Consulting Skills
Differences Between
Consultants and Trainers
Consultants...Learn
about the client and the business ~ Stay up-to-date on the industry,
competition and consulting strategies ~ Focus on research and analysis:
what's the performance gap? ~ Write proposals and present information ~
Facilitate other solutions ~ Collect data to measure impact ~ Present the
results to the client
Trainers...Conduct
training ~ Coordinate training conducted by others ~ Develop training
What Internal
Consultants Should Do
- Have a clear sense of your role and responsibilities.
- Have the guts to say no.
- Know what the tough questions are.
- Be clear about intended result and measurements.
- Do your homework. Know the business.
- Check assumptions.
- Conduct a needs analysis and give client feedback on the data.
- Listen.
- Use your expertise on the process rather than the content.
- Involve the client.
- Put a dollar measurement on the change process.
- Check against the business strategies.
- Conduct a cost-benefit analysis.
- Get line ownership.
- Begin each project/program with key business objectives to be pursued
or supported.
- Be assertive in getting top-level input and commitment from the onset
of the project/program.
- Document all elements of the process.
Mistakes Internal
Consultants Make
- Fighting battles that should not be fought. Trying to be all things to
all people.
- Giving in to a senior executive's pet alternative. Not asking the
tough diagnostic questions.
- Assuming you have the right answer/program to help the client. Being
too tied into a single solution.
- Caring more about being right than being
effective.
Taking the "expert" stance rather than a
"collaborative" one.
Lack of business focus and economic measurement of the intervention
strategy.
Not establishing credibility and rapport with line clients.
Pursuing activities rather than objectives. Being a
"pair of hands" rather than being a true process consultant.
Not getting top management commitment and support for the change
process. Trying to implement change with the middle managers only.
Contracting with someone who is not the real client, such as a
subordinate who does not own the key processes.
Not getting a firm contract in writing from the client. Too often the
verbal promises get broken by top management.
Performance Consulting Skills for HR Staff
Performance
Consulting PowerPoint Presentation Download
(If you have
problems with download, right click, choose "save target as")
NOTE: This program is now
offered IN-HOUSE only. However, should you wish to partner with several
companies to share the program costs, we will work with you to arrange that.
"The changes we
witness are an outgrowth of several fundamental crises facing our
organizations. Hope for genuine organizational reforms resides in
reshaping the politics of our work lives -- focusing on quality, service,
and participation. " Peter Block: Stewardship
Why Performance Consulting?
Organizations face a daunting
array of challenges. Globalization, increased competition, rapid
technological change, diverse workforces, escalating demands for
productivity -- for "high performance workplaces" . . . These
"constant whitewater" conditions are demanding a broader and
deeper range of skills from managers and leaders as well as from workers.
As a result, the emphasis is shifting from developing individual knowledge
and skills to implementing performance improvement strategies. This shift
has redefined the role of the Human Resources Development staff. No longer
is it enough to offer a menu of courses and measure success by attendance
rates. Today, trainers must become performance consultants who use their
expertise in a variety of ways to add value to the organization's results.
This shift requires that Human Resource Development staff learn new skills
and use new tools to improve the performance of individuals, teams,
Departments, business units, and the organization as a whole. This workshop
is designed to prepare your staff for this broader role.
Workshop Objectives
This workshop enables Human
Resources staff to help achieve business objectives through improving
individual, group, and organizational performance. It focuses on clarifying
and redefining the role of the performance consultant, and on providing the
tools and skills needed to diagnose needs and implement performance
improvement strategies.
Benefits to Your Organization
A skilled group of in-house
consultants can help your organization achieve these benefits:
-
Performance results will be
improved through the joint efforts of consultants and line business
units.
-
Development resources will
be focused on priority areas, which enhances business results and
support business strategies.
-
Business units will be
presented with options that combine performance improvement expertise
with business realities.
-
Consultants will choose from
a number of performance improvement strategies, including training, to
help clients solve problems, meet needs, and grasp opportunities. More
opportunities for performance improvement will be discovered.
-
Trainees are more motivated
to learn and use new skills as a result of "just in time"
training addressing immediate needs. Payoff from the investment in
training will be more immediate.
-
Human Resource Development
staff will have increased credibility in the organization as a result of
their increased knowledge of each Unit's business strategies.
Learning Outcomes
As a result of this session
participants will:
-
understand what a consultant
is and does, and the implications for the job
-
build credibility as a
business partner with clients
-
know the stages of the
consulting process and how to use appropriate tools in each stage
-
be able to clarify client
requests in order to respond appropriately to business needs
-
use a variety of tools and
techniques to analyze client needs, problems, and business opportunities
-
use a "gap
analysis" to identify the performance improvement needs for a
specific position, a team, a function, a department, or the whole
organization
-
know how to select
appropriate performance improvement strategies, determining when
training is or is not appropriate
-
know how to use a business
case approach to influence decisions that are good for the organization,
for customers, and for employees.
Workshop Topic Areas
-
Why is the role of
trainer changing? Why now?
-
What roles does a staff consultant play?
-
How can a staff consultant earn credibility?
-
How the staff consultant demonstrates added value
-
Overview of the Performance Consulting model
-
Contracting: how to respond to requests as a consultant
-
Objectives of Performance Needs Analysis
-
The Performance Needs Analysis Model
-
How to describe the IS - SHOULD performance gap
-
How to collect data: Sources and methods
-
How to develop competency models
-
Methods for data analysis and interpretation
-
How to interpret "soft" data as well as statistical data
-
How to develop targeted solutions
-
How to decide when training is appropriate and when it is not
-
How to win support for development solutions
-
How to Influence decision making
-
How to develop targeted solutions
-
How to influence decision making
-
What to do when the client chooses to make a "bad"
decision
Here is a PowerPoint presentation to help you
understand the techniques taught in Internal Consulting training. You may
view it or download it.
(If you have problems with download, right
click, choose "save target as")
If you do not have PowerPoint on
your machine you can download a free viewer at:
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/officeupdate/CD010225971033.aspx
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