Regent College: BM562 Consultancy in Practice 1 Skills Report

This report, focusing on BM562 Consultancy in Practice 1, evaluates the development of consultancy skills through a project with the Regent College group. The student identifies and analyzes skills such as teamwork and communication, highlighting their growth and significance. The report also addresses skill gaps, particularly in problem-solving and time management, and proposes a detailed action plan for improvement, including specific strategies and timelines. Furthermore, the report assesses job suitability, analyzing the skills sought by employers and how the student's profile aligns with these requirements, providing a LinkedIn profile and CV analysis. The conclusion emphasizes the importance of consultancy services, unbiased views, and continuous skill development for professional success. References and an appendix, including a job advertisement and CV, are also included.

BM562
Consultancy in
Practice
1

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................3
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................3
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................5
Action Plan for skill gaps.......................................................................................................5
TASK 3............................................................................................................................................7
TASK 4............................................................................................................................................7
LinkedIn profile......................................................................................................................7
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................9
REFRENCES.................................................................................................................................11
APPENDIX....................................................................................................................................12
Job advertisement.................................................................................................................12
2

INTRODUCTION
The process of using expertise and knowledge to provide advice to a client on a specific
area of expert understanding is defined as consultancy. The main aspect of consultancy which
aims to provide the most effective consultancy services is related to providing unbiased view to a
third party. This aspect of the consultancy services plays an important role in offering the most
valuable services to the clients. In addition to this focus on objectivity and unbiased practice
ensures that subjective thinking does not pose as a barrier to providing thee client best expertise
on a specific subject. The main aim of consultancy services is to provide expertise assistance to
organisations in areas which is not their core operation. The north-west London educational
group Regent group is the firm on which this report is based. The regency group consists of
Regent Independent College, Regent College Higher Education, Regent Learning Centre, Regent
Skills Training, Wembley English Academy, Regent Nursery, Burlington College, Regent
Leadership and Acorn House College. The present report provides skills evaluation and creation
of an action plan in response to any skill gaps identified in the skill evaluation. In addition to
this, suitability to seek graduate level job is also given in this report.
MAIN BODY
TASK 1
After working as a part of the team to solve issues faced by the clients I have been able to
develop various skills which are helpful in gaining future employment opportunities. This project
of providing consultancy advice to the regent collage has helped me develop various kills which
are not only beneficial for my personal development but also beneficial in the case of
professional success in the occupation of my choice after completion of my education.
The skills developed by me after working with the group to provide solutions for their
issues are explained below:
Teamwork skills: As the project required to work in group, effective teamwork skills
formed the core of this project. I have been able to further develop teamwork skills with the help
of this project. I collaborated and maintained regular communication with various members of
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the group, in order to complete my project in an effective manner. I usually like working alone as
I find that individually people can produce better results in comparison to a group setting. By
working in the project I was able to understand the value of collaborating with other members of
the group as it increases the expertise and accuracy of the project. In addition to this I have
understood that by working in a group different barriers can be easily identified as each member
of the group looks at the problem with different perspectives.
Communication skills: Another skill gained as a result of this project was
communication skill. I was able to enhance both verbal and non-verbal skills after completion of
this project, this is because the project required me to effectively communicate my ideas to my
teammates and understand their viewpoints in order to use the knowledge to improve my
contribution to the project. In addition to this I was able to improve my non-verbal
communication skills as this project involved creation of my ideas in the format of a written
project. This helped me enhance my writing skills and create a written document which is
concise in manner and includes accurate information about the problems faced by the regent
group and the solutions my team was able to develop.
During the completion of the project absence of certain skills hindered me from giving
excelling contribution to the team which are provided below:
Problem solving skills: This skill is not my strong suit which hindered me from
enhancing my contribution to various group tasks. I relied on my teammates in order to come up
with solutions to various issues. This is because while evaluating various problems I found
difficulties in understanding role of external variables in affecting the solutions which I devised.
This is the reason why most of the solutions proposed by me were not used in the project. This
hindered my commitment to the team project and negatively affected my contribution in the
project. I need to develop this skill as problem solving skill is essential for developing out of the
box solutions for various problems. Development of this skill will help me gain success in my
academic and professional career.
Time management skills: I am able to effectively manage my work and deliver finished project
in time but when it comes to group setting the amount of work which needs to be done increases.
This affected my time management skills as I was not able to coordinate project tasks given to
me and working with other members of the team in timely manner. I was not able to finish my
parts early and review them to make further improvements as I do with my solo projects. This
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depicts lack of effective time management skills which play an important role in gaining success
in all aspects of life weather it is professional career or personal skill improvement (Armstrong,
2018). I have to develop my skills in order to enhance my employment opportunities and ensure
that every personal, academic or professional goal of my life is attained in a timely manner.
At the beginning of the process I was confident in my time management skills, but after
it’s completion I found out that my time management skills are not effective as it does not
provide excellent results in a group setting. I have identified the need to enhance my time
management skills.
My confident level has improved after participating in the team project as it enhanced
various skills and helped me identify areas of improvements in my current skill-set. This has
enhanced my confident as I will be able to improve various skills to increase mu employment
opportunities. In addition to this, I have been able to test various skills in a group setting which
has enhanced my confidence. This is because after securing employment I have to utilise this
skill as part of the workforce of the firm, this project has increased my confidence as I am sure
that I will be able to use various skills such as communication skill, teamwork skill, presentation
skill and academic knowledge in a workplace setting effectively.
I can use communication and teamwork skills in professional and academic career as it
will help me present my ideas in an effective manner. In addition to this, after eliminating skill
gaols of problem solving and time management skills I will be able to find unconventional
solutions for various problems and manage my work in time. This will enable to secure
employment in highly reputed firm in the future.
TASK 2
Action Plan for skill gaps
Skills to
work upon
Action plan Duration Results
Problem
solving
skills
The action plan for building
problem solving skill include
using critical thinking skills when
approach a problem. This
involves understanding links
3
months
Development of this skill will
help me analyse various aspects
of a particular issue to identify
possible solutions. This skill is
important for gaining success
5

