Workshop: Consulting and Organizational Development With Nonprofits
When a Consulting Project Fails ...
... it's rarely because the consultant was not enough of an
expert in a certain function, for example, in management, marketing, finances
or computers. Rather, it's because the consultant was not sufficiently skilled
in the consulting process.
Peter Block, in his seminal consulting book, Flaw Consulting,
writes, "There is a set of skills that is an essential part of consulting
over and above technical expertise and interpersonal skills -- these are consulting
skills (Jossey-Bass, 2000, p. 6).
This workshop, which includes follow-on coaching, develops consulting
skills.
What You'll Gain from This Workshop
"WOW! I am very fortunate to have had the opportunity
twice now to participate in your amazing consultant trainings. I have gained
so much from the trainings and shared knowledge in the room .... We are all
better prepared to move the project forward and have excellent perspectives
that will guide us in our next steps."
-- Amy Cole Buehler, MA, Project Director, Consultant Services, Nonprofit
Services Center
As a result of participating in this workshop and the six monthly coaching
groups, you will be able to:
- See the "big picture" of a nonprofit organization in order to
clearly understand its major functions and processes and how those are integrated.
This is a critical skill when working with nonprofit clients to improve their
organizations.
- Understand each of the phases in a successful consulting process and how
to work with the client to progress through each phase.
- Understand the "hard" and "soft" skills required for
effective consulting.
- Customize the consulting process to suit the unique nature and needs of
the client.
- Detect and address each of the most common types of problems that occur
in nonprofit organizations and each of its major functions and processes.
- Maintain a highly collaborative, working relationship between the consultant
and client, whether working to improve the overall organization or one of
its major functions.
- Ensure the consulting project is always focused on the most important priorities
for the client.
- Evaluate the project to ensure high-quality during and near the end of the
project.
Also, Certificate of Completion
- Participants who complete the workshop and the six following coaching groups
receive a certificate of completion that indicates to potential clients that
you have been trained in the critically important consulting process -- a
training that many other consultants don't have.
Here's Who Will Benefit
"My expectations were exceeded! It brought new resources
to my team, my learning deepened, and I am motivated to act!"
-- Timothy Fowler, Program Director, Missouri AfterSchool Network.
- External consultants and internal consultants.who want to learn how to work
with others to identify and solve problems or achieve major goals in the nonprofit
organization.
- Staff of consulting companies that provide guidance and support to clients
to improve their nonprofit organizations.
- Training centers that want to train their people how to effectively consult
to nonprofit organizations.
- Nonprofit organizations that want to hire the most effective consultants
and ensure those consultants continue to meet the needs of the organization.
- Leaders, managers, supervisors and employees who require skills in detecting
the real causes of issues in their nonprofit organizations and how to address
each of those causes.
- Program officers from foundations who want to fully understand principles
and practices of effective capacity building.
- Retirees who want to ground and integrate their expertise into an overall
effective consulting process.
Features of This Workshop
"All involved in the three-day Mentor Orientation
[consulting training] have expressed how well the program was developed and
executed. The Capacity Building Toolkit and the Consulting Guide Book developed
by you are very user-friendly and provide a wealth of useful self-help materials,
which I believe will prove to become invaluable for both the 20 not-for-profit
participating organizations and their mentors."
-- Elke Lange, Not-For-Profit Sector Mentorship Program Co-ordinator, Kelowna,
British Columbia
- Focused on the most important
activities to accomplish successful consulting.
- Instruction from national experts
on nonprofit consulting.
- Comprehensive, well-organized
and substantive training materials.
- Six-month, follow-on support
and feedback in a confidential co-consulting group with other
participants to share support and accountabilities to continue
to improve nonprofit consulting skills.
- As much as possible, we customize the workshop to suit the nature and needs
of the attendees.
Extensive Range of Materials Provided to Attendees
Each attendee receives a complete, step-by-step,
nonprofit capacity building kit and consulting guide, including:
Here's What We'll Cover About the Consulting Process
Foundations for Effective
Consulting to Nonprofits
- Roles, goals and types of consultants
for nonprofits
- Maintaining collaborative, working
relationships with clients
- Ensuring complete professionalism
in consultants
- Critical intra-personal and
interpersonal skills for consultants
- Core administrative skills for
consultants
- Understanding unique nature
and needs of nonprofit organizations
- Common challenges when consulting
to nonprofits
Contracting Phase of Consulting
- Purpose and goals of this phase
- How to arrange a successful
contract meeting with client
- Understanding client's "presenting"
problem (symptoms)
- Explaining to client how you
work and your style
- Scoping project, including goals,
roles, start and stop time, etc.
