1 / 18

Consulting: Tools for Success

Consulting: Tools for Success. February 5, 2001 Boston College Carroll Graduate School of Management. Deborah Bernstein. Rod Blacklock. Suzie Sergi. Vin O’Reilly Diane Weiss / Consulting. Boston College Carroll Graduate School of Management. Consulting: Tools for Success Objectives

dora
Download Presentation

Consulting: Tools for Success

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. Consulting: Tools for Success February 5, 2001 Boston College Carroll Graduate School of Management

  2. Deborah Bernstein Rod Blacklock Suzie Sergi Vin O’Reilly Diane Weiss / Consulting Boston College Carroll Graduate School of Management

  3. Consulting: Tools for Success Objectives Top 10 Lists Skills Lessons Learned Feedback on Your Questions Conflict Resolution Exercise Q&A Agenda Vin O’Reilly Diane Weiss / Consulting Boston College Carroll Graduate School of Management

  4. Provide honest feedback about a career in consulting Tie current learning to skills needed in consulting Helpful hints for Dianne Weiss Consulting Project Objectives Vin O’Reilly Diane Weiss / Consulting Boston College Carroll Graduate School of Management

  5. Reasons TO go into consulting • Exposure to different companies, industries, and people • Flexibility of schedule - Autonomy • Non-repetitive projects • Training / Learning - formal and informal • Well-defined career path • Multiple responsibilities Vin O’Reilly Diane Weiss / Consulting Boston College Carroll Graduate School of Management

  6. Top Reasons NOT TO go into consulting • Work / life balance • Travel • Fix and run • Always at the bottom of the learning curve • Metrics • Multiple stakeholders • Perception of consultants • Inability to affect change Vin O’Reilly Diane Weiss / Consulting Boston College Carroll Graduate School of Management

  7. Sills Most Often Used • Communication skills • Feedback • Reflective practice • Listening skills • Interview skills • Thinking on your feet • Managing upward • Presentation skills • Time management skills • Multi-tasking • Multiple projects • Prioritization • Conflict resolution • Writing skills • Project management skills • Facilitation skills Vin O’Reilly Diane Weiss / Consulting Boston College Carroll Graduate School of Management

  8. Lessons Learned for Diane Weiss • You will rarely implement the optimal solution but you can always implement an effective solution • Expect to be treated like an outsider; sometimes it will work to your advantage; sometimes it will be a barrier • Your interests, the firm’s interests, your staff’s interests and the client’s interests are not always aligned • Rule of thumb: Give the client what they want, but tell them what they need to hear • Linkage: Tie the solution to the root cause • Learn to practice conflict resolution versus conflict avoidance Vin O’Reilly Diane Weiss / Consulting Boston College Carroll Graduate School of Management

  9. Question: What are specific consulting tools that could help with Diane Weiss? • Project management • Mobilization • document roles and responsibilities • discuss team expectations • Statement of Work / Job Arrangement Letter • scope maintenance • Workplan • timeline • milestones / interim deliverables • accountability • Establish and document deliverables Vin O’Reilly Diane Weiss / Consulting Boston College Carroll Graduate School of Management

  10. Question: What are specific consulting tools that could help with Diane Weiss? • Project management (continued) • Status meetings (client and team) • Establish desired outcomes for every meeting • Create an agenda • End with action items / next steps • Process Analysis • Flowcharting • Data Gathering • Interviews • Focus Groups • Survey Vin O’Reilly Diane Weiss / Consulting Boston College Carroll Graduate School of Management

  11. Question: How do you define the scope? • DON’T START WITH THE SOLUTION • List assumptions • Assess the situation before identifying the problem and creating a statement of work and deliverables • Push back on the client • Write up a problem statement • Use root cause analysis Vin O’Reilly Diane Weiss / Consulting Boston College Carroll Graduate School of Management

  12. Question: How do you set expectations and manage them? • Establish team roles and responsibilities and stick to them! • Open discuss work styles with your team • Appoint a client point of contact / relationship manager • Hold team-mates accountable and have repercussions • Set up regular meetings with the client to avoid surprises and get feedback • Give real-time feedback • Establish and document what you expect from the client Vin O’Reilly Diane Weiss / Consulting Boston College Carroll Graduate School of Management

  13. Industry • Financial Services • High Tech • Higher Education • Healthcare • Retail / Manufacturing • Entertainment • Types of Consulting • Management Consulting • Strategy • Risk Management • Change Management • Crisis Management • Technology Strategy • Human Resources • Process • Operations • Supply Chain • Systems Implementation • Marketing • Tax and Legal • Financial Valuation • Characteristics • Internal / External • Profit/Not-for-Profit • Large/Small • Public/Private Question: How can we best prepare ourselves for the profession or an interview? Answer: Be focused Vin O’Reilly Diane Weiss / Consulting Boston College Carroll Graduate School of Management

  14. Question: How can we best prepare ourselves for the profession or an interview (cont.)? • Be focused about what kind of consulting you want to pursue • Talk to people: network • Follow up with interviews that did not go well • Get your resume referred from someone within • Check your resume • don’t underestimate past work experience • don’t forget charity work • Research the company Vin O’Reilly Diane Weiss / Consulting Boston College Carroll Graduate School of Management

  15. Conflict Resolution Exercise • Break into your new second semester teams • 1 person from each team should volunteer to be a facilitator / scribe • Please answer the following question: WHAT IS AN EXISTING OR POTENTIAL CONFLICT THAT YOUR TEAM MAY FACE AS A CLIENT SERVICE PROVIDER? • Each team member must produce 3 responses • Report your responses to the scribe • As a team, group common responses together • Identify the most frequently occurring response • As a team, identify 3 action items to resolve or minimize the conflict discussed Vin O’Reilly Diane Weiss / Consulting Boston College Carroll Graduate School of Management

  16. Thank You Deborah Bernsteindeborah.s.bernstein@us.pwcblobal.com Rod Blacklockmissross@rcn.com Suzie Sergisuzanne.m.sergi@us.arthurandersen.com Vin O’Reilly Diane Weiss / Consulting Boston College Carroll Graduate School of Management

  17. Recommended Reading • Managing the Professional Services Firm • by David Maister • First Break All the Rules • by Marcus Buckingham and Curt Coffman • Emotional Intelligence • by Daniel Goleman Vin O’Reilly Diane Weiss / Consulting Boston College Carroll Graduate School of Management

  18. Things to Inquire about when talking to Consulting Firms • Expected Travel • Staffing model • National practice • Regional (e.g. Northeast) • Training opportunities • Simultaneous projects and obligations • Focus on Industry vs… Service Lines • Average duration of projects • Salary, bonus, and benefits structure • Independence rules • Ethics • Calibre of clients Vin O’Reilly Diane Weiss / Consulting Boston College Carroll Graduate School of Management

More Related