Consultative Partnering: Essentials for Influence and Impact

The Essentials of Consultative Partnering

“The Consultative Partnering workshop was crucial in helping our HR business partners work more strategically with their internal clients and stakeholders.

The skills and techniques greatly improved their ability to gain understand the situation, credibility, sell recommendations, and apply a strategic consulting process to get better results.”
SVP Human Resources | Fortune 1000 Technology Company

This foundational consulting skills workshop is targeted primarily toward individual contributors and technical professionals. It provides participants with the Consultative Partnering™ tools and interpersonal skills necessary to achieve exceptional results in projects and client relationships.

Participants apply effective communication tools and a consulting process that helps them work more effectively as business partners with their internal and external client teams. Join the 22,000+ professionals who have benefited from this premier consulting skills training.

Description
The ability for Professional Services Consultants, Engineering, IT, Sales, Finance, Operations, and HR to build partnerships has become a critical competency in today’s business environment. It is no longer enough to provide “off the shelf” services or solutions.

Clients need and want to work with professionals who understand their business issues and can provide customized solutions that meet their specific revenue or productivity objectives.

During this consulting skills workshop, participants:

Engage in dynamic discussions and job-specific application activities using customized cases, real-life examples, and practice.
Receive targeted feedback through self-assessments and coaching
Focus on their team and individual situations through relevant, interactive, and experiential activities.

Outcomes and Benefits
After completing Essentials of Consultative Partnering, participants will be able to:

1. Understand Business Issues and Provide Business Solutions

Identify business issues, needs, and strategies
Provide options to meet and solve the business challenge
Recommend business solutions that are relevant to the client
Offer targeted solutions that produce business results, not just technical results

2. Expand Influence

Be viewed as a business partner
Identify new opportunities with current clients
Grow the network of people within the client group who have influence on a given project
Build confidence and increase productivity through effective interactions

3. Increase Client/Partner Satisfaction

Achieve results and heighten overall client satisfaction by understanding their needs, providing solutions to meet those needs, and helping them to execute on the solution ideas
Broaden the role of business partner to better serve the client’s needs
Minimize escalation to improve satisfaction
More effectively manage projects and initiatives

Target Audience
The Essentials of Consultative Partnering workshop is targeted at professionals across all industries that interact with internal and/or external clients such as Professional Services Consultants, Engineering, IT, Sales, Finance, Human Resources, and Operations.

To speak with an LSA Expert and learn about consulting skills program customization and delivery options onsite at your company, please contact us.

Related Information

LSA has been a tremendous asset at my current company and my past company.

As an HR leader, I am always looking for ways to find external resources that can provide impactful leadership and management development expertise. LSA consistently does that for me.

The tools and practices are crisp, business relevant, and easy to apply on the job.

Ken Boehm
VP of Human Resources

Having taken on a new executive leadership role, one of my first calls was to LSA Global to help my leadership team to design, implement, and cascade clear strategic plans. First, LSA helped our leadership team identify the strategy, culture, and talent areas that mattered most to create organizational alignment.

Then they helped facilitate the design of a strategic growth plan that is clear, compelling, believable, and implementable. We now have 100% commitment from an aligned leadership team and key stakeholders going forward.

I would recommend LSA to anyone who wants to create high levels of strategic alignment, growth, and performance.

Erik Arvesen
Vice President, General Manager

After a difficult search to find a partner that could address a very specific leadership development need, we chose LSA Global. They were responsive to our needs and created a highly customized solution that we continue to see results from. It is nice to know we have access to their expertise with a simple phone call.

Valerie Blackburn
Director of Business Operations

What a refreshing change from the half-baked psycho-babble you normally get from training and consulting organizations. LSA gives you the practical and results-oriented assistance you need to define and reach your goals.

Their leadership, management, and sales expertise has been invaluable. They think strategically and provide a results driven plan – not just a temporary fix.

They are great to work with, and even more importantly, they “get it!”

David Fiano
Director of Merchandising

At the onset of our engagement with LSA, I was skeptical that an outside firm would be able to understand and dissect our organization’s highly complex and technical business challenges.

However, through the leadership team interview and strategy retreat processes that LSA utilized, they provided a fresh, innovative, and practical perspective that created tremendous strategic value and focus for our executive leadership team.

