Organisational Consultancy
Supporting workplaces to achieve their ambitions by bringing under the surface dynamics and obstacles into focus
Organisations and teams often find that day-to-day objectives, project aims, strategic priorities and healthy staff wellbeing aren’t consistently achieved. This can happen despite planning and care, and sometimes it can be challenging to work out why.
Often, factors such as change, structure, capability, personality and management style are quickly identified as roots of the problem. Those issues may be part of a picture, but organisational consultancy aims to surface the harder to reach emotional and systemic dimensions at play, enabling authentic and lasting new perspectives.
my approach
My approach is based on a Systems-Psychodynamic model, often referred to as the ‘Tavistock model’ owing to its roots in the Tavistock Institute of Human Relations and later the Tavistock Clinic in London. The three key elements of my approach are:
Enabling a safe space where unconscious emotions, motivations and conflicts within and between people working in the organisation / department can be surfaced and understood. The aim is to further effective and productive working relationships between individuals, teams and across departmental boundaries.
Bringing group relations and dynamics into focus. This develops understanding of what goes on unconsciously in groups and how this influences organisations and their work. Staff may feel at a loss to understand why teams seem less productive than their skills and experience suggest, or why teams are diligently engaged in work that runs counter to agreed objectives and priorities. This approach offers new insights into what staff and teams may be unconsciously communicating, and supports organisations to develop team performance, engagement and wellbeing.
Examining the organisation and its context as a whole system. Mapping a whole system, from individual roles through to organisational structures and external local, sector specific, political, societal and international contexts can reveal surprising new perspectives. By thinking systemically, staff are supported to consider a wider range of possibilities for understanding how and why parts of the organisation relate to each other as they do, how people operate across boundaries and how parts of the system relate to the whole.
when is organisational consultancy helpful?
The most common reasons for organisational consultancy are:
Substantial change / re-structure
Responding to high demand with constrained resources
Highly competitive environment
Settings that involve working with people in various degrees of need, distress or crisis
Experiencing performance or productivity issues; low staff morale; anxiety; uncertainty; difficult dilemmas; conflict or complex dynamics
what form does the consultancy take?
Each consultancy engagement is different and my approach is flexible. Most commonly, it involves sessions with staff groups, managers and leaders - separately and sometimes together. Sessions usually take the form of structured discussion groups and workshop style activities.
Providing this support through a consultant external to the organisation enables an ‘outside the system’ position to be held throughout the work. This helps to maintain rigorous thinking and challenge, as well as offering staff a neutral space in which to engage with potentially difficult material and test out possibilities.
Sessions normally take place at your organisation’s premises, or online via Zoom.
workplace settings
I provide organisational consultancy across all sectors - public, private and third (including social enterprise).
While my past professional experience of holding leadership roles informs my current work as an organisational and role consultant, I have found that the absence of sector specific expertise brings a valuable dimension to this work by helping to maintain a position of ‘not knowing’ and enabling collaborative exploration of potential blind spots.
University sector experience
I held a number of management and leadership roles during my 25 years in the UK Higher Education Sector, specifically relating to student wellbeing services and strategy. Through this, as well as my work as an organisational and role consultant, I have extensive experience of working with academic and professional services staff at all levels, including senior leadership, where I have seen the profound impact that a safe, reflective space to process these issues can have.
Please contact me to discuss organisational consultancy, and for my fees.