Consultancy Skills

Who Will Benefit

Staff who are required to provide an internal or external consultancy service.

Objectives

Build effective consultancy skills. Enhance communication and influencing skills. Develop questioning, listening and probing skills. Learn how to develop rapport and credibility.

Course Outline

• Personal Awareness: personal authority; a self-perception inventory; recognising the effect you have on others.

• The Consultant’s Role: demands; constraints; choices.

• Consultant Styles: an analysis of behaviour; assertive styles.

• Communicating confidently: communication skills; interpersonal skills; selling ideas; internal and external communication; cross-functional and interdepartmental communication.

• Questioning Techniques: probing; open questions; flexibility.

• Active Listening: reflective listening - rephrasing pertinent points and returning them to the speaker; using reflective listening.

• Facilitation: defining objectives; strategy and resources; recommending solutions; evaluation.

• Influencing Skills: influencing style; building trust; power and relationships; reason and logic.

• Implementing Your Strategy: how to increase the readiness of others to accept proposals; practising coping with resistance; providing solutions that are not only needed but heeded.

• Summarising: ensuring that all agreements reached will be implemented; ensuring clarity at all times.

• Client Centred Needs Identification: organisational, business and strategic needs; customer expectations; a systematic approach.

• Developing Customer Trust: the trusted adviser role; empathy and rapport; honest and fair consultancy behaviour; developing and building a long-term business relationship.

• Action Plan: participants plan and discuss what they will do on return to work