To begin with, shortly after that last blog post, I was diagnosed with breast cancer. Happily, it was in the early stages (Stage II) and I am now through two surgeries, chemotherapy and radiation treatments.  I took a break from classes Spring and Summer 2009 and now am back at VCU, albeit part time and with short, gray hair.

Although still feeling the effects of “chemo brain” (it is very difficult to keep things organized in my mind), I’m plugging along. They tell me this can last for a year or two following treatment and I’ll use that excuse for as long as I can.

My thanks to Dr. Terry Carter for her patience. My thanks to my classmates who have checked in on me from time to time. I hope we can reconnect soon.

The class on data collection was very helpful but still left me a little shakey on questions to ask. I’ve met with some of the academy staff and got my hands on last year’s registration documents. Wow! No wonder they have a time lag and communication problems — it’s all stacks of paper. I can’t help but compare it to the way we schedule on our side of the house, not that it’s without issues, but at least we take advantage of technology. I sort of knew what to expect but being the visual person that I am, the stacks of files of papers had a pretty big impact. I hope to start meeting with the supervisors out in the field this coming week. I’m still having trouble wrapping my mind around the concept that I don’t have to worry about bias in the data ie. that it’s ok not to ask everyone the same questions. I think I like the term discovery.

I’m trying to practice the dealing with resistance skills whenever they arise (which seems to be pretty often in some form). It’s easiest at home since I don’t fear retrobution for being authentic. I’m still a little hesistant to be too authentic at work — not just now anyway, with two new staffers coming to the office on Monday. Did consult with my son though. He’s a senior in hs and was struggling with 8 classes (in a 7-period day) — three were dual enrollment, two AP and the other two honors. I thought he had bitten off more than he could chew (as was reflected in his grades) but when I would tell him he just insisted he was fine (his flight into health). Well, we finally got to the point where I said, “We’ve discussed your options and I know you’ve been talking to your teachers and guidance couselor. You still seem to be having trouble getting all the work done on time and concerns me. What do you want to do?” And then I shut up. Lo and behold, he came home the next day and told me he had decided to drop one of the classes. It turns out he didn’t want to be seen as a quitter but it was just an unrealistic work load (he also has a job).

I ran my new project idea by Dr. Carter and she’s ok with it. I’m working alone which is really too bad but everyone else who wanted to work with a partner was already paired up. Doing the project with the Sheriff’s Office will be a whole lot more convenient for me and will be a real help to them so I’m quite excited about it.

Oh — and big news! I’ve officially been accepted into the doctoral program! I have to take a prerequisite class this spring and technically I’ll start in the fall. Much more on that in the weeks to come.

So these internal consultants come to the contracting table with an inherent disadvantage. Not only to they have to follow all of the rules of flawless consulting but they are automatically considered inferior in their abilities by the client.  The client doesn’t really expect anything from the internal consultant because they’re local but they often work without a written contract because they trust them (or perhaps because there is no money involved). They client expects the external consultant to be an expert but wants a written contract because they are not to be trusted, especially when the time clock is ticking.

I’m liking this internal consultant role more and more. Low expectations – high trust factor. Maybe. More to ponder.

Can you tell I’m excited about this? I figured out how to add WebWidgets that aren’t the ones typically associated with Edublogs. This is VERY cool and has FAR REACHING consequences for blogging in a community of practice, I topic I’m quite interested in and fond of . . . See my Sudoku page!

I still contend that there is a time and place for all three models and often for all three within the same consulting experience. Sometimes, just because of the level of knowledge required, we call upon experts to sift all of the information available into a form that the owner of the problem can understand. When an ill patient sees a specialist to try to make sense of a medical problem, that specialist can serve as expert. He can also serve as collaborator as they work together to formulate a treatment plan that the patient has confidence in and will comply with.

Sometimes, an organization truly needs more staff but for one reason or another, the funds are not available but funds are available for a consultant. Even though this person is really well-paid temp staff in disguise, it works out for everyone. The organization gets needed help and the consultant gets a paycheck.

My favorite “ah ha” moment so far has been the notion of the internal consultant. This was new to me and provides great insight into how I can be more effective in my current role as training specialist within a midsized suburban police department. Clearly I cannot serve in an expert role regarding specifics of police work, but I can serve as collaborator when we design training events and/or activities. It has been in that role that I have felt most useful and found the greatest level of job satisfaction.

