What qualities and abilities should a consultant possess?
As a highly intelligent industry, consulting industry attaches great importance to the quality and ability of consultants. Consultants must have high professional knowledge, rich practical experience, communication and written and oral expression skills, strong ability to collect information and consult documents, and ability to accurately analyze and judge problems. Therefore, the profession of consultant requires employees to have good comprehensive quality and ability. The quality of consultants is generally reflected in the following aspects: 1. Knowledge composition and practical experience consultants should have received higher education, generally professional management education, or have a certain professional knowledge, and also have certain interest and research in other disciplines. The ideal consultant must have at least a bachelor's degree or above. Of course, besides extensive knowledge, it is equally important to have rich practical experience, which can be practical experience in a certain field of professional management, such as management experience in large enterprises or consulting experience in related fields. The combination of knowledge and experience can help consultants diagnose and analyze the problems existing in enterprises quickly and accurately when consulting projects, and put forward the optimal solutions that meet the actual needs of enterprises. 2. Skill level This skill is reflected in the actual working ability reflected in the project consultation process, including the ability to analyze and solve problems in depth; Ability to think independently and judge problems quickly; Good at communication, have the ability to communicate with others; Ability of written and oral expression; It is also an organizational management ability with the role of enterprise manager. Through high-pressure and high-intensity consulting practice, consultants can get high-intensity exercise from the project and their ability can be improved rapidly. Mature consultants generally have the qualities and abilities of senior managers in large enterprises. 3. Mental outlook and character cultivation This is a potential quality requirement for consultants, including their character and professional reputation, and it is also a concrete manifestation of professional ethics. Consultants should not only establish personal credibility with knowledge, skills and practical experience, but also embody personal personality charm everywhere. Honesty, enterprising spirit, self-confidence and teamwork spirit, creativity and sense of responsibility, strong will and perseverance are all manifestations of personal character and charm of consultants. Consultants are professionals who use professional knowledge and skills to provide customers with intellectual paid services, and are experts in solving practical problems in the production and operation of enterprises. This involves a wide range of professional knowledge, and they are especially good at conducting independent and impartial research on a certain problem and finally solving the problem properly. The value of consultants lies in their own training and accumulated experience in the project process, and the skills of consultants are reflected in the following aspects: 1. Diagnostic ability diagnosis is the first link of consulting work. Whether it is to improve the quality of an enterprise, improve the efficiency of a project, or solve a complex social problem, the first step of consultation is always to diagnose the historical development and current situation. Accurate diagnosis is the beginning of effective problem solving, and good diagnostic ability is mainly manifested in the following three aspects: (1) customer justice. You can't be partial to listening and believing, but you should think independently. (2) Strong curiosity. A large number of customer problems are generally covered by superficial phenomena, which requires the ability to explore the essence through the surface. (3) Concept and technical analysis. Establish an analysis model through some key data. 2. Technical ability is the ability to solve problems. Consultants can successfully complete the following tasks in project consultation: (1) Define tasks. (2) Problems to be studied and solved in consultation. (3) Investigate some necessary conditions around the problem. (4) Collect, analyze and interpret data and documents related to the problem. (5) Diagnose the problem and find out the problem. (6) Make a plan (7) Provide alternative plans, select comparison plans, and select the best one with alternative plans. (8) Design exception handling methods for special situations. (9) Estimate the available resources (10) and predict the details and meanings of solving these problems (1 1). Who will decide in the process of solving the problems? How come? When will it be done? The process of solving problems will involve the ability of innovation, so consultants often break through the old thinking mode and often produce new ideas and put forward new ideas. They should learn to draw inferences from others, comprehensively use their professional knowledge and skills, and serve customers more effectively. 3. Communication ability Communication ability refers to the ability to convey information, as well as the ability to deal with customers and communicate effectively. There are many forms of communication skills: (1) interpersonal skills (network) interpersonal skills refer to the ability to establish, maintain and end mutual contact, and also refer to our ability to get along with others, because consulting service is a kind of helping relationship. Therefore, consultants should have the ability to effectively use customer behavior and a high level of interpersonal skills. This relationship between consultants and customers determines the continuation and success of the project. Establishing and maintaining this relationship requires good interpersonal skills, which are mainly manifested in: a. creating an environment conducive to cooperation. B. create an environment conducive to change. C. form an appropriate consultant image in the eyes of customer personnel. D. expand the social impact base based on reputation and credit. E. arrange suitable places for relevant consultants. F. Make rational use of time G. Consider different cultural factors and problems. Mediation of conflicts when necessary. (2) Good writing skills consultants require good writing skills and writing skills. Documents used for consultation, such as written suggestions, solutions and progress reports, are important means to contact customers. They are usually required to be fresh in content, scientific in argumentation, fluent in writing and detailed in reasoning. Only in this way can they become the main channel for consultants to communicate and contact with customers. For example, consultants use written advice to solicit business from future customers. (3) Oral expression ability Effective oral expression requirements: articulate, quick-thinking, logical, good at expressing their intentions, and most of the communication with customers is oral expression, so oral expression ability is necessary for consultants. (4) Sensitive listening has the ability to understand the meaning expressed by others keenly. The client evaluates whether the consultant can listen carefully, instead of imposing his own views and wishes on others. In practical work, a consultant should be a "sponge" that can absorb different suggestions and opinions from customers, rather than a trainer, so listening is the key. 4. Consultants with organizational management skills need to play the role of managers and think about the strategic development and management of enterprises from the perspective of entrepreneurs, so consultants must have the management theory and practical experience of enterprises to lay the foundation for consulting. Consulting is a science and an art, which requires consultants to have three conditions and three tasks to understand consulting. These three conditions are the theoretical knowledge of enterprise management; Practical experience in enterprise management; Proficient in consulting procedures and working methods. The three tasks are to help customers find and judge the problems in business management, find out the reasons and formulate practical solutions; Guide the implementation of the plan; Teach management concepts, train customers and fundamentally improve the overall quality. Consulting is a challenging job, which requires consultants to have fast learning ability, good communication and expression ability and meticulous logical thinking ability. I remember someone said, "Don't be an academic professor, but really go to the actual scene and realize it with professional skills and learned theories", so I hope you and I can both become excellent consultants.