Our volunteers create valuable CPD and networking opportunities delivered through events which are free to members.

Details of the full programme is available at http://www.managers.org.uk/practical-support/management-community/professional-networks/cmi-wales-network/events

Followed by details of an opportunity to enhance your own prospects!  Via funded, part-time degree courses that develop comprehensive skills and knowledge of business operations.

The Foundation Degrees, backed by the EU’s Convergence European Social Fund through the Welsh Government, will help raise employee confidence, increase productivity, and ultimately the overall success of their organisation.

The two year course is studied one afternoon/evening per week at a choice of locations – Treforest and Ebbw Vale.

By releasing employees to study for just one afternoon a week, local organisations will be able to develop their staff in ways which will directly benefit their work.  It is hoped that the project will attract companies who wish to address difficulties they may be experiencing in the areas of up-skilling staff.

Subject to conditions, business owners/managers and employees, who live and/or work in West Wales and the Valleys, could be entitled to a fully funded place.

To learn more, please reserve your place at http://fbs.glam.ac.uk/events/2012/jan/19/improve-your-management-effectiveness/

The Institute of Consulting (IoC) actively encourages and supports professional development of consultants and advisors, and provides a programme of events, knowledge exchange, and valuable networking opportunities.  The Institute of Consulting’s Wales activities will reflect national policy, whilst working to meet locally identified needs of members, employers and policy-makers.   Initiatives such as the free, easy to search online directory of qualified practitioners in Wales helps business owners and other purchasers to source the very best qualified consultancy and advisory services.

Karen, a Director of Principality Consulting Ltd in Ebbw Vale, brings a breadth of experience to the role. Following a career in blue-chip advertising agencies and a period as Head of Business development for a commercial division of the BBC she has worked extensively as a business consultant.

An active team member of the CMI Cymru in South Wales, Karen is excited at the prospect of moving the Institute forward to meet the needs of members and the business community at a time of challenge and opportunity for the Welsh economy.

She comments, “As a member I’ve been able to tap into the extensive range of management tools and publications and qualifications provided by the Institute.  Plus, the ‘continuous professional development’ framework and networking at our regular programme of events is excellent.

“I believe the Institute of Consulting is a valuable resource for Wales businesses, which can now source the best qualified, support and assistance for growth and profitability from amongst member consultants.  When a client engages an Institute member or practice they are guaranteed a consultant committed to maintaining professional standards of business delivery and recognised for their competence and professionalism.  This provides some reassurance in the largely unregulated business advice sector.”

If like most people you sometimes struggle to set and achieve your goals, the reason is probably that no one has ever shown you how to set goals for yourself properly.

The Institute of Consulting (IC) hosts this workshop where Eric Sutherland will introduce a technique used by many top performers to set and achieve their goals.

It is a Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP) technique called Strategic Visioning. Eric will show you how to correctly define what it is that you want; check the ecological impact of achieving it; and show you how to get your mind working towards its achievement with very little effort.

Learning Outcomes:  The National Occupational Standards (NOS) for management and leadership – A2 Managing self and personal skills. Manage your own resources and professional development

Bookings: to book this event please go to

http://cmieventmaintenance.managers.org.uk/EventViewer.aspx?id=6467

Dr Elizabeth Haywood, Companion of the Chartered Management Institute; partner in The Haywood Hain LLP consultancy and Director of the South East Wales Economic Forum uses her broad experience to share personal observations on the nature of consulting today.

5.30pm           Registration – tea/coffee, light refreshment

6.00pm            Introduction and Welcome – Karen Dancey, Wales Chair of the                              Institute of Consulting (IC)

6.05pm            Consulting Today – a personal perspective

7pm                 Consultancy qualifications – short presentation from approved centre BHBi Ltd and certificate presentations to recent graduates

7.30pm           CMI Cymru/IC Wales News

7.40pm           Networking

8pm                 Ends

To book http://cmievents.managers.org.uk/EventViewer.aspx?id=6536

However, conducting a skills gap analysis can be costly in terms of the required investment in paper-based assessments, as well as the time required from staff to participate and for management to evaluate the results. Budgets for consultancy time can often limit the scope and effectiveness of the final analysis.

Former PA Consulting Group specialists, Alexis Kingsbury and Paddy Mann had used gap analysis as consultants on client assignments and as a sales tool. However, setting up a gap analysis had proven to be tricky and time-consuming; Excel tended to be the easiest option but this had many flaws.

Gap Analysis Tool – For Consultants Created By Consultants

“I had used gap analysis quite a few times as a consultant” says Alexis. “But, it generally took me two to three days to develop a tool in Excel that was professional enough to use with a client. Collecting the results was a nightmare too; sending files out to up to 500 people, explaining how to enable macros, then collecting all the information back in again took about a month.”

