Beyond stereotypes: A consultant’s contribution to enduring knowledge mobilization
•
0 likes•179 views
This document discusses consultants and knowledge mobilization. It begins by presenting common stereotypes about consultants, such as that they charge a lot of money to tell you things you already know, only have a hammer for every problem, and cannot help if they have only been in the field for a short time. However, the document argues that consultants can act as "cross-fertilization agents" between different ideas, cultures, and categories in a way that broadens perspectives in a productive manner. Consultants may help organizations think outside of the box in a sustainable way. The author provides his contact information for continuing the discussion.
Recommended
More Related Content
Similar to Beyond stereotypes: A consultant’s contribution to enduring knowledge mobilization
Similar to Beyond stereotypes: A consultant’s contribution to enduring knowledge mobilization (20)
More from Luc Dancause
More from Luc Dancause (8)
Recently uploaded
Recently uploaded (20)
Beyond stereotypes: A consultant’s contribution to enduring knowledge mobilization
- 1. 2016 Canadian Knowledge Mobilization Forum Systems and Sustainability - Creating enduring Knowledge Mobilization Toronto, June 28-29, 2016 Beyond stereotypes A consultant’s contribution to enduring knowledge mobilization Luc Dancause, Ph.D. Knowledge Mobilization Consultant
- 2. « A consultant is someone who charges you a lot of money to tell you things you already know »... « A consultant carries a limited tool box, usually a hammer. All problem are nails! » « How can a consultant helps me when I have been working in the field for 10 years and he has been around for only 6 weeks !? » Source (picture) : http://www.spencertom.com/2009/12/06/consulting-stereotypes-what-can-we-learn/#.V2hcCFd5y
- 3. « A consultant is someone who charges you a lot of money to tell you things you already know » but...
- 4. « A consultant carries a limited tool box, usually a hammer. All problem are nails! » http://morguefile.com/search/morguefile/3/hammer/pop
- 5. « How can a consultant helps me when I have been working in the field for 10 years and he has been around for only 6 weeks !? » Consultant Intervention space http://www.espace-sciences.org/explorer/blog/4922
- 7. BEING A CROSS-FERTILIZATION AGENT n. [-ˌfər-tə-lə-ˈzā-shən] 2. interchange or interaction (as between different ideas, cultures, or categories) especially of a broadening or productive nature Source: Merriam-Webster
- 8. Consultants might help you… … to think outside of the box in a sustainable way!
- 9. You want to keep up the discussion?luc@sapiensconseil s.com @eldancos Gestion et mobilisation des savoirs
Editor's Notes
- The purpose of my presentation is to defeat consulting stereotypes and encourage KMb experts who feel like it to engage in that path some of us have chosen. I think consultants have a special role to play in the KMb ecosystem, a quite important one because it contributes to enduring KMb Sometimes, being a consultant is hard. Especially when faced with some recurring stereotypes. I have heard them all. Let’s consider the most common. Looking at them, as you will see, will help us shed some light on where consultants add value in the KMb ecosystem.
- « A consultant is someone who charges a lot of money to tell you things you already know. » In my mind, when I hear that, I always feel like part of the sentence is missing. The missing part changes from time to time. It can be… … but didn’t know you knew until said consultant made you realize … but didn’t know how to share with others As a consultant I am not looking at teaching new knowledge to my client as much as I am trying to make sure the existing knowledge is mastered, ready to serve, ready to be mobilized. And this can be done asking the right questions. I would add, as I red the other day, that « …in a complexe world, it sometimes extremely beneficial to provide statement of the obvious (timing is everything!) ». Sometimes, in our daily work, we tend to forget the basics and we need some outsider to refresh our memory.
- « A consultant carries a limited tool box, usually a hammer. All problem are nails! » Methodology is very useful, of course. Any consultant should rely on them. Be structured. But people judging a consultant only on its methodology are missing the point. What makes a great consultant (or a bad one) are his skills. Almost anyone can apply a methodology designed by someone else. But skills. You have to learn them. The Skills a consultant must posses to be part of a sustainable KMb system (gathered from my own experience and literature on the topic) : Must learn to read the context AND Adapt Must know how to make the most of its curiosity (wander and wonder possibility : entertain curiosity and ask unasked questions) He must have good interpersonal skills Be a good listener Know how to talk to people so it means something for them He has to be able to synthesize and summarize information (connects the dots an present complex information succinctly) Link and leap ideas Mix and Match people : make worlds collide and harness collaborative energies (Source: Creative generalist) Empathize world view THESE are the important skills for a KMb consultant.
- « How can a consultant helps me when I have been working in the field for 10 years and he has been around for only 6 weeks !? » « The issue arrives when consultants don’t bother to listen to those employees who are willing and eager to make a change within their company. However, unless you actually engage the employees, that will never happen. » (source) The KMb consultant doesn’t act as an « expert ». He is much more of a facilitator who works empowering people around him. That is why he doesn’t have to know everything. And the knowledge he brings should be judge by its “freshness” instead of its depth. The KMb consultant will have more success working as a bee, using the knowledge learned somewhere else to see how a new environment will react to it, to see the effects it produces and then help the group making something of this new knowledge, bases on their own existing knowledge.
- I will use my experience as an example. In the past 3 years, I have worked in these 10 different fields. As you will see, while some are closely related, some others do not have anything to do with each others. Social pediatry with Cybersecurity? Masonry and Immigrants integration? Well, they don’t have anything in common… except ME! Working in each of these fields, I have been time and time again using knowledge obtained in one field in another one, or many others in some cases.
- That knowledge might have never crossed the frontier between theses fields was it not of me. So the consultant very special contribution to the KMb sector and to a sustainable system is the way he is connecting unrelated organization/fields using KMb, moving pieces of knowledge around. He links fields that did not intend to connect on purpose and perhaps have not been connected in the past. The knowledge and the people involved in those various organization benefitt from this dynamic because new questions are getting asked. What the dynamic described allows is INNOVATION. It opens people’s mind to new ideas, new ways of thinking. This is cross-fertilization. The consultant therefore works as a cross-fertilization agent. The consultant brings a unique ingredient in the innovation process through its position in the KMb ecosystem.
- Beyond the stereotypes, how might a consultant help you or your organization? He might help you … making sense about existing knowledge (asking the rights questions) … questioning existing knowledge (challenging you but with kindness, not trying to take advantage of the situation) … creating space for experimentation … getting a better understanding of your organization (the box), of its context And finally, PERHAPS, it might help you thinking outside of the box! Because let’s not fool ourselves. To think outside of the box is easier said then done. Like Damien Contandriopoulos said in his presentation reviewing 25 years of KT, to think outside of the box, you must first think about the box. Then, and only then, you will be able to think outside of it. And lets remember. For KMb to be sustainable, what is really important is to develop our capacity to consistently find a new angles that will allow us to find new solutions to problems that won’t stop evolving. Thank you!