Humble Consulting

Author: Edgar H. Schein
Publisher: Berrett-Koehler Publishers
ISBN: 1626567220
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 240

Book Description
Consulting in Complex and Changing Times Organizations face challenges today that are too messy and complicated for consultants to simply play doctor: run a few tests, offer a neat diagnosis of the “problem,” and recommend a solution. Edgar Schein argues that consultants have to jettison the old idea of professional distance and work with their clients in a more personal way, emphasizing authentic openness, curiosity, and humility. Schein draws deeply on his own decades of experience, offering over two dozen case studies that illuminate each stage of this humble consulting process. Just as he did with Process Consultation nearly fifty years ago, Schein has once again revolutionized the field, enabling consultants to be more genuinely helpful and vastly more effective.

Humble Consulting

Author: Edgar H. Schein
Publisher: Berrett-Koehler Publishers
ISBN: 1626567212
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 233

Book Description
Organizations face problems today that are too messy and complicated for consultants to simply play doctor: run a few tests, offer a neat diagnosis of the "problem," and recommend a solution. With the pace of change accelerating and globalization and specialization adding new layers of complexity, there is no time for diagnoses. Canned answers from outsiders have become useless. Well-meaning consultants often end up working on the wrong problem, misunderstanding the client organization's culture, or ignoring the fact that constant change makes today's solutions obsolete tomorrow. In Humble Consulting, Edgar Schein outlines the basics of a new approach. He argues that consultants and coaches have to jettison the old idea of professional distance and work with their clients in a more personal way, emphasizing authentic openness, curiosity, and humility. Schein shows how to create an atmosphere of genuine trust and caring so that clients can share what's really on their minds. Consultants and clients can then jointly discover what needs to be done. Working together from the outset like this speeds things up as it obviates the need for elaborate diagnostic tests and avoids solutions that might look good on paper but don't fit an organization's on-the-ground reality. Schein draws deeply on his own decades of experience, offering over two dozen case studies that illuminate each stage of the humble consulting process. Just as he did with Process Consultation nearly fifty years ago, Schein has once again revolutionized the field, enabling consultants to be more genuinely helpful and vastly more effective

Humble Inquiry

Author: Edgar H. Schein
Publisher: Berrett-Koehler Publishers
ISBN: 1609949838
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 132

Book Description
Communication is essential in a healthy organization. But all too often when we interact with people—especially those who report to us—we simply tell them what we think they need to know. This shuts them down. To generate bold new ideas, to avoid disastrous mistakes, to develop agility and flexibility, we need to practice Humble Inquiry. Ed Schein defines Humble Inquiry as “the fine art of drawing someone out, of asking questions to which you do not know the answer, of building a relationship based on curiosity and interest in the other person.” In this seminal work, Schein contrasts Humble Inquiry with other kinds of inquiry, shows the benefits Humble Inquiry provides in many different settings, and offers advice on overcoming the cultural, organizational, and psychological barriers that keep us from practicing it.

Helping

Author: Edgar H. Schein
Publisher: Berrett-Koehler Publishers
ISBN: 1605098809
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 188

Book Description
A Strategy+Business Best Leadership Book of the Year: An “uncommonly wise” analysis of the psychological and social dynamics of helping relationships (Warren Bennis, author of On Becoming a Leader). Helping is a fundamental human activity, but it can also be a frustrating one. All too often, to our bewilderment, our sincere offers of help are resented, resisted, or refused—and we often react the same way when people try to help us. Why is it so difficult to provide or accept help? How can we make the whole process easier? Many words are used for helping: assisting, aiding, advising, caregiving, coaching, consulting, counseling, guiding, mentoring, supporting, teaching, and more. In this seminal book on the topic, corporate culture and organizational development guru Ed Schein analyzes the social and psychological dynamics common to all types of helping relationships, explains why help is often not helpful, and shows what any would-be helpers must do to ensure that their assistance is both welcomed and genuinely useful. He shows how to navigate the delicate acts of asking for or offering help; avoid pitfalls; mitigate power imbalances; and establish a solid foundation of trust—and how these techniques can be applied to teamwork and organizational leadership. From the bestselling author of Organizational Culture and Leadership, and illustrated with examples from many types of relationships—husbands and wives, doctors and patients, consultants and clients—Helping is a concise, definitive analysis of what it takes to establish successful, mutually satisfying helping relationships.

