BM562 Consultancy in Practice: Skills and Development Report

This report is an individual assignment for the BM562 Consultancy in Practice module, focusing on self-evaluation and skills development within a consultancy project context. The report details the student's experience working on a project for the London School of Science & Technology (LS...Read More

Consulting in Practice

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................2
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................3
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................5
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................7
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................8

INTRODUCTION
Consulting is the process of providing expert advice to a group of people or business to
work effectively. In other word, consulting is the practice of supporting company or business to
influence their performance. it helps to develop coaching skills, process analysis, technology
application and strategy development. Consulting is a set of skills because it includes numerous
skills i.e. creative thinking, problem-solving, effective communication, time management,
teamworking skills, curiosity and creditability skills as well. These skills support individual to
lead effectiveness in their personality and makes them good consultant. The brief study provides
understanding significance of skills in the report.
TASK 1
The theme of the project is “Consultancy in Practice” which is proposed to support
business to improve brand image in the education market. It is quite interesting project for me
and my team who works together. The project targets London School of Science & Technology
(LSST) which is privately managed collage in the academic industries. Currently organization
faces threats of new entrants because they recruit large number of professionals, so it become
easy for the applicant to get job. So, organization develops a plan to improve product portfolio
i.e. course for the next academic year. The main aim of the project is to influence brand position
of the collage in the UK’s academic sector (Auricchio and et.al., 2018). While working in the
project has developed number of skills in me such as I have developed creative thinking skill.
The skill supported me to understand issue of the business effectively. By analysing situation
effectively, I enable to develop creative objective for the organization so it gets high profitability
in the academic sector. With the skill I resolved number of issues i.e. to gather data about
potential competitors, time limitation and others. I creatively set some project task based on the
situation so that we can advise the HR management of the LSST collage. I have developed
effective communication skill while working on the project. The skill improved my personality
and made me effective communicator as compared others. To gather information about LSST
competitors I have to communicated large group of people whereas I got to know that demand of
the qualified staff has increased. The reason behind was that most of the new entrants recruits

potential applicants that caused they find job more easily. To gather this data, I used my
communication skill which improved confidence level in me. Based on the situation
management of the organization has decided to introduce product portfolio in the next academic
year in the accounting and finance management sector. To take action on the decision me and my
team member keeps own viewpoints so that we can develop creative solution. I have developed
teamworking skills as well while working in the project. It was first time I was working in a team
as part of team member and team was unfamiliar for me. So, situation was occurred for me but I
adjusted with them by understanding their attitude for the project. I felt great while working with
them because each member has good personality and sense of humour as well. Initially I felt
discomforts while collaborate with them. Later on, I became comfy with them because we started
to work together on the project and shared out views regrading issues so that we can evaluate
effective result of the project (Di Lauro and et.al., 2020). I developed objective for the project
whereas other team member supported me to take in action for getting effective result. Based on
the objective delegated tasks to team member by me such as to collect information about
qualified applicant, on boarding techniques, staff motivation and others. Thus, whole team
worked together and advised to the HR management for meeting the goal of the organization in
the project. Thus, I have developed a set of three skills i.e. effective communication, creative
thinking skills and teamworking as well while woking on the project.
It was new project for me so I was bit nervous to think about the project. The reason
behind was that I was unaware about consultancy practice but when I study about consultancy
service that made me curious to work on the project. I communicated with senior authorities and
professionals for collecting data effectively (Schiemann and Ulrich, 2017). My senior authority
assigned me the project theme with other group of people so that we can give high quality
content in it. I felt anxious to initiate the project because it needs good content. The initial
problem was coming to me I did not know how am I start the project. So, I communicated with
my professionals and seniors who guided me to enlist number of tasks related to topic and
suggested me to read books and journals for gathering informative data. When I got guidance
from the seniors and professionals me and my group started to work on the project. There were
numerous things such as creates objectives, task distribution, background information of the
collage etc. that I knew at the start of the process. I developed plan for the project and aligned
number of tasks according to the priority. In addition, I knew that objective were essential part of