As a result, I would highly recommend LSA Global to any leader struggling with building the strategic alignment and high performance teams necessary to generate sales growth, in a way that fits their unique corporate culture.

Robert Laudati
Managing Director

Thanks for your incredible patience and passion working with our leadership team to create alignment.

Your leadership and executive coaching services have been one of the most effective I’ve ever known.

Debbie Von Raesfeld
Director and HR Business Partner

Great job in designing the Mergers and Acquisition strategy session for our global leadership team. The session was excellent.

I gained additional insight on the importance of the role of HR regarding strategy, culture, and people in Mergers and Acquisitions and would recommend LSA to anyone looking to align strategies and cultures.

Gloria Veon
Senior Vice President, Human Resources

We have had a very beneficial partnership with LSA. Their recent Leadership Development Program helped us to identify, develop, and retain top leaders. It was instrumental in helping take our company and our key people to the next level. I would recommend them to anyone looking to truly develop and retain top talent.

Steve Janowsky
Vice President of Operations

The strategy and alignment work with our leadership team was absolutely transformational. The decisions we made combined with the transparency, communication, and accountability were exactly what we needed. Thank you!

Dr. Raphael B. Merriman M.D
Medical Director, Liver Transplantation

LSA helped us with leadership development by designing a solution to match our unique needs and culture.

It was a huge success. I would highly recommend LSA to help take leaders and managers to the next level.

Karen King, SPHR
Manager, Human Resources

The customized leadership program was very practical and achieved our goals. LSA adapted very well to our group and the situation and helped us build trust and awareness of successful leadership styles. We look forward to the next steps.

Erik Okholm
Director of Software Development

LSA helped us design and deliver blended leadership solutions for our key leaders to help drive our growth plans in a way that aligned with our unique culture and values.

LSA understood our business, had deep expertise in the content areas, customized the leadership development programs to fit our specific needs, and delivered great results in alignment with our strategic priorities, culture, and performance management systems.

I highly recommend them to anyone looking to take their leaders and the performance of their teams to the next level.

Beth A. Taylor
Vice President of Human Resources

We consider LSA Global the top outsourced learning and development partner.

We work closely with LSA to customize leadership and management development programs to meet our growing business needs.

I would highly recommend LSA to any company wanting to deliver high quality and practical learning solutions for their leaders and managers.

Terri Wright-Scheer
Vice President Human Resources

LSA Global has been a great partner in helping us move toward being “the leading developer of talent in the service performance management industry.”

I have engaged LSA to help develop best-in-class programs in the areas of: Executive On-boarding, Manager Training, Sales Training and Coaching, Employee Engagement, and Instructional Design.

They have consistently met or exceeded my (very) high expectations and are always responsive to my needs to increase performance, engagement, customer satisfaction, and sales growth.

Mike Normant
Senior Director, Training & Development

I continue to be impressed by the level of leadership development training and management expertise and quality of advice and facilitation that LSA has to offer.

What a smart and client-centric group of great people who really know how to help assess and develop high performing leaders.

Tracy Esposito
Director

FAQs

Consultative approach training helps professionals build stronger partnerships by understanding business needs, asking thoughtful questions, and working collaboratively to solve organizational challenges. Rather than simply responding to requests, participants learn how to become trusted advisors who help internal clients make better decisions and achieve better business outcomes.

This program is designed for HR business partners, finance professionals, IT leaders, project managers, learning and development professionals, internal consultants, operations leaders, and functional experts who work across departments. It is especially valuable for anyone who must influence without direct authority and partner effectively with internal stakeholders.

Participants learn how to build credibility quickly, ask insightful diagnostic questions, uncover root causes, manage stakeholder expectations, navigate competing priorities, influence decisions, facilitate productive conversations, and recommend practical solutions that align with organizational goals. The focus is on improving both business partnership and execution.

A consultative approach shifts conversations from reactively fulfilling requests to proactively solving business problems together. By developing a deeper understanding of stakeholder priorities, constraints, and success measures, professionals can improve alignment, reduce misunderstandings, strengthen cross-functional relationships, and help teams make more informed decisions that support enterprise-wide objectives.

The most effective programs emphasize real business challenges rather than hypothetical scenarios. Participants practice with realistic situations, receive coaching and feedback, develop action plans tied to their current responsibilities, and apply proven frameworks that help them strengthen relationships with internal clients and increase their strategic impact on the business.