Course Overview

Consulting is a broad term that refers to subject matter expertise offered to organisations in various fields and aspects of their operations. Consulting services help organisations develop clear and relevant objectives, plan and organise efficient data collection, draw logical conclusions as well as foster teamwork and transparent and clear communication.

There are various types of consulting, including strategic, management, operations, financial, human resource and information technology. Irrespective of the type of consulting, there are some general and common steps followed through the practice.

What do consultants do? Consultants are those experienced professionals from a specific field and subject matter knowledge who provide an objective, unbiased perspective and help organisations accomplish short-term goals and make use of outside market knowledge and experience to gain a competitive advantage in the market.

This Zoe training course will empower you with complete knowledge of consulting and awareness of the roles and responsibilities of a consultant.

By undertaking this Internal Consulting Skills Course, you will not only gain information about consulting and the roles of a consultant from any domain but will also be able to undertake the roles and responsibilities of a consultant and successfully fulfil them, thereby offering the adequate boost to your career growth and progression.

Course Objectives

The main objective of this Internal Consulting Skills Course is to empower professionals with—

• complete information and knowledge about consulting and the roles and responsibilities of a consultant
• the required skills, experience and confidence to serve as an internal consultant
• the skills and awareness to help the organisation is looking at things objectively and providing feedback and inputs to the organisation
• the awareness, perspective, confidence and experience to help others in the organisation with subject matter expertise and objective data or information to be able to analyse the internal operations
• the required expertise and knowledge to help the organisation achieve short-term goals and plan well for long-term goals
• the skill to think creatively and innovate to find different solutions to a problem
• the experience, knowledge and confidence to change the approach of the organisation and its employees towards focusing more on the customer
• the overall skill set and capabilities to contribute to organisational growth and development, thereby also fostering more opportunities for career growth and progression
• adequate analytical and strategic skills to logically conclude from available data or information

Training Methodology

Zoe Talent Solutions follows a mixed approach for its training that includes both practical and theoretical aspects. The theoretical part of training is delivered by an expert from the relevant domain, while the practical part of training is carried out through sample projects and assignments as well as role-plays.

Relevant case studies are also discussed to help the trainees connect practical scenarios to the training content. Trainee participation is encouraged through the practical activities outlined for the training format.

Trainees are also encouraged to share related experiences and issues faced at their workplace, and the trainer then discusses these in the context of the training content to foster relativity.

The above-mixed format of training is the typical model followed by Zoe Talent Solutions, called the Do–Review–Learn–Apply Model.

Organisational Benefits

By professionals enrolling for this Internal Consulting Skills Course, their organisations will derive the following benefits:

• Trained and experienced employees to act as internal consultants, with detailed knowledge and information about consulting and the roles and responsibilities of a consultant
• Detailed review and audit of various aspects of organisational operations, with an objective, unbiased perspective delivering review results that will help devise relevant action plans
• Faster and more successful achievement of short-term goals, with better and more sound preparation to meet long-term goals as well
• Adoption and application of outside market expertise, knowledge and suggestions, helping the organisation achieve a competitive advantage
• Organisational growth and development because of greater credibility and a competitive advantage
• More logical conclusions and decisions after considering all available data and information in detail
• Clear communication across the organisation, leading to greater transparency and hence greater accountability and ownership

Personal Benefits

By enrolling for this Internal Consulting Skills Course, professionals will derive the following benefits:

• Detailed information and knowledge of consulting and the roles and responsibilities of a consultant
• Adequate skills, experience and confidence to serve as an internal consultant to one’s organisation, thereby demonstrating talent and potential and paving the way for more growth opportunities
• Enhanced perspective and skill to consider information objectively and provide expert opinion accordingly
• Greater knowledge and exposure to help all departments organisation-wide with subject matter expertise
• Increased confidence and expertise to successfully achieve all short-term goals and plan well to ensure that long-term goals are also met
• Creative and innovative mindset to analyse aspects of the operations of one’s organisation and suggest different ways to handle these
• Increased experience, knowledge and skill to help change the approach of employees in one’s organisation to think creatively and boldly to overcome all possible challenges and hurdles
• Adequate analytical and strategic skills to draw logical conclusions after scrutiny of data and information available

Who Should Attend?

• Senior members and managers of an organisation who need to understand the importance of consulting and who have the authority to make strategic decisions for the organisation
• All functional and operational managers who handle and oversee the operations of different departments within the organisation
• Policymakers who need to understand consultancies and a consultant’s suggestion before framing guidelines or setting policies around it
• Process excellence managers who need to think like a consultant when making suggestions for changes in policies and practices within an organisation
• Internal and external auditors responsible for reviewing processes and guidelines, analysing these and providing expert opinion as well as creative corrective action
• Any other professional who would like to know more about consulting

Course Outline

The Internal Consulting Skills Course covers the following topics related to consulting and the roles and responsibilities of a consultant:

 Module 1 – Types of Consulting

• Strategy consulting
• Management consulting
• Operations consulting
• Financial consulting
• Human resource consulting
• Information technology consulting

 Module 2 – Fundamentals of Consulting

• Develop clear and relevant objectives
• Plan and organise efficient data collection
• Draw logical conclusions
• Work effectively as a team
• Communicate clearly

 Module 3 – Three Cs of Consulting

• Competence
• Confidence
• Credibility

 Module 4 – Steps in Consulting

• Discovery
• Analysis
• Report Findings
• Strategy
• Implementation
• Complete, detailed report
• Follow-up

Module 5 – Consultant Tools

• Benchmarking
• Balanced scorecard
• Porter’s five forces
• The GE-Mckinsey nine-box matrix
• The BCG growth-share matrix
• Core competencies

 Module 6 – Consultant Characteristics/Skills

• Team player
• Excellent communicator
• Fast learner
• Problem solver
• Decision maker
• Creative thinker
• Solution-focused
• Customer-oriented
• Flexible worker
• Stress-resilient

Module 7 – Benefits of a Consultant

• Objective outsider’s perspective
• Accomplishing short-term goals
• Leveraging new skills
• Outside market knowledge
• Luxury of time to plan

Module 8 – Challenges Faced by Consultants

• Increased competition
• Changes in how buyers purchase services
• Unpredictability in the market
• Downward price pressure on services
• Need for new skills