the project because it guided individuals to work in the right direction and supported to fulfil
common goal of the project. The project theme was consultancy practice means act as HR
advisor who advice HR management to deal with situation as well as develop effective policies
as per organization or government requirements.
The project has improved high level of confidence in me because I have developed
numerous skills in me which makes my personality effective and impressive. In addition, I got
chance to use my skill while gathering data for the project. For example, I have good research
skill, problem-solving skills, time management skills and others which I used in the project. With
team member I learned various things like to deal with complex situation effectively, chooses
appropriate data from whole data. I have developed analytical skills that supported me to choose
effective tools for collecting information and analysed them effectively. While analysing data I
observed other factors which took more time but assisted me to create creative ideas. These ideas
could include as an advice for the HR management. In last, when me and other team member
raised evidence-based result then we felt too much relax and confident (Finlayson and Harvey,
2016). So, I could say this project has improved a high-level confidence in me and encouraged
me to perform better for the next project.
Whatever skills I have developed through the project and I got experienced as well like to
give creative advise or solutions to deal with complex situation (Verma and et.al., 2019). While
studying role of the consultant I became more excited because they are multitasker in all field
and posses a wide set of skills. When I was working on the project, I became curious to think
like consultant and takes into practices. This learning would use in the future career because it
requires for different jobs i.e. HR Advisor, HR management and Leadership etc. These job
profiles need effective communication skills because when a person has effective
communication skill then can communicate large number of effectively and can convenience
others to work in right direction. Another is analytical skill that requires to analyse complex
situation of the company in the hostile environment then can interpret creative solutions (Kelly
and Rapp, 2017). Teamworking is another but effective skill because when a person has this skill
then can promote other team member to work in a team and can fit it’s personality in each
situation. The project experience helps me to evaluate number of critical project or strategy when
I would do job in the organization.

TASK 2
There are three skills gaps i.e. writing proficiency, data analysis and attention to detail
that was wakened so I consider I need to develop effectively because these can lead
ineffectiveness in my business career (Ones, Viswesvaran and Schmidt, 2017). While working
on the project I found my writing proficiency was not good that causes I unable to write content
effectively in the formal language. When I was analysing whole data which I gathered through
resource i.e. internet, books and newspaper, whereas I observed I unable to interpret data
effectively that caused I did not raise good conclusion according to the content. These are the
major skills gap which I need to develop because it will make me successful in my business
career. To developing these skills gaps I will make professional development plan that help me
to develop my weaknesses into skills and improves my employability skills. In addition, I will
take online courses as well that guides me to develop these skills effectively.
PDP plan
Skills to be
developed
Resources Activities to be
undertaken
Time to be
undertaken
Writing
proficiency
Read good
books and
journals, online
classes
I take online
course that
improve my
skills effectively.
I read books that
guides me how
to write in
formal language.
2 weeks
Data analysis
Join academic
classes
I join class
whereas trainer
help me to
interpret data
creatively.
3 weeks
Attention to
detail
Read books and
case studies
I take advice
form senior and
1 week

professional
develop the
skills and study
several critical
case studies to
give high
attention on the
details. Thus I
develop my
weak area.
Thus, I overcome my skill gaps and make my business career successful.
CONCLUSION
This report has been concluded different type of skills i.e. analytical skills,
communication skills and teamworking which I learned and developed through the project. It can
be summarized experience and challenges which occurred while working in the project. The
skills gap i.e. writing proficiency, data analysis and attention to detail which I developed by
creating plan and implement in action for filling gap of the skills in the report.

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Auricchio, V and et.al., 2018, July. Service design and human resource consulting: An integrated
vision. In ServDes2018. Service Design Proof of Concept, Proceedings of the ServDes.
2018 Conference, 18-20 June, Milano, Italy (No. 150, pp. 401-413). Linköping
University Electronic Press.
Di Lauro, S and et.al., 2020. Grasping Corporate Identity from Social Media: Analysis of HR
Consulting Companies. In Exploring Digital Ecosystems (pp. 101-120). Springer,
Cham.
Finlayson, D. and Harvey, W.S., 2016. The Importance of Followership and Reputation in an HR
Consulting Firm'. Followership in Action. Emerald Group Publishing Limited, pp.91-
97.
Kelly, C. and Rapp, K., 2017. The HR Function in 2021: Models & Competencies.
Ones, D.S., Viswesvaran, C. and Schmidt, F.L., 2017. Realizing the full potential of
psychometric meta-analysis for a cumulative science and practice of human resource
management. Human Resource Management Review. 27(1). pp.201-215.
Schiemann, W.A. and Ulrich, D., 2017. Rise of HR—New mandates for IO. Industrial and
Organizational Psychology. 10(1). pp.3-25.
Verma, A.P and et.al., 2019. Exploring the Perceived Feedback of Commercial Dairy Farmers
about Effectiveness of Android Mobile Apps ‘Brucellosis Advisor Apps’. Int. J. Curr.
Microbiol. App. Sci. 8(1). pp.3007-3013.