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0:00
Hello, my name is Calvert Markham,
and I've been involved in
consultancy most of my life.
As well as delivering
consulting projects,
I've trained hundreds of
people in consulting skills
all around the world.
In this lecture, I'll be
describing the consulting project
cycle and some of the
skills and techniques
needed to perform it well.
Consultants usually have some
sort of specialist knowledge,
but the consulting project
cycle is something you could
use irrespective of your specialism.
It's useful whether
you're in marketing, IT,
HR, or some other technical area.
And the process and skills
are different from those that you
need in an executive role.
0:38
There are three main areas
of skill needed in consulting
address this problem solving.
This is at the core of
a consultant's work,
identifying the nature of the
predicament facing an organization
and how it might be best addressed.
In addition, a consultant is
usually from an outside a client
organization, or if they're
an internal consultant for a
different part of an organization.
So all of them need to be able
to work in a client environment.
And finally, works
delivered through projects.
Unlike the routine administrative
work of a manager,
projects have a distinct
beginning and end, so consultants
have to be good project managers.
Now all these skills are ones
that you might have as a manager
or an executive, but
when you're a consultant,
you need to have them at
a much greater extent.
And so in this lecture,
I'll be talking about some
of those additional
skills, tools, techniques
that you need for
being a consultant.
1:33
As I've already said,
when consultants
are working for
clients, they typically
go through the same
sequence of activities.
This is called the
consulting project cycle.
Now there are lots of models of
the consulting project cycle.
The one we're going to be
looking at has five phases.
The first is entry.
This is when you meet a
client for the first time.
It sets the basis for the
future relationship you have.
The next phase is contracting.
This is when you're sorting out
what you're going to be doing,
and how you're going to be doing it.
Diagnosis is really
the core of the work.
Problem solving, if you like.
In which you sort out what is the
problem, what is the solution,
and how it can be best implemented.
The next phase is where
you work with the client
to put your solutions in place.
And closure is the completion
of the project and withdrawal.
Now of course, in practice, a
project may not work out as neatly
as this, but it's useful
to keep this overall cycle
in mind when you're involved
in delivering consultancy.
