Consulting work is all about communication (with team mates, fellow consultants, clients and prospects). It requires critical skills and techniques that need to be acquired very soon in the consulting carreer. That is what this presentation is all about.

1. Vital communication skills for consultants
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With prospects

2. Communication is the transmission of information and meaning from one individual -
or group - to another
Sender Receiver
Step 1: message
We live in a world of communication – consultants make no exception
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Step 2: feedback

3. Step 1 of the communication process: send the message
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Sender has
an idea
Sender
encodes the
message
Channel
carries
message
Receiver
decodes
message
Receiver
understands
message
ideaidea
1 2 3 4 5
verbally or non-verbally
by speaking, writing, gesturing
email, phone call, presentation, slide
deck, report, memo, article, post,
one pager, infographics, podcast,
video …
by hearing, reading, observing
by distinguishing between
message and ‘noise’

4. There are several ways of encoding messages when communicating
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Ways of talking (pauses,
stress on words …)
Sounds
Tone & intonation
Posture & appearance
Head, hand & eye
movements
Facial expression
Body contact & closeness
Verbal
Non VerbalVocal
Only 7% of the
message perceived
by one’s
interlocutor lies
within the words
that are
pronounced
You should pay attention to all of them
7%
55%38%

5. Step 2: exchange feedbacks
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Feedback travels
to sender
Additional
feedback may
travel to receiver
ideaidea
6
7
Feedbacks can take several forms: question,
answer, discussion, observation,
assessment, judgment …
They follow the same process as initial
message (encoding – channel – decoding)
Sender has
an idea
Receiver
understands
message

6. Consulting is about communicating, with a large number of different persons in a
variety of contexts
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With your assignment team
With your colleagues With clients
With prospects

7. As a consultant you should develop 9 basic consulting skills, with a particular
emphasis on listening
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Verbal
Teamwork
Selling
Negotiation
Networking Writing
Active
listening
Interpersonal
communication
Presentation

8. Focus on consultant communication skills
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Written communication should be brief but informative, and help an
audience focus on the key points.Writing
Good verbal communication is concise and specific: researchers have
found that today’s attention span amounts to only 8.25 seconds.Verbal
Interpersonal communication allows people to find common ground,
display empathy and build bonds with one another.Interpersonal communication
Putting aside personal differences and working toward a common
goal. For teamwork to be successful, all parties must recognize that
combined efforts are worth more than individual contributions.
Teamwork

9. Focus on consultant communication skills
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Presentations allow one individual, or a group, to share evidence to
support an idea. A good presenter is a storyteller, using data, stories
and examples to influence an audience to act toward an outcome.
Presentation
Selling skills extends beyond those who work for the sales
department. They can be used to influence others to buy into a
project or to engage into a new direction
Selling
Reaching a mutually beneficial solution by understanding and
leveraging the other side’s motivations. To achieve this, you’ll need to
discover what factors would be most influential for the other side.
Negotiation
In order to network, you’ll need to be interesting enough that others
desire to partner with you. A large business network can also be a
safety net, and means you have people to rely for help or information
Networking

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Consultorama