Workshops Prepare Consultants for CMC Proces

By Don Scellato, CMC

Are you looking for an opportunity to prepare yourself to apply for the Certified Management Consultant credential? This year, IMC USA will again be offering workshops entitled "Essentials of Management Consulting” (EMC).

In 2010, three EMC courses were offered online and one course was conducted face to face. Both the online and face to face versions are designed to provide attendees with a clear understanding of the steps in the consulting process, professional behaviors for consultants, and how to find and apply useful tools to identify, analyze, and resolve client problems. These courses are very helpful in providing the attendees with the core competencies required to become CMCs^®. They also allow experienced consultants to sharpen knowledge and skills associated with the consulting process.

The face-to-face workshop was conducted on-site at the offices of a consulting company in Reston, Virginia, to train five of their consultants who serve various US Government organizations in the Washington DC area. The company, Delta Solutions and Technologies Inc., selected the IMC USA face-to-face class after searching for training of this nature from all over the USA. The attendees were very positive about their experience and felt more grounded in the principles of management consulting. Four of the five subsequently completed the CMC Application and became CMCs.

The intensive online workshops consist of six Instructor-led live synchronous sessions. The Instructor simulates and coaches a client-consultant interaction. This blended learning experience is spread over twelve weeks with six Instructor-led sessions that are held bi-weekly, usually on Monday. Along with this, attendees are assigned to a small group that gathers for ad-hoc online meetings as well as continued access to seven prerecorded, on-demand lectures designed to guide them through a simulated consulting project.

The current classroom version of EMC takes three days to complete and is conducted in the same fashion as the online sessions.

This course represents a significant commitment to learning, and is equivalent to a second year graduate MBA course in depth and amount of material covered. Successful participants have reported a minimum effort of 3-5 hours per week on reading and applying themselves to work on deliverables in addition to weekly team meetings and the instructor course sessions.

Aside from individual effort, the course revolves around application of learning gained through teamwork. As team attendees work through the five stages of the consulting process, they work on a simulated assignment which requires a series of significant consulting deliverables. An attendee’s ability to work collaboratively and constructively in a team with an unfamiliar group of other consultants (who will all have their own ideas on how to complete the tasks required of the simulated project) is a large determinant of their learning success and enjoyment of this program.

Please remember that although the Essentials of Management Consulting classes are helpful in preparing consultants for certification, those who attend and wish to become CMCs still must complete the CMC application and pass the written exams and peer review panel to become CMCs.

For more information about "Essentials of Management Consulting” please go to this link and look for the EMC classes offered on the Events page.