Course Outcomes

The course for internal consultants will:

  • Suggest a framework for identifying issues, crafting data-supported solutions, and evaluating those ideas.
  • Provide suggestions and tools for managing stakeholders and facilitating change.
  • Offer guidance for creating and delivering succinct presentations.

Program Overview

A strong internal consulting group can help every aspect of a business improve. From finding efficiencies and eliminating waste to creating new products and methodologies, people on the inside intimately know their organizations and are in a unique position to drive improvement. This three-part program addresses the core areas every internal consultant should know how to navigate: the project finding and problem-solving process, stakeholder management and communication, and presentation skills.

Segment One Objectives

At this segment’s conclusion, participants should be able to:

  • Explain the role of an internal consultant, the skillset needed, and the challenges often encountered.
  • Determine their level of involvement: describe, prescribe, or implement.
  • Describe the current source of their work and future workstreams.
  • Articulate goals and objectives.
  • Identify assumptions, knowns, and unknowns.
  • Differentiate symptoms and root causes.
  • Determine if the results from a solution would be significant and worth pursuing.
  • Craft a focused problem statement.
  • Build and issue tree.
  • Explain the MECE principle.
  • Identify solutions and the data to support the validity and feasibility of those answers.
  • Craft a data-backed hypothesis: “If we do X, we should achieve Y because.”
  • Evaluate, select, prioritize, or eliminate solutions.
  • Define success and any measurements associated with it.

Segment One Modules

  • Starting with a Solid Foundation: Defining the Role, the Responsibilities, and Workstreams
  • Plotting the Course: Articulating Goals, Objectives, and Assumptions
  • Separating Symptoms and Root Causes: Confirming Problems
  • A Flexible Set of Tools: Trees and More
  • Moving from Statement to Solutions: Finding Options
  • Assessing and Selecting: Choosing a Path

Segment Two Objectives

At this segment’s conclusion, participants should be able to:

  • Identify a project’s stakeholders.
  • Determine roles and assemble a team.
  • Identify and mitigate any influence or talent gaps.
  • Communicate purpose, expectations, boundaries, and other essential information.
  • Assess a stakeholder’s influence and buy-in and plan accordingly.
  • Use questions to guide thinking.
  • Explain unbiased questioning and neutrality’s role in assessment.
  • Choose a communication strategy.
  • Select an appropriate level and frequency of communication.
  • Socialize ideas and solutions.
  • Troubleshoot common problems and challenges.

Segment Two Modules

  • Determining the Cast: Identifying Stakeholders and Team Roles
  • Starting Out on the Right Foot: Communicating Purpose and More
  • Managing People: Understanding Influence and Attitude
  • Using Questions: Guiding Thinking to Staying Neutral
  • Following a Plan: Getting Communication Strategy Right

Segment Three Objectives

At this segment’s conclusion, participants should be able to:

  • Identify a presentation’s purpose and goal.
  • Segment an audience and decide what is important to each group.
  • Determine an appropriate level of information.
  • Decide on a framework and identify content pillars.
  • Make design decisions based on how an audience consumes a deck: standalone versus support to speaker.
  • Use headings to help an audience skim.
  • Write a headline that communicates the main message of a slide or chart.
  • Work through a checklist to eliminate common distractions.
  • Anticipate questions and prepare appendix materials.
  • Use a “this slide is about…, and it’s important because….” framework.
  • Clear complicated slides and charts.
  • Increase efficiency with templates and story frameworks.

Segment Three Modules

  • Articulating the Goal and Purpose: Finding Why
  • Forming the Narrative: Crafting the Story
  • Communicating Quickly: Using Headlines and Other Time Savers
  • Eliminating Distractions: Cleaning Up Charts, Graphics, and Text
  • Delivering Succinctly: Maintaining Focus
  • Refining and Repeating: Creating Templates and Frameworks

By the conclusion of this three-part course, participants should be able to explain what internal consultants do, navigate an engagement framework, manage relationships, and succinctly present information.