Question
This will be a group activity, but you must take an active part in both the analysis and the area under investigation and then produce a presentation to the CEO, the context of which is detailed below.
You are asked to prepare and deliver a presentation based on the following scenario, covering the specific requirements laid out below:
You are a Learning and Development professional with a LinkedIn account seeking to develop your portfolio as a consultant. Through the LinkedIn account you have been contacted by an organisation that provides L&D consultancy services globally and have been invited for an interview. You have been informed that during the interview your knowledge and experience of providing consultancy services will be explored. You have also been provided with a scenario that will be used to assess how you would work with a client before and during the provision of consultancy services. The scenario you have been provided with is:
‘An Access to Higher Education Validating Agency (AVA) has asked for a short training programme to prepare new external moderators for their role in moderation. There are 20 moderators in total, located in different parts of the country. The financial assumptions are:
- a consultancy day rate of £250
- standard travel costs by rail if incurred by consultant and moderators and/or 45p per mile by car
- an external moderator attendance fee of £50 per moderator
The sponsor is willing to entertain any mode of training within a resource envelope not in excess of £2,000.
The purpose of this case study/exercise is to start you thinking as internal consultants, and then to transfer at least some of the learning into real recommendations for your own organisation
Your presentation should cover the following:
- An explanation of the meaning of consultancy with reference to one model (1.1)
- A comparison of at least three different examples from the business world (1.2)
- An explanation of each stage of the consultancy process (1.3)
Solution
2.1 How you established with the client the nature of the problem/opportunity to be addressed and the required outcomes
Consultancy is the act of providing expert knowledge or information in a certain field to clients who need it for a given price. The primary step in consultancy is hence the development of a relationship between the consulting team and the consultancy group. The success of the consulting activity is premised on the effectiveness of the relationship formed. In building a Working relationship, the first step will involve the development of trust between the consulting group and I, the consultancy expert. To best understand the nature of the problem, or the opportunity that the client needs expert advice on, the consultant has got access to the intricate parts of the business (Bestzer, 2016). As such, the consultant must guarantee they are worthy to be trusted with the secrets of the business procedures by the client. It is imperative to realize that such relationships must undergo a transformation, in the cause of the consultancy process, and that conflicts must arise. Such conflicts, however, do not mark disagreements, but a process of change.
Once the establishment of trust between the client and the consultant is achieved, managing the relationship is the next phase. In this way, the client perceives the consultant as a business partner and hence trusts their advice not only on the major business decisions but also on other small decisions that push the business forward. This involves the construction of clear communication, which will breed mutual success. Consultancy involves the need to share ideas with the client, discuss different concepts and come to conclusions. Ergo, the existence of synergy and initiative from both parties is necessary, and the consultant holds the responsibility of ensuring such synergy exists by creating a platform on which communication is simplified and, encouraged (Mangusho, Murei, and Nelima, 2015). This will require consistency and continuousness in the engagement between the two parties. This is achieved through effective communication skills and a high degree of emotional intelligence in the consultant. Resultantly, the consultant is in a position to understand the nature of the problem in question or the opportunity in question. Moreover, the client is in a position to explain the necessary outcomes, the required outcomes, and the outcomes that are not certain. With the expert advice from the consultant, the client is therefore to explain their need, and the consultant is in a position to adopt the advice offered towards the achievement of the desired outcomes. Consultants are independent of the business, and hence are more capable of explaining external views and perspectives of the business to the client, and holding a mutual ground, respected, and productive relationships are hence paramount.
The establishment of the nature of the problem/opportunity to be addressed and the required outcome was therefore premised on building trust, a long-term and effective relationship, and a culture fit with the client. Collaborating with the client lets you realize what their fancy is, and hence one can align the consultancy process to this fancy; hence fitting within the business culture. For instance, the client believes in collaboration and teamwork, and hence I planned my consultancy to fit this protégé, and hence was in a better position to establish the nature of the problem/opportunity to be addressed and the required outcomes. The outcome includes the development of an effective knowledge management methodology that retains the knowledge in the company and improves it through learning and development.
2.2 An assessment of different potential solutions for meeting the required outcomes
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