I’m a chameleon by profession. Otherwise known as an organisation development consultant.
I left the civil service two years ago and can see, in hindsight, just how much the cross-department working I did shaped who I am and the portfolio consultancy career I have now. I started in the civil service as an immigration officer at Heathrow – surrounded by smart, knowledgeable colleagues and a strong team ethos. But a long-term posting to the Training Unit – the first woman in that role – helped me find my calling as a developer of people, and I moved into learning and development and then organisation development.
In several Whitehall-based roles I supported hundreds of teams and leaders in many functions and all levels in their search for greater effectiveness and capability, and then resilience – and learned something of great value from each of them.
What did I learn? Overall, of most value was learning to see above and below an organisation’s waterline – getting to the heart of a business issue to help resolve it, by tuning in to what is said, and what is not said.
I rarely took anything at face value. When a manager said, ‘the problem is ‘x’ I knew that on investigation it was much more likely to be ‘y’.
"I rarely took anything at face value. When a manager said, ‘the problem is ‘x’ I knew that on investigation it was much more likely to be ‘y’"
‘The processes are wrong.’ Maybe. But let’s have a quiet look at leadership style and team cohesion on the way past, just in case.
‘It’s all the leader’s/team’s fault.’ Sometimes, but if we stand back and look at it from over here – any clunky processes, an uncomfortable office environment, under-equipped, noisy… could be clues to why the deliverables aren’t getting delivered. Seeing below the surface saved time and effort.
I learned to be whatever someone needed me to be: over my civil service career my job title changed almost annually, to suit the mood of the department and the needs of the budget holder. "Assistant" this. "Head of" that. Deputy. Trainer. Facilitator. Coach. Mentor. Adviser. Manager. Designer. Consultant. Co-ordinator. Change lead.
Irrespective of organisational function or location, the job and the purpose was always essentially the same – organisation development (OD). But OD is a label that doesn’t always open career doors. I learned to shift mindset, eventually – and be comfortable with my labels.
In time I developed more strategic muscle and learned it was OK to mentally step across the tramlines and think creatively about an issue, to contribute what was needed, as well as what was asked for. But this shift came with a deeper awareness of the importance of psychological safety: if I don’t feel safe, I won’t deliver. Simple. This new sensitivity found its way into my consultancy work now – coaching for staff at a career crossroads and also experiencing burnout.
I found I was suited to spotting the nuances of human emotion and enjoyed adding value by being the oil in the machinery through playing these different roles:
- Sounding board: the person you can talk to in confidence when there’s nobody else – knowing you can trust me with anything, and feel safe, not judged.
- Puzzle solver: when you know something’s not right for the team, or the objectives, I’ll find out what that is and give you some options for what to do about it.
- Fixer: I can go behind the scenes, initiate conversations, broker better relationships and hand an issue back to you to publicly resolve.
- Noticer: the person in the corner of the meeting, an observer, or perhaps note taker, but the real job is noticing – to shape a view for you of what is really going on.
- Voice unifier: when the team cares about its work but individual disconnections or misunderstandings disrupt it, I’ll find where the breaks are and help you mend them by advocating for those who feel unheard.
Collette Stone works as an organisation mindset and culture change consultant