Workshop title :

Consulting Tools

Workshop reference :

324 / V1.0

Duration :

2 days

Language :

English, French

Why, Who and What ?

In a dynamic marketplace, (business) consultants not only need strong social skills, but also powerful consulting tools that enable them to quickly explore and expose issues and opportunities for effective decision-making and set up projects that meet the needs of both the organization and the client. In this course participants are offered a consulting toolkit. The course is for new and more experienced (business) consultants who run interventions with clients and need to fully and quickly understand the needs of the business, the expectations of the stake-holders and effective ways of collaborating with clients towards defined targets.

Module

Key Development Areas

Introduction

Understanding the business context in which you operate: What are the dynamics, influences and expectations?

Diagnostic & Risk analysis tools

Capturing the context, deepening the udnerstanding of the project and defining the boundaries: • Project brief - BOSCARD • Scoping - In/Out of scope framing • Simplified operational risk analysis • SWOT and variations • Analysing the problem • Stakeholder constellation • Communication strategy and plan • The triple constraint

Interaction tools

Creating rapport, initiating and maintaining effective partnerships with clients Running effective one-to-one sessions Facilitating group meetings Decision rules Contracting

Structuring & Planning tools

Using tools to structure, organize and allocate appropriate resources to projects: • Project WBS • Project network chart • Responsibility chart • Estimation, costing and defining KPIs • Meeting management checklist • Briefing / debriefing checklists

Relationship maintenance to achieve client intimacy

From transaction to intimacy: building trust for mutual exploration of emerging threats and opportunities • Exploring the Cultural Web • Joint reviews with sponsors and other tools • Planning next steps

Application Case Study (2.5 hours)

Participants apply the essential tools in the context of a case study, and choose one additional one for application.