Consulting Alliance

The idea of a Consulting Alliance came up a meeting of our Jobs Group and was approved by the Coordinating Committee.  The purpose of the Consulting Alliance is to provide pro bono or low cost consulting in the not for profit sector and possibly in other areas where the light of organizational development learning has not yet begun to shine. Its activities are organized so as not to compete with other existing consulting efforts and to broaden the market for OD services.

The Alliance helps new practitioners gain experience, but also welcomes the participation of senior consultants. In addition, we are exploring options regarding virtual participation and documenting the work of the Alliance in case study format.

From the formative meeting of the Alliance in May 2004, a team of five members emerged. The group agreed to use Peter Block's Flawless Consulting model and to work on a self-facilitating basis.

The team met weekly through October, using an e-group for communication and project management. It began by developing norms and standards.

Its next step was to produce a  marketing brochure that helped attract several potential clients. Having selected a client, it  proceeded to hold a contracting meeting, draft a contract, and design and begin data collection. 

Analysis of the data was, as expected, a time consuming process and several meetings were dedicated to that step. After achieving a consensus on issues and themes observed, the team held a preliminary feedback meeting with the client.

Next came several weeks of developing recommendations and preparing for a presentation meeting with the client. At that meeting, the client agreed, pursuant to its contract with the Alliance, to meet with the team six months later so that they could learn how the recommendations turned out.

The experiences and results of that consultation will presented by member of Team One at our June 29 "Case Studies program. In addition, Team One made a presentation at the August 2005 113 Annual Convention of the American Psychological Association.

The team held a debrief meeting one month after its consultation that provided lessons learned and transferable knowledge.  The experience was  recognized by all members as richly rewarding.  At the same time, those participating noted that a heavy time commitment (at least five hours per week) is necessary.

The Coordinating Committee therefore approved the formation of a "Team Two," and a formative meeting was successfully held in January.  Following the same general procedure and schedule, Team Two developed norms, found a client, conducted data collection via interviews and meeting observations, analyzed this findings to find themes and solutions, and produced recommendations that it presented to the client in May.

A Team Two debrief meeting was also held.  Like its predecessor, Team Two also secured a commitment to meet with its client six months after the recommendations to discuss how things turned out. 

A waiting list has already been established for a third Alliance Team and a formative meeting will be held as soon as there is a "quorum". Members who are interested in joining this effort should write to alliance@learninggroup.org.