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Consulting Skills for Results - The Strategic Edge

Length 2 days
Price NZD 1800 exc GST

Course overview

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Why study this course

In a world of increasing sophistication, it is vital that our teams have the skills to hold conversations across the business, working with a consultant’s hat on, to deliver value and solve problems. This course works with the individual to help them position themselves as an internal consultant, researcher, and problem-solver.

This two-day course will help IT professionals (not to mention Shared Services) who desire to play a more proactive and valuable role within their organisation, providing them with the skills to deal with “urgent” internal requests and better engage and influence various stakeholders… earlier in the development life cycle than is frequently the case.

The course is an ideal precursor for our Business Analysis and Project Management portfolios and for those individuals who are seeking to improve their generic consulting skills. Even in the Cloud era, there is still a need for internal client-facing consulting roles, as organisations continue to pay needlessly for external ‘best practice’ advice where internal staff can provide value-for-money via their institutional knowledge. In IT, and particularly in the era of the Cloud, it’s becoming less and less about the technology itself and more about the users… client centricity.

Certification

Certification in Concept Development Skills is available through the Global Certification Institute (GCI) after gaining a score of 70% or better in the online examination. This examination could be taken at any time subsequent to the classroom training.

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What you’ll learn

Qualify client requests and set early expectations
Select appropriate top-down hypotheses or bottom-up blank sheet approaches
Design, estimate, and negotiate scope/quality, time, and “cost” of consulting engagements
Conduct observations, interviews, and focus groups to collect qualitative data
Analyse both quantitative and qualitative data then synthesise potential solutions
Present findings, recommendations, and draft business cases, then deal with objections
Engage in consulting/research/problem-solving activities
Manage client/stakeholder interactions
Position yourself as internal consultant, researcher, and problem-solver

Lumify at Lumify Work

Lumify Work is the leading information and communications technology training provider in Australia, New Zealand, and the Philippines. In collaboration with our partners, our team designed and curated courses and masterclasses to enable people with skills in consulting, vendor management, IT Service Management (ITSM), and more.

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Who is the course for?

This course is designed for IT Professionals and any others in the organisation who require the opportunity to learn how to be more consultative.

Course subjects

In line with the SFIA framework, this program will focus primarily on awareness and knowledge of the key consulting-related topics, and their application via a case study and group exercises.
Definition and various interpretations of the terms ‘consulting’ and ‘research’.
Introduce and show examples of the Positivistic top-down hypotheses-based and the Phenomenological bottom-up ‘blank sheet’ research approaches. We will also examine ‘best practice’ commercial methods in the form of Issue Based Consulting as used by McKinsey and IBM.
Design a consulting engagement by highlighting all of the issues to be considered, such as how much time to allow for planning, conducting, and wrapping up a consulting engagement. Specific guidance given around preparation, data gathering, analysis, and documentation – particularly in qualitative research.
Demonstrate analysis of simple numerical data, and explore the tougher task of analysing textual data in a rigorous fashion that stands up to scrutiny and complements the numerical data by providing the ‘why’ on top of the ‘who, what, when, and how much’ we obtained from the numbers.
Introduce, explain, and provide examples of Strategic, Critical, and Creative Thinking.
Probe the identification of the ‘central problem’ and ‘root cause(s)’ as opposed to ‘observable incidents’ which in the research context are mere symptoms and can be distracting.
Demonstrate how to use brainstorming techniques to identify numerous potential solutions and attendant risks, and how to deal with those risks and develop a matrix of recommendations and a draft business case to assist executive decision-making.
Explore how to write a Research Report including Next Steps, and how to present a report summary so as to maximise buy-in and commitment from stakeholders.

Prerequisites

None

Terms & Conditions

The supply of this course by Lumify Work is governed by the booking terms and conditions. Please read the terms and conditions carefully before enrolling in this course, as enrolment in the course is conditional on acceptance of these terms and conditions.