Inspiring Change PDF

6 INSPIRING CHANGE Many consultancies, if not most, miss out the critical summit stage of...

6 INSPIRING CHANGE Many consultancies, if not most, miss out the critical summit stage of change. They simply leave the client with a report and recommendations and hope optimistically that the client will accept and internalise the findings, decide that they want to change and then plan and implement those changes. Such consultancies do not really get to the heart of the issues. They are tempted to take a short cut directly from diagnosis to planning change. They fail because they remain too superficial – at the same level as most New Year resolutions. In taking a short cut, they miss out the vital summit of change. This is where the turning point happens. Nearing the summit is often the steepest and potentially the most dangerous part of the journey. It may be cold and foggy, hard to see the way ahead. People may be tired and complaining. But the summit of change is where we engage with the all- important emotional element of change. It is emotional commitment that will provide the vital energy to implement change in the future. Emotion, not brute logic, drives behaviour change. THE PROCESS OF CHANGE 3 Inspiring change 4 2 Planning for implementation Understanding the client system 5 Accompanying 1 implementation Engaging THE the client CONSULTANT 74 Consulting for Change: Strengthening Civil Society 75 To catalyse change through consultancy requires us to engage with the emotional aspects of change. However much we would like to skip FACING THE TRUTH quickly through this stage, moving too soon can be counter-productive. ‘What will trigger this CSO, this leader, this department to change?’ Unless we work with people’s fears – one of the main constraints is a critical question in all consultancies. It is at the core of consultant on change – our processes remain superficial. To address fears and effectiveness. connect with the values that drive behaviour we have to go deeper still. We need to let them endure the emotional pain of letting go in order to Truthful feedback given in the appropriate way is a vital ingredient in help them to connect with the positive excitement for change. We need any change. It is the trigger. The psychologist John White points out: to harness hope and expectation that give energy to change. As well as ‘No-one ever really changes for the better without somehow facing the truth.’ clouds, there are often fine views from the summit. (White, 1991:56) If the previous stage of ‘Understanding the client system’ has been done well, these two stages may blend into each other. It will be hard to For organisations to change, they have to acknowledge there are areas The power differentiate between them. The more collaborative the ‘Understanding for improvement. Honest feedback is essential in helping CSOs become aware of their blind spots. for change the client system’ has been, the greater the likelihood that it will have reached this summit stage automatically. Constructive feedback is so much more complex than simply telling comes from our How high and challenging this summit is obviously depends on another person what to do. How we give feedback, where, when and in what tone are just as important as the content of what is said. Creating consciences – how major the change is. For minor technical changes in a single department, the summit may be little more than a molehill. But for a safe space where people feel valued and affirmed, rather than of knowing we attacked, is essential if people are to respond constructively. major OD processes, it may be a high-altitude peak. Whatever type of have failed to live consultancy we are involved with, whether it is project planning, or Too often consultants assume that their written reports or agricultural advice or undertaking a programme evaluation, it is worth presentations are the only ways to give feedback. Reports may be the up to our own thinking through this important stage of change. This chapter focuses usual way for consultancy feedback, but written reports are a crude on major organisational change processes, but the same change tool for catalysing change. They can feel like trying to use a hammer standards. The principles also apply to all consultancies to some extent – even those to do delicate surgery. In facilitating feedback, consultants need to consider a wider variety of sources: key to change in aiming for minor change. Obviously, the importance and application of these principles will vary in different contexts. Feedback from conscience organisations is This is an uncertain and uncomfortable stage. Some people refer to this Feedback between peers holding up as the groan zone where people feel stuck, frustrated and want to give up. Conflicts may erupt. These are not necessarily negative. A period Feedback from the consultant a mirror. of struggle often precedes significant breakthroughs. Sometimes the FEEDBACK FROM CONSCIENCE mere act of acknowledging the existence of the groan zone can be a significant step for the group to take. People are most likely to change when they realise that behaviour is not consistent with their own values – when they realise there is Quality consulting takes people to the emotional summit of any human a gap between who they are and who they want to be. The most change. powerful force for change