So I often think, what abilities should I have to be an excellent consultant?
In addition to professional training, I also read some books and listened to some lectures on the new elite platform. I know that to be an excellent consultant, you need to have at least the following three abilities:
First of all, we need to understand and master various theories in the field of occupation and their origins. The concept of career planning originated in the west, but it has only been a hundred years. Career theory has evolved with the changes of the times, and many theories, such as Holland's career interest theory, Jung's psychological type theory, career anchor theory, Schuber's career development theory, etc., have emerged in this evolution process, which need to be read and understood.
Second, we need to master various consulting techniques and measuring tools.
Information collection technology, questioning technology, communication technology, various tools, models, measurement tools and some corresponding psychological knowledge used in consultation all need consultants to learn and master constantly.
Third, you need to have rich workplace experience and professional knowledge.
As a career planning consultant, only if I have rich experience in the workplace, especially in management, can you have a good understanding, cognition and emotional ability in all aspects of your career, which is also a very important factor to ensure the smooth completion of the consultation.
I have calculated all the above points in my mind, and I have a preliminary understanding of theoretical knowledge, and I need more in-depth reading and learning. Through continuous training and practice, I have mastered the use of various technical tool models and measuring tools, and the direction of improvement is to make the use more artistic.
There are tens of millions of people who can invest in the world, but only a handful of people really rise to the level of investment art. Buffett is one of those who have investment art. There is a gap between proficiency and art, thinking and life wisdom.
I have a strong advantage in workplace experience. I have many cross-functional management experiences in the top 500 large foreign companies. In addition to leading the team, I also have experience in training and development, as well as cross-industry experience. From tradition to internet e-commerce, while leading the team to achieve sales from near zero to tens of millions, the process of management and learning itself has also made me gain a lot in my career. Coupled with entrepreneurial experience, I realized the full experience of multi-role and multi-angle in the workplace.
With these knowledge, skills and experience, will you become an excellent consultant? I can't help asking myself.
What core skills should a good consultant possess?
Since it is to solve the problem, we need to find it first. Only by finding the most essential problem can we really solve the problem. If we fail to define the real problem, even if we give a solution, we will look pale and powerless.
Being able to "define the problem accurately" can not only help consultants improve their consulting efficiency, but also obtain fruitful consulting results.
So, how can we improve our ability to "define problems"?
I found that the consultation process and the management process are actually interlinked. Consulting is to help solve problems, while management needs to solve various problems in the business process.
If you want to solve the problem quickly and accurately in the management process, the premise is that you must be good at grasping the essence of the problem, that is, the core problem, and you can really solve the problem through the layers of appearances of the problem.
This ability to grasp the essence through appearances is what we usually call insight, which is actually the ability to "define problems."
In the consultation process, in addition to listening, asking questions, summarizing and clarifying, you can also use the following two methods to help define the real question:
1, 5w2h method
What: What is it? What kind of things are we talking about or facing now? (Status quo, confusion, expectation)
When did it happen?
Who: What happened to who? Or who and what?
Why: Why, why is this happening? What is the reason? (cause, essence)
How: how to deal with it? How do you handle this situation? (coping)
How much: How much? How much time? How much energy? How much will it cost? ?
The 5w2h method can help us sort out the seemingly chaotic situations one by one and become clear and accurate.
2, 5 Why method
For anything that happens, by constantly asking "why", we can get its most fundamental reason. Of course, we don't have to say "why" in the consultation process. We can constantly change the way we ask questions, for example, we can ask, "What caused it? . . . . . ""What do you think is the reason? " .
For example, a visitor came to consult and said that he could accept his current sales job and did a good job, but he still wanted to change his job.
At this time, you can ask questions to explore the reasons behind him. You can ask, "What you just said is that you can accept your present job and do it well. Why change jobs? "
He replied that it was because he was far from home and had long working hours, and the current work development space was limited.
For these narratives, you need to dig deeper and find out the most fundamental reason for his job-hopping by asking questions.
You may ask, "What do you think is the most fundamental reason for wanting to quit?"
He replied that he mainly felt that the current sales position made less money.
If the confirmation is true, did you find it at this time? The reason for job-hopping is not development or being far from home, but making less money! ?
So we can use different "why" ways to help ourselves get rid of the cocoon and restore the essence of the problem.
For "precisely defining questions", 5w2h and 5why methods are two very practical and simple questioning tools.
Consulting behavior and management behavior are essentially the same, and both need to go through the process of finding problems first, then finding out the core reasons and finally solving problems.
In the whole process, it is of great significance to define the problem accurately, which is related to whether the problem can be solved satisfactorily.
Therefore, I think the ability to "define the problem accurately" is the core ability that consultants need to master.
Let's work together to make a breakthrough in improving the ability of "accurately defining problems".