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Level 3 Diploma in Business Consultancy

Course Synopsis

This Ascentis Quality Assured Level 3 Diploma course is aimed at providing a foundation in business consulting skills. It will contain 10 carefully selected and created modules to cover all aspects of Business Consultancy from Stakeholder Management to making Client Presentations. The widely recognised accreditation of this course will look great on a CV and be particularly appealing to prospective employers.

The Level 3 Diploma will particularly appeal to those who wish to enter the profession of Management Consulting. This may be pursuing a career in an international consulting firm that offers business advisory services to clients or by taking up an internal consulting position within a business organization. The course equally provides a foundation for those looking at postgraduate studies in Management or Management Consulting or those seeking to study the subject at higher or further education.

Recent years has witnessed some re-alignment of the profession. In the United Kingdom the Institute of Management Consultants has allied itself with the Chartered Management Institute. On the international stage the CMC qualification is rapidly gaining status as the definitive qualification for recognizing practicing management consultants who abide by a professional code of ethics, are properly qualified and subscribe to a practice of Continuing Professional Development. The need for expert guidance has seen an increasing number of publications and job opportunities in this area.

This course together with its accreditation from NCFE and the Institute of Management Specialists promises to be an exciting and highly desirable qualification for all students.

What is Management Consulting?

Management consulting (sometimes also called strategy consulting) refers to both the practice of helping companies to improve performance through analysis of existing business problems and development of future plans, as well as to the firms that specialize in this sort of consulting. Management consulting may involve the identification and cross-fertilization of best practices analytical techniques, change management and coaching skills, technology implementations, strategy development or even the simple advantage of an outsider's perspective.

Management consultants generally bring formal frameworks or methodologies to identify problems or suggest more effective or efficient ways of performing business tasks. There is a relatively unclear line between management consulting and other consulting practices, such as Information Technology (IT) Consulting

Why study Management Consulting?

Students will expect to derive the following benefits from the diploma course:

• Understand different business consultancy models and why organizations emphasize leadership, change management and business strategy
• Learn to determine the usefulness of management reporting, evaluate financial statements and receive tools to analyze and explain what these activities mean to upper management
• Develop skills to deal with Executives in terms of both relationship building and maintaining effective client relationships. Embraces concepts of effective report writing
• Gain an appreciation of the tools and techniques that Consultants use as part of their " toolbox" on client engagements
• How to properly manage and structure client assignments, manage project teams and report progress to Executive level clients
• Discover ways to improve organizational communications while utilizing and developing human resources, group effectiveness and employee satisfaction
• Develop effective consulting skills and learn how to interact with Executives
• How to collect and disseminate information, carry out research and differentiate between different data sets and information gathered
• Learn how to make effective presentations to people and develop your confidence in public speaking and addressing executives at board meetings
• A greater awareness of the international dimensions of business and how you will be expected to fulfil your role in the new global village. The art of communication & rational persuasion
• An understanding of what drives organizational change, the implications for individuals and how aspects of change should be managed.

Course Content

The course is made up of the ten following modules:

Module 1 - Introduction to Business Consulting

The first module will focus upon the development of business advisory or consulting skills. It will examine how the Administration function interfaces with external consultants and business service providers. It seeks to ramp up the business knowledge of consulting skills and provide an improved understanding of the importance of these skills, together with the service they provide. Consultants are normally used in the capacity of "Corporate Problem Solvers", provision of specialist services e.g. Strategy studies, business process reviews, HR consulting etc. and as a valuable aid to busy executives in the form of interim management services of a specialist nature.

Students will gain an appreciation of:

• The business of consultancy
• Conducting consultancy projects
• Creating change
• Effective report writing
• Data collection and analysis
• Rational persuasion
• Making client presentations
• Training Sessions and Workshops

The course will also explore the international dimensions of Management Consulting, with particular emphasis on the work carried out by ICMCI the International Council of Management Consulting Institutes and how this regulates the profession for CMC members on a world-wide basis.

Management Consultants are expected to obtain a higher perspective of the business and thereby add value to the Corporate decision making process. They are often subject matter experts and contain a diversified range of business experience. The question of raising your head above the parapet also involves risk and this has to be managed in accordance with the benefits that are to be derived.

Module 2 - The business of Consultancy and Advisory services

This part of the course will focus upon the consulting process. How the profession of consultancy is changing within the context of the new global economy. The reasons that consultants are employed and the type of engagements that they will be expected to perform. Added focus will be on the roles of the professional bodies providing governance to the Consultancy profession and how they are evolving and changing within the context of globalization.

The course will examine the major attributes required by the professional Management Consultant and includes:

• Code of Conduct
• Consulting descriptions
• Types of engagements
• Professionalism - meaning of trust
• Professional membership
• International Consulting roles
• Consulting assignments
• Evolution of consultancy
• Impact of the information age

The course will look at sample work settings and provide suitable illustrations from the following business settings:

• Manufacturing and Industrial Organizations
• Banks and Financial Institutes
• Government and Public sector Organizations
• Education Sector
• Professional firms
• Medical Sector

Module 3 - Effective Stakeholder Management

This course will be focused on how to build key client business relationships, maintaining confidence and trust of clients, delivering quality services, managing client expectations and achieving value-added contribution raising client satisfaction indicators.