comes from our consciences – of knowing It usually involves consultants helping clients: we have failed to live up to our own standards. The key to change in organisations is holding up a mirror for the organisation to see itself as 1. Face the truth others do. People will then respond to their own conscience. This can by enabling clients to hear feedback from themselves (their Moving from a shift in perception to a willed response involves taking conscience); from colleagues or peers or from the outside consultant responsibility. The father of organisational change theories, Kurt themselves. Lewin (1958), pointed out that a key part of the first stage in change 2. Letting go is the ‘induced anxiety or guilt – a realisation that I am in some way Reaching the summit means helping the client let go of past ways of responsible’. To confront any issue requires us to take responsibility, behaving. It can be a sensitive process that involves sitting with pain, by acknowledging weakness or failure. As long as organisations or facing fears, and making difficult decisions. individuals externalise blame for a situation they will not change. 3. Energising hope Positive change also connects with positive emotions. It is about restoring relationships, connecting with people’s motivations and energy. This may including engaging with their faith. These three are not, however, neat and sequential steps. They are inter- connected and react with each other - more like three core elements of change, mixed up in a crucible and heated by emotion. 76 Consulting for Change: Strengthening Civil Society 77  Good consultancy reports are concise and to the point. They MY CONTRIBUTION EXERCISE benefit from an executive summary, which outlines the main FRAMING FOR findings. Good reports follow a clear structure and focus on In almost all my consultancy work, I have found one physical environment can help here. I often suggest LEARNING question incredibly useful for getting people to take they go for a walk or sit outside. What is important is three or four of the priority issues. There is little point in making a shopping list of 38 recommendations. The CSO will be unable I was part of a team doing a personal responsibility. I often ask people to reflect that they do this on their own (and without mobile to implement all of them and may focus on the least important. participatory impact assessment of an on and answer this: phones). INGO’s small-scale irrigation project Having too many recommendations may say more about the ‘How have I contributed to this situation?’ I then usually put them into carefully chosen groups consultant wanting to be seen as an expert in the eyes of the 18 months after it finished. Sadly, we to feed back on what they felt they heard. This public funder than about helping the CSO take the next one or two found little impact. The report from I tend to send people away on their own to listen to our lead consultant was highly critical, confession among peers increases the likelihood of steps forward. themselves, their conscience, their God, about how even aggressive. Its judgemental tone implementing change. Usually the group leaders feed they have contributed to a situation. In dealing with I have found that the best reports usually come after healthy reflected the writer’s personality. back to the plenary the substance of what came up. hurt and frustrations, it is important to get people discussion of the findings with the client. In that way, there Not surprisingly, the client was out of a ‘blamestorming’ attitude. Changing people’s are no surprises. It means there is much more chance that furious. I then had to go and do the the clients will come up with their own recommendations for subsequent verbal presentation. I was change. This gives much greater likelihood of implementation. incredibly nervous, not least because FEEDBACK BETWEEN PEERS Verbal feedback before written feedback is a useful rule of a friend of mine worked there. It’s not Another way of enabling the client to hear feedback is thumb for consultants. nice to have people hate you. simply to facilitate honest conversations among the staff Consultants are also often expected to give formal presentations I chose to present the same findings, themselves. They are in the best position to know what is of findings to an invited group. The benefit is that this gives the but framed in a different way – as a really going on and to work out among themselves how group the opportunity to ask questions and discuss contentious learning experience. I focused only best to change. If we do the collaborative diagnosis part issues. Public presentations demand different consulting skills. on what was most important and well in the previous stage, then such conversations are the ignored some of the minor areas of Consultants need to be adept at public speaking, using their natural consequence. In such cases, these two stages merge. criticism. It ended up really well. The voice, their posture and their body language as well as their Hearing feedback from colleagues we work with on a daily client felt it was a positive learning TO U C H I N G materials to convey a consistent message. basis, who know first-hand what goes on, whom we trust, experience, appreciated by all parties. can be much more powerful than feedback from an external R AW N E R V E S Sometimes in such