Report of

The Futures Task Force

Division 13,

Society of Consulting Psychology

Rodney L. Lowman, Chair

Stewart Cooper

John Fennig

Skipton Leonard

Deborah Robinson

Purpose of Task Force

The purpose of the Futures Task Force, established by Division 13 President Dale Fuqua at the 2001 Mid-Winter Conference, was to envision the future of the Society of Consulting Psychology. It was felt that the Society was at the brink of growth but that this growth could not happen without a different management approach and support systems. The Futures Task Force (Stewart Cooper, John Fennig, Skipton Leonard, Rodney L. Lowman (chair) and Deborah Robinson) considered its mission broadly to include: identifying future directions for the Society, developing a new approach to the mid-winter conference, creating other CE opportunities, facilitating efficiency and effectiveness in our management, and lessening financial risks to the Society.

Relevant History

In the past decade, the Division has conducted at least three major revisioning events. Ten years ago the Division held a visionary meeting facilitated by Ann O’Roark. This process articulated several goals including starting a journal and developing a typology of consulting.

The initial idea for what evolved to become our annual mid-winter conference came out of a 1993 meeting at APA in Washington by Kevin Sommerville, Skip Leonard, John Deleray, Tim Murphy and Martha Hill. Originally sketched out on a napkin, the conference, this idea derived from the felt need that the programming at the annual APA was not adequately meeting the needs of organizational consulting psychologists. From small beginnings, the conference evolved to be a regular benefit to members.

In 1999, Ann O'Roark worked with a group of Division 13 leadership members to

identify eight goals to be accomplished during Ann's presidency of the Division. These directions, which have had various states of success and completion, outlined a number of future initiatives for the organization.

Purposes of the Division and Definition of Consulting Psychology

The Society of Consulting Psychology has the following purpose according to its

Bylaws:

Article I - Name and Purpose

a.  the encouragement of high standards of psychological consultation;
        b.  the promotion of scientific research on psychological problems, especially in the

area of consulting psychology;
        c.  the facilitation of professional fellowship;
        d.  the support of the APA in the advancement of psychology.

The Bylaws also embrace the following definition of consulting psychology:

1. Consulting psychology, for the purpose of these bylaws, shall be defined as the function of applying and extending the special knowledge of a psychologist, through the process of consultation, to problems involving human behavior in various areas.  A consulting psychologist shall be defined as a psychologist who provides specialized technical assistance to individuals or organizations in regard to psychological aspects of their work.  Such assistance is advisory in nature and the consultant has no direct responsibility for its acceptance.  Consulting psychologists may have as clients individuals, institutions, corporations, or other kinds of organizations.

From the website come the following elaboration of the purposes of the Society:

• Stimulating the exchange of knowledge, ideas, and consulting experience among psychologists.
• Encouraging high standards of consultation.
• Promoting psychological research and professional development in the area of consulting.
• Fostering cooperative relations with allied associations and with all APA divisions.
• Supporting the advancement of psychology as a science, as a profession, and as a means of promoting human nature.

Division 13 strives to be a strong intellectual community that is a source of new thinking and further clarification of the knowledge base of the discipline as we enter the 21st century with renewed interest in positive psychology and consulting psychology as relevant to the lives of people.
The Division 13 Culture [is]:
Collegial - friendly - professional - international mentoring emphasis - diverse - relaxed - development oriented - conferences blending excellent training and recreation

We believe that the existing purposes of the Society, as defined in our Bylaws, need to be updated and elaborated. The definition of consulting psychology itself needs updating, we believe. This leads to our first recommendation.

Recommendation #1- The Futures Task Force recommends that the definition of consulting psychology in the Society's Bylaws be changed. The following provisional definition is proposed.

Division 13 defines and champions the highest standards for the science and practice of consulting psychology through the research, experience and expertise of its members and the client organizations with whom we work. Psychologically based consultation methods help individuals, groups and organizations not only become more efficient and effective but also more healthy and satisfying places to work. In specific, both intrapersonal and interpersonal functioning have impact on the person themselves, their work teams, their organization and/or industry and relevant societal communities. Consultation is a helping relationship that assists people, groups, or organizations in meeting their mission, goals, or objectives. Consultation is typically multi-dimensional, often with multiple concurrent clients and inter-related factors. Consultants can be change agents, facilitators, collaborators or experts in the working relationship with clients. A consultant's work focus includes people, processes, and/or organizational structures.

