Facilitative Consulting Explained
How I Became a Facilitative Consultant.
I have been working in my area of expertise for more than 20 years, but sometimes I still struggle to explain to people what I do. It doesn’t fit neatly into a traditional career box. Yes, I started my career in Technology and will always have a strong affinity and deep appreciation for this area. But as a Management Consultant, I don’t just work in the Technology space. I have leveraged my experiences as a technology leader to help companies solve problems with their customer service practices, with their leadership and governance, with their product development cycle and even sales processes.
I have been a consultant many times in my career – both an “internal consultant” acting as an advisor for other teams in my company, and as an external consultant working for various consulting firms. When I joined Excelerate however, I realized things would be different.
Facilitative Consulting in Action.
At Excelerate, we practice what we call “facilitative consulting”. “Facilitative” means that we work closely with our clients, partnering with them to solve problems, define new processes, embrace new technologies. We don’t gather requirements, disappear into a meeting room for a couple days, and then come out with a solution “Ta-Da!” style. And we don’t use a boilerplate – “This worked for another client so it will work for you” type solutions. We bring our clients along through the process, step by step. We sit side by side with them to understand their challenges and cooperatively develop solutions that fit their specific needs.
Our process doesn’t include a step for “show the client the solution” because the client was part of developing the solution the whole time. We work with teams to help them solve problems by giving them tools, data and benchmarks as guides. We challenge them to think differently and then provide the data and analytics to help them get there. We make sure our clients shine; the solution we help them develop is ultimately the solution they will own going forward, but we also help by leading the implementation and value achievement. We create communications that share the research, process improvements, metrics and targets, and the roadmap for how to get there with the rest of their organization. And we help mitigate the issues and risks associated with the implementation. We are a partner from the start to the finish.
We take our facilitative role seriously and don’t engage in politicking or game-playing. There is a facilitative process we use to help our clients arrive at a solution:
We bring all the players together and make sure that differing perspectives are heard and understood by the team – “titles” are left at the door. Diversity of perspectives leads to a stronger solution.
We help our clients connect the dots by actively listening and not being afraid to ask the “dumb” questions. Sometimes asking the obvious can lead the discussion down the path of enlightenment.
We don’t let anyone live in the past. “That’s how we have always done it” is never a reason to keep doing something.
We never forget the importance of communication. A decision reached but not communicated quickly loses its value.
A Real-Life Example.
How does this translate to a real-life work experience? I recently had a client who was struggling with their ERP implementation. They just weren’t getting the value they needed. There were too many work-arounds, too many customizations. They had gone through several attempts to “fix” the software, but still were not seeing results. Excelerate came in and facilitated sessions across the organization. From our analysis we could see that it wasn’t just a software issue; they needed to change core cross-functional processes too. Through our facilitative sessions, we were able to define a much more efficient and transparent future state – improving communication and cross-functional understanding of optimized upstream processes and downstream impacts. And by doing so through facilitation rather than us simply delivering “best practice” processes, the teams were prepared to own the solution and drive the benefits themselves.
Of course, facilitation isn’t the only tool we use to solve problems. It’s just one technique to empower our clients. I also work hard to understand my client’s business, understand their objectives, adapt to their culture rather than asking them to embrace mine, and build a trust-based relationship by making sure that I always deliver on my commitments and drive tasks to completion. Coaching is another big piece of what we do, as well as advising our clients on current trends, marketplace influences, data analysis and best practices.
Why We Deliver This Way.
Why do we use this method? Because it works. The power of this method of consulting in the business world is compelling. It enables our clients to make better-informed decisions and to have stronger ownership of the solution long after our engagement with them has ended. By carefully facilitating sessions with leadership teams, they come to understand their own decision-making process better, and to create stronger and more collaborative teams. Facilitative consulting can help you transform resistance in your organization to advocacy for your leadership, without resorting to positional power and it can help to transform your organization’s culture.
Written by:
ANN TOFOLO
With over 20 years of experience leading organizations through transformations, Ann helps Excelerate’s clients to navigate the complexities of modern business and considers herself a connoisseur of fine breakfasts.