Strategic Partnership
APIC Coach's approach is to work with clients as strategic partners; as fully committed partners instead of "vendor-ship". We want to engage our clients in the process and delivery of any intervention. We work with our clients as equal partners. We are successful only if your organization achieves the success it deserves. |
Consulting Process
All data and information provided by the client remains confidential regardless of whether the consulting partnership is contracted eventually. We do require data and information in order for us to accurately assess your needs and select the appropriate methods for implementation.
Client confidentiality is central to our ethical approach. We do not name our clients and their data is confidential. This avoids conflicts of interests when working with direct competitors.
Phase 1: Entry
Our first meeting outlines what the client's and consultant's expectations are. The client explains to us what they need. The consultant than ascertain if this is our area of expertise and if we are able to deliver the results that the client desires. What is critically important here is the question of: "Are we asking the right questions?" and "Is the problem articulated really the problem at the root cause?". The role of the client and consultant is discussed here, and we determine the level of involvement of both partners. Clients may be tempted to ask for a price range for the consulting project, but it is not possible at this phase as there is too little information. However, both the client and consultant decide whether they feel comfortable with working together (decide to engage in this partnership), and they proceed to the second phase where there is further discovery.
Phase 2: Discovery and Contracting
Here, the consultant develop their sense of both the problems and the strengths. The client will provide information to the consultant to aid in this discovery process to clearly define the problem, determine the methods to be used, the type of data to be collected, and how long the process will take. With sufficient discovery and dialogue, the consultant conducts a utility analysis for the client, and the price for the consulting partnership is outlaid. The consultant details how much the client needs to invest in this project, and how much the client can receive in return for their investment. At this point, the client and consultant decides to sign the contract for partnership, and the terms governing their working arrangements. The terms for delivery of results is also discussed and agreed.
The second part of Phase 2 involves the client assigning specific members of staff to assist in further collection of data. The consultant may also be conducting surveys, assessments, profiling, interviews, and focus group discussions; as deemed necessary.
Phase 3: Data Collection
The amount of data that needs to be collected may be small or huge. Data collection can be in the form of going through historical records (for e.g. employee turnover data) or qualitative data such as focus group discussions and observing behaviors in work place settings.
Phase 4: Diagnosis and Decision to Act
This phase involves making sense of all the data and evidence collected. The client is engaged and involved in the process of analyzing the information to give contextual meaning to the data. When a conclusion is derived from the analysis, the consultant presents the feedback to the client. Thereafter, goal setting for the project is done, and selection of the best action steps or changes is decided. The interventions are co-developed between the consultant and the client.
Phase 5: Engagement and Implementation
This phase involves carrying out the planning in Phase 4. Some organizations decide to run the implementation phase entirely on their own. For others, the consultant may be deeply involved. At APIC, we prefer to be a partner of your organization's change efforts, from beginning to end. We almost always encourage our clients to allow us to be involved in the implementation phase, as well as the evaluation phase at the end of it - we are vested in your organization's success. Some implementations begin with a simple meeting with employees, or an event, or a training session. The consultant is often involved in complicated design work and in running the meeting or training session.
Phase 6: Extension, Recycle or Termination
This phase is about learning from the engagement. Here, we evaluate the results of our intervention and re-assess the situation. Sometimes, it is not until after some implementation has occurred, that a clear picture of the real problem emerges. In this case, the process recycles and a new contract needs to be discussed. If there is insufficient data due to the short period of time, the decision is whether to extend the process for a longer period of time, or to a larger segment of the organization. If the implementation was a success, the partnership thus terminates with the consultant handing over the entire project back to the client.