Recommendation #2 - Additionally, we recommend that the purposes of the Society be changed.

We specifically recommend that the Society' purposes be changed in the Bylaws to the following:

Define and champion the highest standards for the science and practice of consulting psychology.

1. Seek to influence excellence in consultations provided by psychologists and other consulting professionals.
2. Promote and disseminate scientific research and pooling of collective expertise on the on the theory and practice of consulting.
3. Assist members to optimize the fit between their interests/skills and employment/consulting opportunities.
4. Foster collegial environment where members can share and learn from each other.
5. Provide opportunities for education and training of its members and non-members.
6. Develop rapid and interactive communication among its memberships for purposes of knowledge sharing and utilization.
7. Partner with APA and other professional associations to support and promote the advancement of psychologically-based consultation

Recommendation #3 – The Task Force recommends that the Society broaden its sphere of influence and sources of learning to include persons other than members and affiliates such as other consulting professionals and clients.

We believe that the Society needs to position itself not just as a group of psychologists speaking to one another but also as a group of experts in consultation that has a lot to say about the practice of consulting psychology by whomever it is done. This requires a reconceptualization of the concept of membership in the Society versus the Society's spheres of influence.

Although in this model full membership in the Society would be limited to psychologists and affiliates, non-members would be encouraged to participate in many of the Society’s activities, e.g., subscribing to the journal, attending the mid-winter or other specialized conferences, enrolling in selected educational activities, etc. In particular, we recommend that the Society move to position itself as the thought and professional practice standards leader in the field of consulting.

A medical analogy may be useful. In medicine, although there are many professional medical societies that appropriately concern themselves with the practice of medicine (such as nursing, physicians assistants and the like), the field of medicine itself, and its associated professional groups, dominates medical science and its derivative practice. Societies whose membership is restricted to medical doctors exert influence on many other professions since it often establishes the science and standards of medical practice in a way similar to what the Society might become in the practice of consultation.

Recommendation #4 – We recommend broadening the definition of membership to include persons who are psychologists who or full members in good standing or either APA or APS.

Even though we strongly endorse that membership in the Society be restricted to psychologists, we do favor the model endorsed by the Society of I/O Psychology (SIOP, Division 14 of APA and a separately incorporated entity). They permit credentialliang as a psychologist to be established by membership in good standing in either APA or the American Psychological Society (APS). In the SIOP model non-APA members (that is, those who are instead APS members) can serve as divisional members in the APA division. We believe that this broadening of membership will help us recruit a broader spectrum of consulting psychologists, not just who identify with APA.

Recommendation #5 - Increase the paid membership level of the Society to 4,000 to 5,000 by 2011.

If the purposes of the Society are to be fulfilled, a much larger membership base will be needed. The main rationale for not growing is to maintain intimacy and informality but this would come at the cost of fewer services to members, less financial stability, and less influence with APA (or, if it becomes appropriate, of APS), the larger consulting community and the community marketplace. Furthermore, we believe that intimacy is still possible in a much larger Society.

The advantages of a larger Society include:

§ Fundamental shift from a voluntary- to a professionally-run administration

§ Increased representation on APA Council

§ Increased financial stability

§ Ability to have a more professionally run and cost effective conferences including paid speakers and professional administrators;

§ Ability to offer more member services including special interest conferences and more products and services;

§ Less dependence on APA so that we can have accurate and timely data on membership, finances, etc.

§ Consistency of administration from one year to the next with less reliance on volunteer labor

§ A more professionally managed website;

§ A “bigger piggybank” to fund essential but currently underfunded important initiatives

§ Ability to manage our own CE.

§ Marketing our professional services; direct development of marketing activities.

Products and Services to be Offered by the Society

The purposes of the Society should determine its services and products offered to members and other constituents. We believe that any products and services provided should align with the purposes articulated above. It is the working premise of the Futures Task Force that being a financially viable organization is critical to achieving the purposes of the organization and continuing to exist over the long run.