presentations, we can be too polite. William I was still disappointed we had made consultant. Ogara from Kenya relates a time when he was giving feedback to such a mistake with the first report. I’ll never forget my first experience of a group of bishops. He was trying to put things in very sensitive I learned how important it is to In one CSO I was working with, after facilitating a process of evaluation. I was part of a team assessing terms so that they would be able to hear what he was saying always create opportunities for verbal individual reflection (similar to the one described above), it educational vocational training projects throughout the Middle East. without reacting defensively. So he spoke about the need for discussion of feedback before putting was important for them to resolve issues among themselves. them in writing. them to be ‘more open to their own learning’. After a while, his After the personal reflection, they were in a position to admit Visiting one Lebanese NGO I was struck Kenyan co-facilitator interrupted, saying: ‘What Dr Ogara means to each other where they had failed in the past, but also to by the religious books, signs and symbols Alison Napier is that you bishops are arrogant.’ They suddenly got it. They point out to each other areas in which others might improve. displayed throughout the training centre needed frankness and honest confrontation. The board treasurer commented afterwards: (which they also used for religious ‘That was the greatest thing in the whole process. I really did not meetings). I probed further with the There is no substitute for honesty in giving feedback. We have to see it coming. We said things to each other that we have never said beneficiaries and found that they felt be true to ourselves. before. For the first time we looked each other in the eye and said they had to take part in the religious One-to-one feedback is also an important tool. The benefit is it how it is. Something lifted from us. It was like walls were broken activities to continue to receive support down. It really was the work of the Holy Spirit.’ that we can say things to people in private which would not from the project. be appropriate in a group setting. In any consultancy, I would When I mentioned this in the report, the usually give the leader one-to-one feedback. As one African FEEDBACK FROM THE CONSULTANT local NGO was really upset. I’d obviously colleague said to me: ‘In all my interventions, I find I have to give As well as facilitating others to give feedback, a consultant’s touched a sensitive spot - their core leadership feedback that they have stopped getting from staff. core role is usually to give feedback himself or herself. identity. They asked me to remove any This often entails us going for walks in the forest together.’’ reference to it. I refused - for me it was Written reports are the usual and most public way of giving a matter of integrity. But I did adjust the feedback. They leave a written record, which people who are wording to put it in a more nuanced way not present can read and all can refer back to later. Reports and acceptable way. are powerful documents and need careful handling. Once something is in writing, it can take on a life force of its own. Looking back at this first experience, I There is no chance to probe and ask questions and people realise that I should have discussed such often read into it what they want. No one likes to have his sensitive findings verbally before putting or her work criticised by someone who has spent only a it in writing. I could have looked for more constructive ways of telling the truth. relatively short time looking at the programme. Lina Abirizk 78 Consulting for Change: Strengthening Civil Society 79 LETTING GO Fear about the future is what keeps people stuck in old ways of behaving. It is like a lock on the steering wheel that stops a “I am a firm believer ENGAGE WITH EMOTION car from turning. Fear is part of every change process I have ever been involved in. As facilitators, we have to be able to in lament. We have Emotion is at the core of change, but it can have both a S U R FA C I N G A N G E R engage with people’s fears. We often need to surface these to get to grips with positive and a negative influence. If we fail to engage with fears in a safe and sensitive way (with clear ground rules and emotion, it will reduce the potential for our consultancy to It was the last day of a three-day boundaries). This can help convert fear from a blockage into what went wrong training on facilitation skills and positive energy for change. catalyse real change. A colleague once reviewed a consultancy I had done to resolve board staff conflicts in a CSO. Although group dynamics. I got a call from and not gloss over the manager saying they needed One large NGO had begun restructuring and asked for help. participants had come up with action points as a key output an urgent staff meeting so could we Changing people’s jobs affects their lives and even their sense things. This hampers of the work, my colleague’s evaluation of my consultancy delay the start by 30 minutes. When of identity. It is therefore always a tense and highly sensitive concluded: ‘It did not fully manage to bring to light the shadow I arrived people looked miserable process – especially when job losses are not out of the our ability to of the conflict between the members of staff, nor tackle head- on the conflict between staff and the board. Although on the and were distracted during the first session. In the break I asked them question. At a meeting of the 20 senior managers, we tried to engage actively with people’s fears. After presenting some of transform. ” surface pledges to change were made, these were done as a what was wrong. One said “Look the future options, the top leadership openly shared some of group and individuals did not really take responsibility for their they have just told us the project is their own fears. They said how they were feeling and ‘named own personal change.’ finishing. There are no funds and we the elephants’ that they thought were in the room. We then have no jobs.” People were shocked. If we fail to engage with the emotional element, we allow logic gave space for the managers to ponder the options overnight. They had no idea this was coming. I and reason to dominate. A highly experienced consultant, later realised that the training was But we asked them to look at things from the perspective of NAMING THE GIANTS Roger Harrison, put it this way: their leadership role for the whole organisation, not just as a sort of ‘golden handshake’ of no The change process had reached a practical use to the project. managers of individual departments. We asked them to mull ‘I have never in all my years as a consultant seen anyone change an deadlock. The organisation had been organisation in any fundamental way through rational planning’ over things overnight. We asked them respond the next day I felt we should still make the most of talking about shifting its strategy with ‘grace and truth’ to two questions: (Harrison, 1995:167). the remaining time. We were going to from implementation to facilitation learn an animation technique called What would really worry me about this option would be… (in for the last three years, but with no We have to get to the heart of change. this way getting people to articulate deep-seated fears) discernible change. Fine intentions Forum Theatre – a role-play where everyone gets a part. I said they remained rhetoric. People were What would make this work for me is… (taking a solution- SIT WITH PAIN should pick a real topic. They created oriented approach) clearly held back by their fears, a powerful play about Syrian refugees but were unwilling to change. The Sometimes, as consultants, we do not allow our clients working on a Lebanese farm. One day turning point came when we retold enough time to sit with their pain. We want to help them turn HELP PEOPLE LET GO the Exodus story from the Bible and a negative situation around quickly. But sometimes we have the farmer turns round and says ‘Look Letting go is an essential and yet painful part of any participants imagined themselves to let them feel how what they have done or not done has I have no money. You all have to go’. They put all their pent up emotions change – even the most positive change. William Bridges, the looking into the Promised Land. affected other people (even something as simple as missing change consultant and author, asserts that the starting point There appeared to be giants in this reporting deadlines). Feeling the pain now gives people the into it. The parallels were obvious to the managers present. One stood for organisational transition is not the outcome but the ending new land. When participants were determination to avoid such pain in the future. you will have to make to leave the old situation behind. He then asked to ‘name the giants in up, said how sorry they were about As one Ugandan CSO leader said: ‘I am a firm believer in the funding, and admitted they had states that their Promised Land’ suddenly all lament. We have to get to grips with what went wrong and not behaved badly. It did not get people their fears poured out on pages and ‘the failure to identify and be ready for endings and losses that their jobs back, but it brought a pages of flip chart. This unlocked gloss over things. We rarely appreciate the magnitude of how change produces is the largest single problem that organisations in measure of healing. transition encounter’ (Bridges, 1995). the potential for change and the far we have gone wrong. This hampers our ability to transform. organisation was able to move We should stay in the valley longer than we would like. We Nora Daccache Letting go is a vital, yet often unacknowledged, part of any forward. should not be quick to prescribe solutions’ (James, 2012). change process. As French philosopher Paul Valéry says, ‘Every beginning ends something.’ SURFACE FEARS If we are to be effective consultants, we have to help people let Fear is what most often holds us back from change. The go. Sometimes this means helping people identify bad habits author and change consultant John Kotter comments: ‘Never from the past, dysfunctional relationships and behaviours. underestimate how much complacency, fear and anger exist, It might be as simple as not being bothered to fill in forms even in good organisations’ (Kotter and Cohen, 2002:36). In on time. First, these need to be acknowledged and admitted addition, Dorothy Marcic also observes: ‘Fear is one of the so that they can be let go. Unless we have the courage to greatest diseases of mankind and it is rampant in organisations engage with the deeper influences on people’s behaviour, our and group decision-making processes’ (Marcic, 1997:110). consultancy will remain superficial. 