Core Consulting Skills

• Entry - establishing a good relationship with clients 
• Contracting - understanding what clients really need and setting up projects 
• Diagnosis - finding out what's going on; identifying and solving problems 
• Intervention - communicating well with clients, and working with them to create effective change 
• Closure - getting the best from projects for you and your clients
  

By the end of the course you will also have:

• A clearer understanding of the skills a consultant requires to carry out a project
• The confidence and persuasiveness needed to successfully present your proposals and recommendations
• The basic techniques for dealing with change and the ability to recognise, understand and respond to the issues it raises
• Skills to present yourself to best effect

What you can expect?
The course follows a consultancy assignment based around a case study with an intensive series of exercises designed to evaluate and develop participants' thought processes as well as testing your skills. The exercises follow the ConSulT delivery process. Delegates receive feedback on the quality of their work during regular review sessions.

Day 1 :

• The ConSulT process
• Entry 1 : situation appraisal
• Entry 2 : positioning yourself with the client
• Entry 3 : influencing clients
• Contracting 1 : managing client relationships
• Contracting 2 : defining terms of reference

Day 2 :

• Contracting 3 : assignment management
• Contracting 4 : working in teams 
• Diagnosis 1 : problem solving
• Diagnosis 2 : data collection
• Diagnosis 3 : assessing the readiness for change 
• Diagnosis 4 : solution generation

Day 3 :

• Intervention 1 : developing recommendations
• Intervention 2 : managing change
• Intervention 3 : reporting to clients
• Closure and action planning

Each session has input on the underpinning skills, as well as opportunities to practise them.