Communication
Without superior oral communication skills, no consulting team can be successful. Oral communication is both informal and formal. Informal communication requires several skills; however, active listening is the most critical. Active listening forces the communicators to hear more than just the spoken words. It is a tool
and technique that acknowledges and validates the spoken information. We use active listening everyday as consultants. We use the same listening skills whether we are talking to Silicon Valley engineers or advising our overseas clients. In all cases, informal communication builds relationships through increased trust and respect. Healthy relationships facilitate data collection. Both active listening and relationship-building alwasys play important roles during the information collection stage of a consulting engagements. Without clear and accurate data, any process development or enhancement activity is doomed in the conceptual stage; for no program, regardless of talent and sophistication, can replace the discovery, learning and conceptualization prerequisite.
Group communication, on the other hand, presents different challenges. The
communicator is presenting information for a particular purpose. There is a distinct message and there is a particular target audience for that message. All presentations require careful preparation; superior presentations require superior preparation. Our staff is comfortable among many different audiences; we have spoken with academic audiences, technical audiences and government audiences. Our audience has included government ministers, corporate executives and educational leaders. In each case, preparation proved decisive in message transference.
Documentation
Of all our consulting strengths, our mastery of the English language supercedes all. Our team believes that superior written communication is the key competency of an educated person. Our staff has authored and co-authored several scientific publications that were published in refereed, academic journals. As technical writers, we have enhanced our writing skills by learning how to communicate technical activities to non-technical people. Our technical writing portfolio includes product designs, concept documents, functional requirements, architectural designs and software documents. In the business world, these same technical skills were transferred into proposals, RFIs, and RFPs for vendors and contractors. We even have the ability to translate our work into fluent Spanish. In short, written
communication is a key competency within the organization.
Obtain Information
Communication and relationship-building are the two key prerequisites for data, information and knowledge collection. Strong relationships build trust among individuals and groups. A foundation of healthy relationships facilitates
accurate and comprehensive information exchange. These consultant skills are
continually renewed during each consultancy engagement. Understanding leads to accurate problem-definition.
Define Problems
Problem definition is both a skill and an art. Many times an apparently
obvious problem is merely a symptom of a larger, hidden disease. Problem definition requires the deep insight that is only acquired by the continual probing of facts. The key here is to repeatedly question the perceived facts to ensure that they are being evaluated within the correct analytical context. Only by evaluating the facts within multiple contexts can the often hidden root causes be discerned.
Evaluate and Make Conclusions
Evaluating business processes and offering recommendations are a regular part of our daily consulting activities. We have evaluated high-level business processes as well as tactical and operational ones. Successful diagnosis and remedy require accurate and trustworthy input data. With the right inputs, creative synthesis can be achieved through the application of logic and insight.