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Further Details

As an internal consultant, you spend a lot of time with people: understanding their problems, reviewing alternatives, persuading them to take ownership, making proposals and asking people to commit to action. To be successful, your technical and business skills must be backed up by sound communication skills and the ability to interact with others at all levels of your organisation. As your role becomes more consultative, your credibility depends on how well you understand and make yourself understood. The techniques you’ll learn on this course will dramatically improve your effectiveness and ensure the success of your projects. Key focus • Identifying and managing key stakeholders of internal projects • Clarifying expectations and success criteria with individuals/teams • Clearly identifying problems using a range of tools and techniques • Assisting internal clients or customers to diagnose their needs • Promoting proposals persuasively to others • Managing resistance and objections to ideas • Flexing your personal style to suit a range of people • Building team support, effort and enthusiasm for internal projects • Gaining support and building internal alliances that support change Who will benefit: Anyone who works with internal clients in consultant type roles, including: IT and Telecoms professionals; HR professionals; systems analysts; project leaders and business analysts. Course content Day One What is internal consulting? • Why is internal consulting important? • The role of the internal consultant as advisor, problem solver and facilitator • Diagnosing client problems - problem solving methods and techniques • How are organisations changing: managing in flatter, looser structures • Avoiding common problems in the consulting process • A 6 step internal consulting process: - Establishing a relationship - Problem Identification - Building common ground - Offering options - Gaining ownership of the solution - Managing delivery and evaluating results Establishing a relationship • Identifying and mapping stakeholders • A 5 step model for planning your approach • Plan and run an effective meeting • Setting ground rules • Building rapport • Being clear about your role: challenger or supporter, advisor or doer • Setting clear expectations • Helping teams to move forward Problem identification • Gathering information from the client • Understanding and being understood • Learn how to collect and assess information • Building trust and credibility with others • Examine the factors that affect success: context, clarity, capability and people Building common ground • Assessing and analysing information • Reaching consensus • Establishing success criteria • Perception: how you are evaluated • Negotiating and contracting acceptable criteria • Personal skills to persuade and inform • Dealing with resistance • Up-front skills for winning solutions • Agreeing priorities • Working remotely: tips and ideas for teams Day Two Offering options • Selling solutions to clients, stakeholders and senior managers: appealing to habit and emotion • How to present ideas in writing and orally: the clarity of structure • The persuasion skills you need to make both oral and written presentations • Making sure you have alternatives you can barter: the quality, time, cost triangle • Deciding when to close the discussion and propose a solution Gaining ownership of the solution • Group practice sessions that allow you to translate theory into practice • Knowing your audience • Taking the user’s point of view • Delivering effective oral briefings • Managing varying opinions and objections • Writing clear reports • Marketing and promote what you are doing Managing delivery and evaluating results • Encouraging solution acceptance • Ensuring what happens is monitored accurately • Using reporting to promote achievement • Managing and reinforcing relationships by providing timely feedback • Marketing success to enhance credibility and future opportunities • Signing off • Evaluating what happened • Calling back the original team • Conducting a review • Recognising achievements • Recording and marketing the outcomes

Guide price

£1,095 (First Delegate Rate) £985 (Additional Delegate Rate)