Despite similarities between social researchers and consultants as knowledge workers, their work with data, focus on projects and intention to make a positive contribution, there are distinctions between the two ways of working that are potentially fruitful areas of study.

• • Social research places emphasis on the understanding, the development of insight or the creation of a conceptual understanding of what is being observed or presented. The focus is the codification or theoretical interpretation – the result of a capably applied programme of systematic investigation –which creates intellectual property and potentially learning to be shared. A consultant is more likely to focus on practice, that is the application of the theory or conceptual understanding – moving the fruits of research on to their application.

• • Social research usually places a high emphasis on process and provenance around data (be it qualitative or quantitative) as the foundation of understanding. The higher attention for consultants is typically devoted to ‘clients’, people affected by the application of research as the recommendation arising from studies are translated into actions. Usually consultants draw heavily on their personal knowledge or experience as it applies to a client situation, which often leads to intellectual property which is unique to a specific context. As such, much of consulting is to do with change and the implications of things being done differently to the way they have been done to date.

This final chapter summarises the main areas in which consulting practice might add to the repertoire of a social researcher. Below are the key points from the preceding chapters.

Key ingredients of consulting

• • Consulting typically involves independence of view, ‘advising’ (by a range of possible methods) and seeking to be valuable to a client.

• • There can be many stakeholders that should be considered in a consulting project. Within these are the ‘client system’, and within the client system is the ‘primary client’.

• • Consulting is about change and effective consulting is mindful of the possible impacts of the consulting intervention on the stakeholders – either during the project or with the implementation of the project's recommendations.

• • A consulting project has a defined scope – it has a planned beginning and end, agreed deliverables or outputs, and agreed resources devoted to it. The scope of the consulting project seeks to address an issue the client has identified.

The purpose of Consulting skills for social researchers is to offer insight from the world of consulting to social researchers. As knowledge workers, social researchers and consultants share much in common in terms of the application of their experience and skills. Social researchers and consultants work with data, in its creation and its analysis. Social researchers and consultants are engaged in projects – specific areas of work each with a start and finish – often more than one at a time, and both social researchers and consultants aim to make a positive contribution to their clients (whether these clients are internal or external ones).

Despite these similarities, there are differences. This book seeks to draw on the practice of consultants and offer this knowledge to those working in social research, as a means of potentially bringing added dimensions to their portfolio of understanding and skills.

Social research and consulting – key distinctions

While the intention is not to turn social researchers into consultants, the distinctions between social research and consulting provide a platform for social researchers to reflect on their own areas of work.

Social researchers and consultants share an interest in solving problems, but the emphasis of each discipline is different. Social research places emphasis on the understanding, the development of insight or the creation of a conceptual understanding of what is being observed or presented. The focus is the codification or theoretical interpretation – the result of a capably applied programme of systematic investigation – which creates intellectual property, and potentially learning to be shared. A consultant is more likely to focus on practice, that is, the application of the theory or conceptual understanding; moving the fruits of research on to their application.

Social research usually places a high emphasis on process and provenance around data (be it qualitative or quantitative) as the foundation of understanding. The higher attention for consultants is typically devoted to ‘clients’, people affected by the application of research as the recommendations arising from studies are translated into actions. Usually the consultant draws heavily on their personal knowledge or experience as it applies to a client situation, which often leads to the creation of intellectual property which is unique to a specific context.

Chapter 3 is based on the consulting process and the sequence of typical activities from the beginning of a consulting project to the end. It builds upon the ideas in the previous chapter, particularly how consultants add value and the different types of consulting approach.

The consulting process will resonate with many social researchers, especially those commissioning social research work and people who are contract researchers, as there are many parallels between the life of social research projects and that of consulting projects.

• • Section 1 draws attention to the effectiveness of a consulting process, which is as much about the client as it is about the consultant.

• • Section 2 introduces the ‘consulting cycle’ as an outline structure for the consulting process. Having provided the structure of the consulting cycle, the remainder of the chapter homes in on specific areas of the cycle, and in particular where the consulting perspective might be of use to social researchers.

• • Section 3 talks about assignment intimacy.

• • Section 4 explores the value of logic in the design of consulting projects.

• • Section 5 looks at the role of management models in consulting work.

• • Section 6 looks at the core consulting skill of interviewing.

• • Section 7 builds on social research's understanding of data issues and suggests how data can be developed into insight in consulting work.

