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:

1. 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.
2. Understand each of the phases in a successful consulting process and how to work with the client to progress through each phase.
3. Understand the "hard" and "soft" skills required for effective consulting.
4. Customize the consulting process to suit the unique nature and needs of the client.
5. Detect and address each of the most common types of problems that occur in nonprofit organizations and each of its major functions and processes.
6. Maintain a highly collaborative, working relationship between the consultant and client, whether working to improve the overall organization or one of its major functions.
7. Ensure the consulting project is always focused on the most important priorities for the client.
8. 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

1. Focused on the most important activities to accomplish successful consulting.
2. Instruction from national experts on nonprofit consulting.
3. Comprehensive, well-organized and substantive training materials.
4. 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.
5. 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:

Field Guide to Consulting and Organizational Development With Nonprofits

Field Guide to Developing, Operating and Restoring Your Nonprofit Board

Field Guide to Nonprofit Strategic Planning and Facilitation

Field Guide to Leadership and Supervision for Nonprofit Staff

Field Guide to Nonprofit Program Design, Marketing and Evaluation

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