BUILD YOUR CONSULTANTS’ CAPABILITIES

Clients assume that your professional service consultants have the technical expertise needed to do the job. What they also assume, but are often disappointed in is the ability for consultants to take the time to understand their needs, issues, concerns, ask great questions, listen impeccably, work with a variety of stakeholders, communicate elegantly and with non-technical jargon, and provide solutions that have impact. Last and most important, they love consultants that make it easy for them to work with and help them to be wildly successful. 

One thing we know for sure is that one workshop alone will not lead to behavior change or increased competence. As many of you have heard (Malcolm Gladwell, Outliers), it takes 10,000 hours to truly master something and that includes training, coaching, focused experiences, practice, and feedback over time.  Therefore, we provide a sample Consultant Learning Journey that can be customized to your needs, ensuring you are reaching greatness, getting the ROI you desire and your talent feels that they are truly growing. 

To build competence and confidence in consulting with clients, a typical consultants journey focuses on three primary Modules over a period of 6-12 months with virtual activities in-between to enhance and reinforce learning and behavior building. Of course, it is just as easy to begin to start with the module that fits your needs and build your journey as you go. Based on your assessment of needs, there may also be additional topics you want to add as electives, advanced learning, and reinforcement, but here is a great place to begin and customize to your culture and situation

 The Professional Consultant

 

  • Go Do Activities
  • Virtual Learning Coaching 
  • Cohort Discussions
  • Designed experiences
  • Pulse Measurement

Client and Team Engagement

 

  • Go Do Activities
  • Virtual Learning Coaching 
  • Cohort Discussions
  • Designed experiences
  • Pulse Measurement

 Communication Moments that Make a Difference

  • Go Do Activities
  • Virtual Learning Coaching 
  • Cohort Discussions
  • Designed experiences
  • Pulse Measurement
 

The Professional Consultant (2 day workshop)

To act like one is to be one, Lao Tzu 

From Expert to  Consultant

  • Expertise + Client Engagement = Successful Consultant
  • Expectations of a Professional Consultant
  • Role of the Consultant
  • First impressions

Mind of the Customer and Stakeholder

  • Internal and External Stakeholders
  • Stakeholder expectations
  • Understanding stakeholders' needs, issues, and expectations

Communicating and Presenting Ideas

  • Ask high impact questions
  • Listen for needs, issues, concerns, challenges
  • Resond with clarity and confidence
  • Present technical ideas to different stakeholders

Using experiential learning, participants spend 80% of the time discovering, discussing, presenting, practicing, focusing on moments that make a difference, and giving and receiving feedback on key skills, tools, and behaviors. Your specific situations, challenges, and moments are designed into the program through case studies, scenarios, skill practice, and application. 

Primary Learning Objectives include:

  • Understand what it means to go beyond your expertise and be a professional consultant, client expectations, and do’s and don’ts
  • Establish a credible first impression
  • Identify stakeholders and what they expect from you as a consultant and team
  • Manage your Work / Implementation plan
  • Communicate with confidence and competence
  • Understand and apply communication styles
  • Ask High Value Questions, Listen to underlying concerns and agreement, respond with clarity 
  • Present technical ideas to varied stakeholders with clarity and confidence

Client and Team Engagement(1-2 day workshop)*

Stakeholder Engagement
 

  • Knowing your external stakeholders
  • Managing Internal stakeholders
  • Engaging others

Influencing in Good and Difficult times

  • Influencing basics
  • Getting across your Point of View and Listening to others
  • Managing difficult conversations

Teamwork, Collaborating and Coaching

  • High Performing teams
  • Collaboration
  • Coaching and Feedback

Primary Learning objectives include:

  • Engaging your stakeholders (internally and externally)
  • Influencing others with the right mindset, language, and approach
  • Getting across your Point of View and being open to listening to others
  • Broadening the conversation
  • Managing the difficult conversation
  • Teamwork and collaboration
  • Providing coaching and feedback to internal and external team members

Communicating and Presenting Ideas(1-2 day workshop)*

 

My Professional Brand

  • Developing personal consulting brand
  • Inspiring others with expertise, credibility, and competence
  • Storytelling for impact

Presenting Ideas with Impact

  • Presenting formally and informally 
  • Communicating ideas via technology, phone, webinar
  • Use of PPT and Whiteboards

Facilitating Meetings

  • Facilitating internal and external meetings
  • Developing impactful ground rules and agendas
  • Getting commitment and follow-through

Primary Learning objectives include:

  • Inspiring others through understanding your personal brand
  • Use of storytelling, metaphors, and analogies 
  • Fine tune skills of creating presentations for formal and informal conversations
  • Tips and Tricks of communicating with whiteboards, PPT, email
  • Communicating via technology
  • Facilitating meetings that people are glad they attended