What is it about?
This chapter shows how multidisciplinary consultancy succeeds when technical expertise is balanced with confidence, humility, and deep relational understanding of each organisation’s culture, enabling more trusted, collaborative, and sustainable improvement. This chapter distils a decade of shared consultancy experience and over 25 years of using consultancy approaches personally, across public, voluntary, and commercial sectors, offering a grounded and practice‑focused account of what truly enables improvement in complex organisational settings. Rather than framing consultancy as a purely technical endeavour, the chapter argues that successful improvement work depends on understanding the distinctive culture, politics, and relational dynamics of each context.
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Why is it important?
Multidisciplinary consultancy requires a careful balance of expertise, confidence, and humility. Technical knowledge matters, but it is insufficient on its own. The authors show how consultants who approach systems with curiosity, respect, and relational sensitivity are far more likely to build trust, avoid disengagement, and support teams to co‑create solutions that are both deliverable and sustainable. Drawing on real‑world practice, the chapter illustrates how effective consultancy is shaped by relational qualities—attentiveness, humility, psychological safety, and collaborative working across disciplines. These qualities enable consultants to navigate organisational complexity, work constructively with diverse professional groups, and adapt their approach to the lived realities of each setting. Ultimately, the chapter positions multidisciplinary consultancy as a relational craft. It demonstrates that improvement is most successful when consultants combine their expertise with a deep appreciation of context, a willingness to listen, and a commitment to partnership working—qualities that lead to better outcomes and more enduring change.
Perspectives
I have used consultancy approaches for over 25 years across multiple sectors. They can be a powerful tool for improvement but can also go badly wrong, and create more challenges than they solve. They need to be used very carefully . This chapter distills some of my experience and shared work with Michelle Constable co-author in trying to make consultancy approaches effective, and real.
Prof Jim McManus
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Multidisciplinary Working in Consultancy: The Delicate Balance of Expertise, Confidence, and Humility, January 2025, Springer Science + Business Media,
DOI: 10.1007/978-3-031-94529-8_5.
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