PERSONAL CONSULTING BEHAVIORS

Personal Consulting Behaviors



Personal Consulting Behaviors

Introduction

The defining moment for most products that have reached an iconic status is the generic application of the product's name, such as the use of “Kleenex” to indicate any brand of tissue. Similarly, the practice of consulting has reached a comparable level of renown and one is able to find it in almost every aspect of our present society. Today, in any given business or academic arena, one can locate listings for financial consulting, international consulting, executive sales and marketing consulting, and even nutritional consulting (Caplan, 2000). Historically, the term consulting existed more frequently as a verb and predates society's current trend toward life coaches who “consult” on issues such as career, relationships, and communication styles (Caplan, 2000).

Consulting Defined

The act or art of consulting is typically tied to solution seeking. It can be thought of as a set of helping behaviors in which one party is seeking input, advice, or feedback from another related to a problem, question, or dilemma. Several authors within the field of counseling psychology, such as Sandra Shullman and John M. Whiteley, have traced the origins of consulting to the early guidance days of Frank Parsons during which counselors and psychologists worked diligently in business settings and industrial organizations to solve vocational problems for groups, as well as individuals. Perhaps most notable in the early life of psychological (mental health) consultation is the seminal work of Gerald Caplan with his prevention-based book titled The Theory and Practice of Mental Health Consultation (Caplan, 2000).

This work presented prevention- and developmental-based intervention options for mental health professionals that would take place outside of the therapy room. By doing so, it created the opportunity to apply psychological principles through assistance or advice in outreach types of activities. An outline of Caplan's four types of consultation would typically include client-centered case consultation, consultee-centered consultation, program-centered consultation, and administrative consultation. Since Caplan's work (Lowman, et al, 2002), consultation has been broadened to include school counseling and education, advocacy, group, and process consultation. Work in these arenas may be theoretically based on behavior-oriented, (industrial) organizational, or social justice-based solutions. Their underpinnings, though, can be connected to the early works of Caplan.

Personal Consulting Behaviors

One common form of consultation is the informal or formal exchange of information that occurs in the professional lives of counselors as they move toward refining their own clinical techniques; establishing expertise in a particular faction of study; or improving upon a design, method, or approach. In the field of counseling, practitioners are taught to seek consultation when faced with complicated issues that are not always well defined in textbooks or evidenced-based research (Lowman, et al, 2002). A common situation that requires consultation is the realization of a potential ethical dilemma involving clients, colleagues, or students. Thus, consultating with another professional allows for the translation of what may appear abstract or unknown into observations or behaviors that others have studied and/or experienced, and for which solutions have been ...