For purposes of organizing the discussion of the menu of services we recommend the Society provide, we incorporate Table 1, which identifies five "vectors" or areas in which influence which should be taken into account in understanding the Society's current areas of influence and the state to which it might aspire to have influence. In this model, the Society exists not just to serve its membership and affiliates but to have influence on the wider field of consulting. By considering the vectors in evaluating future directions of the Society, we can place a particular goal or approach in a broader context and consider how the proposed plan relates to a more broadly defined Society.

Table 1. Vectors of Influence of the Society

Vectors	Current State	Desired State
Stakeholders	Members	Members
	Affiliates	Affiliates
	Students	Students
	Non-members	Non-members
Influence Targets	Within APA	Within APA
	Outside APA	Outside APA
		Services Recipients
		Allied Professionals
Member Settings	Organizational Firms	Organizational Firms
	Private practice	Private Practice
	Academic sites	Academic sites
Level of Experience	Beginning	Beginning
	Mid-level	Mid-level
	Senior	Senior
Level of Involvement	Slight	Slight
	Moderate	Moderate
	Significant	Significant
Product/Services	APA Convention	APA Convention (CE offerings for division)
	Hospitality Suite	Hospitality Suite
	Midwinter meeting	Midwinter meeting
	Div 13 Web site	Web site
	List serve	List serve
	Newsletter	Newsletter
	Journal	Journal
		Journal Based CE Credits
		Regional CE offerings
		Web-based CE offerings
		Business and marketing training
		Job bank
		Consultant referral service
		Regional conferences
		Book publishing projects
		Society affinity products (T- shirts, cups)
		Media referral service
		Graduate program referral information
		Mentoring program at all levels
		Standards of training and professional practice in every area of consulting psychology
		Ethical standards of consulting psychology practice and influencing ethical codes to reflect these standards
		Promoting and disseminating consulting psychology theory and empirical research. Helping to align consulting practice and research.
		Helping to align consulting practice and research
		Special interest sections
		Consultants referral service
Type of Consultation
	Organizational	Organizational
	Mental Health	Mental Health
	School	School
	Behavioral	Behavioral

Recommendation #6 – We recommend the Society expand its services and products to add value to the membership and better to achieve its mission and purpose.

In this section we identify a number of products and services which we believe the Society should be providing. We assign priorities to this list based on their importance to the overall mission of the Society (as proposed above to be revised) and on the basis of their likelihood of deriving revenue to the Society.

In the sections below Table 2, we elaborate below the highest prioritized and highest return products and services. We recommend that the remaining ones be developed by the appropriate Society committee with responsibility for that area (e.g., changes to the journal be addressed by the journal editor, etc.).

Table 2. Society of Consulting Psychology Proposed Menu of

Products, Services and Activities

		Priority To purpose/To revenue
APA Convention (CE offerings for division)		High/Medium
Hospitality Suite
Midwinter meeting		High/High
Web site	Vehicle	High/Medium
List serve		Medium/Low
Newsletter		Medium/Low
Journal		High/Low
Journal-based CE offerings		Medium/Medium
Regional CE offerings		Medium/Medium
Web-based CE offerings	Web	Medium/Medium
Business and marketing training		Medium/Medium
Job Bank	Web	High/Low
Newsletter		Medium/Low
Journal	Web	High/Low
Book publishing projects		High/Low
Society affinity products (Tee shirts, cups)		Low/Low
Media referral service	Web	Medium/Low
Graduate program referral information	Web	High/Low
Mentoring program at all levels		High/Low
Standards of training and professional practice in every area of consulting psychology		High/Low
Ethical standards of consulting psychology practice and influencing ethical codes to reflect these standards		High/Low
Promoting and disseminating consulting psychology theory and empirical research. Helping to align consulting practice and research.		High/Medium
Special interest sections		High/Medium
Consultants referral service	Web	Medium/Low

Mid Winter Conference

Recommendation # 7: Aggressively expand the scope, influence, and revenue generation associated with the mid-winter organizational consulting conference.

