This is a summary of the online course Consulting Methods at the University of Amsterdam (Semester 1 - period 1). The summary includes all the required lectures and chapters and even the tutorial information. You will definitely have everything that is needed for the exam! It is easy to go through ...
Summary of the book: Flawless Consulting - Peter Block
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Universiteit van Amsterdam (UvA)
Business Administration
Consulting Methods (6013B0526Y)
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Consulting Methods
Week 1:
- Lecture 1: Introduction to the course
- Chapter 1: Consultant by any other name
- Chapter 2: Techniques are not enough
- Chapter 3: Flawless consulting
Week 2:
- Lecture 2: Client for life
- Chapter 4: Contracting overview
- Chapter 5: The contracting meeting
- Chapter 6: The agonies of contracting
- Tutorial 2
Week 3:
- Lecture 3: Shaping the future of consulting
- Chapter 12: Discovering gifts, capacities, and possibilities
- Chapter 13: Get the picture
- Tutorial 3
Week 4:
- Chapter 7: The internal consultant
- Chapter 8: Understanding resistance
- Chapter 9: Dealing with resistance
Week 5:
- Lecture 5: Presenting skills
- Chapter 14: Preparing for feedback
- Chapter 15: Managing the meeting for action
- Tutorial 5
Week 6:
- Lecture 6: High performing teams
- Chapter 16: Implementation
- Chapter 17: The elements of engagement
Week 7:
- Lecture 7: Managing a BIG 4 firm
- Chapter 10: From diagnosis to discovery
,Week 1
Lecture 1
Introduction
- Only this lecture is about the books, the other lectures are not. They will bring the
book to live.
- ‘If you want to become a billionaire, help a billion people’; means that consultancy
should really be about helping the society
- The client part is really important:
- Without a client, there is no consulting
1 Definitions
What does consultant mean?
Make sure that you really add value. This could be expertise, structure, provide a
benchmark, bring new insights etc.
Consultant: every time you give advice to someone who is in the position to make a choice,
you are consulting.
For each of these moments of consultation, there are three kinds of skills you need to do the
job:
1. Technical skills: the foundation is some expertise
2. Interpersonal skills: to give ideas, to listen, to give support, to maintain a
relationship (techniques are not enough)
3. Consulting skills: preview..
Techniques are not enough:
- You need to go beyond content: not only skills in providing a program, a process that
responds to client’s needs. Also being able to put into words the issues around trust,
feelings, responsibility and your own needs
- The consultant’s assumptions
- Valid data and.. what’s happening in the world?
- Decision making requires free and open choice
- Effective implementation requires internal commitment
- The consultant’s goals: process-content-relationship
- Client commitment: goes step by step
- Roles consultants choose: expert, pair-of-hand, collaborative, facilitator
- Six lookings: tool for how a project leader to deal as a facilitator
- As a facilitator, you focus on the process:
- You need to look up: don’t forget your client
- You need to look outside: don’t forget all the other stakeholders
- You need to look back: did we do well, are we on track?
- You need to look forward: what is the plan for next week? Are we
going to deliver our promise? What are the milestones?
- You need to look down: reflect on your team
- You need to look inwards: reflect on yourself and ask feedback
,Reasons why we are wrong about the world:
- The GAP instinct: the mega misconception that the world is divided in two
- Don’t divide the world in two, it’s not that anymore
- The negativity instinct; find a lot in the press and media, we tend to be negative, but
is not always
- The straight-line instinct: it sometimes is exponential growth
- The generalization instinct
- Etc.
- Fact based consulting (chapter 13)
Consulting skills preview (5 phases of consulting)
1. Entry and contracting: expectations
2. Discovery and dialogue: defining the problem and resistant
3. Analysis and decision to act: goals and planning
4. Engagement and implementation: workshops and running meetings
5. Extension, recycle or termination: learning and ending of the relationship
Entry and contracting
Context:
- What is happening in the world?
- Sector knowledge (oil & gas, consumer goods, financial services, corporates, family
owned, ..)
- What does the organization look like?
- Facts and figures
- Who are you? What values do you believe in? What does that mean?
Contract: checklist
- The boundaries of your analysis
- Objectives of the project
- The kind of information you seek
- Your role in the project: expert, facilitator, time keeper
- The product you will deliver: report, movie, presentation
- What support and involvement you need from the client: client is a team member
- Time schedule: time, budget, quality
- Confidentiality: NDA, terms of condition
- Feedback and evaluation
Discover and dialogue
- Defining the problem
- PSTB
1. Problem statement is simple: how do I..?
2. Idea generation is a rapid brainstorming activity
3. Idea selection: client selects
4. Benefits and concerns
5. Critical concerns eliminate an idea (back to 1)
6. Action planning take ownership
, - Resistance
- Faces of resistance:
- Give me more details
- Flooding you with details
- Silence (i’m here because my boss asked me to be here
- Compliance
- Etc
- Consulting with a stone:
- Don’t look for approval, emotional support
- Don't expect the responsibility to be shared 50/50 etc
Running a meeting, workshop or event
Who’s in the team?
- Facilitator (process)
- Experts, pair of hands (content)
- Client (final decisions
Stick to your role and trust the process
Internal consultant: you are in the company and get questions everyday
External consultant: it might be very uncertain, because you have a temporary job
You don’t need to be in a consultancy firm to become a consultant
Feedback:
Do’s: language that is descriptive, focused, specific, brief, simple
Don’t: language that is judgmental, global, stereotyped, lengthy, complicated
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