but rather to unleash the shared organizational identity that existed from the very beginning (Cady, Dannemiller, & Eggers, 2003).
In this article, I have attempted to bring forth the concepts of shadow consulting as originally developed by Marjan Shroder 36 years ago and update their application to the various levels of system that can occur. Moreover, I have attempted to bring forth the awareness that shadow consulting is a perfect fit for whole system change.
HERB STEVENSON is President/CEO of the Cleveland Consulting Group, Inc. He has been a management consultant and executive coach for over 20 years. Herb has published 26 books and is listed in eight Who's Who categories. He is on the postgraduate faculty of the Gestalt Institute of Cleveland, where he is Co-chair of the Executive & Organization Development Becoming an Effective organizational Intervener program. Herb is a member of the postgraduate faculty of the College of Executive Coaches, which certifies executive coaches in affiliation with the ICF and a member of the graduate faculty of Cleveland State University's Department of Psychology, Diversity Management master's degree program. You can reach Herb at CleveConsultGrp@aol.com .
Alban, Billie, (1974) Comments on the Preceding Article, in The Journal of Applied Behavioral Science, Vol. 10. No. 4. 595-597.
Cady, Steven, Dannemiller, Kathleen, & Eggers, Mary (2003) "System Transformation: The Power of Being Whole" Linkage & Lean eNewsletter.
Shroder, Marjan (1974) The Shadow Consultant, in The Journal of Applied Behavioral Science, Vol. 10. No. 4. 579-594
For over thirty years, the Gestalt Institute of Cleveland has acknowledged and taught that successful leadership requires an indepth awareness of oneself coupled with the capacity to understand organization and system dynamics sufficiently to create effective personal and organizational interventions. Therefore, the basic premise of Personal & Organizational Effectiveness: Becoming An Effective Organizational Intervener is that through better interventions, individuals become more effective leaders.
Learn more on the Gestalt Institute of Cleveland's website, or download a PDF brochure here.
The Gestalt Institute of Cleveland specializes in coaching training and offers a wide selection of workshops throughout the year, including certification. Find out more on the Gestalt Institute's website at www.gestaltcleveland.com/coaching .
The Introductory workshop is a prerequisite for attending the Gestalt Institute of Cleveland Executive & Organization Development Program, Conflict, Confrontation, & Negotiation (CCN). This three-day workshop provides an opportunity to experience the "gestalt" approach through learning basic concepts and applying them through structured conflict, confrontation, and negotiation exercises. Unique to our approach is that each workshop is a balance of direct teaching and immediate application.Find out more on the Gestalt Institute's website at www.gestaltcleveland.com/coaching .
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