Contract Clarification with HR
The contract clarification with the human resources department or their representative/business partner requires particular attention. In larger organisations, a procedure to commission a team consultancy is, as a rule, part of the process, which is or can be helpful and important.
The contact is important for two reasons:
Firstly, the team developer gets a highly relevant outside view of the team involved. Therefore, it is important to not only clarify the formalities but also to use the conversation to get information, if possible, about all guiding processes. Here it is also important to pay attention to the norms by which someone is observing the team in question(What is a good team?). Therefore, the team consultant is less in danger of (unconsciously) accepting the reference framework of the HR person. Particularly if both are ‘from the same profession’, they are in danger of agreeing (too quickly) and finding themselves in a judgment symbiosis (“Correct, this is really a problem!”). If HR, on giving the contract, also has a say, then the temptation of making evaluations is particularly high.
Secondly, HR fulfils an important brokerage role: Is the consultant the right one? Leaders like selecting someone who is similar to them and who will not hurt. Therefore, careful research about what, from the viewpoint of the responsible HR person, is required, is particularly sensible and professionally appropriate.