Flash forward – the classes were going well and I had to be out by 1:45 for a 2:30 meeting a VCU. This was my interview with two faculty members from the Adult Learning program prior to admittance to the doctoral program. Too much to go into here but the bottom line is that I moved into the next step. They gave me two articles to read and I come back in two weeks to do a writing sample. Oh, and I need a prerequisite stat course. Pretty funny really when Dr. C said, “I see you’ve had statistics before but since it’s been more than 20 years . . ” (I may be paraphrasing but she did have a point.) I supposed I may have to learn to use a graphing calculator. Fortunately, Jas is willing to lend me his and would probably teach me how to use it if I ask nicely. I start stat class tomorrow afternoon.

Class went well. I enjoyed the exercise where one person had a problem (me), another was the consultant and the third an observer. The purpose was to embrace our ignorance. I asked for help getting Jason to take applying for college seriously. My classmates are much younger and neither has a teenager but actually both had some good insights. We concluded that it’s easier to genuinely embrace ignorance when you really are ignorant about a topic. I think, however, the the key is to recognize that even if you are an expert, you will NEVER know more about a client’s situation that they do. I was thinking about an experience I had with Jen was an infant. Our family doctor (Steve Redman, may he rest in peace) who was also our next door neighbor, told me to always remember that I know my child better than ANYONE else. As a doctor, he could certainly have played the expert card but never did. He ALWAYS started the interactions by asking me what was going on — what a GREAT example of Schein’s process consulting. I have since always chosen medical advisers based on that model.

So during breaks I’m calling and texting home to see what’s happening with the guinea pig and also Jen’s roomie. Turns out, the gp was still with us although hanging on by a thread. I text Jas to make a vet appointment to have her put to sleep (it seemed kindest). John texts back – They have appointment for 7:30 but Jas won’t go – I text that I want him to go – I call Jas — he’s annoyed — I talk him into going — John texts back that the vet won’t commit to putting the guinea pig to sleep without an exam. Class is out — I meet them at the vet’s. The vet agrees that he wouldn’t have expected her to last the day and that she had little time left. That plus the fact that she’s over 100 years old in gp years so he agreed to the euthanasia. It actually went pretty well and we’ll bury her when Jen is home in a couple of weeks. Jen still doesn’t know. I’ve been calling her roommate all day and we’re trying to set up a time when she won’t be alone. So I get a call from her at about 9:30 and she is venting about all KINDS of things (VERY PMSy and even she realizes it). So she’s complaining about her roomie and I’m trying to tell her so back off when the roomie calls. She (roomie) tells me that Jen’s not is a good mood and is afraid she’ll bite her head off. I assure her that won’t happen) I call Jen back . . . . and finally tell her about the guinea pig (which she takes remarkably well) tells her to be nice the the roomie who has been WONDERFUL throughout the gp saga  <sigh> AND the she talks me into spending $40 on ink for her printer. How’d she do that?? (I made the tuition payment earlier that day – I guess the $40 felt like a bargain.

What a CRAZY Monday!

Walked into a dark room which wasn’t a big shock since Dr. Carter mentioned the dark room thing in her blog. It was ok – I wondered how I’d handle it since I like to keep busy during class taking notes and the old eyes aren’t what they used to be. She was fine with having me tap away on my laptop so I chose that option. Worked GREAT! I have a great set of notes from tonight’s class.

Observations on using the wiki. I like it. However, it seems that if you’re the first person to comment you have free reign. Of course, that’s not always a good thing. We dance around to see if we’re getting it right which of course still translates to, “does the professor agree with me? Am I offering anything significant to the dialogue?” This is not unlike posting on a message board in Blackboard. There has to be a better way. This is all a little contrary to the very core of being “authentic” as offered by Block. Just once I want to say something outrageous – just to see if anyone would take me on but then that, too, would be contrary to the very core of PC that we’re learning.

REALLY liking the class. Can’t believe I was skeptical of how I’d relate it to my daily work but it’s really pretty exciting. LOVE Block’s book. Still think Schein is a little tough — yes, yes, I’d better get used to the academic style of writing and reading. Like what he has to say. Just wish he’d say it and move on. Maybe I’ll try reading Block first this time and see if that helps. Sort of use Schein as a way to flesh out the concepts.

As for a project, hmmm this is tough. I don’t want to do something for CCPD. That’s too close to home. Maybe the Sheriff’s office. I’m also thinking about Embrace Richmond. I’m rather impressed with that organization and might be able to do something while Jason works on his Eagle project with them. Another option is to check with Chesterfield University. Kevin (Bruny) is a graduate of the VCU program and I’m sure he’d be happy to work with me. That wouldn’t hurt professionally and I like working with Kevin. Enough for now. I think I just might start my reading for next week (shocking!).