Introduction into Consulting Skills

How many times have I heard when I ask the question, "what do you do?" "I'm a consultant." My thought to that usually connotes "I'm currently unemployed, so I am offering my skills to those who need it." I'm sure others have had that thought as many are not very clear what a consultant really is.

That is my thought in a personal setting maybe sitting around drinking a cold beverage at a picnic, but professionally my experiences with a consultant have been someone who helps our organization hire a person so we don't have to do all the work. Maybe it is an individual who has a better pulse on who is available in the job market.

Sometimes I wonder if even an individual who claims he or she is a consultant understands what one is. The word itself seems to be thrown around without too much thought and seems to look pretty good on a business card.

Sunday afternoon I met an individual who actually did say "I am a consultant." And he had a fancy business card too. As I listened to him explain that "we help companies make decisions about people issues...", It dawned on me that this guy really didn't know what a consultant really was either.

I found myself reflecting on that first night of class where I came to the conclusion a consultant is not a noun (whereby it is a person), but rather a verb (in that it represents a process). After reading the course objectives it occur ed to me that we will delve deeply into the process of consulting focusing on how we can use consulting skills to further enrich our roles as adult educators.

It's hard to believe one hour managed to erase a career's worth of negative connotation.

Faciltation exercise

What an exciting exercise!!!!!!

I thought every group did a fantastic job at this exercise. My only wish was that we could have had more time. In hind sight, as an individual facilitator, I should have focused my exercise to more specific points, instead of concentrating on the macro concepts of dealing with a ineffective boss. I engaged the group in good conversation, but had a difficult time with the time management aspect of the exercise. My evaluations were very clear on that point. Still, it was a great exercise and I had fun.

I was pretty amazed with how each topic (chapter) at some shape or form related to one another. What is most interesting about the text is how it references to another part or chapter with specific details how it relates. It really is a handbook, a how to manual of group facilitation.

Out of all the exercises we participated in, I took the most a way from Karen's exercise on interruptions. I am currently faced with a co-worker who constantly interrupts me and I felt this exercise gave me some tools to overcome this object able behavior. It comes down to a risky conversation on getting my voice heard!!!!!

Wiki at work cont.....

Yesterday we had our first on-line meeting using instant messenger and the wiki simultaneously. It was not a disaster, but the powers that be made some assumptions about our team members. That assumption was the team as whole would understand using the technology. The assistant vice president is an IT whiz. She understands technology extremely well. I would say about half the team did not and were completely lost. Those of us who consider ourselves technocrats had no problem. Those who barely understand were annoyed.

Where did we go wrong? We made assumptions about the team. In the adult learning world, you can not make assumptions about your learners, an educator has to assess his or her learners.

I almost think we needed to have a face to face meeting first to assess the team's comprehension of the wiki tools as well as the IM chat feature. Though our team are not learners, they are adults and the same rules apply.

On a lighter side I have deemed our web 2.0 venture as WikiKintera. I thought it was funny.

Using what I learn and applying it...

Recently, I was asked to join the implementation team for a database application we are putting into production for our alumni. The majority of our work will focus on creating policy and procedure for the use of the application. The assistant vice president for our advancement services division approached me for some ideas on how we can collborate as team without having too many meetings. We would be creating content that people would need to contribute to on an constant basis. I suggested we use a WIKI.

The AVP loved the idea and we will conduct our first meeting this afternoon using the WIKI. I am very excited. More to follow!!!!!

Learning about a Paradox is a Paradox

What a class last night. I mean, talk about Philosophy 101. I think I now know less about a paradox than before the class. No really, just a really bad paradox joke.

Seriously, certain aspects of group dynamics can certainly be a paradox. I think for example the the paradox of disclosure. How much do you really want to disclose? Will it be too much or not enough? When do you disclose? What do you disclose? I suppose if it were easy it wouldn't be a paradox. So one thinks.

In the example of Julius and Gary sharing their real feelings with one another is an example of disclosure. Their brutal honesty with one another allowed for the first steps in a long season of the Titans becoming a true team. By disclosing their feelings without holding back, they opened up a door to true team unity.

But that sharing could have had the opposite effect. Perhaps that exchange could have made things worse. I remember as a kid, maybe 12 or 13, I had a similar exchange with a team mate about the team member not pulling his weight and missing key plays (soccer). I said to the team mate, "Come on Ned, get with the program." I was the team's goalie which is very much a team leader outside of the team captain, which was Ned. Ned played defense and often times thought he was right. Sometimes his stubbornness made him a bad captain. I remember it was practice and Ned was doing what Ned needed to do, which wasn't what I needed. His lack of field placement (being in the wrong place at the right time) cost our practice squad a goal. I was angry and so I shared my frustration with Ned. Ned and I got into a fist fight and therefore spent the rest of the practice running laps and were benched next Saturday.

Here you had two leaders on the team out of an important game because of disclosure. After that exchange Ned and I were no longer friends and our team suffered. I blamed myself for that, but also thought I did the right thing. The next season, I returned and Ned moved to another team. My coach the next season approached me (he was the assistant coach the season prior) and eventually commended my actions to standing up to Ned. You see need was a cancer on the team. I quit blaming myself for that incident and only just remembered it when reflecting on disclosure.

Debate...what better way to understand conflict!

I have two items I wish to reflect on this morning. First, my experience in my group presentation and second the reflection activity the Yellow birds had us participate in Monday evening.

Personally, I thought our group did a fantastic job. We sort of put ourselves out on a limb using debate as our main instructional strategy. There was a bit of resistance at first, but once we worked through how it would work that anxiety subsided. In addition to our group, the class did an excellent job as well. I'm certain the anxiety level amongst the class was at an all time high, but you could tell they were into it after the initial nerves went away. Some after thoughts to the project: I wish we had just a bit more time. A. It would have been nice to allow more discussion time amongst the group members and B. I think the exercise would have benefited greater with a bit more time spent on learning debate. All in all, i think the class got a lot out of the exercise. Debating is a great way to immerse learners into interaction with other learners.

The Yellow Birds reflective exercise was AWESOME!!!!!!!!! Great job guys. What an interesting way to think about what we as the learners got out of your presentation. I was a bit hesitant at first, but once I dropped my apprehension to creativity, it was off to the races. Thank you for sharing that activity!

You Tube and me

Monday night was very interesting and it wasn't so much the content, but more so on how the content was presented. Levi does an excellent job discussing Groupthink, but when a video was presented further illustrating groupthink, I was able to grasp the concept.

This made me think about you tube for a minute. My wife and I use the sight as a form of entertainment. We look for funny videos and even videos to entertain the children. But, it occurred to me that you tube can also be used as a teaching tool.

Adult learning (I suppose learning in general) has come along way. It was mentioned that training videos can cost an organization upwards of $1,000. But with you tube an instructor can search content that he or she believe would suppliment a class room instructional period saving time and money. With you tube you can use what is available, not worrying about taking too much time with a long drawn out video.

I am glad I saw an alternative use of you tube. Be assured our group will use you tube in our next presentation.