Professional development for beginning consultants in firms: Real-world considerations.

Abstract

This article presents a frame of reference that compares and contrasts beginning consultants' academic preparation with the real-world demands of successjul membership in organizational consulting firms. It also specifies target areas that must be addressed in consultants' adaptation to their firms, their clients, and their consulting practices. Five approaches a firm can take in providing orientation, training, and guidance to new consultants are discussed. The article concludes with reference to several elements of the career-long pursuit of professional development necessary to maintain excellence as a consultant.David W. Merrell, former vice president for training, recruitment, and publications and a director of RHR International Company, was based in Stamford, Connecticut. After 30 years with that firm, he now writes from retirement in Gilford, New Hampshire.Richard G. Weigel was employed by RHR International Company for more than a decade and served as manager of its Denver office. A past president of the Division of Consulting Psychology, he currently is interim vice president for student affairs and a professor at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City.Thanks are due to Jean F. Anderson for her creative and editorial assistance.

Content analysis of Consulting psychology journal: Practice and research (Volumes 44-59).

“…A guiding question has been whether consulting psychology is a substantive branch of the discipline or not (Hellkamp, 1993;O'Roark, 1999). Discussion focused on whether consulting psychology is a separate profession or a "special proficiency" (Lowman, 1998;Merrell & Weigel, 1998). This debate is perhaps most evident in the 2002 CPJ special issue discussing the education and training of consulting psychology at the doctoral level (Cooper, 2002).…”

Gaining and sustaining organizational support through a sociotechnical intervention.

“…Conceptually, this is similar to the notion of emotional labor (Lee & Ashforth, 1996;Morris & Feldman, 1996), which has been found to correlate with job stress and burnout. Stress effects on consultants have specifically been noted by at least one consulting psychologist (Merrell & Weigel, 1998).…”

“…This latter mode included participating in and negotiating client meetings, giving briefings, training client representatives in the methodology, and miscellaneous “hand holding.” Conceptually, this is similar to the notion of emotional labor (Lee & Ashforth, 1996; Morris & Feldman, 1996), which has been found to correlate with job stress and burnout. Stress effects on consultants have specifically been noted by at least one consulting psychologist (Merrell & Weigel, 1998).…”

New directions for graduate training in consulting psychology.

“…Consulting psychologists with such training would be skilled in working on an individual level in coaching and career assessment and counseling. They would be able, for example, to competently address an employee's deficits in terms of interpersonal skills (see Merrell & Weigel, 1998). At the group level, the fully trained consulting psychologist would have expertise in working with identity as well as intact work groups and issues.…”

“…In this phase, one model or another is put forth declaratively, as if the mere act of asserting something to be true, particularly if done emphatically, makes it so. Merrell and Weigel's (1998) strong assertion that consulting psychology constitutes not a separate profession but, rather, an existing "special proficiency" within others is illustrative.…”