Consulting Skills

Science & Technology Leadership Institute
Improving science and technology by improving leadership and communications

Improving science and technology by improving leadership and communications

Increase Consulting Effectiveness For IT, QA, Audit ---
Any Technical Professional Who Advises Others

"If I'm the expert, why aren't you listening to me?"

This is the question thousands of technical professionals in consulting roles ask as their clients accept their reports but fail to use their ideas. Increasing numbers of people function in consulting roles in IT, quality, statistics, analysis, audit, finance, engineering and many other fields. They bring a wealth of experience and skill to their positions, but often fail to achieve the potential they offer. Often, they confuse consulting with "giving advice" rather than "adding value."Our training and development programs provide participants with the strategies, skills and insights to increase their overall effectiveness in consulting tasks.

Programs feature:

Helping consulting departments and consultants increase and demonstrate the value they add to the organization

Clarifying consulting problems, roles, and opportunities

Improving consultants' understadning of client prioirites

Developing tools to better understand client needs and priorities

Improving one-on-one skills for giving ideas and suggestions and incorporating client input

Increasing consultants' client satisfaction

Using a collaborative approach to involve both consultant and client without compromise

Contracting strategies that clarify expectations and create a solid collaborative client relationship from the very beginning of the project Leading group discussions for maximum involvement and positive discussion

Developing strategies and skills to increase partnering success

Involving clients by having them participate in parts of the program

Surveys of client/ user satisfaction and partnering effectiveness

Consulting Skills Program Outcomes

Our programs produce both tangible performance measures and more intangible gains: mproved value-added of the consulting function to the organization

Increased client satisfaction, repeat business and use of consulting ideas
Lasting processes and materials to improve communications and performance
New projects that benefit both client and consultant
Reduced frustration, improved job satisfaction by consultants

Consulting Program Cases

We have provided hundreds of highly successful in-organization consulting effectiveness programs. Cases include:

Consulting departments with strong technical skills that want to improve their effectiveness in partnering and working more effectively with customers e.g. consultants e.g. quality, statistics, audit, IT, R&D, analysis, engineering, etc.
Government agency employees working in consulting roles across agency lines increasing their clients' buy-in to fully implement their recommendations and ideas
Consulting departments clarifying their vision and mission and translating that vision into everyday staff priorities and tasks
Consulting departments in monitoring roles e.g. audit and quality, that want to work in a more collaborative way with customers

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