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CMCE Programme
The purpose of this programme is to explore the role of the management consultant. It considers the skills, knowledge and professional behaviours required by an effective consultant. It looks at ethical standards and codes of conduct and will give you a framework to evaluate your current knowledge, skills and behaviours to plan your future development.
It includes an overview of the development of the consultancy market, reviews the phases of the consultancy process and typical consultancy interventions introducing a range of tools, skills and techniques to support effective interaction with clients. The role of effective communication is considered as well as core communication techniques. An overview of project delivery including risk, quality assurance and effective personal contribution is followed by investigating core consultancy skills in knowledge sourcing, research and analysis.
The Consultancy Role
Understanding:
What management consultancy is:
- How the management consultancy role can be defined, and which typical responsibilities and activities are included
- What the challenges, risks and pitfalls of the management consultancy role are
The knowledge, skills and behaviours required
- The range of essential professional behaviours needed by the individual - such as analytical and pro-active thinking, the ability to deal with complexity and take responsibility, interpersonal capabilities, effective delivery and the ability to undertake personal growth
- The principal consulting skills and technical knowledge required for effective performance
- The purpose, role and impact of professionalism, integrity and working within codes of conduct and ethical guidelines in the best interests of the client
The consultancy market
- The structure and historical development of the management consultancy market
- The current market for management consultancy, including issues such as competition, types of consultancy interventions, and relevant legislative, economic, social and political factors, different types of consultancy (e.g. internal, external, public sector), and how their products, service and markets may differ
Personal professional development
- The importance of personal growth and continuing professional development
How to:
- Undertake a self-assessment to determine your current abilities and development needs
- Develop and implement a personal action plan for learning and self-development
- Review and reflect on your learning and development using tools such as the Institute's Management Consultancy Competence Framework (Appendix 1)
- Request and review feedback to improve your performance and development activities
The Consultancy Cycle
Understanding:
- The diversity of consultancy interventions and approaches
- The consultancy cycle and typical inputs and deliverables for each stage of the cycle
- The principles and stages of a model for managing the consultancy cycles
- The types of problems, risks and issues which may arise during each phase of the consultancy cycle
- The importance of scoping interventions effectively and agreeing clear contracts with clients
- The need for interventions to have a clear, planned structure
How to:
- Select an appropriate style of consultancy intervention
- Manage client expectation of the intervention
The Client Relationship
Understanding:
- The principles of consultation and negotiation in managing clients
- Methods of engaging your client
- What quantitative and qualitative information is essential to your role and responsibilities in working with clients
- The importance of professionalism, ethics and confidentiality in building and maintaining client relationships
How to:
- Establish credibility with your client
- Research your clients' needs effectively
Communication for Consultants
Understanding:
- The importance of effective communication
- The principles and processes of effective communication and their impact on productive working relationships with clients, team members, colleagues and managers
How to:
- Apply listening and questioning techniques to understand issues and problems
- Recognise different forms of verbal and non-verbal behaviour and their appropriate uses
- Plan and manage meetings effectively
Effective Project Delivery
Understanding:
- The importance of planning and managing a project and the impact of poor project planning and management on consultancy projects
- The components of a project plan
- The need for effective budgeting of time and resources
- The role and importance of quality assurance
- The management consultant's personal role in effective project delivery including upward management and client management techniques
How to:
- Apply personal time management techniques within the project context
- Establish an effective infrastructure to ensure project delivery
- Identify potential and actual risks to effective project completion
Structured Knowledge, Research and Analysis
Understanding:
- The importance of identifying the client issue, applying a structured approach and selecting appropriate analytical tools and techniques to meet this need
- The methods of identifying, validating, filtering and sourcing the knowledge and information needed to take decisions in different contexts
- The importance of confidentiality when dealing with sensitive information
- The resources you have available to you and the role of effective networks in research
How to:
- Identify the client need effectively
- Apply a range of simple, recognised data gathering, problem solving and analytical tools and techniques (such as SWOT, PESTLE, etc) to achieve agreed outcomes
- Draw conclusions on the basis of analysing information both quantitatively and qualitatively
