2023

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How to Beat the Procrastination Bug at Your Consulting Firm

David A Fields

Most of the time, you and your colleagues at your consulting firm are hard-working, nose-to-the-grindstone types. But today… well, today it’s gorgeous outside. Today you’d rather play golf, or watch golf videos on YouTube, or shop for golf gear. Hey… that time-lapse video on growing fescue looks sorta interesting! In fact, anything other than work … Continued The post How to Beat the Procrastination Bug at Your Consulting Firm appeared first on David A.

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How to Create Partnerships Instead of Using Stakeholders

Johanna Rothman

Strategy and Product Feedback Loops About 20 years ago, I taught a project management workshop to IT people. Their products and services did not ship outside the building—their products and services enabled the organization to make money. During that workshop, the participants all had the same question, “How do we engage our stakeholders?

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Management Consulting

CaseInterview.com

Management consulting is an industry that offers assistance with this kind of high-level decision-making and problem-solving. Management Consultants help businesses make strategic decisions that directly impact the entire company. They evaluate issues that the client is facing and help them develop action plans for improvement. C onsultants can offer an outside, unbiased perspective to the problem and devote their full attention to solving it.

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How to Become a Better Leader Than You Ever Thought Possible

Organizational Talent Consulting

What makes certain leaders excel in the workplace while others struggle? Have you ever wondered if you were capable of getting more out of life and work? In the Netflix series Medal of Honor, inspiring stories of impossible bravery are recreated from sworn accounts and battlefield forensics. You quickly learn combat is not something great, and recipients of the nation's highest recognition don't set it as a goal.

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Why You Need to Use Case Studies in Sales and Marketing (and How to Start Now)

Case studies are proof of successful client relations and a verifiable product or service. They persuade buyers by highlighting your customers' experiences with your company and its solution. In sales, case studies are crucial pieces of content that can be tailored to prospects' pain points and used throughout the buyer's journey. In marketing, case studies are versatile assets for generating business, providing reusable elements for ad and social media content, website material, and marketing c

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5 Ways to say No

The Management Centre

I find it really hard to say no to colleagues’ requests – never mind my manager – and I feel like I’m drowning at times. Help! Ah, yes – you’re not alone. One of the biggest challenges participants talk about on our management training courses is ‘I just don’t know how to say no.’ Like many people, it sounds as though you want to be a team player and so end up saying yes to every request that comes your way – whatever your own pressing priorities.

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Servant Leadership: Principles, Popularity, and Payoff

Rick Conlow

Grasp Servant Leadership principles, popularity, and payoff to begin to excel as a leader. With employee engagement and retention on a decline this leadership approach is long overdue. Robert Greenleaf first introduced the Servant leadership style in his 1970 essay, “The Servant as Leader.” The concept of servant leadership is simple: leaders focus on serving the needs of their team members, rather than their own personal interests or only emphasizing profit.

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Leadership Challenge: Are You Anchored or Adrift?

Makarios Consulting

Fifteen years have passed, but I (Tim) still remember the meeting as if it was yesterday. A dozen senior leaders were sitting around the conference table. I was leading them in an exercise to identify their core values. One of the executives frowned down at the materials in front of him, then caught my eye. He asked with a puzzled tone, “Do you mean my core values at work or at home?

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Who Is Going to Regulate AI?

Harvard Business

As the world reckons with the impact of powerful new AI systems, governments are jostling to lead the regulatory charge — and shape how this technology will grow.

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Here’s The Way Experts Avoid B2B Digital Marketing Blunders

Henry DeVries

Learn the biggest digital marketing blunders B2B organizations make, and tips on what to do instead.

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The Art of Remote Collaboration: How to Successfully Whiteboard with Remote Teams

Just because we're working with a distributed team doesn't mean we have to abandon time-tested tools and methods like whiteboarding. Digital look-alikes often cramp creativity and all but eliminate the humanity of shared interactions. Hardware solutions are also limiting and, of course, expensive and immobile. In an increasingly digital and remote-first world, it’s important for us to select tools and processes that allow us to mitigate if not eliminate the above problems.

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The spark

Seth Godin Blog

No matter how big your backpack is, you can’t carry a bonfire with you when you go on a camping trip. A match is sufficient. Conversations are like that. Conversations are the tools that change our culture. Someone who cares talking with and teaching and learning from someone who was ready to engage. My new book is out today. It’s the most urgent, most personal and most timely book of my career.

