AD ALTA
JOURNAL OF INTERDISCIPLINARY RESEARCH
Evaluation of the educational activity. It concerns comparison of
the objectives with the results in the field of education. A
consulting company should decide on the progress of it already
during the planning stage. It is a complex process the goal of
which is to measure the effects of the specific educational
activity in the field of andragogy (pedagogical and didactic), as
well as in thr field of economy. The evaluation of the corporate
education is a process that determines whether a problem was
solved. It is the integral part of the corporate education.
2.2
The contribution of education and its tasks in
consulting
One of the key tasks of consultants’ education is providing them
with longitudinal and transversal flexibility. The majority of
activities aimed at the improvement of consultants’ professional
competence focuses on self-education in their own field. It is this
exact area which creates a common base for further consultants’
professional growth and development. Many further-training and
development activities in consulting companies are focused
precisely on this objective. Practice has shown that initial
training, of beginner consultants in particular, is just a first step
in the development of the know-how of the respective consulting
company. The second is the preparation of the development of
consultants’career that comes with the need to apply broader
approach and improve new professional competence of
consultants in other fields as well.
In consulting, an individual holds the main responsibility for
his/her professional gowth and development much more often
than in other professions. Probably no other group of
professionals is confronted with information explosion to such
an extent as consultants are. Professional growth of a consultant
develops individually and the results achieved will depend
mostly on his/her own ambitions, determination, perseverance
and intellectual capacity. For consultants, learning is a life-long
work and a categorical obligation. A consultant can at least of all
express the opinion that old methods and procedures are still
useful.
Consultant’s task is to help the client implement progressive
changes in his/her company. All proposals and changes,
suggested by a consultant, should directly or indirectly
contribute to the improvement of the quality of managerial work
and performance of the company. Reaching these goals promote
a complex of knowledge, abilities, skills, experience and
characteristics, known as professional competencies. This term
was used for the first time in 1982 by Boyatzis for defining
personal qualities, motives, experience and behaviour
characteristics according to different classifications [4].
Competencies are soft skills which differentiate the effective
performance from the ineffective [23]. They represent the ability
to perform some activity, the know-how and the qualification in
the respective field. Consultants are competent in case they meet
these three requirements [12]:
They are mentally equipped with characteristics,
knowledge, skills and experience which they inevitably
need for such behaviour.
They are motivated to behave that way, i.e. they regard
such behaviour as valuable and they are eager to make
effort to follow this direction.
Have an opportunity to behave that way in the given
environment.
It has to be emphasized that consultants are competent when
they meet all three requirements.
Competencies are classified differently in the bibliography. One
of the approaches, relevant also for consulting competencies, is
the classification into two categories according to the
performance of the specific post [18]:
1.
Threshold competencies – also called basic competencies.
Every employee needs them as a minimal base for
performing the given post.
2.
Differing competencies – also known as high performance
competencies.
They differentiate above-average
performance from the average performance.
In connection with the consulting profession, it is appropriate to
mention another classification of competencies, mentioned by
Tyron [12]:
Management competencies –
conflict resolution,
negotiation, time management etc.
Interpersonal competencies – communication skills,
presentation skills etc.
Technical competencies – collection and analysis of data,
diagnostics, creation of a budget etc.
Successful consultants are experts who manage the consulting
process to make clients achieve measurable results. They should
be equipped with every single competence we listed and which
we specify as follows:
Intellectual ability – the ability to learn quickly and easily,
observe, select facts, good judgment, creative imagination
and original thinking.
The ability to work with people – tolerance, politeness,
networking and the ability to anticipate people’s reactions
[7].
The ability to communicate, persuade and motivate – being
able to listen to other people and express oneself well. One
of the the preconditions of a good relationship between
both participants of a consulting process (consultant –
client) is communication and the ability of a consultant to
use it in a consulting process. In the field of evaluating the
expert and professional ability of consultants,
communication skills and competencies are required.
Communication skills comprise a summary of levels of
verbal speech, emotional competencies and knowledge.
Besides speaking, reading and writing, also listening and
perception of a non-verbal communication are regarded as
key communication skills [21]
(Vymětal, 2008).
Communication skills mean the ability to read and write
with comprehension, express one’s own thoughts so that
others uderstand them, listen actively and observe
critically.
Presentation skills – An inseparable part of professional
competencies of a consultant carrying out his function are
presentation skills, also known as communication skills
[15], primarily because the aim of the presentation itself,
besides sharing information with participants, is obtaining
a (positive) feedback. Another reason is the fact that the
form of communication, i.e. the way of sharing the subject
of presentation, represents one of the key factors of the
successful presentation. Presentation is the most common
part of the consultant’s work and reflects the level and
nature of the whole consulting process, as well as the
relation between a consultant and a client, while the
importance of the presentation constantly grows.
Intellectual and emotional maturity – independence and
impartiality at formulating conclusions and
recommendations, sef-control and self-restraint, flexibility,
the ability to adapt to changed conditions.
Creative competencies – consultants commonly use routine
knowledge and skills and achieve desired results this way.
Such work approach is reliable and effective, but far from
sufficient. Consultants can rely on standard solutions less
and less. That is why they should be equipped with a
specific competence, which will allow them to find new
ideas and unconventional solutions – creativity [11].
Creativity in consulting is related mainly to the process of
changes, which bring many new information and also risk
and uncertainty. Changes management is typical for
proactive approach, mainly based on looking for new work
methods. Strategy of changes is, on the other hand, the
implementation of such a strategy, which introduces new
patterns of behaviour, thinking and approaches of the key
groups in the client’s company. A strategic change is based
on proposing, managing and maintainance of fundamental
changes in a strategy, concerning the mission, products,
markets, people, organizational structure and further
attributes, resulting in new compliance of the client’s
company with its environment.
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