Internal Consulting Skills

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Duration 

• Foundation Block: 5 days
• Balance: 7 one day sessions

Brief Description

The course is designed for those who will perform in an internal consulting role. It is oriented towards senior analysts, architects and strategists working in a corporate environment. It is designed to take the team to a new level of knowledge, skill and performance. It is a skills course rather than a methodology course, designed to expose participants to leading techniques and ways of performing data collection, analysis, synthesis, facilitation, presentation, quality assurance and other commonly required professional and soft skills. It draws on our 25+ years experience in business and academia, as well as industry best practice, to deliver a valuable set of tools to equip internal consultants. 

What Differentiates this Course?

Many senior people who have come up through the technical ranks (e.g. in IT), or as specialists in a discipline, are expected to perform in internal consulting and leadership roles. Often, this is not their core strength or they have not had formal training to assist them to perform effectively in these roles. This course raises the game and performance of these individuals, the teams in which they participate, and the value of their contribution to the organisation as a result. 

Intended Audience

 Typical candidates would include senior analysts,  architects, strategists, change managers, programme and portfolio managers, risk managers and innovation managers in business units. It can also be of great value to those in a sales support role which is performed in a consultative environment, for example a service provider or telco organisation working with major clients.

Course Overview

The course draws upon our extensive experience of conducting consulting assignments for over 25 years, plus leading industry practice and innovation. It provides a solid foundation in core skills including: professional service behaviour, consultation process, understanding problem spaces, presentation skills, innovation and brainstorming techniques, gap analysis, developing roadmaps and milestones, supporting frameworks and models, use of repositories, as well as learning organisation concepts.

It goes on to develop key performance areas including facilitation, project planning and tracking, soft skills, business modeling and methods engineering, quality management courseware development and innovation. Rich use of examples and selected short videos stimulate delegates to think beyond the norm and out of the box.  We provide delegates with sources of information for ongoing enrichment as well. Case study work in small teams allows delegates to perform analysis and devise architectures and strategies. Teams compete and learn from each other before experiencing another facet of the challenge. Enterprise tailored and rooted examples and problems allows ample exploration of concepts and alternatives, while providing continuity and context. The course stresses holistic considerations and the interplay of many facets that affect the outcome of the consulting role.

Typical Coverage

Note: Subject to change without notice and often in consultation with target enterprise.

Foundation Skills:

• Professional Service Behaviour
• The Consulting Process
• Stakeholder Management
• Analysing the Problem Space
• Data Gathering, Organising, Interviewing
• Filtering, Clustering
• Systems Thinking, Rich Pictures
• Force Field Analysis
• Prioritisation
• Presentation Skills
• Brainstorming & Lateral Thinking
• Scenario Planning
• Gap Analysis
• Frameworks and Reference Models
• Understanding Models, Use of Models
• Analysis Approaches
  • Function, Process, Service, Capability, Data, Ontologies and Taxonomies, Roadmaps and Milestones, Project Estimating

Subsequent Modules:

• Facilitation
• Project Planning / Tracking
• Soft Skills
• Business Architecture and Methods Engineering
• Quality Management
• Courseware Development
• Innovation

Provided Materials

Delegates are provided with high quality notes and links to media and references to pursue further investigation. 

Location, Costs and Dates

This course is offered in the UK and South Africa. It may be extended to other locations in future or at client request. The course is tailored for organisation needs and is not publicly scheduled.