The consulting industry has been taking some dings! And rightfully so.
Two pieces of evidence:
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A Wall Street Journal article just this past week asked how consultants can consult with businesses when their own model is broken.
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David Epstein's book Range, points to the consulting industry as stuck in single-loop learning (basically, regurgitating what they think they know and appears to work elsewhere)
About single loop learning. It's so different than the triple-loop learning that learning organizations need.
Here is a quick primer in case triple-loop learning is new to you. It is a simple description courtesy of my long-time and poetic-hearted colleague, Arlen Vernava.
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Single loop: I walk out of the door and get stung by a bee. Ow! There's a bee!
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Double loop: Checking outside the door before departing to be sure there are no bees. Oh! There's a bee! I'll go out the back door!
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Triple loop: There's a bee hive out there. Honey!!$$
For more on this, see this previous blog post on learning organizations.
Maestro-level leaders are concerned with the future value of their enterprise. More picturesquely, they are drawing on their best skills to turn bee stings into honey businesses, making opportunities out of problems. This is such a different approach than merely trying to avoid problems, and it is where differentiating and innovating revenue lines are built. Without doing so, the business they wish to transition to the leadership of others will be in decline.
Whether team members or trusted advisors, Maestro-level leaders need partners who know how to foster and facilitate executive-level thinking. This level of partnership is what Process Consulting exists for—walking alongside to figure it out with the Client rather than trying to sell, resell, and upsell knowledge that already exists and might never have been successfully applied in a real-world scenario, and certainly not in your business and your unique context. It is a paradox. Who could do this alone? And who can truly assume that what worked for others will work for you? We have to figure it out and do so with others who are as dogged about our mission as we are.
We've enshrined triple-loop learning and Process Consulting into our Maestro-level leader cohorts' executive advising and group experiences. If you are such a leader, we would enjoy a conversation with you.
I walk alongside leaders, listening to understand their challenges, and helping them lead healthy organizations that flourish.
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