80 Consulting for Change: Strengthening Civil Society 81 ENABLING DIFFICULT DECISIONS We have all encountered good initiatives, good projects, even Change so often requires hard choices about what to do and good organisations that have come to the end of their natural what not to do. It is often about prioritising and choosing life. A good death is sometimes the best way forward. We LETTING GO spend so much time, energy and money on nursing terminally FA C I L I TAT I N G options. Prioritising is a painful process, but it can be very healthy too. Helping a client make a difficult decision may be the IN ACTION PLANNING sick initiatives and organisations. We invest heavily in life- A FUNERAL main reason we have been brought in. support systems that do little except keep the entity breathing, I first noticed this during the ‘action After operating for more than 20 planning’ session at the end of a while other more successful initiatives go unsupported. It may years, a Norwegian umbrella NGO was As the external environment changes, the organisation has to be that the right consequence of the letting go stage is the training course preparing consultants forced to close its doors at the end of change. CSOs have to make strategic choices about the future to death of the organisation. This can release unhappy and under- to work in Sudan. Instead of outlining 2015. It was no longer able to raise concentrate increasingly limited resources where they can have their commitments for action, they performing staff into new opportunities. As the saying of Native the necessary funding to keep going. most impact. Some programmes or activities have to be stopped. first, very personally and powerfully, American Indians goes: ‘When you are riding a dead horse, the The team asked me if I could come to Pruning is a natural part of fruit cultivation – to produce better described to the group how they best thing to do is dismount.’ their very last meeting of members yields, we have to cut back at times. CSOs tend to be extremely had been behaving before and how and conduct a strategic funeral. resistant to such changes. Doug Reeler of CDRA writes eloquently about A good death: this had been detrimental to their in search of developmental endings (CDRA Nugget, 2000). Like many funerals, we helped people performance. It was only after they A decision in the CSO’s best interest is unlikely to appear to be He explores how all of us struggle with the Eastern notion look to the past and identify and had identified and articulated this past in every individual’s best interest. There are always perceived of a ‘good death’. Yet, we know from nature that death is an celebrate all the NGO had achieved behaviour that participants were able winners and losers. It is important to maintain the focus on intimate part of any life cycle. As consultants, we may have over the years. People wrote down to move on to their plans and describe the end beneficiary and the mission of the organisation. It is to consider how we can help responsible closure, ensuring on large sticky notes what they were how they wished to act in the future. sometimes necessary to make people redundant or move them that as many of the existing commitments are fulfilled and particularly thankful for. The NGO had on. Delaying the process can make things much worse. As John ensuring that the needs of beneficiaries will be met by other clearly made a lasting difference to Adair warns: organisations. the whole civil society sector. ‘The sooner an organisation is willing to change – ahead of the time it We then helped people acknowledge Assisting the organisation to die with dignity may be about has to change – the more options it has open to it… Always better to their current emotions – a strong take change by the hand and lead it where you want it to go before it conducting a strategic funeral. A good funeral appreciates all sense of loss, frustration and anger. takes you by the throat and drags you off in any direction’ that has been achieved, gives thanks and celebrates the life Finally, we tried to take that painful that has passed. It is an opportunity to reflect back and learn emotion and get people to look (Adair, 2002: 219 & 221). from the good and bad of what has happened. It provides an positively to the future, getting In the CSO sector, we have an unrealistic view of organisational opportunity for people to express their grief and, in doing so, everyone present to identify what life cycles. The commercial sector calculates that only 20 per begin to clear the space to move on. We can release talented they could learn from this experience. cent of new businesses live beyond the first 18 months. But and trained people into new initiatives. A good strategic Members also committed themselves with CSOs, our proposals promise and target 100 per cent funeral for an organisation should help people to feel free to do justice to the NGO’s legacy and organisational success and sustainability to partners. This is a of the burden of guilt, regret and blame for any failures. It take responsibility for covering the damaging fiction. Some CSOs die early. Infant mortality exists: should be a gentle process of resolving, forgiving and letting gaps the NGO was leaving. death is a normal part of life. go. This does not mean it is any less painful or uncomfortable, but death is a natural life process that CSO consultants may Consulting for change may involve enabling good deaths and need to facilitate well. conducting strategic funerals. These funerals may be for CSOs that are performing well. But, for whatever reason, their time has come, while other poor CSOs, which are good at fundraising, seem to continue indefinitely. 