When setting up their own consultancy, “Bridging Insight Ltd”, Paddy and Alexis specialise in helping large companies to develop their collaboration strategy.

“We decided gap analysis would be a really useful way to uncover the barriers to collaboration” Paddy explains. “I used my background in software development to develop an online tool that enables us to create and send gap analysis assessments, then analyse the results in minutes rather than weeks.”

Branded ‘Spidergap’ the tool is now available at www.spidergap.com, allowing anybody to set up a free account to try it out.

The Association of MBA’s Accredited MBA Fair is an essential event for potential MBA students. Meet with representatives of leading business schools, hear first-hand about the leading admissions tests and their process and gain impartial advice and guidance on choosing an MBA from representatives from the Association of MBAs.

The first 100 attendees receive a free guide on how to choose an MBA worth £6.99.

This event is open between 2 pm – 5 pm. It provides an opportunity to consult with a selection of over 30 prestigious, high calibre business schools in one place and attend seminars that give an insight into the MBA experience, factors to consider when choosing a business school and how to prepare for admissions testing.

All the schools exhibiting at the fair run MBA programmes accredited by the Association of MBAs, the international authority on business education. The Association of MBAs accreditation service is the global standard for all MBA, DBA and MBM programmes and has accredited 186 business schools in over 70 countries.

EVENT:                 Accredited MBA Fair

WHEN:                 Saturday 22 October – from 2pm – 5pm

WHERE: ThePark Plaza Victoria, 239 Vauxhall Bridge Road, SW1V 1EQ, London.

For more information and to register go to http://www.mbaworld.com/bschoolservices/autumnmbafairs

Contact:

Leah Carter

Events Co-ordinator

l.carter [at] mbaworld . com

0207 246 2694

Institute of Consulting’s North Wales conference on the procurement of consultancy services and how to achieve profitable growth while combating financial and professional risks

With the threat of a double-dip recession looking more and more likely, the Institute of Consulting is hosting an event, offering consultants and business advisors advice on what they can do to achieve profitable growth, despite the current economic climate.  Plus direction on the best practice in procuring consultancy.

This one day conference starts at 8.45am on Friday 21^st October at Glyndwr University’s Catrin Finch Conference Centre in Wrexham. The event aims to provide insights on the challenges, competition and uncertainties those involved in the business advice sector face, with particular focus on the importance of skills development and marketing in these challenging times.

Current research by the Institute of Consulting into priorities facing the UK management consultancy profession has identified six key areas of concern.  The focus of the event span procurement of consultancy services; through the role of innovation in consultancy relations; to consideration of alternative business models.

Mick James, Contributing Editor of Top Consultant magazine and Editor of Recruitment Matters, is Master of Ceremonies for the day. He will be joined by a distinguished panel of expert speakers, including former management consultant and current MP for Aberconwy, Guto Bebb, Cardiff University’s Management Consultancy Lecturer, Dr Joe O’Mahoney, and Calvert Markham, a renowned consultancy profession expert and writer.

A one-hour Leadership Management Wales (LMW) sponsored workshop, led by Dr O’Mahoney, ends the day in a session designed to specifically identify key consultancy skills critical to the successful completion of a series of LMW sponsored projects.

Huw Hilditch-Roberts, Director of the Institute of Consulting, comments: “Our Face The Future event has been set up in response to industry-wide challenges such as continuing economic uncertainty and a predicted decrease in consultancy revenues between now and 2014. A real ‘must attend’ event for anyone involved in consultation, attendees are invited to join us for inspirational speeches from industry leaders whose wealth of knowledge and experience provides cutting edge thinking on a variety of development opportunities.

“This will be an effective, solutions-based event offering attendees the opportunity to improve their consultancy knowledge, share best practice and meet with like-minded individuals while networking and building valuable contacts on the day.”

Institute of Consulting member can attend this event for just £50 and non-member places cost £75, with the additional £25 refundable if you join the Institute of Consulting on the day. With only 75 places available, attendance is limited and tickets will be issued on a first come, first served basis.

To book your place, simply email icnorthwales [at] iconsulting.org . ukor log onto http://www.iconsulting.org.uk/events for more information on this and other Institute of Consulting events across the country.

On Wednesday July 6^th we issued a survey via email which sought an insight into the business issues that concerned our members. The intention of this survey was to use the intelligence collected to shape our messaging, communication and approach to future development so that what the Institute does is aligned with the needs of our members.

Not only did your feedback do this but it also raised a number of concerns you have as a group with the Institute that we felt warranted a dedicated response. We have divided our response into categories that arose from the answers provided.

Should you wish to discuss any of the issues further we ask that you use the Institute of Consulting LinkedIn group. This allows for others to contribute to a single topic, or discussion and is continuously monitored and responded to by the IC.

Yours sincerely,

Caroline Lumb,

Head of IC

What is the IC and its benefits?

