Mindavation > Consultant’s Way – The Internal Consultant Skills Journey

Consultant’s Way – The Internal Consultant Skills Journey

Course Cost:

contact us for details

Duration & Location

2 days - online and onsite*
*min of 8 for onsite delivery

Development Units

14

Pre-Requisites

Participants should have worked on the analysis, development, maintenance or enhancement of at least one business ‘product’, whether it is software, business processes, services, etc.

Audience

This seminar is designed for business analysts, systems analysts, project managers, business people and anyone who conducts analysis and recommends solutions for any business ‘product’, including software, business processes, services, etc.

Description

The internal consultant role is becoming essential in today’s workplace. All types of organizations and business units recognize the value of analyzing business problems and translating them into the right solutions as a key to getting the right work done. Whether that work is done through projects or ad hoc requests, certain core skills are needed to be effective and to begin operating more as consultants and less like reactionary problem-solvers. Among those skills is the ability to understand and analyze business problems, break down a problem into manageable pieces, then recommend and ‘sell’ solutions that will adequately solve a problem or take advantage of an opportunity.
This course provides industry-standard, practical skills that anyone performing an internal consultant role needs. Participants will learn effective methods to ask good questions, objectively analyze issues, and gather supporting data to understand business problems and improvement areas. To avoid ‘jumping to solutions’ this course presents approaches to think critically and understand root causes of problems. And, since acceptance and understanding by business colleagues of findings and recommendations is critical, our course helps people to learn simple and effective ways to document and present their work.
Many practical and engaging exercises help students walk through the concepts presented and afford ample practice with the techniques learned.

Knowledge Areas Covered

PMBOK Knowledge Areas

Project Communications Management | Project Stakeholder Management | Project Human Resources Management | Project Scope Management | Project Quality Management | Project Integration Management

BABOK Knowledge Areas

Requirements Life Cycle Management | Underlying Competencies | Strategy Analysis | Elicitation and Collaboration | BA Planning & Monitoring

Key Learning Objectives

  • describe what consulting is and why it is critical to success
  • use a systematic process to understand problems, analyze needs, and formulate solutions
  • use numerous methods of eliciting the right information from your clients in the right situations:
    • ask questions that cause clients to express their expectations as well as their requirements
    • ask questions that help discover hidden requirements
    • interview customers to the greatest effect to understand the right problem to solve
  • analyze problems with the help of industry standard tools such as fishbone diagrams, cause-and-effect diagrams, Pareto charts, etc.
  • communicate across all levels of the organization using the STO model
  • document and present findings and recommendations in a way that gains understanding and acceptance
  • help clients prioritize their needs and your recommendations