82 Consulting for Change: Strengthening Civil Society 83 ENERGISING HOPE Forgiveness is not the same as forgetting, but it is remembering in a different way – in a ‘non-toxic’ way that frees the wrongdoer Inextricably linked with the ‘letting go’ stage is the ‘energising from guilt and the wronged from bitterness and hatred. hope’ element. After breathing out (letting go) the carbon Forgiveness is not about a lack of consequences. It is not about FORGIVENESS pretending nothing happened. It is not a soft option. There is dioxide you then breathe in fresh air full of oxygen. Energising hope is often the direct consequence of letting go. IN A CSO often still a price to pay. It may well involve changing things, This energising hope comes from restoring relationships and A South African consultant described moving people, so that these things cannot happen again. It is not reconnecting with sources of energy. a change process he was facilitating about putting people back in the way of temptation or playing to with a secular NGO. At the end of past weaknesses. It may involve restitution, as the example below what appeared to be a very successful illustrates. RESTORE RELATIONSHIPS workshop, his inexperienced co- Without improved relationships, there is no fundamental facilitator surprised everyone by saying change. Research on organisational change processes has that he believed there were still people RESTITUTION IN found that ‘building relationships as a container for change’ who had unfinished business with each O R G A N I S AT I O N A L C H A N G E is an important stage in any change process (Lichtenstein, other. He went on: ‘And what I want 1997). Restoring relationships is both a critical ‘means’ as When widespread corruption was discovered in a Cambodian to say to you now is that you have one NGO, the OD change agents involved advised calling in the well as an ‘end’ of change. week before the annual holiday begins. auditors immediately. They explained to the staff what had Go to that person and work through the A colleague and I were doing some work with an issues between yourselves before you go happened and said that anyone who admitted their complicity international NGO that had 14 different European offices. and repaid the full amount would be forgiven and their jobs on holiday.’ There was a loaded silence The problem was that these European offices did not retained. All but two of the people implicated responded in the group. Then he went further: ‘In collaborate enough. They were too isolated, were not positively and the amounts they admitted to stealing (and fact, I think it is so important that you making the most of each other’s strengths and spent too agreed to repay) soon tallied with the auditors’ findings. should not even allow this weekend to much time duplicating efforts and ‘reinventing wheels’. But go by before you have talked through they had many ideas as to how they might cooperate. In fact, the issues and forgiven each other.’ these ideas had been around for many years. The problem On Monday at lunchtime, my colleague was not a lack of knowledge: it was a lack of trust and will. received an email from the director Relationships had broken down. To energise hope that the of the organisation, thanking them existing isolation could really change, trust had to be earned. and elaborating on how amazing the This involved reconciliation. process was. He said that people had So many organisational issues are relational rather than spontaneously got together over the technical. In personal relationships we know that issues weekend and talked through their issues are only resolved at a deep level through apology and – issues that had been festering for a very long time. forgiveness. Public apology can restore trust and provides peer pressure to embed the change. For an organisation to shift there is often a need for a communal acceptance of failure and a turning away from past mistakes. For an individual or organisation to change, it is not just about recognising that our past ways of operating were not ideal; we have to make a willed response to that situation. We have to choose to change. One sign of this commitment is being prepared to say sorry for past behaviour. Apology accompanied by forgiveness is the surest way to restore relationships. Doug Reeler of CDRA says that to learn and change ‘boils down to accepting the antidote of forgiveness’ (Reeler, 2001). In a similar vein, the management writer Charles Handy asked a personnel manager why his development programme was so successful: ‘In one word he said, “Forgiveness. We give them big jobs. They make mistakes. We correct them, but we forgive them. They learn and grow’’’ (Handy, 1991:124). 