Why Consulting
What's the difference between Consulting & Training?
Training and Consulting are both very valuable and very different. Both can work hand-in-hand to accomplish your goals.
Consultants take a big picture view (business and performance goals). They serve as a business partner in analyzing situations and providing advice, recommendations, and guidance. Consultants share accountability with your leaders to improve performance and achieve the defined goals.
Trainers share and/or teach specific skills/topics. They have specific learning objectives and bring content expertise to the table. Trainers are held accountable for the training event.
Training
Consulting
Specific skill or topic
Business / organization goals
Learning event
Analysis & recommendations
Event content & execution
Plan for achieving goals
Training needs
Current state analysis
Session evaluation & feedback
Ability to achieve goals (qualitative & quantitative)
Employee & leadership skill development
recommendation & specific next steps
What should I expect from a consultant?
CONFIDENTIALITY: A Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA) may be necessary to ensure information is shared openly.
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GOALS: A consultant will help you define your goals and outcomes. In this case, the goals will be specific to inclusive culture.
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ASSESSMENT: With your goals in mind, the consultant will conduct an assessment to understand your organization's current culture. This may include employee survey results, workforce demographics, recruiting and retention information, Board and leadership composition, policies and benefits and more.
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RESULTS / RECOMMENDATIONS: The consultant will provide actionable recommendations and next steps that support your goals. The results should be unbiased, programmatic and confidential. Recommendations should be from an integrated perspective verses standalone (one-off) activities.
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PLAN / EXECUTION: The consultant will produce comprehensive plans and progress evaluation templates to help determine effectiveness (with plan adjustments as needed). In addition, you may engage the consultant to help execute the plan with progress/status reports.
How do I select a consultant?
View the consultant as your business partner.
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Select a consultant that has real-world experience with your challenges and/or opportunities.
Are you looking for help with basic compliance or developing an inclusive culture or both?
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Are they a Certified Diversity Professional (CDP) or Certified Diversity Executive (CDE)?
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Do they have complex problem solving experience and skills?
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Do they have program and/or project management experience?
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Do they have the ability to effectively communicate at all levels of your organization (from Board members to frontline associates)?
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Do they walk the talk?
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These are just a few things to consider when selecting your consultant.
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