Consulting Skills for Data and IT Professionals

Most people working in IT are effectively consultants –providing services to internal or external clients. And most have learned that there is more to effective consulting than having the right answer or delivering a technically sound product.

The success of consulting assignments just as often rests on the “soft skills” of the consultant: understanding the client, setting and managing expectations, negotiating, dealing with politics and difficult people.  Yet most IT professionals give far less attention to these consulting skills than they give to their technical expertise. This workshop fills that critical gap.

Graeme Simsion has delivered versions of this course in-house and publicly, in Australia and overseas, and to DAMA chapters across North America. It has been rated “best presentation” at four DAMA International conferences. 

The course draws on Graeme’s extensive experience as a consultant and consulting manager and packs a wealth of practical advice, frameworks and tips into an interactive one-day program. The emphasis throughout is on practical techniques to deal with the issues that real consultants face in their day-to-day work. Expect to leave this workshop with ideas and techniques that you will use throughout your professional life.

Topics covered include:

1.    The importance of consulting skills
2.    The psychology of consulting- and giving  advice
3.    Personal presentation – understanding and managing perceptions
4.    An introduction to negotiation
5.    Winning work – supporting the internal and external ‘sales’ process
6.    Assignment initiation – establishing expectations
7.    Different roles of the consultant
8.    The role of the relationship / account manager
9.    Identifying and managing stakeholders
10.  Putting your support network in place
11.  Managing client expectations
12. Habits to keep you on track
13.  Approach to problems
14.  Dealing with difficult people (emphasis on dynamics rather than personalities)
15.  Understanding managers
16.  Deliverables and reports
17.  Follow-up

Speaker Biography

Graeme Simsion has over twenty-five years experience as a consultant and CEO of a successful consultancy. After working as an internal consultant, managing a technical team, he founded Simsion Bowles and Associates in 1982. He built the consultancy to some seventy staff in three capital cities, selling to a US company in 1999, and then working as a business unit manager within that company for a further two years.

Since 2001, he has focused on using his experience to help consultancies and consulting teams to perform better. His one-day consulting skills workshop has been voted “best presentation” at multiple major conferences in the UK and the US and has been adopted for internal training by several leading Australian consultancies.

Graeme’s qualifications include an MBA and a PhD in information systems. He also holds a number of academic and industry appointments.

Target Audience

The course will benefit:

IT Consultants, Business Analysts, Data specialists, IT Managers/Directors, Technical Specialists, Technical Team Leaders, User Liaison Managers, Project Managers, Client Relationship Managers, Consulting Managers, CTOs and Business Managers

Costs

The costs are listed above. The prices do not included GST as DAMA does not collect GST.

Schedule and Catering

The one day course runs on 30 September. Registration is from 8:30am with tea and coffee available on arrival. The course runs from 9:00am to 5:00pm. There will be breaks for morning and afternoon tea as well as lunch. All meal costs are included in the course fee.

Venue

The venue is the Hyatt Hotel, Commonwealth Avenue, Yarralumla

DAMA Membership included

Non DAMA members will receive 12 month membership in DAMA for no charge. This membership usually costs $100.

How to pay

Click the bright orange 'Order Now' button higher up on this page.

 How to pay
Click the bright orange 'Order Now' button higher up on this page. On the next page you can pay by credit card using PayPal. We recognise that some organisations do not allow credit cards to be used on PayPal. If you are in this situation then scroll down to the bottom of the page and you will see 'Other Payment Options'. Click on the word 'Show' (it is orange). You will then be guided on how to pay by cheque or electronic fund transfer. You also have the option to receive an invoice.