World views of (agile) consultants, trainers and coaches

A new consultant sees the world differently than an experienced one. While working with clients and consultants, they learn and grow. Maybe you've heard about the book "Tribal Leadership". The authors of the book describe five world views of people in organizations. What if we apply this research to the world view of consultants and trainers?

The five stages

Dave Logan, John King and Halee Fischer-Wright have analyzed language patterns in organizations. What did people say? Was it a positive tone or a negative one? Did it have a group focus or an individual one? Their research led to five tribal stages.

People at Stage One feel alienated from others. They say: “Life is generally bad.”

People at Stage Two are separate from others. But they also see people who seem to have more power than they do. They say: “Maybe life is not bad in general. But my life is bad.”

People at Stage Three are connected in hierarchical way to others. They try to outperform their colleagues. They say: “I’m great”. And they think: “… and you are not.”

People at Stage Four form relationships based on values. They think that their tribe is much better than the other tribes out there. They say: “We are great … and the other tribes are not.”

People at Stage Five live in an ever-growing network. They are way ahead of the competition. They say: “Life is great.”

You do not need a psychological assessment for that. Language and relationship patterns are easy to observe. It's not about putting a label on a human being. It's about the language someone uses in a specific context. Logan et al. describe the different stages in more detail and they add tips how to help the people to grow. They also say that you need to live at one stage before moving on to the next. You cannot jump. And it also easy to fall back to an earlier stage.

Consultants’ world views

Consultants and trainers are there to help other people. They share their knowledge, they teach skills, they help to get unstuck. The most important question for consultants and trainers is: “What should be different after a training or consulting session.”

I am a consultant and a trainer, too. And most of the time I was at Stage Three, and I still am: “I’m great … and you are not”. But it is a depressing experience. The more I demonstrate my greatness the more helpless my clients feel. As I look for more and more greatness less and less other consultants are eligible to work with me. The result: more work and stress for me to find clients. I think consultants get clients because they know other consultants who ask for support. Let’s take a moment to reflect the consultants world views:

Consultants (and trainers) at Stage One: “Life is bad. I condemn they day I decided to become a freelancer.” These consultants look for magic tools. It’s an addiction that prevents from doing the real job: applying the tools. At least one and start learning. The more they look for magic tools, the more they alienate themselves from others.

Consultants at Stage Two: “My life as a consultants sucks. I don’t understand why the others are successful. Maybe they know the right people, have a secret money source or a hidden network that provides them with jobs.” These consultants feel helpless. They work hard, day and night if necessary. But they always have the feeling that it is not enough.

Consultants at Stage Three: “I’m great … and you are not. And you can be lucky that I am your consultant or trainer.” These consultants have a lot of knowledge or they know popular scientists or business people. They are proud of it. How can you tell them? It is easy, because they say it again and again. They throw around phrases and jargon. They explain the world. And they make serious faces while talking. As listener you admire them. Their knowledge is incredible. BUT little change happens. This world view is also stressful for the consultant. The authors of Tribal Leadership found out that people at Stage Three build dyadic relationships. A dyad is a group of two people. So, the consultants need a lot of 1:1 conversations to get things done. But these relationships are not sustainable.

Consultants at Stage Four: “We are great … and the others are not.” They work together with their clients. All parties work together to blend the experience and knowledge of the client with the competence of the consultants into good results. Change happens. People grow. In comparison to the former Stage where there are mainly dyadic relationships people at Stage Four form triadic relationships. A triad is a group of three people, where (each) one feels responsible for the relationship of the other two. Stage Four people observe others and look for ways to connect people. That means, even if the consultant is not there, somethings happens between the other two. That is sustainable.

Consultants at Stage Five: “Life is great”. These people are enlightened leaders. These people are very rare in the consulting business. But if there is a Stage Five person in your industry you will easily find him or her.

Are you at Stage Three?

There is a nearly 50:50 chance that you are. Here is a quote from the book:

The theme of Stage Three, the dominant culture in 49 percent of workplace tribes in the United States, is “I’m great.” Or, more fully “I’m great and you’re not.”

You will be at Stage Three if you feel like a lone warrior. Your talk is about yourself. If you speak about others in your tribe there is generally a negative tone. Maybe you are too polite to speak so, but your thoughts are definitely negative. You always think that others do not have your knowledge, your skills or your ambitions. You think that others do not support you well enough.

If you are at Stage Three, be honest with yourself. Are the other people are really as stupid as you always thought? Or did you create a system of learned helplessness?

How to grow to Stage Four

Agile organizations need leaders, Scrum Masters and Coaches at Stage Four. Agile organizations need all team members and leaders at Stage Four. You cannot talk agile to people at Stage Two. Their world view cannot believe that real Scrum is possible in this shop.

What can we do, if most consultants (and leaders) are at Stage Three? We really need Stage Four people, because Stage Three and Stage Two people hold each other down. The helpless worker always complains that whatever he is doing, it is never good enough. The mighty consultant always says that the stupid people don’t get it and that they always need to look after them.

You cannot go to a Stage Three person and blame them for bad performance. This will make the consultant really angry.

The authors of the book describe that in many cases the Stage Three leaders had a moment of epiphany before they made the switch. So, we need something that make them think and assess their own performance honestly. The Tribal Leadership has the Appendix A where you can find tips to help people from one world view to the next. You can encourage them to form triads. Bring people together so that they can do something great. You can assign them projects that they cannot do alone and where they know that they need partners. If they complain about others show them that they created a structure that does not allow others to contribute.

You see change, if the consultant’s talking patterns change from an I-language to a we-language. He or she will from networks and in the end this person will work less, not more, to get things done.

If you are at Stage Four, you surely have started to help others to grow.

Tribal Leadership is an interesting book. Do you have a strategy to grow?