Process consultation is a learning approach where the consultant works with people within the organisation to learn and develop their skills and expertise to address workplace dilemmas and other challenges. This means eventually the outside consultant is no longer required once the new knowledge has been acquired.

This is in stark contrast to the usual consulting approach whereby a consultant will diagnose the problem, write a prescription and leave the execution to the organisation to solve or implement difficult or unpopular decisions. This usually requires more consultants, or ongoing billable hours to the original consultant.

In process consultation the staff work closely with the consultant. It doesn’t mean the consultant has all the answers necessarily, but knows how to teach others ways to learn to find the answers. Often it is not a matter of having the answers, but asking the right questions.

This is ideal for organisations learning how to develop skills in areas such as strategic planning or change management for example. These areas are notoriously the domain of high priced consulting corporations.

Edgar Schein, the founder of Process Consultation defined it as:

A set of activities on the part of the consultant that help the client to perceive, understand, and act upon the process events that occur in the client’s environment in order to improve the situation as defined by the client.