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

At a time of change in our marketplace, LSA Global did an exceptional job helping our executive team create strategic clarity by helping us to define, clarify, and prioritize our corporate vision, mission, values, differentiation, target clients, strategic priorities, success metrics and key roles.

They beautifully navigated a very difficult and fuzzy situation, respectfully cleared out all of the cultural elephants, and shared impactful insights and leadership development theories along the way. They have transformed our business.

Laurie Sewell
President & CEO

It was a challenge to find a consultant with an approach to performance improvement that fit our unique performance culture and style. We were pleasantly surprised to discover LSA’s depth of expertise in the fields of motivation, developmental coaching, performance management, and measurement.

LSA seamlessly integrated those components without our folks feeling like the intervention was forced. They understood what we were trying to accomplish, helped us clarify our objectives, and created a solid, refreshing approach that quickly got us moving and engaged at all levels across the organization.

Overall, I couldn’t be happier that we found a true strategy and implementation partner in LSA.

Doug Hansen
President and Director

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

I continue to be impressed by the depth and breadth of LSA’s expertise in leadership development, and management development.

What a smart and client-centric group of great people who really know how to help leaders attract, engage, develop and retain top talent in a practical and results-driven manner.

Thank you LSA!

Tracy Esposito
Director, HR Business Partner

LSA’s action-learning leadership approach has been very beneficial to me, our leadership team, and the entire organization.

The balance of development and results has been excellent.

We have made huge progress, and I was also able to identify 2-3 high potentials while having the extra benefit of people stepping up to carry key strategic projects forward.

The experience was better than anticipated. I could not be more pleased.

Heather Feltman
President & CEO

We contacted LSA to help us design and deliver customized management development programs. LSA worked with us to meet our exact needs. We started at the top with our executive team. It was such a great success that we rolled it out company-wide. We look forward to a long-term partnership with LSA Global and their team of experts.

Barry L. Byrd, SPHR
Human Resources Manager

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 is an excellent sales and leadership outsource partner! They listen to our needs, are responsive, and work at a pace that keeps up with our rapid speed.

We have found LSA to bring strategic, innovative, and practical solutions to meet our business priorities by partnering effectively with our key staff. I consider them to be an important external extension of our team.

Thank you!

Wendy Chinn
Sr. Director, Global Sales Enablement

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

Your team was amazing. Facilitative Leadership was one of the best leadership and change workshops my team has ever attended. Thank you!

Diane White
Executive Director, Head of Product Development

As a high growth agency with cutting edge talent, we hired LSA Global to help clarify our strategy and work with our executive leadership team to help implement strategic changes in a way that made sense for our unique culture.

The work was so successful that we also hired them to coach our key leaders. LSA has been instrumental in helping us transition to a new leadership team and triple revenue. In this age of useless consultants, I highly recommend their practical and business-oriented approach to strategy, culture, and talent.

David Bentley
General Manager

LSA consistently delivers for me and my team. Recently they demonstrated the criticality for executives to look beyond current ethics topics and focus on applying fundamental values in everything they do to demonstrate true leadership. They successfully delivered in two hours what most leadership development facilitators would spend an entire day trying to communicate.

Nick Voyvodich, SPHR
HR Manager

We turned to LSA to help us custom design and deliver a action leadership and management development curriculum to help drive performance across the company.

They have done an excellent job diagnosing the business situation, designing an approach that fits our unique culture, and delivering first class solutions. Thank you!

Sally Buchannan
VP Human Resources

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

Over the years, both at 3Com and now at Redback, I’ve found LSA Global to be a valuable partner. The recent management programs that they delivered for Redback’s executive and management teams was the right solution, of the highest of quality, and customized to fit our unique business and culture. I would highly recommend LSA to any company looking for top quality solutions.

Gina Fulton
Vice President of Human Resources

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.