Short course on consulting for a client...learned lessons from my experience...one view, not the only view. Thinking about consulting in many dimensions.

1. One View of Consulting

2. Course of the Conversation
• What is a Consultant?
• What is Consulting?
• What Does It Take To Become an Effective Consultant?
• What Basic Skills Do You Need to be a Consultant?
• What Specific Skills Do You Need to be a Consultant?
• What Are The Key Deliverables From Successful Consultants?
• What are Your Consulting Services?
• A Management Consulting Process
• A Management Consulting Competency Framework
• Training, Skills, Attributes of Successful Consultants
• Problems Challenges, Questions from the Field
• Your Consulting Skills and Competencies Plan
• What is a Consultant?
• What is Consulting?
• What Does It Take To Become an Effective Consultant?
• What Basic Skills Do You Need to be a Consultant?
• What Specific Skills Do You Need to be a Consultant?
• What Are The Key Deliverables From Successful Consultants?
• What are Your Consulting Services?
• A Management Consulting Process
• A Management Consulting Competency Framework
• Training, Skills, Attributes of Successful Consultants
• Problems Challenges, Questions from the Field
• Your Consulting Skills and Competencies Plan

3. What is a Consultant?
Verb
…from Latin: consultare "to discuss
Noun
A person who provides expert advice professionally
A consultant is an experienced individual that is trained to analyze and advise a
client in order to help the client make the best possible choices.
A person who provides expert advice professionally
A consultant is an experienced individual that is trained to analyze and advise a
client in order to help the client make the best possible choices.
A consultant is a person in a position to have some influence over an
individual, a group, or an organization, but who has no direct power to make
changes or implement programs.” Peter Block
Synonyms
adviser - counselor

4. What is Consulting?
• Applying knowledge, understanding,
method, and insight to provide clients
effective business solutions that
deliver tangible operational benefit
• Offering unique and/or innovative perspective that
enhances a client’s business capabilities and adds
measurable value to helping client achieve their
desired outcomes (mission)
• Applying knowledge, understanding,
method, and insight to provide clients
effective business solutions that
deliver tangible operational benefit
• Offering unique and/or innovative perspective that
enhances a client’s business capabilities and adds
measurable value to helping client achieve their
desired outcomes (mission)

5. What Do You Want to Understand About Consulting
and
About Being a Consultant?
Consulting
What Do You Want to Understand About Consulting
and
About Being a Consultant?

6. What Does It Take
To Become an Effective Consultant?
You don’t have to be the world’s foremost expert;
you simply need to know more than your client knows
Becoming a successful consultant takes more than just
hard work and determination -- It takes passion!
You don’t have to be the world’s foremost expert;
you simply need to know more than your client knows
Becoming a successful consultant takes more than just
hard work and determination -- It takes passion!

7. What Categories of Skills Do You Need to be
a Consultant?
• Technical Skills
– Your area of expertise, you need to have some
knowledge or expertise in a particular area
• Interpersonal Skills
– Consulting is all about dealing with people either as individuals or in groups whether
they be entry level employees or C-suite executives.
– put your ideas into a coherent string of words and sentences that other people can
understand.
– Be able to disagree in a reasonable and rational way
• Consulting Skills
– Engage – Engage - Engage
– Discover and Discuss
– Listen Understand, Recommend
– Decision and Implementation
– Continue or Close Out
• Technical Skills
– Your area of expertise, you need to have some
knowledge or expertise in a particular area
• Interpersonal Skills
– Consulting is all about dealing with people either as individuals or in groups whether
they be entry level employees or C-suite executives.
– put your ideas into a coherent string of words and sentences that other people can
understand.
– Be able to disagree in a reasonable and rational way
• Consulting Skills
– Engage – Engage - Engage
– Discover and Discuss
– Listen Understand, Recommend
– Decision and Implementation
– Continue or Close Out

8. • Be a good listener. Consultants never assume and don’t hesitate to ask questions
until they understand their clients’ needs fully.
• Be a team player. While personal goals are important, the customer’s goal must
come first.
• Be able to market. Consultants are often great at client work but miss out on
marketing. You need to be good at both to stay in business.
• Gain client trust. To uncover the real issues, you have to be able to develop a
strong relationship with your clients. Passion for their cause helps, but for integrity,
you also need to be a critical friend.
• Remember who’s the star. It’s tempting to think you’re clever when you solve a
seemingly intractable problem. But successful consultants need humility and must
remember that the customer is always the star of the story.
What Specific Skills Do You Need to be a
Consultant?
• Be a good listener. Consultants never assume and don’t hesitate to ask questions
until they understand their clients’ needs fully.
• Be a team player. While personal goals are important, the customer’s goal must
come first.
• Be able to market. Consultants are often great at client work but miss out on
marketing. You need to be good at both to stay in business.
• Gain client trust. To uncover the real issues, you have to be able to develop a
strong relationship with your clients. Passion for their cause helps, but for integrity,
you also need to be a critical friend.
• Remember who’s the star. It’s tempting to think you’re clever when you solve a
seemingly intractable problem. But successful consultants need humility and must
remember that the customer is always the star of the story.