The IC has a core focus towards consulting professionals, offering support and resources to individuals, practice firms and consultancy buyers. It is the home of the professional consultant.

The size and breadth of our membership gives the IC a unique insight into consulting services across the economy.

We work closely with the procurement industry, through our dedicated expert group, to ensure that we understand what is expected of consultancy professionals and pass that information in an appropriate form.

The IC offers a range of services to its members to assist them in their working environments. This is facilitated through knowledge sharing, networking and contact development and business opportunities.

The IC has a close working relationship with the Chartered Management Institute (CMI). This gives the IC and its member’s greater opportunities in the present and in the future than if it was a standalone body. For example many regions are adopting joint CMI and IC events, giving IC members direct networking access to the managers who are potential consultancy buyers.

We are currently reviewing the benefits of practice membership and will publish the outcomes of this review in the autumn.

The IC constantly reviews its member benefits package. There is a dedicated Member Services Manager who oversees the process for both IC and CMI and is always looking for opportunities that can be brokered. This year we have so far launched a Fellow Mentoring scheme enabling those who are new to consulting or find their business in crisis to get support from the most experience members. This initiative is moving the IC towards being listed on the BIS website for mentoring institutions, a process we are currently working on.

We have also launched ConsultingDirect, an exclusive online resource portal.

A new resource has been identified and is in development. A ‘New Consultant’s pack’ will offer exclusive advice for those moving into consultancy.

One of the principles behind the rebrand to Institute of Consulting was to encompass a broader classification of consultant, without neglecting the core of management consultants. As a result we have already started working with a very well know global recruitment practice who have asked us to provide their training and development. This gives us a model that we will be able to work on with other sectors which grows the organisation

We are always interested in any ideas from members as to what additional benefits they would be interested in and will be sending out a questionnaire along these lines in the near future.

The website and social media

Following our rebrand in January the website was re-launched in the first of a 3 stage, long-term redevelopment.

The final two stages will be completed in August. These are

o The complete overhaul of the National Register, an online platform for professional consultants to raise their profile, network and generate new business.

o The introduction of a jobs board providing a range of business opportunities

The relentless development of technology has increased the number of platforms available to communicate to members and stakeholders through but has simultaneously resulted in lower response rates, particularly through email. In January the IC established itself on several of the most widely used social media channels including Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook as a means to facilitate quicker communication. This will be supported by forthcoming blogs and online communities on the new website. We ask that members please engage with these channels. All of the channels are continually monitored by the IC and we will respond to any direct questions and discussions through these channels. We do ask that members refrain from starting any splinter groups using the IC branding so that we retain a mass on the main IC groups and pages, this helps facilitate communication.

The IC plans to collate and distribute a social media pack to inform those wishing to use social media channels for Institute use or for their own businesses, helping us all make the most of the technology.

IC will shortly be introducing a jobs board onto the website, pulling in jobs from a variety of sources which will continue to increase after the site has been launched. The hope is that this will give members identify opportunities to develop their careers.

Qualifications and awards

CMI’s Chartered Manager is at present being reviewed and changes will be brought in which might give opportunity to IC membership.

IC is also reviewing its CMC offering and a new route to achieving this award will be announced in the autumn. This route significantly reduces the time it takes to attain the CMC award, making it a more accessible prospect for those that are time sensitive, whilst retaining rigour and status CPD and training.

IC has its own portfolio of training courses which we can offer in all areas of the UK if there is a demand. The most popular one to date is how to get into consultancy and it is pleasing to see that those new to consulting are turning to the IC for support and guidance; it all goes towards raising the standards of the profession.

Concerns were raised over the cost of the training. The very best members have been handpicked to deliver the training. In comparison with other training that is offered in the marketplace we believe we offer value for money and an assurance that the training is of the highest standard. Feedback from completed courses supports this. We keep an ‘unmet needs’ analysis so if there is an area that you are interested in which is not on our portfolio please let us know and, subject to demand, we will try and meet needs.

Raising the profile and lobbying

The IC has recently appointed its first PR agency to assist with raising the profile of the IC and its members.

Their remit will include promoting the standards of consulting and the value of those holding the CMC.

Our expert groups, of which the Consultancy Purchasing Steering Group is one, have done a great job in raising the profile of IC membership to procurers. The reaction from the buying community to the impending re-launch of the National Register has been positive and they’re use of the service is important to its success

We would like to extend our thanks once again to all those who replied to the survey. As a final reminder we ask that any further comments and suggestions on the IC get directed to our LinkedIn group.

Dr Gill Todd will be our speaker for this Telos session on 20 May 2011.  Bring your scientific and academic friends and please tell other people about this.  As ever, we rely upon you to be champions of our Telos programme and to introduce new people to our network.  PLEASE BOOK IN WITH LISA lisamartin [at] churchinwales.org . uk – 029 2034 8252.