Objectives for stakeholder management

• Building the client / consultant relationship
• Understanding the client
• Building trust and confidence
• Phases of the relationship
• Use of intervention
• Understanding problems
• The meaning and importance of quality
• Value-added contributions
• Maintaining the business relationship

The course will contain a number of additional learning modules made up as follows:

• Understanding client entry phase
• Purpose of the entry phase
• Stages of the entry phase
• Brief and scope of assignments
• Planning the project
• Putting together a proposal
• Presenting a proposal
• Gaining consent

The student will gain an appreciation of dynamics, how little cogs can drive big cogs. Leveraging ideas from colleagues and utilizing best practice guidelines provided by the profession

Module 4 - Key Consultancy Skills

This section is all about techniques and skills that the qualified Management Consultant will employ on business engagements. The creation of business networks, leveraging on the strength of the IMC profession, developing respected professional consulting skills

• Different approaches to consulting engagements
• Use of proprietary methods
• Building your own toolbox
• The value of effective research
• No substitute for training in acquisition of skills
• Examination of key techniques and skills required

Students will gain an appreciation of:

• Conducting interviews
• Conducting Client meetings
• Presentations to Executives
• Problem Solving
• Decision Making
• Report Writing
• Preparing Summary Reports
• Types of research - conducting research
• The meaning of truth - honesty in reporting
• Instilling confidence
• Effective listening skills
• How to add value

Module 5 - Managing Project Assignments

Project Management is best defined as Planning, Organization and Control in a structured and managed environment. This unit focuses on managing third party and sub contract relationships, managing consultancy staff, record keeping, client progress reporting, seeking closure, maintaining client relationships

On successful completion of this course the student should gain an appreciation of:

• The fundamentals of Project Management
• An overview of the planning process
• Understanding sub contractor relationships
• Dealing with third party relationships
• Managing client engagement teams
• Project Controls - setting up a project
• How to manage risks
• How to establish change control procedures
• Configuration Management
• Aspects of due diligence
• Resource Management

Module 6 - Planning Consultancy Assignments

This course will focus upon the Planning consultancy engagements, methods of costing assignments, how to manage the engagement. A logical extension of the previous unit but directly focused on the business planning of consultancy engagements

Students will gain an appreciation of:

• Project Planning techniques
• Use of Excel
• Use of Microsoft Project
• Estimating
• Managing resources
• Importance of critical path analysis
• Fixed duration contracts
• Incremental delivery
• Mitigating client risk

Module 7 - Data Collection and Analysis

Techniques for collection and assessment of information / data. How data is to be interpreted, sifting facts from opinion, creating objective and reliable information. The course will cover the following components:

• Types of information and data
• Determination of what data to collect
• How to determine the data capture method
• Analysis of data
• Presentation of data
• Dissemination of data
• Sourcing data
• Researching data
• Importance of Evidence
• Data Integrity

The student will gain an appreciation of the complexity of information and data. How to deal with large volumes of data and information and filter this into a set of precise requirements in order to meet management objectives. The techniques for dissemination of information and providing reliable sources of information with data integrity. The techniques for presenting information including use of tables, statistics, graphs and business models

Module 8 - Effective Report Writing Skills

Writing effective management reports, techniques for board room presentations. The course will cover the following components:

• Is a report really needed?
• When to write reports
• Types of Reports
• Executive Summaries
• Quality in reports
• Presentation of information
• Use of diagrams and illustrations
• Writing the report
• Delivering the report
• Concept of hard and soft copies

The student will gain an understanding and appreciation of writing consultancy style management reports. How to gain Executive "buy in" and management inclusion in the submission of final assignment reports. Particularly exploring aspects of quality and presentation

Module 9 - Making Client Presentations

The art of making efficient client presentations, use of software, technique of delivery, different types of presentations and techniques to use. The course will cover the following components:

• Constraints on presentations
• Preparing for presentations
• Environment
• Media for presentations
• Effective speaking
• Audience participation
• Judging the mood
• Delivering the presentation
• Learning from mistakes
• Dressing for the occasion

The student will gain an appreciation of how to prepare for and conduct business presentations. A look at the consultancy techniques that make this means of visual /oral communication so powerful.

Module 10 - Rational Persuasion

The technique of gaining support for your arguments and winning through on business recommendations. The course will cover the following components:

• The anatomy of rational persuasion
• Preparing for persuasion
• Techniques of persuasion
• Conducting a meeting
• Listening skills
• Balanced arguments
• Inspiring confidence
• Planning an outcome

The student will expect to gain an understanding and appreciation of how people will react in varying situations. How consultants have to explain decisions to clients, the rationale behind judgements and business recommendations. How to persuade a client to take a specific course of action in order to achieve a desired result.

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