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CONSULTANCY AND PROJECT MANAGEMENT

Working as a consultant, I operate in two very different, but ultimately interrelated, areas.

One area is as a project manager in the field of urban renewal and property development, based on my background as a Chartered Surveyor. For example, I have coordinated major new developments in the centre of Milton Keynes, including a leisure complex, the renowned theatre, and an extension to the shopping centre. I have also, working with John Walker Associates, acted as a consultant to Oxfordshire County Council, Oxford City Council, and SEEDA, on the report which kick-started the much-needed regeneration of Oxford City's west end.

The second area relates to my coaching work. Coaching is often about change: a person recognises at some level that change is necessary, either for the individual, or for the organisation, or for both. In this situation coaching can be a safe, almost gentle, way of bringing these difficult issues into the light.

But when the individual has reached this point, he or she will start to recognise that change has to be embraced not just by the leader but by the whole group.

In the modern world, it is essential that the group comes to understand, recognise and indeed welcome the changes when they come. This can be an uncomfortable process: it may start with a blanket denial of the need for change. It continues with a stage of recognition, which is perhaps reluctant and fearful. If this is processed well, the next stage, of exploration, follows. This can be exciting and starts to get new energy flowing. While the intellectual process of planning and development is underway, all the time a sense of inner commitment is being built up. Finally, the fourth stage is one of commitment – just doing it, making it happen.

My rôle as consultant is to act as a catalyst in this process of change: helping the whole organisation to move forward with integrity, building and retaining the motivation of the team. It does not need to be a lengthy process if the need for change can be embraced early. Each group will have its own needs and characteristics and will move at its own speed.

For success to be assured the group has to develop a complete strategy. If you do not have a strategy, you do not know where you are going. So part of the change process is to help an organisation or group to develop and complete its own strategy.

The change process is, at its best, one of new growth, energy and profitability. I work to assist in the building of a tightly knit, self-motivated, team in which people have mature, friendly relationships with each other and have learnt to trust each other even if they have widely differing personalities. When the team is working in this way, each member knows what to expect of each other, and what is expected of himself (and this may be a lot).

As a consultant coach, I follow a clear process myself in all of this, to help you move forward:

• Taking the brief: this is carried out with the commissioning director. The project is clearly set out with its stages, timing, and objectives.

• Research: I spend some time in one-to-one interviews with your key players, listening to their concerns and their own perspective.

• Workshop Manual: from the research phase I develop a workshop proposal which sets out the programme for an initial one- or two-day workshop. At the end of this workshop, the group will have made progress and will be starting to move from recognition towards exploration.

• My input may not be extensive after this stage: a strategy is more powerful if it is self-generated rather than imposed by an outside consultant: but I am available to continue to challenge, to bring an outside view of issues which you may be so close to that you cannot see clearly, and to check and review progress. Sometimes a second workshop is valuable to bring more impetus into the process and to ensure that the whole team is working as one body.

To me, project management and the coaching approach to management change go well together. Each is informed by an understanding of two things: how people and organisations work best and thrive; and how to translate from ideas and concepts into action and results.

I would welcome and enjoy the chance to talk with you about the difficulties and opportunities that are facing you now.