The first conference on organizational consulting (Consulting to Corporations and Business) began in 1993 as a small independent conference of 12 attendees in Vail, CO. (24 registered but a record snow storm kept half from attending in person.) Soon thereafter, Division 13 assumed ownership of the conference. It has progressed to be a nationally-recognized conference attended by 150 or more people from throughout the nation and using the services of a professional conference planner since 1997. The conference has varied over the years from a break-even to a money-making enterprise. In the last three years the conference has earned less money as costs (including reimbursing travel costs for the Executive Committee to attend and the increased charges from the professional conference planner) have risen and the attendance has plateaued.

A decision about the mid-winter conference to corporations and businesses needs to be made concerning its purposes and revenue generating expectations. We identify the following options:

1) Keep the Mid-Winter Conference Small and Intimate (under 100):

Advantages

Discussion and linkage opportunities for serious consultants.

Lots of interaction

Emergent programming responding to members’ immediate needs and interests

Low cost, low liability

Disadvantages

Limited revenue potential

Limited CE opportunities

Not well aligned with divisional purposes

Exclusive; doesn’t provide networking opportunities for

many people

2) Keep Current Medium-Sized Conference (Up to 250)

Advantages

Considerable intimacy and increased programming possibilities (break out

groups, presentations targeted to different consulting levels, etc.).

Able to have better facilities.

Some financial contributions to the treasury

Can support CE program and pre-conference workshops

Disadvantages

Financial liability: room obligation and planner fees are a risk to the organization if

attendance is below expectations

Too small to attract marquee presenters who require fees

Limits our ability to have influence on the broader field

3) Create a Large and Influential Mid-Winter Conference (500+)

Advantages

Potentially high revenue generator

Obtain meeting rooms at hotel for free rather than at added costs

Broader influence on a larger group of constituencies

Wider array of programming

Can pay executive committee’s expenses to attend conference

Nicer facilities

Can hire more conference duties out

Vendor support and corporate sponsors of conference

Ability to attract more fee-receiving speakers

Can pay CE workshop presenters.

Can have specialized programming such as intimate gatherings for senior

consultants and mentoring beginners, skills/knowledge building for intermediate

level consultants.

Can subsidize student participation.

Disadvantages

High financial risk (hotel rooms, food, planner, speaker fees) if conference fails.

Harder to create opportunities for intimate networking.

Lower cohesiveness

We believe that the Mid-Winter conference (whose name could be changed to something like “Consulting to Organizations”) needs to be a major vehicle for achieving the broader objectives of the Society as well as being a revenue generator for the Society. However, we recommend a hybrid model that combines intimacy and largeness. A short-term goal of expanding the mid-winter to attract 500 paid attendees is recommended. However, they would participate both in large combined “marquee” presentations and smaller, more intimate opportunities for learning and collaboration. This does not suggest simply large group presentations followed by break out groups but rather extended opportunities to build intimacy and community.

Anticipated Revenues:

Paid registration fees (500@ $400) $200,000

(excludes non-paying attendees)

(includes 2 lunches & breaks)

Workshop fees (4 x 25 x $200) 20,000

Income from Vendors (10 booths @ $1000,

or product sale commissions) 10,000

Product Sales (T shirts, mugs, memorabilia, etc.) 500

Event sponsorship (5 @ 2,500) 12,500 Anticipated Revenues $342,500

Expenses:

Speaker Fees 20,000

.50 Administrative Support for Division 30,000

(assumes $40,000 F/T salary & benefits)

Student workers for on site conference

Workshop presenter fees 5,000

Food (includes students & other fee waived attendees) 52,000

Meeting Room Expenses 10,000

Audio Visual 10,000

Printing & Mailing Costs 15,000

Advertising 10,000

On site materials 5,000

Miscellaneous 5,000

Total expenses $162,000

Net to Division $180,500

Recommendation #7a: Immediately implement a transitional conference management plan.

