ABSTRACT
This chapter is most obviously relevant to those practising as external management consultants. However, it may be equally valuable for internal consultants and managers acting in the role of "change agents". For anyone "out of the line", putting themselves forward as a "helper", there seem to be three stages to getting started: first, there is getting to be seen; second, there is getting to be heard (at more than a superficial level); and, finally, but often overlooked, there is the stage of getting to be valued, without which there is no on-going basis for the helping relationship. For the external consultant, the first stage, getting to be seen, is more difficult than for those helpers on the "inside". However, if the internal "helper" is coming from the constructionist position, then many of the problems associated with trying to start a conversation with someone who expects directions are similar. For the "internal" helper, the problem may turn on their being too well known, in the sense of their having some preexisting relationship towards the problem system derived from their place in the organization structure. From their different angles, both internal and external consultants are trying to establish an optimum distance between themselves and the problem system.
