There are seven stages of internal consulting that a HR Professional must be familiar with. Consider this scenario: Mark is a HR Professional for his organization. He is meeting with Tammy and Tammy's

Developing recommendations is a later stage that occurs after the situation has already been fully understood and analyzed.

Implementing is a subsequent stage that occurs only after recommendations have been developed and agreed upon by stakeholders.

Exploring the situation is the diagnostic stage where the HR professional actively listens to all involved parties to understand the nature, scope, and perspectives of the issue. Mark's goal of understanding both Tammy and Eric before addressing the conflict is precisely the activity defined by this stage - information gathering prior to any diagnosis or action.

Gaining agreement to the project plan is an earlier contracting stage focused on defining scope and roles, not on gathering situational information from conflicting parties.