To make this happen, we need an immediate plan in 2002 to transition to this larger and more influential model. We therefore recommend for the upcoming (2002) conference:

a) Raise the fee to $400 for the upcoming conference;

b) Enforce early registration fees;

c) Pay expenses for Executive Committee members for 2002 only if the net profits for the conference exceed $20,000;

d) Set the goal of 250 paid attendees;

e) Pilot getting 5 paid vendors and/or event sponsors to net at least $10,000;

f) Offer at least 2 pre-conference workshops with a revenue target of $10,000;

g) Attract 25 non-psychologist consultants to attend the 2001conference ($20,000 revenue v. $5,000 advertising)

h) Earmark all profits from conference to invest as seed money in an even more profitable 2003 conference;

i) Begin to focus on the hybrid model for 2003 using the 2002 interest. Be clear in the conference title change and promotional material that a corporate track will be emphasized and maintained (along with possible tracks for small business, non-profit/government).

Recommendation #8: Clarify the purposes and add value to the Society's programming at the annual APA convention. Distinguish the purposes of the mid-winter conference and the APA one.

APA programming has been an important part of fulfilling the Society’s mission through its emphasis on professional training and research and the opportunity to network with colleagues in and out of consulting psychology. We see an advantage of maintaining separate purposes for the APA and mid-winter and other specialized offerings and of being clear on the differences between the two conferences.

We believe that the APA offerings should be more focused the professional training, science and research side of the consulting enterprise and the mid-winter and other programs should be focused more on the practice side. APA programs also offer the ability to partner with other APA divisions and the larger APA governance structure. As a benefit to members the Society’s members, APA convention programming should, whenever possible, offer CE credit for attending (or where appropriate, for presenting) the regular programming.

Website

Recommendation #9: Upgrade the website to better meet the needs of the Society, its members and beneficiaries.

The web is here to stay. Increasingly information and services are distributed on the web rather than through physical networks. A strong, vibrant interactive presence on the web is critical to a number of recommended initiatives, products, and services. This is also an extremely cost effective vehicle for the delivery of many of the products and services we recommend in this report.

Currently the Society’s website is managed on voluntary basis. Though incrementally improved over the years, it will not be possible to expand or develop the website to meet its full potential on a voluntary basis. We therefore recommend that the Society contract for professional webmaster services.

Expanding Research and Theory in Consulting Psychology

Recommendation #10: Influence the field of organizational consulting by promoting and disseminating consulting theory and empirical research.

To date, most people in the Society have come to it from other fields of study (e.g., I/O or clinical/counseling psychology). Research in consulting psychology has therefore mostly been done to date in the context of other fields of inquiry. As new graduate and post-doctoral programs emerge in Consulting Psychology and psychologists’ primary identity becomes consulting psychology, a research base becomes more feasible and is critical for advancing the science and practice of the profession.

The Society should actively promote the creation and dissemination of targeted research about consulting psychology. One way this can happen is already being done: the Society’s gives research awards and dissertation recognition. Additionally, it is proposed that seed money be set aside for incubator activities that would lead to self-funding. For example, the Society might want to sponsor a series of (hopefully at least “break even”) conferences on state-of-the-art research questions, e.g., the effectiveness of executive coaching. It is also proposed that members be encouraged to donate earmarked money to the American Psychological Foundation to support research activities. We finally recommend partnering with other APA divisions (e.g., SIOP and the Counseling/Clinical Psychology) to foster research in areas of mutual interest.

Expanding Training and Professional Practice Standards

Recommendation #11: Develop training and professional practice standards in consulting psychology.

Establishing standards for training and for professional practice is one way that the Society can influence practice both of its own membership and on the broader field of practice. Thinking through the issues of what kind of training it takes to work in certain areas of practice and secondly what should be the standards of practice in a variety of consultative areas is extremely useful in defining the profession of consulting psychology.

The Society has already developed standards for doctoral and post-doctoral training in consulting psychology (Guidelines for Education and Training at the Doctoral

and Post-Doctoral Level in Consulting Psychology/Organizational). These guidelines have helped the Society establish a presence for itself as a field that takes training matters seriously and has something important to say about such training. Similar training guidelines will be needed for a) school consultation and b) mental health consultation. Practice guidelines will also be needed for selected areas of consulting practice such as executive coaching, individual assessments, and organizational systemic consultation.

The creation of guidelines for training and practice require thinking through by the best minds in our field of what we should be training and how we should be practicing. Few areas are more important in establishing the existence and identity of a profession.

