Many organizations establish internal consulting groups that become resources to the businesses within those organizations.Groups with expertise in strategic planning, technology, market research, MIS, advertising, sales process, organizational development and training are among those that many organizations use for assistance when needed. Too often, however, the talent and expertise that these groups have is discounted by their organizations.Line managers go outside the organization for help or fail to use their internal consultants as effectively as possible.The two most common reasons for this, based on our research, is that these groups do not know how to market themselves internally, and that they lack the creativity and innovation that would make them more viable.This does not apply to all cases, but too often these are the primary reasons that groups within organizations do not request the services of the internal consulting function. Internal Consulting Skills is a three-day, skill-based training program that is designed to teach groups the skills, techniques, procedures and processes required to be more effective in the consulting role.
The key learnings are:
How to work together more effectively to develop creative and innovative solutions for clients.
How to reach out to the organization to learn about their needs and explain how the group can be of value.
At the conclusion of the program participants will know:
How to conduct effective and creative problem-solving meetings.
How to assign roles and responsibilities in both internal and external meetings.
How to generate and develop new ideas.
How to use idea generation techniques to derive more innovative solutions to problems.
How to use facilitation techniques to maximize interaction and buy-in.
How to develop specific implementation plans to ensure that the group’s work comes to fruition.
How to build relationships with internal clients.
How to position the group within the organization.
How to analyze a prospective internal client situation through the use of state-of-the-art skills in listening, questioning, interpreting, paraphrasing, reframing and understanding non-verbal communication.
How to relate recommendations to the needs of the internal client.
How to manage resistance--before, during and after meetings with internal clients--both before and after engagement.