9. • Have self-confidence and be as adept at delivering bad news as good. There’s nothing
worse than consultants who are not sure of themselves, especially when they’re being
asked about sensitive issues.
• Have a good understanding of the business and of themselves. A consultant
has theoretical and practical knowledge. It’s important to know what solutions have
worked in the past and to have ideas about how to improve them.
• Have transferable skills. Cookie-cutter approaches are weak. A great consultant is able
to apply learning across different situations to come up with innovative ideas. The result
should be practical new strategies that are credible—and that work.
• Have the ability to simplify and explain a problem. Not every customer cares about
regression analysis. A consultant needs tools to explain ideas simply, whether through a
diagram or a metaphor.
• Have more than one solution to a problem. Stuff happens and things change.
Successful consultants foresee multiple solutions. They are also ready to think on their
feet when challenged and to improvise.
What Specific Skills Do You Need to be a
Consultant?
• Have self-confidence and be as adept at delivering bad news as good. There’s nothing
worse than consultants who are not sure of themselves, especially when they’re being
asked about sensitive issues.
• Have a good understanding of the business and of themselves. A consultant
has theoretical and practical knowledge. It’s important to know what solutions have
worked in the past and to have ideas about how to improve them.
• Have transferable skills. Cookie-cutter approaches are weak. A great consultant is able
to apply learning across different situations to come up with innovative ideas. The result
should be practical new strategies that are credible—and that work.
• Have the ability to simplify and explain a problem. Not every customer cares about
regression analysis. A consultant needs tools to explain ideas simply, whether through a
diagram or a metaphor.
• Have more than one solution to a problem. Stuff happens and things change.
Successful consultants foresee multiple solutions. They are also ready to think on their
feet when challenged and to improvise.

10. What Are The Key Deliverables From
Successful Consultants?
• Business Development
• Business Continuity
• Highest Quality Solutions and Services
• Exceed Client Expectations
• Revenue Generation – Earn fees
• Develop New Intellectual Capital – New Knowledge
• Improved Personal Skills
• Improved Consulting Skills
• Business Development
• Business Continuity
• Highest Quality Solutions and Services
• Exceed Client Expectations
• Revenue Generation – Earn fees
• Develop New Intellectual Capital – New Knowledge
• Improved Personal Skills
• Improved Consulting Skills

11. What are Your Consulting Services?
(Exercise)
• ?

12. A Management Consulting Process
Foundation for Success
Packaging is Important (in every facet)
Listen, Interpret, Test
Confidence + Humility Professional Growth
Self Reliance + Teamwork
Ingenuity + Initiative
Prepare + Focus
Business is Relationship-Based !!!
Source: unknown

13. General
Management Consulting Competency
Framework
• Personal Skills
– courtesy, manners, business protocols, dress for success…
• Business Development Skills
– understand client and needs, business model, operations,
strategic direction and outcomes…
• Vertical Expertise
– competency in the subject matter area(s) within which you
consult
• Horizontal Expertise
– some level of competency and certainly understanding of the
edge based practices/products/services your organzation
provides so you can recognize opportunities and discuss
possible solutions w/clients
• Personal Skills
– courtesy, manners, business protocols, dress for success…
• Business Development Skills
– understand client and needs, business model, operations,
strategic direction and outcomes…
• Vertical Expertise
– competency in the subject matter area(s) within which you
consult
• Horizontal Expertise
– some level of competency and certainly understanding of the
edge based practices/products/services your organzation
provides so you can recognize opportunities and discuss
possible solutions w/clients

14. Training, Skills, Attributes of
Successful Consultants
Personal skills would include:
• Self management and discipline – understanding how you operate and how you
view things; this is extremely critical so someone is aware of what they have and
what they need to work on
– Work ethic/approach to work
• Being able to communicate in written form and verbally
• Able to facilitate – skill to facilitate a client, a group, in a moment of conflict in a
project; this is about demonstrating facilitative behavior as opposed to being a
facilitator
• Working well individually and in teams – e.g., able to communicate in a group
when there are differences of opinion
• Creativity
• Flexibility
Align competencies with individual goals and personal and professional growth
Align with performance appraisals so we can sort consultants and know when people need help
Personal skills would include:
• Self management and discipline – understanding how you operate and how you
view things; this is extremely critical so someone is aware of what they have and
what they need to work on
– Work ethic/approach to work
• Being able to communicate in written form and verbally
• Able to facilitate – skill to facilitate a client, a group, in a moment of conflict in a
project; this is about demonstrating facilitative behavior as opposed to being a
facilitator
• Working well individually and in teams – e.g., able to communicate in a group
when there are differences of opinion
• Creativity
• Flexibility
Align competencies with individual goals and personal and professional growth
Align with performance appraisals so we can sort consultants and know when people need help

15. Training, Skills, Attributes of
Successful Consultants
Business development capabilities include:
• Understand our clients and the environments in which they
operate so you have context for all the personal skills
• Understand your organization business model and the
attributes of your ideal client
• Expertise in creating, cultivating, maintaining and in some
cases closing our client relationships
• CRM is extremely important.
Business development capabilities include:
• Understand our clients and the environments in which they
operate so you have context for all the personal skills
• Understand your organization business model and the
attributes of your ideal client
• Expertise in creating, cultivating, maintaining and in some
cases closing our client relationships
• CRM is extremely important.

16. Training, Skills, Attributes of
Successful Consultants
Vertical and Horizontal Expertise:
• The vertical and horizontal expertise includes understanding
what we sell, what we deliver, and what are the solutions and
the relationships between them.
• It’s linking our practice and solution capability to accounts.
• When you tie personal skills and business development
together in this context you get portfolio building
Vertical and Horizontal Expertise:
• The vertical and horizontal expertise includes understanding
what we sell, what we deliver, and what are the solutions and
the relationships between them.
• It’s linking our practice and solution capability to accounts.
• When you tie personal skills and business development
together in this context you get portfolio building

17. Problems, Challenges, Questions
• ???

18. Your Consulting Skills
and Competencies Plan
• Exercise ???