Week 5 Project

The HR Consultant and Discovery

Unlike a manager who has direct power to implement changes and authority over people, a consultant is someone who has in�uence over another person, group, or organization but has no direct power to make changes. HR agents are the consultants who are sought out by employees and management to solve problems, make recommendations, and provide solutions. The majority of the battle in helping others is helping them adopt a fresh outlook of what has been discovered or what could be.

In the discovery phase, questions are asked to help you determine what is being done that is contributing to the problem or self-defeating. This will help when giving feedback to an employee as sometimes, the employee may be the problem, or part of the problem, but may not yet realize it. Don’t avoid painful questions—ask why the employee asked for your help in the �rst place. The HR consultant’s role is to raise tensions that will help to lead to truths. This dif�cult step will help to build trust early in the relationship with the employee.

Let’s get back to our idea that the majority of the battle in helping others is helping them adopt a fresh outlook of what has been discovered or what could be. The HR consultant can utilize a variety of questions to collect information useful in making recommendations, providing direction and support, or simply stating the facts.

Creating Discovery Questions

Discovery is accomplished by asking questions. HR consultants can use the possibilities approach by formulating questions that look for strengths. The HR consultant can focus on what is possible but yet does not exist. Therefore, the discovery phase will include questions on problems and will also ask questions that focus on the future, vision, and hope—what is possible. Work from what is to what ought to be.

Additional Materials

From your course textbook Flawless Consulting: A Guide to Getting Your Expertise Used, read the following chapter:

Preparing for Feedback