Recommendation #12: Develop special interest groups evolving into sections.

As we grow to a larger Society, it has been the experience of other APA divisions that it is desirable to create special interest groups to preserve the focus on specific groups’ special interests and a sense of engagement and intimacy. Additionally, persons with interests in other than organizational consulting will be more likely to join and remain in the Society if they perceive their needs are met. We recommend that the following special interest groups be initially considered for creation by a core group of members with interests in these areas of practice:

1. Organizational Consulting
2. Mental Health Consulting

3. School Consultation

4. Coaching

5. Public Sector/Government

These special interest groups can evolve to become a formal section of the Society over time. Bylaws will need modification to allow these structural changes. We hope that the leadership of these special sections would take the initiative to create their own special conferences and special programming at our existing conferences, special listserves and the like.

Recommendation #13 - Revise the structure for accomplishing the purposes of the Society.

The current administrative support structure once served the Society well. As the functions of the Society have increased, however, the current arrangement has become more problematic. In order to achieve these objectives a different model is now required. This would include a professionally staffed Executive Office (part-time to start, full-time thereafter) to oversee the expanded scope of the Society.

The funding for this operation could initially derive from the funds previously allocated for outsourcing the conference planning and administration. An initial half-time administrative person (reporting directly to the President of the Society with support responsibilities to the Board and Committee chairs) could be hired as soon as February, 2002 to overlap with next year’s conference. The recommendation for a permanent location for this position such that it would not need to be relocated with each new Society President.

We would anticipate the costs of this staff member to be $25,000, including benefits and assuming they would home-based or housed in an organization with office and equipment provided. Over time, this position could expand to become full-time (and ultimately to add additional people) with a separate Executive Director as the need for management and the resources increase.

Goals, Accountabilities, Process and Budget: Having established the purposes and needs of the Society, the issue of creating aligned goals and budgets arises. Although we recognize that we rely on the good will and voluntary nature of our members and leaders, we believe that a few simple but significant changes can improve the success of the Society in steadily achieving its goals. The following procedures are recommended for immediate adoption as a way of increasing accountability and results.

1) The incoming President will establish operating objectives for the year based on the Society’s strategic plan. He/she is empowered and accountable to the Board and membership for achieving these objectives over the year.

2) The incoming President of the Society should identify his/her choices for Committee chairs well in advance of the Board meeting held at APA. The Committee chair recommends to the President proposed members of the Committee, objectives for the year and a budget needed to achieve these objectives. At the APA Board meeting each Committee chair will present his/her objectives, which have been reviewed by Board prior to the meeting, for the year to the Board for formal approval.

3) The incoming President is responsible for presenting an overall budget to the Board at the APA meeting. This budget will incorporate recommended line items for appropriately funding specific initiatives. It is the job of the incoming Board to review and approve the incoming President’s budget for the year. Committee chairs are empowered to spend up to their line item allocations.

4) At the mid-year meeting, and at the following year’s APA Board meeting, Committee chairs will report their progress in achieving these objectives. The Board will assist the Committee chair in modifying methods for achieving goals or the goals themselves or supporting budget when the Committee is not achieving its objectives.

5) The Board meeting at APA will need to be expanded to consist of two four-hour sessions, one with the outgoing Board and one with the incoming Board.

Finally, we investigated the advantages and disadvantages of separate

Incorporation. Because APA has broadened the prior restrictions on bylaws changes it appears that we can accomplish most if not all of these recommendations without separate corporation. Because having separately to incorporate would require not only the considerable expense of incorporating, but also the annual filing of a separate tax return, it appears that for now we are better off working within the APA structure. Note that our dues collection and membership records can be separated from APA and possibly the accounting as well. If approval is given to proceed with the "Futures" proposals, then we can further explore the specific procedures we would recommend to do our own membership and record keeping and possibly our own dues collection. This would certainly require a part- to full-time person and oversight of the operation by someone willing to do that, preferably on an ongoing basis.

Summary and Conclusions

The future of the Society of Consulting Psychology can be very bright. We are poised for a major step to the next level of organization. We have now outgrown our current procedures and purposes and need to create a new organization that will not only help us reach that next plateau but to fuel our growth and development over the next decade.