Humble Inquiry, Second Edition

Author: Edgar H. Schein
Publisher: Berrett-Koehler Publishers
ISBN: 1523092637
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 173

Book Description
This worldwide bestseller offers simple guidance for building the kind of open and trusting relatonships vital for tackling global systemic challenges and developing adaptive, innovative organizations—over 200,000 copies sold and translated into seventeen languages! We live, say Edgar and Peter Schein, in a culture of “tell.” All too often we tell others what we think they need to know or should do. But whether we are leading or following, what matters most is we get to the truth. We have to develop a commitment to sharing vital facts and identifying faulty assumptions—it can mean the difference between success and failure. This is why we need Humble Inquiry more than ever. The Scheins define Humble Inquiry as “the gentle art of drawing someone out, of asking questions to which you do not know the answer, of building relationships based on curiosity and interest in the other person.” It was inspired by Edgar's twenty years of work in high-hazard industries and the health-care system, where honest communication can literally mean the difference between life and death. In this new edition the authors look at how Humble Inquiry differs from other kinds of inquiry, offer examples of it in action, and show how to overcome the barriers that keep us telling when we should be asking. This edition offers a deepening and broadening of this concept, seeing it as not just a way of posing questions but an entire attitude that includes better listening, better responding to what others are trying to tell us, and better revealing of ourselves. Packed with case examples and a full chapter of exercises and simulations, this is a major contribution to how we see human conversational dynamics and relationships, presented in a compact, personal, and eminently practical way.

Humble Leadership

Author: Edgar H. Schein
Publisher: Berrett-Koehler Publishers
ISBN: 1523095407
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 183

Book Description
The more traditional forms of leadership that are based on static hierarchies and professional distance between leaders and followers are growing increasingly outdated and ineffective. As organizations face more complex interdependent tasks, leadership must become more personal in order to insure open trusting communication that will make more collaborative problem solving and innovation possible. Without open and trusting communications throughout organizations, they will continue to face the productivity and quality problems that result from reward systems that emphasize individual competition and “climbing the corporate ladder”. Authors Edgar Schein and Peter Schein recognize this reality and call for a reimagined form of leadership that coincides with emerging trends of relationship building, complex group work, diverse workforces, and cultures in which everyone feels psychologically safe. Humble Leadership calls for “here and now” humility based on a deeper understanding of the constantly evolving complexities of interpersonal, group and intergroup relationships that require shifting our focus towards the process of group dynamics and collaboration. Humble Leadership at all levels and in all working groups will be the key to achieving the creativity, adaptiveness, and agility that organizations will need to survive and grow.

Great Companies Deserve Great Boards

Author: Beverly Behan
Publisher: Macmillan
ISBN: 0230120547
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 190

Book Description
Despite the many changes in governance regulation over the past decade, few boards function as a true corporate asset to the companies they oversee. In this book, Behan offers practical advice that a CEO, Chairman or board member can introduce at the very next meeting. Boardrooms are filled with intelligent, accomplished people—yet seldom achieve their full potential and add the kind of value for the CEO, executive team and company shareholders that many boards are actually capable of. Beverly Behan draws on her experience working with more than 100 boards over the past 14 years—from major Fortune 500s to recent IPOs—offering no-nonsense insights that can take any board from mediocrity to the top of its game including establishing a constructive working relationship with your board; addressing some of the dysfunction that may lie within the board you’ve inherited, and making your board a significant asset to you, your company, and your executive team. Working with the Board of Directors is one of the most important components of any CEO’s job—and most will admit it is something they wish they knew more about. Nearly all CEOs want to change at least something about their board, yet many are unsure how to go about this in the right way. This book not only alerts the reader to common pitfalls that CEO's can make with their boards, it provides workable approaches to a tackle a variety of boardroom issues from getting new talent into the boardroom to engaging effectively with the board on strategy and succession planning.

Process consultation

Author: Edgar H. Schein
Publisher: Addison Wesley Publishing Company
ISBN: 9780201067330
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 147

Book Description

Organizational Learning

Author: David Schwandt
Publisher: CRC Press
ISBN: 9781420049039
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 280

Book Description
Companies around the world are beginning to recognize that only by increasing the speed and quality of their learning can they succeed in the rapidly changing global marketplace. Developing organization-wide learning and becoming a learning organization has become critical for adaptation and survival. Organizational Learning: From World Class Theories to Global Best Practices starts with a review of significant learning theory and research accomplished over the past 20 years. This research is integrated into an action-centered theory of organizational learning. The book then explores in depth the Organizational Learning System Model developed by David Schwandt that has been applied in a variety of public and private organizations. Recognizing that companies now work with multicultural groups in a global marketplace, the authors also examine cultural implications of the Model. The authors present best-practice application of the Organizational Learning System Model by companies from around the world, including Arthur Anderson, Price Waterhouse, Beloit Corporation, Motorola, and Meralco. These are companies that have taken the leadership in developing learning systems on a organization-wide basis. Organizational Learning: From World Class Theories to Global Best Practices provides practical steps and strategies for developing and applying organizational learning in the workplace. Features

Humble Consulting

Author: Edgar H. Schein
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780369313065
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 390

Book Description
Consulting in Complex and Changing Times Organizations face challenges today that are too messy and complicated for consultants to simply play doctor: run a few tests, offer a neat diagnosis of the problem, and recommend a solution. Edgar Schein argues that consultants have to jettison the old idea of professional distance and work with their clients in a more personal way, emphasizing authentic openness, curiosity, and humility. Schein draws deeply on his own decades of experience, offering over two dozen case studies that illuminate each stage of this humble consulting process. Just as he did with Process Consultation nearly fifty years ago, Schein has once again revolutionized the field, enabling consultants to be more genuinely helpful and vastly more effective.