1. The consulting process
- What is consultancy?
- Understanding client needs
- The 7 Steps to a successful assignment
- Nine important ways for you to 'add value'
- How and when to use 'Expert' and 'Process' modes
Internal Consulting Skills Online Course Program
Top 10 Internal Consulting Skills:
- Questioning: Preparing and asking questions that seek out the main issues, diagnose underlying causes and explore potential solutions without assuming or prejudging.
- Understanding: Listening to the client, clarifying, probing and restating to fully understand the issues, challenges and priorities.
- Building Rapport: Quickly establishing a smooth conversational flow with a client rather than an awkward, strained interaction. Adjusting your style to suit the client's style and personality.
- Empathy: Seeing the situation from their point of view. Anticipating questions they are likely to ask us, what they are likely to be interested in or worried about and how they are likely to react.
- Process Management: Using an appropriate governance or project management process to agree the scope and objectives, make the key decisions, access the right stakeholders and involve the right subject matter experts. Striking the balance between 'Expert' and 'Collaborative' mode.
- Analysis: Tailoring the form of analysis to best suit the nature of the problem and the needs of the main stakeholders.
- Influence: Communicating information in a style and format to engage the stakeholder, make sound decisions and persuade them to take appropriate action.
- Resolving Differences: Dealing with difficult people and situations to diffuse negative emotions, manage frustrations, mediate and resolve differences.
- Building Trust: Using language that resonates with the client, managing their expectations and dealing with difficult issues in an open and honest way.
- Relationship-building: Getting access to key stakeholders. Behaving in a way that demonstrates you can be relied upon to understand and anticipate stakeholder needs and consistently add value.
This is a 2-day classroom or remote online course delivered via 
. This fast-paced and highly concentrated learning experience draws on the extensive practical consultancy and change management experience of the course facilitators. The program is highly interactive and includes practical consulting case studies and simulations, and practical tips, tools and techniques to help you get even better results as in internal (or external) consultant or business partner.
The emphasis is developing client management skills and on the practical application of techniques. About two-thirds of the course is structured around a practical case study "simulation" that follows an internal consulting process from inception to completion. In the consulting simulation you will be working in a team of up to 7 colleagues, and each team will prepare for and run a series of meetings with our facilitators who role-play a number of "client" managers. This ensures you will have the opportunity to participate directly in dealing with the "client" and developing your consulting skills and confidence. You will apply a number of consulting techniques and approaches and receive personal feedback from our facilitators to help you develop and practise the people-skills and relationship-building techniques essential to successful performance as a business partner or internal consultant.
The content of our online course is identical our traditional classroom based course. You will practise using a consulting process, skills, techniques and tools introduced by our highly experience course facilitator who will then guide you through a practical consulting simulation. Over the 2 days, you and your fellow course participants will take a consulting case study simulation from beginning to end. For the practical consulting simulation sessions you will collaborate with your fellow course participants in breakout rooms with cloud whiteboards to maximise teamworking and discussion and ensure you develop practical consulting experience. You and your team will then run live simulated consulting meetings with our facilitator who plays a number of different 'client' or stakeholder roles. Following each simulated consulting meeting you will discuss how your team performed and your experienced course facilitator will offer feedback and additional practical tips and consulting techniques to help boost your consulting skills. The emphasis is on learning by doing.
Places are limited. Book on this world-class consulting skills course now to: