the four-leaf clover

What is my ethical standing when acting as a consultant and how does that translate into my personal life? I think the class facilitation helped to point out the importance in ethics, values and morals, and how these things do play a large role in the consulting world. How were my values and morals shaped? Where did they come from? What specific experiences in my life have shaped me to be the ethical person I am today. All these aspects are tested daily when we act as “consultants” in our work lives and personal lives.

I started thinking back to our feedback meeting last week, and in fact, our entire project in general. I think Demetria and I did a good job of being very ethical with our client. For me, it wasn’t hard to be open and honest with her because we initially established a rapport that made this possible. I think we got very lucky to have a client that was understanding, and with our initial contracting meeting we all knew that it would be easy to work with each other. Of course, I’m sure we could have said things that would have caused resistance and uneasiness, but those comments wouldn’t have helped to solve the underlying problem.

It’s easy to see how I stayed ethical and maintained control of my values and beliefs during this process because we had a client who was wonderful; however, if we had a more difficult client, how would this have changed the process and my ethical standing? Listening to some examples from classmates clients’ has helped me sort through these thoughts, and I believe I would still stay true to myself. It’s is easier said than done though… as many things are. I’m sure throughout my career, whatever that may be, I will deal with some resistance and difficulty, and therefore my ethics may be tested a bit. Is it strange that I’m welcoming this challenge?

Okay, on to finishing this integration paper… good luck everyone!

The weeks are flying by and I am trying to keep up my pace. I know the whole class chimes in week after week that we can’t believe the semester is almost over, but I really can’t. The past few weeks have been very empowering, and have reminded me why I was drawn to this program in the first place.

This past Monday we were led through a facilitation on engagement and implementation. A large part of the facilitation was spent in a circle, literally. I never really  grasped the power of a circle until I became an Adult Learning student. This one particular circle the other night was not only engaging, but also a breath of fresh air. We spent the last half of the class, in this circle, going around and saying positive things about each individual. It was truly a powerful exercise and we all left feeling a little bit better about ourselves.

I started thinking after class about the power of a circle in my workplace and with our client. The setup at my workplace is fairly standard: stadium seating lecture halls, long and narrow conference rooms, and in most offices the desk separates the individuals. I think it takes certain people, and in my case faculty, who appreciate the power of a circular table. One of our periodontics faculty members has a circular table in his office, and he’s adamant that when we have a meeting in his office, we sit around that table. I didn’t realize until I started thinking about the power in a circle, but he gets it! It makes such a difference speaking with him around this space as opposed to across his desk. I believe a lot of this falls back on the individuals character, because it would be just as easy for me to speak with him across the desk; however he appreciates what I do and listens when I have questions, so this is his way of showing me that he cares – that during that meeting, we aren’t separated by numerous hierarchical levels.

As far as the power of the circle with our client, I think the same situation exists. From day one, and from our initial contracting meeting, our style with her was quite casual. We met at a local coffee shop and exchanged ideas, but this worked for us. With some consultants’ and clients’ this may not work as well, but in our case, we knew we could accomplish even more if the relationship was open. As a matter of fact, during our feedback meeting the other day we sat with our client at a circle table. It’s so easy and comfortable for conversation to flow this way, and what I appreciate is how it’s almost impossible to not look at each person you are talking to.

The power of the circle, and the power of the dialogue and engagement that takes place within that circle is huge. I think if we all sat around a circle more often,  during our meetings, seminars, lectures, and simple conversations, we would learn a lot more about the people we are interacting and engaging with.

It’s been a very busy week and I got a little behind on my writing my post. However, I was thinking back to our conversation in class last week and remembered one topic that had caught my attention. We were discussing our organizational culture paper, and Dr. Carter described an example of using the Future Search timeline to flesh out the culture of an organization. I, of course, started thinking about my current work situation and what a timeline would look if my department drew one out. With a new Director will come culture changes, and it would be interesting to see if a change strategy like this would be effective in my organization. Culture is a very powerful word. I’ve started thinking about my department’s culture and how I’m going to develop my paper. It has forced me to think about the culture I’ve been apart of for the past 2 years. It also makes me think about the culture I may be walking into in less than a year.

Realistically, I will probably look for other job opportunities within the year, and again I will be the new person in an already present culture. This can be a very intimidating place, but I’ve also learned that it can be very rewarding. What will I bring to a new organization, a new culture? Dr. Carter also mentioned that administrative positions may not be able to have a huge impact on an organization’s culture, but I really believe I have played a large impact on the culture of my department. The person in the position before me made the department a very unwelcoming, almost negative place. Faculty and staff in my department would wait and come into the administrative suite after this employee would leave for the day, because it was that unpleasant to be around her. I have heard more times than I can count how nice it is to hear, “Is there anything I can do?” So, I do agree that an administrative person may not have a huge impact on the organization’s culture, but I also know that my department is a much more positive, warmer place because of little things like this. I guess it’s true what they say that “it’s the little things that count.”

I’m looking forward to using what I’ve learned from Dixon and Schein to flesh out the culture in my department. I know I have my own bias’s and thoughts, but I’ve never thought to ask the other faculty and staff what they really think or how they perceive things. My department is like a little family, so it’s easy to see when someone is having an off day or is peeved at someone else; however it will really take some good conversation to dig out the underlying thoughts of other faculty and staff. I look forward to seeing what develops out of the conversations with my co-workers, and if anything else, it may be a good therapy session.