between ideas, identification of
relevance of various solutions
and arguments. I will focus on
identification of inconsistencies
of various arguments and
statements and aim to approach
various problems in a systematic
manner rather than going with
my intuition.
In addition to this I will not take
every argument or statement
made by my peers at face value
and critically analyse each
statement in order to use best
advice for completing any project
or task.
future employment as it not only
helps in solving problems of
clients but also helps eliminate
barriers which halt daily business
operations.
Time
management
skills
I aim to develop my time
management skills by using 4-D
time management tool. This tool
will help me effectively prioritize
and delegate tasks in order to
ensure that each of the task is
completed in a timely manner. In
addition to this I will
immediately create list of
activates in order to complete a
particular task so that I don’t
procrastinate and all of urgent
tasks are completed in a
systematic manner.
2 months Time management will help me
complete various projects in time
and ensure that I gain career
advancements in future.
6

TASK 3
Skills the organisation is looking for Skills in CV
The organisation is looking for a marketing
manager with effective communication skills.
I have updated my CV to include effective
communication and interpersonal skills.
The organisation is also looking for someone with field experience which is suitable for me as I
have 3 years’ experience working as assistant general manager at TESCO.
TASK 4
LinkedIn profile
Photo
XYZ
Location: London, UK
Summary: I am currently working as a assistant general manager in ABC store in London. I am
determined to make sure that my LinkedIn profile is updates with accurate data to seek relevant
job opportunities.
Education: I hold a MBA in marketing from the PQR University , as well as certification in
social media marketing .
Skills:
Communication skills (Verbal and non-verbal)
Interpersonal skills
Teamwork skills
Presentation skills
Groups:
 Market manager
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 Managers
 Leadership
 Management
Companies:
 Tesco
 Sainabury’s
8

CONCLUSION
From the above report it is concluded that consultancy firms play an important role in
providing expertise too business firms outside their core business operations. In addition to this,
such type of firms ensures that business operations outside of the core activities of the company
are completed with equal effectiveness as the core business activities are completed. In order to
effectively provide consultancy services, it is important for business firms to gain unbiased view.
Developing employability requires various skills such as organization and management skills
along with various organisational skills to effectively provide consultancy services to the
consumers. Evaluation of individual skills developed during consultancy is essential to
understand areas which require immediate improvement. Constructing an action plan requires
identification of immediate course of action which needs to be taken in order to make skill
development.
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REFRENCES
Books and Journals
Armstrong, D., 2018. Organization in the mind: Psychoanalysis, group relations and
organizational consultancy. Routledge.
Donnelly, M. and Gamsu, S., 2019. The field of graduate recruitment: leading financial and
consultancy firms and elite class formation. The British journal of sociology, 70(4).
pp.1374-1401.
Gray, H. L. ed., 2018. The management of educational institutions: Theory, research and
consultancy. Routledge.
Gunter, H. M. and Mills, C., 2017. Consultants and consultancy: The case of education.
Switzerland: Springer International Publishing.
Nguyen, B., Melewar, T. C. and Hemsley-Brown, J. eds., 2019. Strategic brand management in
higher education. Routledge.
Oliver, C., 2018. Reflexive inquiry: A framework for consultancy practice. Routledge.
Van den Berg, C., Howlett, M. and Migone, A., 2020. Policy consultancy in comparative
perspective: Patterns, nuances and implications of the contractor state. Cambridge
University Press.
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APPENDIX
Job advertisement
Job Description
12
London, UK