Internal consultancy takes many forms and indeed most internal consultants will not have the term “consultant” in their job title. To quote Peter Block, author of Flawless Consulting:

"People in a staff role really need consulting skills to be effective - regardless of their field of technical expertise."

So anyone in HR, finance and accounting, IT, planning or research should consider themselves as ‘consultants’.

internal consultants work on three levels: the substance (the area of their expertise – rational, technical and logical), the process of consulting (creative, systematic and action-oriented) and the human (feelings, beliefs and interests). All levels are critical to consulting success. This programme will provide participants with a broad range of skills that will enable them to operate effectively on all three levels. The programme is structured around a simple six step framework for effective consulting.

The course will address the key issues facing internal consultants:

internal Consulting Programme Brochure

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• the lack of formal authority
• gaining resources
• overcoming suspicion based on fear, uncertainty and doubt
• managing internal politics
• establishing trust
• empathic, inquisitive and assertive advocacy
• communicating persuasively
• gaining new perspectives
• breaking paradigms and overcoming resistance to change

 

Programme Outline

The Six Step internal Consulting Framework

Introducing the Six Step Framework and how it can be applied in a range of different internal consulting environments – from full consultancy through to short secondments or providing technical advice:

1. Contracting
2. Analysis and Diagnosis
3. Leadership & Management
4. Recommendations
5. Implementation
6. Evaluation

Step 1 - Contracting – establishing a solid foundation

The “contract” is the foundation for any consulting project. If the contract is ambiguous or understood in different ways by the parties, then the project is unlikely to succeed. It is therefore critical that internal consultants are able to identify clearly what the client requirements are (and recognise that the client is often unsure or mistaken about their real needs). This session provides participants with client insights that will ensure a solid foundation for the consulting project:

• understanding clients:
  • personality
  • thinking styles
  • emotions
  • mental models
  • sensory preferences
• discovering client needs – felt and latent
• establishing objectives
• agreeing processes, resources, responsibilities and deliverables
• criteria for success
• managing expectations
• reporting – what will be measured and how will results be communicated
• completion and sign-off

Step 2 - Analysis & Diagnosis

This session explores a range of consulting tools and techniques to gather, analyse and interpret data, generate options and move towards potential solutions:

• data collection – Is / Is Not
• analysis and problem solving
  • 5 Whys
  • Fishbone
  • Causal Mapping
  • Systems Thinking
  • Systematic Approaches – 8D / Kepner-Tregoe
• generating options
  • Lotus Blossom
  • SCAMPER
• decision making
  • probability tree
  • weighted matrix

Step 3 – Leadership & Management

All consulting projects require inputs from other people – internal consultants achieve through people. Effective internal consultants encourage, motivate, persuade, influence, involve and organize others to contribute. Since internal consultants rarely have line manager authority this requires a special set of skills, including:

• stakeholder analysis – recognising that not everyone will be on your side from the beginning and developing ways to work with allies, opponents, bedfellows and adversaries
• building trust
• understanding what really motivates people – how values drive behaviour
• winning hearts and minds – logic and being right isn’t enough!
• influencing and negotiating skills – you are more likely to get what you need if people want to give it to you; this session provides participants with powerful influencing techniques
• the 4Ps of team briefings
• facilitating meetings: structuring, questioning, encouraging participation, handling difficult people
• planning and monitoring progress
• communicating with internal clients – frequency, channels, content – managing expectations and delivering bad news
• using technology – blogs, wikis, fora etc.

Step 4 - Recommendations

This session will focus on:

• developing recommendations
  • structuring ideas
  • providing alternatives
• presenting recommendations
• enlisting support
• written format
• presenting with impact
• overcoming resistance
• gaining commitment

Step 5 - Implementation

Turning recommendations into effective actions and ensuring happy clients means understanding:

• barriers to change and how to overcome them
• how individuals respond – the transition curve
• Kotter’s 8 steps in effective change

Step 6 – Evaluation & Termination

The final step underlines the importance of each of the preceding steps. If these steps have been undertaken according to the principles covered in this workshop then the final stage is a natural conclusion:

• evaluation
• presentation of results
• review – lessons learned for the future
• sign-off by the client
• promotion of successes