In case you missed the phenomenal chat with Dr. Michael Wright, I have compiled his Social Work Consultant series into one article, and I have attached the link to the archived chat. This will allow you to easily access the vast amount of information he provides in his Consultant series.
Series 1. Defining the Social Worker as a Consultant
Social Workers are uniquely qualified to operate as consultants at all ecological systems levels. Our mandate of individual change and social change ensures that we are always mindful of the consequences of individual creativity and organizational innovation. Our ethical parameters provide a clear process for reviewing policy, corporate decision making,… Continue Reading »
Series 2. As the Consultant, What the Social Worker Already Knows
Social work professional education includes in its core curriculum some important constructs that are also vital to the social worker as a consultant. In addition to reinforcing the mantra of individual change and social change, the constructs provide us with a vocabulary for discussing human behavior in the social environment. Perhaps… Continue Reading »
Series 3. As the Consultant, What the Social Worker Must Learn
A Matter of Roles (and Rolls?) Consider that, as a consultant, you must gather the ingredients, the cooking pans, the oven, the electricity, and the dinner guests. You cannot simply show up with napkins and a winning personality. The ability to plan and manage complexity across systems bakes success into the…Continue Reading »
Series 4. Managing Your Consulting Business
The social worker will certainly be skilled in connecting with and informing clients. The social worker as a consultant will also need to manage a business. Social work tends to attract persons whose primary concern is not money, who do not typically publicize their achievements, who favor trust-based relationships, and who… Continue Reading »
Series 5. Four Contexts for the Social Worker as a Consultant
Launching and sustaining any business depends on three things: Development of a brand, marketing of brand, and truth in advertising. In other words, first, you have to come up with something to sell. Second, people have to hear about and understand what you are offering. Third, your product or service…Continue Reading »
Series 6. Consulting with Start-ups
BUSINESS PLAN The first and most important task for any start-up is a two-page executive summary outlining your business model. In two pages, you need to be able to summarize the market, operations, management, and financial projections of your new company. It must have real information (not fluff and wishes)… Continue Reading »
Series 7. Ethics of the Social Work Consultant
I am nearing the end of the “Social Worker as Consultant” series (only 1 post remaining). I am going to publish the complete series as a textbook. I am soliciting your help. Would you like to write a chapter for the book? Let me know your ideas. I think… Continue Reading »
Series 8. Educating the Social Worker as a Consultant
THE CURRENT SOCIAL WORK CURRICULUM: The standard social work education curriculum has 5 areas of inquiry: Practice Methods, Policy, Ethics, Human Behavior in the Social Environment, and Social Research. The social worker as a consultant may organize these into two categories: Systems of Practice with Human Behavior and Social Mechanisms. “Systems… Continue Reading »
"Social work consulting" is not as popular as "Social work and business" on Google Trends. #GENIUSATWORK… http://t.co/2GQPO4jJPx
— Dr Michael A Wright, PhD (@MAWMedia) June 25, 2013
