Consulting
on the Inside:
Consulting on the Inside™ is a just-in-time learning opportunity for internal consultants. Internal consultants will learn the tools they need to create a successful internal consulting practice, benefiting and adding value to your organization.
Program Description
Professionals from many different disciplines now serve as internal consultants to leaders, managers, and teams in their organizations. Their role is to help clients to achieve a specific outcome, desired by that client or the organization. The process of consulting always involves facilitating change; technical, organizational, or behavioral. An internal consultant’s ability to influence strategy, tactics, decisions and behavior is based both on expertise and relationships. Consulting on the inside requires walking a fine line between being an insider with knowledge of the culture and the business and an outsider with a more objective view and broad knowledge.
In this workshop, based on the book, Consulting on the Inside: A Practical Guide for Internal Consultants by Beverly Scott and B. Kim Barnes (ASTD Press, 2011), participants will develop a greater understanding of their role, the consulting process, and how to use specific skills and tools to create an effective and successful internal consulting practice.
Program Objectives
Participants in this course will be able to:
- Identify consulting roles that are the best fit for them and their organization
- Gain and apply practical knowledge, approaches, and tools for building and developing their internal consulting practice
- Apply the Consulting Process Model to their own organizational consulting initiatives
- Practice key behavioral skills that contribute to consulting success
- Assess their level of consulting mastery and establish clear development goals.
Who Should Participate?
- Anyone with an internal consulting role and/or responsibilities in fields such as Human Resources, Finance, Strategy, Change Management, Internal Auditing, Information Technology, Organization Development, Human Factors, or Training and Development.
Satisfied clients have said:
“We are using Consulting on the Inside as a foundational program for our HR professionals, and it has been very well received by all. The program effectively covers the entire process of consulting and has sharpened our internal consulting skills dramatically.”
— Senior Vice President of Human Resources, Global Aerospace and Energy Control Corporation
“...our members felt like they learned a lot of useful information.”
—Director, HR Association
What is a consultant? If you are charged with creating some kind of change or improvement in your organization without the direct authority to carry it out, you are a consultant.
The most successful internal consultants have a mindset that enables them to learn, influence, and operate effectively in complex organizations.
The process for internal consultants is especially organic and often messy; it is directional without being linear. This process is iterative, frequently looping back to earlier phases before moving forward again.
Each phase of the Internal Consulting Process requires the internal consultant to use his or her communication and influence skills. Shown here is the model of expressive and receptive tactics that consultants will learn.
Several phases of the consulting process require an agreement to be reached. Constructive negotiation provides a means to reach this agreement.
Consultants are given the opportunity to assess their competencies as well as their self-management skill