84 Consulting for Change: Strengthening Civil Society 85 CONNECT TO ENERGY ENGAGE WITH FAITH Inextricably linked with the ‘letting go’ stage is the ‘energising hope’ For many people these mountaintop experiences of change element. It is like breathing out and breathing in. You breathe out (and GENESIS have a spiritual dimension. This is not surprising given that HEALING THROUGH let go) air that is rich in carbon dioxide in order to be able to breathe in ‘most people in developing countries engage in some form S TO R I E S FA I T H D R A M A fresh air full of oxygen. Energising hope is often the direct consequence of spiritual practice and believe that their faith is important of letting go. This energising hope comes from restoring relationships and There appeared little and enables them to relate to the world… Gallup polls in 1999 We were working with 25 Mothers’ reconnecting with sources of energy. energy for change at the and 2005 found that two-thirds of respondents in developing Union community development start of a recent strategic countries “give God high importance” or consider themselves coordinators from across South After the turning point of change, organisations need energy to move in planning process with a Africa. As part of our training process, “religious people”’ (DFID, 2012). the new direction. At this point, it may be vital to (re)connect with the coalition of civil society we used a dramatic presentation of a motivations and inspirations that created the organisation in the first place, organisations promoting story from their faith literature – the For many people their spiritual beliefs have a profound impact or that persuaded people to join or remain there. It is about reconnecting economic justice. The Bible. My co-facilitator performed a on their behaviour. They do not simply leave these beliefs people to the source, their motivation and their will. staff and board were monologue of how it must have felt outside the office door when they come to work. In my overstretched trying to to be the woman, ostracised and There are a number of ways to do this. At times, I have encouraged consultancy work with both Christian and Muslim faith-based fulfil a plethora of donor rejected by her community, who people to start telling stories about how the organisation started. It can be organisations, I have found that engaging with their faith is an encountered Jesus at the well. At contracts and some were amazingly powerful to connect again with the original dream and reason essential way to address cultural and behavioural constraints the end of the drama, there was a not fully convinced that for creation – the life force of the organisation. At other times, I have asked a strategy process would to change, as well as provide the motivation to change. In CSO long silence before one huge woman people to tell their own stories about what made them join, or highlight the assist. But when the contexts influenced by faith, an effective consultant will need (called ‘Tiny’) started weeping for most meaningful moment in their time at work, or talk about when they felt original founders were to engage constructively with that faith. Ignoring the faith the marginalised, abused women in most connected to their reason for being there. asked to talk about why dimension in many contexts may result in a superficial and her community. My colleague also the organisation had been therefore unprofessional approach to change. told her own story of a poor choice Some might describe this source of energy as coming from a sense of set up and relate some of of husband, which led to divorce. calling. I remember one organisation I was working with: I was asking the pivotal incidents in the Many people who would not call themselves religious also see The example from the Bible and the people to tell their stories of how they came to join. The director started by vulnerability of the facilitator helped early days, participants a spiritual dimension to this turning point. Some describe this saying that, when he saw the job advertised, he had felt sure it was for him. people become real. It unleashed a suddenly became fired up as ‘presence’ (Senge, Scharmer, Jaworski and Flowers, 2004); But when he got home and told his wife, she was set against it, saying that and excited. They decided powerful time of participants sharing others as ‘grace, magic, miracles’ (Lichtenstein, 1997). There is it was going to be a step down the career ladder. A driver explained how he to write up these ‘Genesis their own emotional experiences, a realisation that there is something supernatural taking place had refused to apply for the job he was covering temporarily because it was stories’ as they revealed the thinking about their own pain, at the turning point of organisational change. too demanding. But the night before the application deadline, he had had original vision and values hurt and sense of rejection. They a dream and felt God was saying he should change his mind. Yet another of the organisation in a way connected in a new way by strongly This turning point is not something that can be manufactured. explained how she had been in two minds about whether to accept the job that renewed energy. empathising with the women in their It cannot be created or controlled by the facilitator. All you as it would mean a severe cut in salary. Each of them related how they had communities. They realised their role can do as facilitator is create a large enough and safe enough only come to take the job because a strong sense of calling overwhelmed as development coordinators was not space for turning – and