Consulting Skills for a Project Environment

Consulting Skills for a Project Environment

Overview

Working well with all the players in your industry can be a daunting task. You have suppliers, employer groups and both internal and external clients. Add to the mix legislators, regulators, vendors, competitors, industry groups and various coalitions, and you have an intricate web of influence-makers and stakeholders to deal with. Don’t forget the people you collaborate with everyday inside your own organisation. Building strong, mutually beneficial relationships with these key players can make the difference in your ability to meet your business and career goals.

This is where consulting skills and behaviours become critical to the Project and Programme Manager as businesses look to facilitate future success. Whether it is dealing with internal or external clients, there is a need to deliver a trusted advisor service that enhances business options. It is, therefore, essential for you to focus on building your skills as a consultant.

Target Audience:

This course is designed for those who are involved in working in a project environment and want to build their consulting skills to achieve great results.

Objectives

At the end of this course you will be able to:

• know your communication approach and how to harness this knowledge to build relationships
• manoeuvre effectively around political minefields using a set of behaviours
• critical to getting things done in a positive way for all concerned
• understand the commercial drivers for both your organisation and your clients
• apply a conflict management approach to deal with different conflict situations
• truly appreciate the principles of influencing without direct authority and without negotiation
• understand the scope of your responsibilities to ensure you provide the right level of messaging to your client without selling your soul!
• role model exemplary behaviours, skills and attitudes consistently through professionalism and ethics

Outline

• What is a consultant.
• The consultancy cycle and the consultancy environment.
• Provide tools and techniques to gain commitment, and build stronger relationships with all interested parties including key stakeholders.
• Raise your self-awareness through the use of SDI (Strength Deployment Inventory).
• Commercial awareness.
• Identify ways to influence and negotiate with those involved in the project.
• Feeding back to clients.
• Understanding politics and culture within the client environment.
• Provide a framework for conflict management.
• Discover the behavioural characteristics a project professional in a consulting role should ideally be.