The size of an organizational development consultant’s task may seem daunting, and it may seem that a consultant bears huge organizational systems on his shoulders like Hercules, carrying them from place to place during the development process. If you feel that way sometimes, remember the words spoken by Archimedes of Syracuse (287-212 B.C.) two thousand years ago:

Give me a long enough lever and a fulcrum on which to place it, and I will move the world.

You shouldn’t carry the world on your back either. Find your “fulcrum” in the form of the skill of systemic thinking , new technologies and the right questions asked the right people at the right time. Shake Archimedes’ hand!

On the Advisio Platform organizational development consultants can find the fulcrum for their “lever”. Through the platform we provide consultants with six innovative internet tools to help them with and to speed up organizational development work.

What are the Advisio internet tools?

At this point we should make sure we are clear about what is meant by the phrase “internet tools”, because as we know, the phrase can be understood in different ways in different types of organizational discourses. Considering, as Ludwig Wittgenstein wrote, “the limits of my language define the limits of my world,” the discourse we use determines how we see our role as a consultant and which solutions we choose. A lot of misunderstandings arise and resistance to change in organizations comes about when people work according to different discourse rules, thinking that they are operating on the basis of the same assumptions. They may have the impression that they are talking about the same thing, while it means something completely different to them.

From the point of view of the discourse of a Controller electronic tools are a means of ensuring standardization and optimization of the operations being carried out. They are an aid for gathering and processing as much data as possible, which we then will be able to scrutinize. They enable us to monitor achievement of the set indicators and identify the larger and smaller derogations from the adopted norm. Most HR managers associate the term “internet tools” precisely with those vast IT systems , reflecting and organizing the entire material of their work, in the context of development of human potential. It is assumed that they will register all information of major and minor importance about employees and their “dimensions”, such as level of competence, plan for development, completed and anticipated training, etc. The “HR Controller” hopes this substantial data base will enable all possible analyses to be carried out and all kinds of reports and forecasts to be drawn up for the management.

In turn from the point of view of a Therapist’s discourse “internet tools” are psychometric tools of which administration takes place online. The essence of the tool is a properly validated questionnaire which can be used to draw up a psychological profile of a particular individual, information about the dimensions of their personality, and approaches and competence, and on this basis conclusions can be drawn as to their professional usefulness and predisposition. For a “Therapist” an additional advantage of use of the Internet for this purpose seems mainly to be the fact that it makes it possible to automate the repetitive administration activities required to perform the research, such as distribution of questionnaires and processing of the collected data.

A Controller’s Discourse (“implementing management systems”) or a Therapist’s Discourse (focusing on personal development” and discovery of “full potential” or the “true picture” of each employee) has long since ceased to be sufficient to carry out the systemic development interventions in organizations properly. A good organizational development consultant will be a combination of two key skills: firstly he/she has an understanding of organizations, and secondly an understanding of people. The internet tools accompanying his/her work are something different to IT systems or psychometric tools. In our view the true power of internet tools in organizational development is only revealed when you use them as a means of systemic dialogue. During the individual development process, for example in coaching, a change occurs in a human being thanks to the right questions being asked. A similar situation exists in organizations, while internet tools make it easier to ask all of the key personnel in the firm the important questions at the same time. They therefore allow systemic coaching of the organization.

The most important moment of that process is not therefore the moment at which we have collected all of the responses and can begin drawing conclusions, it comes much earlier. It comes when we ask the persons jointly creating the system in the organization the appropriate questions. The asking of the appropriate questions causes a shift of perspective in the minds of the members of the organization from the individual to the systemic perspective, and a fresh look at the organizational environment, and a moment of reflection over the direction in which we are heading...

The Advisio Platform

All Advisio tools are available to consultants via a user-friendly, transparent and aesthetic internet platform.

The Advisio Platform enables consultants to:

Use of the Advisio platform and tools

Anybody who has completed the Advisio certification programs is entitled to unrestricted use of the Advisio platform . The certification programs are accompanied by free-of-charge (educational) unit license starter packs for individual tools (Synergia, Task Navigator, Competence Navigator, Star Tracks, Talent Hunter and Delight Index) and methodology manuals published by Advisio in the series entitled "Organizational Development Consultant Manuals".