- Assessing client readiness for
a consulting project
- Consultant and client deciding
whether to proceed with project
- Getting right materials to learn
about client's organization
Discovery Phase of Consulting
- Purpose and goals of this phase
- Problem solving philosophies
- Discovery process and role of
assessments in nonprofits
- Customizing assessments to suit
nature and needs of nonprofit client
- Conducting realistic and relevant
assessments
- Quick and focused analysis of
assessments results
- Comparing results to nonprofit
"best practices"
- Identifying most critical issues
for client to address in their nonprofit
- Generating most useful recommendations
for client
- Providing useful and understandable
feedback to client
- Effectively address client resistance
to feedback
- Getting client buy-in and engagement
in action plans and implementation
Action Planning Phase of Consulting
- Purpose and goals of this phase
- Understanding how to achieve
successful organizational change in nonprofits
- Guiding client to identify most
relevant, realistic and flexible action plans to address most
critical issues
- Knowing when to seek additional
help
Implementation Phase of Consulting
- Purpose and goals of this phase
- Guidelines to ensure successful
implementation of action plans in nonprofits
- Common barriers to implementation
in nonprofits
- What to do when project seems
stuck
- How to coach nonprofit clients
for ongoing accountability, support, actions and learning during
implementation
- How to detect if more expertise
is needed and how to work with other consultants
Adoption Phase of Consulting
- Purpose and goals of this phase
- How to detect if adoption has
occurred
- Most common barriers to project
adoption in nonprofits
- What to do if there' s a lull
in project
- How to accomplish a successful
project "hand-off" to client
Evaluation Phase of Consulting
- Purpose and goals of this phase
- How to ensure continuous improvement
toward project results in nonprofit
- How to identify and capture
most important learning for consultant and client
- Key evaluations to consider
at end of a consulting project in a nonprofit
Separation Phase of Consulting
- Purpose and goals of this phase
- Typical reasons that projects
terminate in nonprofits
- Critical role of project celebration
- Possible next steps for consultant
and client
- How to carry out suitable and
seamless separation between consultant and client
Common Problems in Nonprofits and How To Resolve Each Problem
Including description of best
practices, common problems, guidelines for effective Board oversight,
and useful action plans to address problems in:
- Boards of Directors *
- Strategic Planning *
- Human Resource Management *
- Marketing (Inbound and Outbound)
*
- Financial Management
- Fundraising
- Evaluations *
- Founder's Syndrome *
* Participants' guidebooks also
include complete, step-by-step guidelines and materials to understand
and carry out each of these major functions in nonprofits --
in addition to detecting and addressing issues in all of the
above-listed areas. See the above section, "Materials Provided
to Attendees".
We Customize This Workshop For You and Your Organization
Contact us to tell us about whom
you wish to train, when and where.
We'll work with you to accommodate your budget and schedule and to customize
the workshop according to your needs.
Contact Authenticity Consulting, LLC, by calling 1-800-971-2250 or e-mailing
us.
Contact Us
About the Consultants Development Institute(sm)
This workshop is an initiative of Authenticity Consulting, LLC, to develop
more consultants who are more effective in guiding their clients to successfully
solve problems and achieve goals in their organizations.
While there are many books and resources about the business of starting and
marketing a consulting business, there are few readily accessible resources
for learning how to work with clients to solve problems or achieve goals in
a project -- and for helping clients to solve those problems for themselves
in the future. Usually, resources that do exist are packaged into expensive
training programs (for example, as degrees in Organization Development) offered
by educational institutions and training centers.
The Institute aims to make resources about consulting more practical and readily
accessible to those who are considering the field of consulting and those who
have very limited resources from which to develop their skills.
Our Additional Resources About Consulting and Organizational Development
Consultants
-- Getting Consultants, Doing Consulting
Organizational
Change and Development
Field of Organization
Development