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Are Your Clients Resistant or Just Confused? [Consulting Essentials]

David A Fields

Consultants frequently (and unknowingly) mishandle proposal discussions with prospective clients. As a result, they take on projects that were improperly scoped. Or they set their consulting firm up to disappoint the client, leave opportunities on the table or, in some cases, lose promising engagements. Imagine you submitted a proposal to Sara Noé, CEO of Bean-Free … Continued The post Are Your Clients Resistant or Just Confused?

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Middle Management Guideline: Only Plan for as Long As Your Management Can Commit

Johanna Rothman

Sherry, a middle manager in a relatively small organization, said, “We can’t plan for an entire quarter at a time. Our managers need to change what they want more often than that. But I'd like to plan for a quarter at a time and I really don't want to ask people to multitask. What do I do?” “How long can the managers commit to their decisions?

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The Problem with Social Media

CaseInterview.com

I see several risk factors in relying on information shared through social media to shape your worldview, your values, and your stance on particular issues. The primary purpose of social media is not to inform or connect; it is to make money. Posts, TikToks, Reels, tweets, likes, and shares are entirely secondary. The objective of social media is to generate revenue.

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Microsoft Dynamics 365 Buyer's Guide for Management Consultants

Whether you're a small firm or a large enterprise, the Microsoft Dynamics 365 Buyer's Guide for Professional Services is a must-read for any Professional Services firm looking into Microsoft Dynamics 365. This guide will provide an overview of the entire platform and answer questions about features, selection, purchasing, implementation, and support of the Dynamics 365 suite of solutions.

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Why Character Matters in Leadership

Organizational Talent Consulting

Every leader wants to be successful. But sometimes, the results achieved come at the cost of character. Civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. suggested that the most dangerous person is likely gifted with reason but no morals. A blind passion for results damages a leader's reputation and the organization. Evidence from workplace studies on the benefits of character suggests that leaders with high character scores outperform others on company performance metrics.

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How do I find out what makes my staff tick?

The Management Centre

In this blog, =mc Director Charlotte Scott shares practical advice on how to motivate your teams. I want my team to feel motivated in their roles – what can I do? It’s generally agreed that motivation is a good thing – and a topic all managers think about at some point. Motivated staff perform their jobs more effectively. They are also more creative, flexible and healthy.

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Successful L&D Project Managers Have These Skills

Clarity Consultants

Managing learning and development (L&D) projects are often challenging. However, having a skilled project manager makes the process more straightforward. Ideally, you want to ensure that your L&D project manager has specific capabilities as they increase their odds of success. Here’s a look at the skills all successful L&D project managers share.

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The Art of Communication is the Language of Leadership

Rick Conlow

The quote “ The art of communication is the language of leadership” is often attributed to James Humes. He was a an author, and speechwriter for several U.S. presidents, including Ronald Reagan. This quote punctuates the critical nature of communication to effective and successful leadership. Why do leaders communicate poorly? Check out these eight common factors that can contribute to ineffective leadership or management communication: Lack of clarity: Leaders may fail to articulate

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The B2B Sales Leader's Guide for Any Economic Environment

When economic headwinds pick up, sales leaders are the first to sound the alarm — and chart a new course. Longer sales cycles, larger buying committees, increased price pressure, and smaller teams can quickly combine to reduce your margin for error and increase the urgency to find a solution. To thrive in a challenging environment, sales teams need a rock-solid grasp of the fundamentals and the biggest force-multipliers they can get their hands on.

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Your Brand vs. Your Consulting Firm’s Brand. Which Should Win?

David A Fields

A senior colleague at your consulting firm keynotes Cacao Jam, the cacao dessert industry’s annual conference. As she wraps up her inspiring tale of the modern workplace melting pot, the audience rises to its feet. She basks in the thunderous applause and the glow of the spotlight framing her against the chocolatey brown backdrop. You … Continued The post Your Brand vs.

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Recognize the Problems That Prevent Effective Meetings (Collocated, Remote, Hybrid)

Johanna Rothman

Meetings. We all have them. Most of us hate them. When I ask why, here are some of the responses I hear: They take too much time away from our “real work.” It's too hard to find time to meet. Our calendars are too full. We can't find a place to meet. If we're back in the office, we have no meeting rooms. Or, we have some remote people, so we need several “places” to meet and the technology to support all those places.

