Volunteer Opportunities
Give back
Develop your consulting skills and give back to the community. Our volunteer consultants represent a wide range of educational and organization backgrounds. Some have experience working with nonprofits; others do not. Many of our volunteers are looking for an active learning community in which to explore collaborative consulting, whether they are experienced practitioners, graduate students or professionals in the midst of a career change. Many join CCP as a way to learn while serving the community.
Benefits
In addition to professional skills development and hands-on experience, volunteering with CCP will offer you:
-
Direct client engagement with a local nonprofit doing important work
-
Mentorship from an experienced consultant
-
Teamwork with others from a wide range of professional backgrounds
-
Access to great information and resources on consulting
-
The opportunity to have a positive impact on a community organization
Project types
Our consulting engagements are offered through two types of volunteer opportunities:
-
Practitioner Engagement: An experienced CCP practitioner paired with one or two 'learners' from our volunteer consultant community
-
Team Engagement: A team of volunteer professionals lead a project on their own, with support and mentoring by an experienced CCP practitioner as coach/mentor.
Expectations
Regardless of which engagement you are selected for, the criteria for participating is the same: a willingness to learn, a collaborative approach and mindset, and the ability to commit for the duration of the project. .
We ask that you:
-
Create enough time in your life, over the agreed upon number of weeks, to participate fully (TBD at the beginning of the project)
-
Join with other volunteers in the spirit of service and learning,
-
Work with clients using our collaborative consulting approach.
Apply to volunteer today!
CCP consulting engagements begin on a rolling basis throughout the year, when all the necessary pieces align: we have an interested client organization ready to get started with a project, and we have volunteer consultants and experienced practitioners ready to join the team. To volunteer, click on the “Apply Now” button below to fill out our short application. Once you apply...
-
We will be in touch to set up a short interview to answer questions and talk through the basic commitments;
-
You will be placed on a waitlist while we identify the client and other team members (this can take a month or more)
-
Your team will get oriented to the process and each other, then move to engage your client in outlining the scope of work.
What is collaborative consulting?
We use the term ‘collaborative’ to describe the consulting style and approach in which...
-
Consultants see themselves as partners with their clients, working together, learning and discovering how the client organization hopes and to grow and change;
-
Client wisdom and knowledge are respected and used strategically to shape the project and define future solutions.
-
Consultants do not view themselves as the ‘experts with the answers’; they remain curious, open to learning, and support the client organization to see itself in new ways
While many consultants and firms use ‘collaborative’ to describe various approaches, we are most inspired by Peter Block’s work and teachings in his book, Flawless Consulting, and frequently use his phased consultation process of (simplified) Entry & Contracting, Discovery & Dialogue, Feedback, Engagement & Implementation, and Renewal or Closure.