History of Organization Development (Part 4 of 6) — Frederick Taylor, the First Modern ‘Change’ Consultant (Guest post from John Scherer, Co-Director of Scherer Leadership International. This is the fourth blog post in a six-part series about the history of Organization Development, “On the Shoulders of Giants.” NOTE: Most of what I have learned about …
Professional Development/
Consulting & Freelancing
Technical and Interpersonal Skills: Consulting Success Skills
Peter Block, in his seminal consulting book, Flawless Consulting, writes, “There is a set of skills that is an essential part of consulting over and above technical expertise and interpersonal skills – and these are consulting skills” (Jossey-Bass, 2000, p. 6). Yet, the myth continues that technical and people skills are sufficient for successful consulting. …
History of Organization Development: A Timeline of Who Did What and When Part 3 of 6 (Guest post from John Scherer, Co-Director of Scherer Leadership International, with Billie Alban, President of Alban & Williams, Ltd. This is the third blog post in a six-part series about the history of OD.) Introduction to this Blog Series …
History of Organization Development: The Psychologists Part 2 (Guest post from John Scherer, Co-Director of Scherer Leadership International, with Billie Alban, President of Alban & Williams, Ltd. This is the second blog post in a six-part series about the history of OD.) Introduction to this Blog Series In our work as OD practitioners, whose shoulders …
History of Organization Development: Early OD Part 1 (Guest post from John Scherer, Co-Director of Scherer Leadership International, and Billie Alban, President of Alban & Williams, Ltd. This is the first blog post in a six-part series about the history of OD.) Introduction to this Blog Series In our work as OD practitioners, whose shoulders …
Why Understanding Our Models, Theories, and Paradigms Is Important Paradigms, theories, and models – we all have them and work from them. Many of us don’t know it. But we really should. When we practitioners in human development (consultants, coaches, trainers, etc.) come to conclusions about our clients and their organizations, we should closely examine …
In a project, whether you are conducting a formal, systematic assessment or just doing a rather informal assessment, your natural information approach to gathering and processing information will influence how you work. The Myers-Briggs folks provide some useful dimensions to consider. (Myers-Briggs is a registered trademark of Consulting Psychologists Press, Inc.), Intuitive Versus Sensing Approaches …
As a consultant, you work with clients to solve problems. Or, perhaps your philosophy is to help them address “priorities,” rather than “problems.” In any case, it’s extremely important to understand your own approach and how it affects others, especially your clients when working with them. Different people have quite different preferences and approaches to …