then get out of the way. As change about managing projects, but acting all the good, logical, self-centred reasons not to join. Hearing these stories writer, Harrison Owen (creator of Open Space facilitation) said: as ‘wounded healers’. I’ve never been gave such hope and inspiration, not just for the listeners, but also for those who were remembering why they joined. in a workshop so profound. ‘The facilitator must keep letting go. There is only one way to mess As we saw in the previous chapter, taking a more appreciative approach in up – to think you are in charge of what happens, or worse yet, to Bill Crooks act that way. Truthfully the facilitator has little if anything of a the data gathering stage and in particular the methods used for collective substantive nature to contribute’ (no date:5). ‘self-diagnosis’ can inspire energy and hope. An appreciative mindset is more hopeful about what is possible in the future. As Bushe (2007) says: Getting out of the way and giving up control is challenging for any consultant. It is not what clients pay them to do. It is ‘Many people have pointed out that it is impossible to get people to collectively act to change the future if they don’t have hope and that to some extent hope is born so tempting to fill those spaces with activity. But consultants out of discovering that we share common images of a better team, organization or cannot change an organisation; they can only disturb the world.’ status quo and see what happens. Fun and laughter can play an important part in connecting with hope and energising change. As we saw in the section on ‘Collaborative dialogue’ in Chapter 4, creative exercises can help people see familiar issues in a different way. They can gain unexpected new insights. As a facilitator it is important to see how to bring creativity and fun to the process: it is an important counter-balance to the painful aspect of change. Creativity often touches on people’s emotions and aspirations and can give fresh energy to familiar patterns of life and ways of working. Consultants who use creativity in their facilitation will naturally bring an air of fun and expectation, which in itself brings energy and life to a group. 86 Consulting for Change: Strengthening Civil Society 87 KEY LESSONS CONSULTANT The summit of change is the turning point. For some relatively straightforward consultancies, this summit may be little more than a CHECKLIST OF QUESTIONS gentle hill. But for consultancies that require major organisational or personal change, this summit may be a precipitous climb. What methods of feedback are most likely to catalyse change with this client? Reaching the summit connects with the emotional aspects of change – both the difficult emotions involved in letting go, as well as the positive Have I fed back verbally before writing a report? excitement and hope of change. It is often about surfacing and facing fears about the future. It can involve sitting with the pain of poor What would be appropriate ways to bring to the surface and also manage emotions? performance or failures of the past – which this may provide the vital energy for change. Has my verbal and written communication been full of both ‘grace and truth’? Feedback is often the trigger for change. The way in which we Have I created space to awaken their consciences? give feedback is vital. A consultant’s report is the most frequently used method but is a crude tool for catalysing change. Face-to-face Do people feel enough pain to want to change? feedback is often more productive as it enables people to probe and avoid misunderstandings. Many consultancies miss out two other  hat do people need to let go of? W sources of feedback – facilitating peer-to-peer feedback and also What needs to die here? What do they need to stop doing? creating opportunities for self-feedback (listening to your conscience). Are people taking personal responsibility for the change or still externalising blame? Helping a CSO client to the summit of change involves help people let go of past habits, behaviours, patterns of thinking, resentment What do people really fear about change? How realistic is this? and mindsets. It may require the consultant to push the CSO to make difficult but necessary decisions, and to mark the end of that chapter Are there severely dysfunctional relationships that need reconciling to move ahead? in the organisation’s life. Have they admitted their failings in some way and apologised if appropriate? There is also a positive energy at the summit. We may get inspiring views into the future. As people let go, they often feel a sense of relief How can I instil hope? from burdens and difficult situations. Relationships are restored. Hope is a vital ingredient for any change. A good consultant leaves the client Have I connected with people’s vision and sense of vocation? hopeful that they can change. In many parts of the world, engaging with values, meaning and Have I left people feeling hopeful about the possibility of change? behaviour at this deep level requires an appreciation of the faith How might the faith context of the client influence the impact of this consultancy? context. Acknowledging and engaging appropriately with the faith context of the CSO may turn a potential blockage to change into a positive and powerful energy for change. 88 Consulting for Change: Strengthening Civil Society 89