• • Section 8 looks at how logic applies to the way in which the results and recommendations from consulting work can be framed.

• • Section 9, titled ‘The prestige’, talks about how the results of consulting work might be presented in order to demonstrate and realise value for the client.

Good clients

It is easy, as a consultant, to assume the responsibility for the success of a project. If the arrangement with a client is a commercial one, the onus is perhaps even more obvious. Calvert Markham, who helped establish the International Council for Management Consulting Institutes (ICMCI), expressed the following view:

This chapter seeks to outline consulting and begin to make the links with social research. It contains five sections:

• • Section 1 looks at the main components of consulting activity, drawing attention to underpinning concepts.

• • Section 2 explores how consulting can accomplish its main role, which is to be valuable to the client.

• • Section 3 introduces the three main paradigms that encompass consulting activity – they are all useful, and capable of being valuable to a client, but do so in different ways.

• • Section 4 emphasises the importance of trust-based relationships in consulting, and outlines the salient ingredients.

• • Section 5 looks at the role of ethics in practice (which will be familiar ground for many social researchers) and moves towards greater ‘professionalisation’ of consulting activity.

Components of consulting

Defining consulting?

There are many explanations of the term ‘consulting’ which seek to explain what consulting is about. They typically share four ingredients:

• It's about independence

The first is about the consultant's independence from the context. This means standing outside of the organisation or group being consulted, with the dual characteristic of objectivity and detachment. It is from this detached position that most consulting work is able to add to the client's own perspective and help realise insight that might otherwise be unidentified. For someone external to the client organisation, the concept of independence is straightforward. It is less clear for those with ‘internal’ consulting roles or positions.

• It's about ‘advice’

The second factor is around advice, which is probably the common currency of all consulting work. Consulting is viewed as something in which a client's knowledge and/or capability is enhanced though the provision of advice. As we shall see, the term ‘advice’ requires a liberal interpretation, as there are several ways that advice can be both sourced and presented. Some advice is provided directly by the consultant based on his or her expertise, while other advice might arise from the consultant's facilitation of the client's view of the prevailing data, or indeed the client's own opinion.

• It's about projects

Consultants talk about ‘interventions’, implying that consultants are temporary stakeholders in any client situation. An intervention will have a start point and also a finish – consulting is not a continual activity.

This chapter brings together the skills that a consultant may draw on in order to add value by being appropriately challenging.

• • Section 1 looks at the ‘zones of debate’ and especially the ‘Zone of Uncomfortable Debate’.

• • Section 2 discusses the ‘hilltops’ metaphor and the importance of recognising differences in perspective in consulting work.

• • Section 3 discuses cognitive distance and how this can help provide challenge or aid the transference of knowledge between consultant and client.

• • Section 4 outlines the ‘push-pull’ approach to influence, with this section providing the introduction to six mechanisms for influence: ‘listening’; ‘questioning’; ‘summarising’; ‘re-framing’, ‘advising’; ‘going ahead and doing it anyway’.

• • Section 5 explores unconscious mental processes and influence.

• • Section 6 looks at individual client characteristics through the lens of the Social Styles Inventory.

The ZOUD and challenging the client

Professor Cliff Bowman promoted the idea of the ZOUD, or ‘Zone of Uncomfortable Debate’. The ZOUD is one of three levels of dialogue – or zones of debate – suggested by Bowman, and perhaps the one most relevant to challenging a client's thinking.

The three zones of debate are the Zone of Comfortable Debate, the Zone of Uncomfortable Debate, and the Intuitive Core. All have a role in a consulting process, but the ZOUD is potentially the most productive and also the one many consultants find the most difficult.

The Zone of Comfortable Debate describes convivial conversation. What is being discussed between consultant and client is noncontentious. This means either that the subject is light and/or that both parties are in agreement. Dialogue in the Zone of Comfortable Debate will move a conversation forward, but usually in only two ways. It can provide a platform for reflection, helping the client's own thoughts to move their perspective on a situation. It can also work in a summarising capacity, where mutual acceptance of an opinion enables a conversation to progress to the next stage. However, it is in a social cohesion role that the Zone of Comfortable Debate makes its biggest contribution to effective dialogue. A challenging conversation can only really work if there is sufficient cohesion between the two parties. Cohesion keeps things together and mitigates against the tension that challenge causes.