Operations Consulting

Selling the concept of implementation consulting to the CEO

More benefits - selling success stories and examples of implementation to the CEO

Winning over a skeptical CFO with examples of the benefits of implementation consulting

Conveying to the CFO the soft skills used by implementation consultants

Kicking off a sales meeting to a large team of senior managers

Taking the senior management team through a model - operational drivers of implementation consulting

How the consulting lifecycle is organized - framework description and how it uses best practices from waterfall and agile methodologies

Detailed descriptions of what takes place in each of the 4 stages of the consulting lifecycle

Setting up a scoping - internal consulting considerations and how to qualify a client

Conducting a scoping - structured interviews of key client members as well as other stakeholders

Goals and purpose of an analysis - to investigate areas of improvement

Examples of how studies or investigations are carried out at the client site to determine areas of improvement

Taking the senior team along the journey of the analysis findings - how were opportunities discovered?

Building up a financial business case for an implementation change project

Starting off correctly - creating an awareness of the multiple improvement opportunities within an organization

Creating an awareness of the multiple improvement opportunities within an organization - taking the audience through a story that connects with them emotionally

Designing a powerful management system that help organizational teams to communicate effectively with one another, make data-based decisions and improve their cycles of learning

Designing improved processes - using an example of production loss accounting

Summary of redesign efforts completed in the design stage; how new ways of working are experimented with and piloted in small areas prior to full blown organizational implementation

Communication as a critical success factor for change management - how to be transparent, positive, energizing and inspiring to the organization

Setting up appropriate project management structures to drive successful implementation - ensuring all the ingredients of successful change management are present

Training the workforce in new processes; customizing the training to improve the effectiveness of individual supervisors, managers and other staff. 

Probably the hardest part of implementation is coaching - here is where the true art of implementation consulting lies.

Summary of implementation - steps, objectives and measurement of behaviors; using a tool to audit effectiveness of implementation

Survey of other change management methodologies, tools and paradigms; short descriptions allowing students to review further detail per interest

Short survey of the field of organization development; introduces concepts of action research, interventions and change agents as behavioral scientists.

Summary of the 8 steps recommended by John Kotter in his book - the Heart of Change; reviews the necessary factors to ensure a successful change management program in an organization; step 1 - creating the sense of urgency is the most important and closely aligned with generating a critical awareness within people of the issues in an organization.

Summary of a seminal book called Process Consulting by Edgar Schein

Topics covered here form the basis and deep organizational research that implementation consulting is based on. The book is highly recommended and will help student think clearly about the fundamentals of implementation consulting

Summary of a practical book - Execution by Larry Bossidy and Ram Charan

Readers will appreciate the honesty and forthrightness of the authors in bringing execution to the forefront as an important business discipline. The authors talk about how people, strategy and operations are interdependent and how a leader can combine them shrewdly to bring about successful execution of organizational strategies.

Practical tips and tricks on how to conduct effective conversations during important business negotiations, when refuting objections and when coaching clients for behavioral change. Tools both for active listening and for persuasive argumentation.

Typical roles and job profiles at an implementation consulting firm; some detail regarding transitions from junior to mid-level to senior roles and times typically taken. Readers should appreciate the differences among sales, analysis and implementation roles

Common skills needed by all consultants - mix of basic business sense and psychology / behavioral science. Communication, active listening, good judgment are all part of the basic skillset. Readers should appreciate that these skills can be acquired and do not require extensive or elite education

Factors that consultants have to cope with because of the extreme nature of travel; how to ensure productivity is maintained and family life does not get affected. The rapid cycles of learning are the biggest benefits

Skills required by project and operations implementation managers - typically behavioral, coaching and project management skills. While they need certain hard skills, the balance tilts heavily towards soft skills.

Skills required by analysts or diagnosticians - typically a mix of investigative, financial and behavioral skills. Readers should appreciate the finer differences between skills required by implementation managers and those required by analysts

Skills required by Sales Executives - mix of psychology, financial and good judgment; However, most importantly, they need to be resilient to continual setbacks and patient in the face of poor conversions of client leads to analysis or diagnostic stages.

Summary of entire course from benefits to lifecycle of a consulting engagement to other change management methodologies and skills, careers and job roles. Next steps include digging deeper into the other change management techniques, reading the books summarized or reviewing webpages of typical implementation management firms.