Management consultation
The aim of the consultative work within companies is to increase the effectiveness of managers at carrying out their functions and to develop smooth, fluid working relationships with their fellow managers. Dr. Spotts is committed to a humanistic approach to management consultation rooted in the belief that laissez-faire and authoritarian management styles are ineffective in building strong working management teams. Authoritative management, quietly firm confident approaches are the avenues towards successful management. Dr. Spotts’ approach at the start is to build a series of personal trust relationships with each manager while gathering in depth data about the operations in each manager’s area of functioning and about the company as a whole. This personal trust at the individual level is the key element through which any change will be effected. It is often vital to overcome and counteract the notion that the management consultant is an “administration spy,” hired to clean house.
Following the trust building and data gathering phases of the consultation process, Dr. Spotts will develop a series of recommendations to be implemented over the course of whatever time period seems reasonable and appropriate. A significant part of his work is to actively participate in the implementation of the recommendations, again using the personal trust relationships as the avenues through which to work. Involvement with individual employees varies as to the nature of the company’s work and the specific needs of the individual employee. A vital focus of the management consultation is conflict resolution within the work place. The presence of ongoing conflictual situations is inimical to effective productivity. Dr. Spotts is committed to helping managers develop a confident and solid management style directed towards continuous implementation through the process of conflict resolution.
School consultation to independent schools
In his role as a consultant to independent schools, Dr. Spotts helps each school to maximize the development of the whole child using the interlocking nature of educational growth and healthy psychological functioning. Dr. Spotts brings a unique depth of understanding and a wealth of experience towards achieving student mental health within the independent school using a clinical/school model. He understands that the mental, emotional and psychological health of students is crucial to their academic achievement and life success. He works with the administration and support staffs of the institution towards this goal. He is available for two types of consultative work within an independent school.
1. Continuing work within the school on a regular basis aimed at developing individualized educational programs for children, maximizing teacher effectiveness, integrated functioning of a student services team, optimizing administrative and teacher communication, developing life skills courses for the students and the like.
2. A specific, defined school consultation project within the school which could include how well specific services offered to the students are functioning, a review of whether the school’s mission is, in fact, the driving force for educational methodology, the development of and application of a model for integrated student services appropriate to the individual school and the like.
Within either school consultation model his aim is to maximize the ability of the staff to carry out the mental health aspects of the school to the highest quality.