Helping people, groups, and organisations change and develop can be lonely and stressful. A colleague and I found a way through these difficulties some years ago. I have used it for years and want to share it with you. We called the method “coconsulting”.
What is coconsulting?
In its simplest form, two people take turns helping each other. For, say, half an hour, one person is the “client” and works with the other, their “consultant”. The consultant and client can use any method that the client is willing to try. The consultant must listen to the client well to understand the nature of the problem or issue before moving to a method. Often, listening attentively and asking questions is enough.
The client can help by assertively expressing their needs during the process. If the consultant’s approach is not working, the best clients will say so, and you can get back on track. Also, if the client says, “This is great!” the consultant will know how to help.
The consultant is offering their best professional time and must keep their focus on the client. Paying attention like this is much more demanding and usually more helpful than a simple conversation where the focus moves between the participants.
After the session, the consultant and client share what they did that worked well. They may also talk about how it could have been better.
The rules
The “rules” are straightforward, but you must follow them if this method is to work.
Keep to your agreement on time; otherwise, one person will feel exploited.
Focus on the client’s concerns, or they will feel let down.
Use a method of helping that is appropriate to the issue and acceptable to the client.
Have an explicit agreement about confidentiality before you start and stick to it.
It is unnecessary to agree to any method before you know what the client wants to explore. Coconsulting differs from cocounselling, where the parties agree to take turns and use the same theory and practice. Cocounselling can be very effective and is an option you can use if you wish.
What are the benefits?
To be effective in any role, you must think clearly and act powerfully. Effective consultancy helps clients think more broadly and clearly and act decisively about problems or opportunities. Simply explaining something to another person who is listening will often do this. Usually, the person talking will discover new possibilities and find new energy to act. They will feel more valued because someone else has bothered to listen.
A consultant who is not in your situation may offer a different viewpoint. Someone from another organisation asked me, “Have you talked to Ron?” The person in question was a senior manager, and I had made the unconscious and wrong decision that I could not talk to him from my “lowly” level.
In the consultant role, coconsulting gives a straightforward and non-threatening way to find out how to help effectively. If you are going to try new things, there is much less risk in working with a peer than with an internal or external client, where you may only have one chance to make a difference.
It also helps you understand another person’s position. Coconsulting can be very useful when people come from different organisations or have other roles in the same organisation. It is an excellent way of building bridges.
You can also use a “mini session”. People then take turns for (say) five minutes each way. Mini sessions can be valuable at the beginning of a development event. Ask people to talk about what they want from the event and what they will do to make it succeed.
It is easier to think out loud when someone else is listening. These questions help people think about what they want and their responsibility for making it happen.
I have found mini-sessions invaluable if a meeting or workshop is getting stuck. Perhaps feelings are running high, and no one is listening very well. If you ask people to go into pairs and have five minutes each way about how they feel and what needs to happen next, they will often devise an elegant solution to their problem. You have markedly increased people’s attention to each other and produced better thinking.
People take in information and think much better when they have a chance to talk. So, you can use mini sessions halfway through a presentation. “Spend a few minutes each way talking about what you have learned so far and what you still want to learn”. Their attention will be much better in the second half. They also work very well if you need questions. “What have you learned? What question would you like to ask?” You will get far more and better questions than just saying, “Any questions?”
Coconsulting across an organisation or a society increases understanding because whatever method you use, you must listen for it to work. It also reduces prejudice. If you have met, understood and helped an “X”, you will never again agree with anyone that “All “X”s are like that!” An “X” could be a man or woman, white, black, Jewish, gay, straight, working, middle-class, upper-class, or someone from the finance department! The latter may be funny and exciting rather than the conventional stereotype.
How to introduce coconsulting?
If you want to set up a coconsulting relationship for yourself, the easiest way is to ask someone from your network of professionals or colleagues if they want to try the idea out. Explain the simple rules (see the box above) and decide who should go first as the client.
If you go first, choose a real topic but not one that is too deep or scary and a relatively short time. Then, tell the consultant what you got from the session and what they did well. If they ask for ideas on how to improve, offer constructive ideas gently.
If the other person is the client, remember to tell them they are doing well. They will be doing the best they can and will be anxious. Use the gentlest techniques that will work. It is not good to show off. Afterwards, you can ask what worked and how it could be better, if you want, as before.
Coconsulting is a reciprocal relationship. It is tempting to give your client more time than you. Doing so is an unconscious way of showing superiority or avoiding vulnerability, which does not help.
To introduce it to a group, I usually explain the basic ideas and invite a volunteer to work with me live on a current issue for ten minutes or so. The group observes and then discusses how the client and I worked together, not the session’s content.
The client usually gets enough out of it, and the process is transparent enough for people to feel confident about having a go for themselves. After twenty minutes each way, they find that most have a new insight into their issue and thoroughly enjoy talking and listening. We end with listing the things that work as clients and consultants.
Most people are astonished at how powerful this experience is.
Acknowledgements and References
I want to thank John Coleman-Smith and Jef Mason, both then of ICI, for introducing me to coconsulting. I also want to thank my current co-consultants, Mike Holdstock, Alan Trangmar, and Dave Cordle, for working with me patiently and helpfully over the years.
If you want to take these ideas further, see the re-evaluation counselling site.
Finally, I urge the members of the 360⁰ Nation to try the method with each other at least once. You’ll be astonished at how enjoyable it is and how much you learn!
