A Summary of Scheins Book

What is process consultation?

The psychodynamics of the helping relationship
Active Listening and Inquiry
The concept of client
ORJI
Face-to-Face dynamics
Communication and deliberate feedback
Task process in groups
Interpersonal processes
Dialogue
Consultation in action
Is a philosophy about and attitude toward the
process of helping individuals, groups,
organizations and communities.




What is going on between the helper and the
group or person that is being helped.


1. Always try to be helpful
2. Always stay in touch with current
reality
3. Assess your ignorance
4. Everything you do is an intervention
5. It is the client who owns the problem
and the solution

Is the creation of a relationship with the client
that permits the client to perceive, understand
and act on the process events that occur in the
clients internal and external environment in
order to improve the situation as defined by the
client.
The person who seeks help is dependent on
the other, therefore on a disadvantage.
In the beginning, the relationship is
imbalanced:
The person seeking help is one down
Feelings: Resentment, defensiveness, relief, searching
for reassurance and transference.
The helper is one up
Feelings: Power, authority, accepting dependence,
pressure, resisting to enter relationship and counter-
transference.

Build acceptance
No contracting at the very beginning
Build relationship through mutual acceptance
As the client becomes more accepting, he will
reveal more

NEXT PRINCIPLE:
6. Go with the flow
Active non-judgmental listening in order to:

Build the clients confidence
Gather information, as much as possible
Involve the client in Dx and action planning
Make it safe to reveal anxiety


7. Timing is crucial
8. Be constructively opportunistic with
confrontive interventions
9. Everything is data; errors will occur
and are the prime source of learning
10. When in doubt, share the problem
Contact clients
The first contact
Intermediate clients
Whoever gets involved
Primary clients
Who ultimately owns the problem
Unwitting clients
Anyone who will be affected by the intervention
Ultimate clients
The community or group whose welfare must be
considered
Involved non-clients
Anything that doesnt fit the above and may interfere and
that we should be aware during the intervention.
1. Individual level
2. Interpersonal level
3. Face-to-face group level
4. Intergroup level
5. Organizational level
6. Interorganizational level
7. Larger system level
Always be clear who the client is at any given
moment in time and distinguish clearly
among clients.
Be aware that clients may shift according to
the level of problem being addressed.
It is important to surface implications and
ensure that primary client is fully aware of
them and willing to own them.
Observation
Emotional
Reaction
Judgment
Intervention
Misperception
ID bases of misperception
Inappropriate emotional response
ID emotional biases
Faulty logic or incorrect data
ID cultural assumptions
Intervening on incorrect facts
Do checking procedures:
Explicit questioning
Use silence
Always inquire
Communication must be a fair exchange
Refuse to take the stage
Face Work
Lost Face
Filters are applied based on self-experience
Ask before offering a solution
Any information can be feedback

Deliberate and focused feedback is extremely
powerful to reach effectiveness

There must be guidance and training
1. The giver and the receiver must have
consensus on the receivers goals
2. The giver should emphasize description and
appreciation
3. The giver should be concrete and specific
4. The giver and the receiver should have a
constructive motive
5. Dont withhold negative feedback if its relevant
6. The giver should own his observations feelings
and judgments
7. Feedback should be timed to when the receiver
and giver are ready
This refers to dealing with larger client
systems

Consultants must recognize the processes:
How things are said and done is as, or more,
important than what it is said and done.
1. How to manage their boundaries, defining
who is in and who is out and how to
maintain their identity.

2. How to survive their external environment
by fulfilling their function or primary task.

3. How to build and maintain themselves as
functioning entities by managing their
internal interpersonal relationships.
Who is in and who is out

Agenda Member feeling toward
each other
Process of boundary
management

Problem solving and
decision making
Interpersonal processes
Recurring processes for
maintaing boundaries
Recurring task processes,
organization structure
Formal rules in relation to
authority and intimacy
Group boundary
management
Group task
accomplishment
Interpersonal and
group management
Content
Process
Structure
Identify and fulfill the missing functions
Within the task functions you can find
decision making:
Cycle 1 Problem formulation, generating
proposal for action, forecasting consequences and
testing proposals
Cycle 2 Action planning, taking action steps
and evaluating outcomes
You need to choose an intervention focus
depending on:
The degree the issue is related to the groups
effectiveness
The degree to which the data is clear, so it can be
perceived by all the same
It will move the process along, not only interrupt it
Interpersonal and
groups processes
categories
How a group creates
itself by defining and
maintaining
boundaries
How a group grows
and develop its
patterns of internal
relationships
Identity
Control and
Influence
Needs and
goals
Acceptance
and Intimacy
Frustration
Tension Anxiety
Problems Resulting Feelings
Tough Tender Withdrawal Denial
Coping Responses
Group Building and
Maintenance Functions
Boundary Management
Functions
Harmonizing
Compromising
Gatekeeping
Encouraging
Diagnosing
Standard setting
Standard testing
Boundary defining
Scouting
Negotiating
Technological
gatekeeping
Guarding
Managing entry and exit
Culture
Implicit Norms
Explicit Norms
Common
Language
Inclusion &
Exclusions
Intimacy and
Friendship
Rewards and
Punishments
Dealing with
the
Unexplainable
Learn form experience
Integration in internal
processes
Optimum use of resources
Self-knowlegde
Agreement about mission,
goals and values
Deal with environment
Dialogue starts with the assumptions that every
person comes from a different assumption and that
mutual understanding is in most cases an illusion.
It is a process for building common understanding,
not for problem solving.
Its got to be face-to-face
Roles
Giving expert
information
Diagnosing
and prescribing
as a Doctor
PC in constant
interplay