The Flawless Consulting Fieldbook and Companion

1. Consulting is about building relationships and fostering change through courage and optimism

At its core, change is dependent on the willingness to act with courage, to be vulnerable, and to choose optimism.

Relationship-centered approach: Consulting is fundamentally about building relationships and trust with clients. This requires consultants to move beyond simply providing expert advice to truly engaging with clients on a personal level.

Courage and vulnerability: Effective change requires both consultants and clients to step out of their comfort zones and be willing to take risks. This means having difficult conversations, challenging assumptions, and being open to new perspectives. Consultants must model vulnerability and create psychologically safe environments for clients to do the same.

Choosing optimism: While acknowledging challenges, consultants should foster a sense of possibility and optimism about positive change. This involves:

• Helping clients envision an inspiring future
• Focusing on strengths and opportunities
• Reframing obstacles as learning experiences
• Celebrating small wins to build momentum

2. Effective consulting requires valuing emotions and personal connections in the workplace

Feelings and emotions, in fact, run rampant in the workplace, so to close this door to ourselves at work is to deny what already exists.

Emotions drive change: Despite the emphasis on rationality in business, emotions play a crucial role in motivating change and building commitment. Effective consultants recognize and work with emotions rather than trying to suppress them.

Personal connections: Building authentic relationships and fostering connections between people is key to organizational transformation. This involves:

• Creating opportunities for meaningful dialogue
• Encouraging vulnerability and sharing of personal experiences
• Recognizing and valuing diverse perspectives
• Addressing interpersonal conflicts and team dynamics

Balancing rationality and emotion: While emotions are important, they need to be balanced with rational analysis. Consultants should help clients:

• Acknowledge and express emotions productively
• Use emotional intelligence to navigate change
• Connect emotional engagement to strategic goals
• Develop practices for ongoing emotional awareness and management

3. Questions are more powerful than advice in promoting genuine change

We often serve our clients more through the questions we ask than by any advice we give.

Power of inquiry: Asking thoughtful questions is often more effective than providing direct advice. Good questions:

• Stimulate reflection and new thinking
• Empower clients to discover their own solutions
• Uncover underlying assumptions and mental models
• Create space for innovative ideas to emerge

Types of powerful questions:

• Discovery questions: Explore current reality and gather information
• Deepening questions: Probe underlying beliefs, values, and motivations
• Future-focused questions: Envision possibilities and desired outcomes
• Action-oriented questions: Identify next steps and commitments

Shifting from expert to facilitator: Consultants need to resist the urge to have all the answers and instead focus on asking questions that help clients develop their own insights and solutions. This builds client ownership and capability for ongoing change.

4. Focus on client capacities and strengths rather than deficiencies

Change and learning are more likely to occur when we begin speaking about our capacities and gifts to each other.

Strengths-based approach: Instead of focusing primarily on problems and weaknesses, effective consultants help clients identify and leverage their existing strengths, resources, and positive experiences.

Benefits of focusing on capacities:

• Builds confidence and motivation
• Generates positive energy for change
• Uncovers hidden resources and potential
• Creates a growth mindset

Practical applications:

• Appreciative inquiry methods
• Asset mapping exercises
• Success story analysis
• Identifying and amplifying best practices
• Reframing challenges as opportunities to apply strengths

5. Integrate strategy with personal experience for meaningful organizational change

Implementation approaches that are based on engagement and build strong accountability are introduced in three new chapters in the Second Edition of Flawless Consulting (Chapters 15, 16, and 17).

Beyond rational planning: Effective organizational change requires integrating strategic thinking with personal experiences and emotional engagement. This means:

• Connecting strategy to individual and collective purpose
• Creating opportunities for people to make sense of change personally
• Addressing both rational and emotional aspects of transformation

Engagement strategies:

• Large group interventions (e.g., Future Search, Open Space)
• Storytelling and narrative approaches
• Experiential learning activities
• Cross-functional dialogue sessions
• Action learning projects

Building accountability: True accountability comes from personal commitment rather than top-down control. Consultants should design processes that allow people to choose their level of engagement and take ownership of change initiatives.

6. Design physical spaces and processes that encourage authentic dialogue and participation

The symbol for participation is a circle. Round tables put us in sight of everyone else. Chairs arranged in a circle do the same.

Importance of space: The physical environment significantly impacts the quality of interaction and collaboration. Thoughtful space design can:

• Promote equality and inclusion
• Encourage informal connections
• Support different types of work and conversation
• Reflect organizational values and culture

Elements of participative spaces:

• Flexible, movable furniture
• Circular or U-shaped seating arrangements
• Ample wall space for visual displays
• Natural light and connection to outdoors
• Technology to support both in-person and virtual participation

Process design: In addition to physical space, consultants should design meeting processes and agendas that maximize engagement and dialogue. This includes:

• Using a mix of large group, small group, and individual activities
• Building in time for reflection and informal conversation
• Incorporating creative and experiential methods
• Ensuring all voices are heard through structured sharing

7. Large-scale engagement methods can unleash collective wisdom and commitment

We came to realize that that moment signals a "paradigm shift" on the part of each and every person in the room. When the paradigm has shifted, everyone sees the world anew, sees new possibilities unfolding, and cannot go back to where they had been before the shift.

Power of whole-system engagement: Bringing large, diverse groups together can create breakthroughs in understanding and commitment that are not possible through traditional small-group approaches.

Key elements of large-scale methods:

• Inclusion of whole system (all stakeholders)
• Focus on the future and common ground
• Self-managed, small group work
• Real-time information sharing
• Action planning and follow-through

Benefits:

• Rapid alignment around shared vision and priorities
• Breaking down silos and building relationships
• Surfacing innovative ideas and solutions
• Creating widespread ownership and momentum for change
• Developing organizational capacity for ongoing collaboration

Examples of large-scale methods:

• Future Search
• Open Space Technology
• Appreciative Inquiry Summit
• World Café
• Whole-Scale Change

Human-Centric Development: These approaches recognize that sustainable change ultimately depends on shifting how people think, feel, and interact. By creating powerful collective experiences, consultants can catalyze transformative shifts in organizational culture and capabilities.

Last updated: May 20, 2025