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Five Reasons Why Frequent Training Keeps Employees Engaged

Clarity Consultants

Employee engagement is commonly a top concern for companies, as engaged employees are classically more productive and offer more robust outputs. However, finding a strategy for boosting engagement isn’t always straightforward. Every worker is different, so their needs and priorities might not match those of their colleagues. However, one approach that’s nearly guaranteed to produce results is offering frequent training.

Training 105
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3 Ways Training Can Be Used to Fill Learning Gaps in the Workplace

Clarity Consultants

In today’s rapidly evolving workplace, ensuring employees have comprehensive skill sets is increasingly critical for companies that want to remain competitive. However, this is challenging in the current landscape. Skill gaps are pervasive, so recruiting candidates with the missing capabilities is only sometimes practical. Fortunately, learning and development (L&D) initiatives can be used to fill learning gaps in the workplace.

Training 104
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The Law Firm Billing Handbook: A Comprehensive Guide to Automated Billing

Traditional billing practices can leave paralegals and many staff at law firms spending countless hours manually creating and sending invoices, tracking billable hours, and processing paper checks. In this guide to legal billing, we uncover what it takes to create an efficient billing process that optimizes your time while improving the accuracy of your billing.

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How To Recognize Effective Project and Program Management

Johanna Rothman

Random Feature Roadmap for One Program. Several people on social media have denigrated the terms “project manager” and “program manager.” These people claim there is no need for either role in an effective team, especially an agile team because the team can manage its own deliverables. While some agile teams can manage their own deliverables, that's not the only role for a project or program manager.

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Book Birthday: Successful Independent Consulting: Focus on Relationships That Matter

Johanna Rothman

I am thrilled to announce a book birthday: Successful Independent Consulting: Focus on Relationships That Matter. People often ask me how long it takes me to write a book. Every book takes the time it takes. But this one took much longer than I expected. Here's the story of the consulting book. In the mid-2000s… I started my consulting business back in 1994.

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Servant Leadership: The Antidote to Toxic Workplaces

Rick Conlow

Servant Leadership is the antidote to toxic workplaces. Unfortunately, toxic offices, plants, stores, and managers abound. Too often companies take advantage of employees and treat them as lower class citizens. Employees want and need leaders who are humane, empathetic and skilled in emotional intelligence. Managers of the future will have the people skills to lead highly productive and engaging hybrid work teams.

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What's Servant Leadership?

Organizational Talent Consulting

Have you ever wondered what servant leadership is? Maybe you already understand the basic concepts but have questions about how servant leadership differs from other leadership styles or if a servant leadership approach is appropriate for your team. The costs of poor leadership often show up in the workplace disguised as low employee engagement, a lack of team cohesion and collaboration, high employee turnover, and failed execution.

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2022 On-Demand Hiring Pay Rate Trend Report

With two-thirds of consulting firms saying they’re short-staffed, high-performing consulting companies are closing the gap by adopting on-demand hiring. But how are independent consultants pricing their projects? Find out in this report.

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Staying Up to Date on Instructional Design Technology

Clarity Consultants

Staying up to date on instructional design technology is essential for creating practical coursework that takes advantage of cutting-edge tech. Additionally, it makes it easier to remain efficient while launching new projects and ensures learner engagement, as technology commonly assists with both areas. Whether you’re an instructional design professional or a company that wants to remain current, it’s wise to embrace specific approaches to stay up-to-date on emerging trends.

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How to Start a Nonfiction Book to Educate, Inspire, or Influence Your Ideal Reader to Act

Johanna Rothman

Many nonfiction writers start books with outlines. I'm not big on outlines because they shortcut the writer's thinking. ( Nonfiction writers think and learn as they write.) However, some writers go off on tangents without outlines. Or, some writers (raises hand) are prone to put everything she ever learned about this topic into one book. Either of those problems make it difficult to finish a book before the writer dies.

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8 Reasons Why eLearning is Beneficial for an Organization

Clarity Consultants

When running a business, you want to ensure that your employees are as trained and knowledgeable as possible. And while hiring the right candidates is important, there are steps you can take to ensure that they are well-equipped for the job–like taking training courses. And while there are countless training courses, choosing the one that is the best fit for you and your business is of utmost importance.

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