The other day, I was dumbfounded when my salsa dance partner asked me what a change consultant is. In the midst of music and and dancing, I sought a quick and easy explanation. I came up with this:
A change consultant supports organizations which have defined a need for things to be different, in order for those organizations to maintain or increase their success. For example, procedures are no longer effective, the quality of products is declining, intercommunication is insufficient, or the incidents rate is too high. Once it has been decided that something has to happen to secure the organization’s future, some decision makers don’t know what exactly should be changed to achieve more effectiveness. Some might not be able to identify the goal, or know how to get there. Most often, they are unfamiliar with the methods available for implementing change with the whole staff, and some also lose track of whom to involve at which point in the process. Most of the time, organizations are overchallenged by change processes.
That’s when a ChangeConsultant comes in handy. A ChangeConsultant leads through the whole change process by asking questions, suggesting methods and approaches of change, offering a structure for the change process, leading meetings and workshops and having an overview. In total a change consultant leads the organization through a change process.
