ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the consultant and the contractor is mutual and inescapable sources of anxiety for the other. The power dynamics show most clearly in the shifting emotions and states of mind encountered within the dyad. The consultants' expertise is a constitutive element in how they present themselves to a contractor: this is what they do and know about, and want to be hired for. Expressing a need for consultation can be difficult, and especially so in an organizational culture where there is an expectation that all the necessary expertise should reside within one's self or the organization. Looking for "an expertise" instead of "an engagement offering containment" can prevent contractors paradoxically from getting where they want to. Working through difficulties encountered in hiring or being hired may be helped by identifying where the consultant–contractor pair is in relation to these dynamics at any given time.
