Paper presented at the #2012waic conference - Ghent, Belgium

1. Scaling up the capacity of the consulting
community to practice conversational
approaches to development - emerging
lessons from work-based appreciative
inquiry
Stefan Cantore
Senior Teaching Fellow, School of Management
World Appreciative Inquiry Conference
28 April 2012

2. My thanks to my fellow inquirers at OPM:
Bob Baker
Liz Goold
David Love
Munira Thobani
Paul Tarplett
To the Board of OPM ( The Office for Public Management)
The Universities of Southampton and Middlesex, UK

3. Outline
• Why the need to scale up consulting capacity?
• What is conversational consulting?
• My story as a Practitioner/Researcher
• Context and co-researchers
• Research narrative—developing conversational inquiry
• Emerging insights
• Next steps
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4. Why the need to scale up consulting
capacity?
• Client demand
• Shifts towards conversational leadership:
‘the leader’s intentional use of conversation as a core process
to cultivate the collective intelligence needed to create
business and social value’
(Hurley & Brown, 2009 p.2)
• Consultant awareness
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5. What is conversational consulting?
Conversational consulting is the practice of enabling
contracted helping relationships through which people skilled
and knowledgeable in conversation as a change process work
with clients to create conversations that make a positive
difference to businesses/organisations.
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6. My story as a Practitioner/Researcher
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7. Questions
• What can I do to develop my own practice as a consultant in
a way that will support clients move to a conversational
approach in their leadership and organisations?
• What role can conversation play in a client-consultant
relationship?
• What can I and my colleagues do together that will enhance
our conversational consulting practice?
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8. Context and co-researchers
‘OPM is an independent centre for the development of public
services. We provide consultancy, coaching and research to
organisations that want to improve social outcomes, meet the
needs of their communities and respond to change.’
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9. Persuading the OPM Board
• Higher levels of innovation in our organisational consulting
work when compared with competitors, a number of whom
are adopting a range of conversational approaches
including Appreciative Inquiry
• New approaches to how the way a consultant works rather
than what knowledge and experience they bring. This
modelling of different behaviours will support clients and
consultants understand in greater depth the behaviours and
skills they need to work conversationally.
• Doctorate level research that underpins the company’s
consulting practice and methods.
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10. Research narrative—developing
conversational inquiry
• Co-operative Inquiry
‘Co-operative inquiry involves two or more people
researching a topic through their own experience of it,
using a series of cycles in which they move between this
experience and reflecting together on it.’ (Heron, 1996 p.1)
And
• Appreciative Inquiry
To create a Conversational Inquiry Process
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11. Research process
• 6 formal meetings between February 2011 and February
2012
• Average attendance 4/5
• 2 hours in length
• Recorded
‘a Co-operative or Relational development process using
Inquiry (both Co-operative and Appreciative) as the
relational space to enable this (development in practice).’
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12. Emerging insights
• Context matters
Ø Shared values
Ø Organisational support (helps legitimacy)
Ø Concerns of clients ‘present’ with us
Ø Impact on wider company
Ø Positive colleague relationships
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13. Emerging insights
• Process matters
Ø Group ultimately designed its’ own unique process
Ø Crafting questions a struggle
Ø Positive feel and intention
Ø Tension between personal role and co-researching role
Ø Personal reasons for being involved
Ø Radical aspirations
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14. Emerging insights about conversational
consulting
• The consultant can more effectively live out their values
• A different, even slower, pace of consulting
• A different , deeper quality of relationship with clients
emerge
• Emotional engagement with self and client
• Higher levels of anxiety at times
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15. Emerging insights about conversational
consulting
• Often the need to explain to clients the approach you are
taking
• An approach to learning with the client as much as
consulting ‘to’ the client
• Deeper levels of self awareness for both client and
consultant
• Uncertainty about the value of this approach by some
clients
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16. Emerging insights about conversational
consulting
• Has the potential to change the power dynamics between
client and consultant
• It offers the consultant a more holistic approach to life as
well as consulting practice
• There is a connection between what goes on in the inquiry
process and how the relationships with existing clients
develop- part of the same system
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17. The voice of Munira
‘More profoundly for me, it has felt like I am finding myself,
understanding what values, beliefs, perspectives on subject
content and unique contribution I can make to facilitating
and holding conversations and in my conversational
consulting role.
The experience has also made me want to integrate the
approach of encouraging others to learn and contribute to
topics, inquiries, challenges and problems by identifying what
their questions are rather than focussing on finding the
solution.’
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18. Next steps
What can I/we learn from the good that has emerged from
this research so far that will enable me/us to grow in our
practice of conversational consulting into the future?
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19. Thank You
Due in June 2012
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20. References
• Heron, J. (1996). Co-operative inquiry: Research into the
human condition Sage Publications Ltd, London.
• Hurley, T. J., & Brown, J. (2009). Conversational
leadership: Thinking together for change. The Systems
Thinker, 20(9), 2-8.
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