Three Helping Roles

Management guru Edgar Schein at MIT suggests that leaders can choose one of three helping roles* to play when they are asked to help someone:

1. An expert resource who provides information or services
2. A doctor who diagnoses and prescribes
3. A process consultant who focuses on building an equitable relationship and clarifies what kind of help is needed

What is the natural role you tend to play?

What criteria do you use to know when to switch roles?

*Helping: How to Offer, Give, and Receive Help: Understanding Effective Dynamics in One-to-One, Group, and Organizational Relationships (2009), Berrett-Koehler Publishers.

On the journey with you,