Using Consulting Systems—Business Skills

A Systems Approach

In its simplest terms, consulting means providing expert assistance to someone. This definition incorporates nonbusiness skills and business expertise. This Info-line presents four phases of consulting: preparing the contract, analyzing the client system, solving the problem, and following up. Note that the approach presented here is primarily useful for the consultant as problem solver, although the same principles can be applied to other aspects of consultant work, such as supporting successful initiatives or developing new ones.

While preparing the contract provides the foundation of a consulting project by establishing a relationship of trust with the client and developing guidelines for the project, consulting does not ...