What Does an Organizational Development Consultant Do?

<p>An organizational development consultant is a person called in to a company, be it a large corporation or a small business, to evaluate how it operates and make recommendations for improvement. Organizational development consultants are typically hired when a firm is struggling and needs to make changes in order to remain profitable. Such consultants are often highly educated in the field of business, have experience in managerial roles, and depend on an excellent reputation for bringing businesses back to profitability in order to continue being hired by other struggling groups. </p> <p>While each business is different, some of the tools used by such consultants to institute positive business changes include: </p> <h3 id="section---ImportantFactsAboutOrganizationalDevelopmentConsultants"> Important Facts About Organizational Development Consultants</h3> <p /> <table border="1"><tr><td> Required Education </td><td> Bachelor's degree</td></tr> <tr><td> Key Skills </td><td> Clear communication, multitasking, organization, observational, critical and analytical thinking, customer focused, team oriented, computer competency, reading comprehension</td></tr> <tr><td> Work Environment </td><td> Heavy travel working in the offices of clients</td></tr> <tr><td> Similar Occupations </td><td> Director of operations, human resources director, information technology director, program project manager, training and development manager</td></tr> </table><h3 id="section---OrganizationalAssessment">Organizational Assessment</h3> <p>Through observation, research, and interviews, an organizational development consultant analyzes the corporate culture of a company. In doing so, you determine whether the parts are working together as a whole. </p> <h3 id="section---ChangeManagement">Change Management</h3> <p>Changing management doesn't always mean that you have to change personnel. Based on what you have learned through your assessment, you work with management and teams to plan and implement changes in both work practices and office environment behaviors. Of course, if the existing management does not wish to change, you might have to recommend personnel changes and look for new hires. </p> <p>Some of the changes you might recommend would be employee-driven, such changing job duties or developing plans to keep valuable employees. </p> <h3 id="section---ProblemSolvingAndTeamBuilding">Problem Solving and Team Building</h3> <p>Your assessment might show that there is a specific problem that is hindering a company's performance. After identifying the problem as being employee-driven or due to the business model, you will then be responsible for developing a solution. Using learned methods in organizational planning and group dynamics, you will develop and implement team building skills between employees and the management team. This will help to improve team harmony through interpersonal communications and stress reduction, thereby increasing productivity. </p> <h3 id="section---ProcessConsulting">Process Consulting</h3> <p>During the assessment process, you will research various business methods to determine an appropriate plan. You will use that information to identify successful practices and work with the team to reinforce those applications. You may also stress the need to discard what does not work and develop new business models that can work with current effective methods. </p> <h3 id="section---MeetingDesign">Meeting Design</h3> <p>Too often, meetings never accomplish much beyond getting everyone away from their work stations. As an organizational development consultant, you will monitor how meetings are used at a business and work to develop a plan to teach meeting facilitators how to organize materials, set an agenda, and keep a meeting on task. </p> <h3 id="section---SalaryInfoAndJobOutlook">Salary Info and Job Outlook</h3> <p>According to <i>PayScale.com</i>, the majority of organizational development consultants earn between $62,000 and $146,000 a year, as of January 2023. Although the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS, <i>www.bls.gov</i>) does not provide information specific to the field of consulting, the BLS did project that the employment of management analysts, who perform similar job duties, will likely grow by about 11% between 2021 and 2031, a rate much faster than the average predicted for all occupations.</p>