Orienting to the Inside as an Internal Consultant

Abstract The author draws on a diversified background in nursing, business and organization development and change, as well as experience as an internal consultant. Internal consulting requires the ability to appreciate the potential and complexity of the whole and the reality and suffering of the acute. In evaluating an organization from within, one must consider the subject-object paradox whereby the conscious subject appears to observe itself as an object, but if it observes itself as an object, then, as an object, it cannot be a subject. The paradox has relevance across employees within an organization when asked to assess culture, whereby members of the organization are consciously or subconsciously creating the culture and thereby will never be able to make a fully objective assessment. This chapter will discuss the identity conflicts that arise in the internal consultant role and how leveraging emotional intelligence can inform navigating such conflict and the subsequent process of engaging for effective change. From this macro view, discussion is grounded in Kurt Lewin’s Force Field Analysis, Beckard and Harris’ change equation, and Daniel Goleman’s work on emotional intelligence, all of which can be instrumental in helping internal consultants frame and reframe their work in increasingly complex organizations.