Communication for Consultants

Catalog description

Communication for Consultants Professors Susan Stehlik and Aline Wolff MCOM-GB.3111 Consultants today are expected to be strategic in their communication innovative in their thinking and authentic in managing the client relationship. In this course students will work on real client engagements for both profit and non-profit companies. You will be expected to engage with clients by: Listening to their needs problems and/or issues Collaborating with their selected staff and possible consumers on existing or newly defined projects Brainstorming new approaches to their business or analyzing existing strategies that could be more effective Communicating your insights to appropriate decision-making executives in the firm. The course is delivered as if you were working for a consulting company. Being able to think innovatively is especially important to becoming a successful consultant. This semester we have added a systematic focus on using innovative thinking techniques for business including design thinking biomimicry business ethnography current neuroscience research findings rapid prototyping and more. These different techniques applied to your consulting engagements will provide you with a toolbox of techniques to help you succeed in the uber-competitive fast-changing and constantly challenging world of consulting. This course will include fieldwork managing communication touch points with the clients developing and testing innovative approaches to client needs and issues and delivering results and recommendations to the clients at the end of the process. In the past participants in the class have worked with clients from a broad range of organizations: a long-established toy manufacturer looking for a way to re-engineer the business a restaurant focused on understanding their customers a start-up venture trying to decide on a for profit or not-for-profit business a…