

Consulting Skills Certificate
Build your credibility as a trusted consultant.
Use a proven model to partner within an organization to drive results and change through talent development solutions.
Whether you consider yourself a consultant or not, chances are you use consulting skills in your work projects closely related to your area of expertise, such as designing a custom training program, or ones you may not see as closely related, such as building and implementing a learning technology system. Regardless of your position, talent professionals must demonstrate strong consulting skills to lead the execution of learning solutions within an organization. You may be a practitioner... Read More
Whether you consider yourself a consultant or not, chances are you use consulting skills in your work projects closely related to your area of expertise, such as designing a custom training program, or ones you may not see as closely related, such as building and implementing a learning technology system. Regardless of your position, talent professionals must demonstrate strong consulting skills to lead the execution of learning solutions within an organization. You may be a practitioner working inside an organization or independent consultant supporting from the outside. Either way, your stakeholders—who your development solutions are intended to support—are your internal clients, and they are looking for your partnership to improve performance and achieve business success.
ATD’s Consulting Skills Certificate program provides you with a five-phase consulting model— rooted in a performance-based approach that prioritizes results over activities—that you can use to diagnose needs, establish goals, and achieve desired performance outcomes for your learning projects. The five phases of the process lay out a practical, step‐by‐step method for addressing a consulting project, beginning from initial contact through the final step of process improvement.
Together with an expert facilitator and a class of your peers, you will explore how to be successful as a consultant. Collaborating in small groups, you will follow a case study from start to finish, apply skills from each phase of the consulting model to practice consulting scenarios, solve problems, role‐play meetings, try out checklists, and practice making decisions consultants make every day. You will leave the program prepared to establish strong client partnerships, overcome obstacles and resistance, and build your consulting credibility to influence decision making.
Why You Should Attend:
- Move from order taker to true business partner by applying an ATD-exclusive model, techniques, and tools to successfully consult with organizations to implement talent development projects.
- Maximize success strategies with internal and external clients, including working across organizational boundaries, providing feedback to senior leaders, and gaining buy-in.
- Evaluate your baseline consulting skills, and identify your developmental needs as a consultant.
- Earn an industry-recognized certificate, continuing education credits, and an ATD digital badge to share with your networks.
This education program is based on the consulting and business partnering capability of the Talent Development Capability Model™. The concepts covered are reflected in the Talent Development Body of Knowledge (TDBoK™), the definitive resource for the talent development profession. Read Less
- Build and strengthen relationships with clients to establish credibility and trust as a valued partner.
- Use the consulting model, tools, and templates to effectively guide clients through the consulting process.
- Develop effective questioning and active listening skills to gather information from the client.
- Collect data to identify problems, opportunities, and root causes.
- Communicate the findings and recommendations based on data analysis.
- Conduct an effective alignment meeting.
- Demonstrate how to overcome resistance and respond to difficult client behaviors.
- Evaluate the results of the solution and identify areas for future improvement.
Partnership: Great Goal, Insufficient Word
As we work and live with others, the word partnership seems to be a common goal. We want to partner better. We want to build business partnerships. We want others to partner with us. Partnership is a...
Make Sure Persuasion and Influence Are in Your Toolbox
We hear about the importance of soft skills—the human skills like active listening and emotional intelligence that can’t be replicated by technology. We don’t hear about persuasion and influence as...
Consulting Skills Certificate Brochure
Download the brochure to learn everything you need to know about this course.
- Driving the Consulting Process as a Partner
- Examining the Consulting Process
- Additional Tools and Resources:
- Assess Your Learning Competencies
- ATD’s Consulting Model
- Developing the Consultant-Client Relationship
- Assessing Your Client’s Readiness
- Aligning on Expectations
- Additional Tools and Resources:
- Exploratory Meeting Worksheet
- Organizational Change Readiness Predictor
- Consulting Project Planning Guide
- Project Acceptance Agreement
- Using Data to Improve Consulting
- Defining the Problem and Root Causes
- Collecting Data
- Additional Tools and Resources:
- Interview Planning Checklist
- Interpreting the Data
- Delivering the Findings
- Encountering Resistance
- Conducting and Alignment Meeting
- Additional Tools and Resources:
- One-Page Project Overview
- Fundamental Design Features of Feedback
- Feedback Planning Tool
- Conducting an Alignment Meeting
- Building an Implementation Team
- Implementing the Changes
- Additional Tools and Resources:
- Alignment Checklist
- Project Management Checklist
- Accountability Chart
- Finishing a Project
- Achieving Success as a Consultant
- Additional Tools and Resources
- Consultant Reaction Evaluation Template
- Consulting Process Evaluation Checklist
Talent development professionals or talent solutions teams who consult either internally or externally to design and implement learning solutions within an organization should attend. The program benefits professionals who are new to a consulting role or those who want to prepare to assume this role in the future. A baseline self-evaluation at the start of the program will help more experienced consultants focus on the skills they want to develop as they move through the program.

“As someone who has been in various roles in this field for over 20 years, I felt that the program provided new insight, some valuable tools and feedback, as well as a ‘shot in the arm’ of confidence that I needed in an area that I haven't practiced in for a few years.”

"I would recommend this program because it's hands on and a nice balance between theory and practical experience. The facilitator did a wonderful job of making it relevant to our organization, and even took the time to get to know our strategy and make links, which had a huge impact on the group."
"This program was full of "real world" templates and lists that were immediately applicable back on the job. Some workshops don't give you valuable takeaways or they are more theory/conceptual. The facilitator was extremely knowledgeable about the content and brought it to life."
Things to Know
ATTENDANCE
For full-day face-to-face and live online programs, participation in all originally scheduled days of the program, including both face-to-face and live online formats, is mandatory in order to receive the certificate of completion and CEUs. Participants who miss more than two hours of the entire program will not be eligible to receive the certificate. Participants who fulfill the attendance requirement will receive a certificate at the end of the program.
For multi-week, live online programs with five or more sessions, one missed live session can be made up by listening to the session recording in full. Participants who miss more than one live session will not be eligible to receive the certificate. To be marked complete for that one session, please email [email protected]. For programs with four or fewer sessions, attendance at all live sessions is required to receive a certificate. All sessions will be recorded and available for participants to review throughout the program for your reference.
ATD requires active participation throughout the program to receive credit. Active participation in live online sessions includes, but is not limited to, participating in virtual classroom activities, discussions, breakout sessions, and intersession work. Please note that using a tablet or mobile device significantly limits your ability to fully and actively participate.
If you meet the eligibility requirements, a certificate will be issued to you through the ATD Learning Platform at the end of the program.
CREDITS
14.0 learning hours
1.4 CEUs awarded
This program is eligible for 14.0 professional development hours or recertification points from the ATD Certification Institute (ATD CI) for the APTD or CPTD credential.
This program has been approved for 14.0 (General) recertification credit hours toward PHR, SPHR, and GPHR recertification through the HR Certification Institute.
This program is valid for 14.0 PDCs for the SHRM-CP or SHRM-SCP. For more information about certification or recertification, please visit shrm.org/certification.
TECHNICAL REQUIREMENTS
A laptop computer with Wi-Fi capability is required for both face-to-face and online programs. Please do not bring mobile devices (phones, tablets, etc.) in lieu of a laptop. There will be no computers available on-site for participants. Note: You might not have an optimal experience if you are using Internet Explorer or Microsoft Edge to access your courses. Chrome is the recommended browser.
ATD LEARNING PORTAL
Enrolled in a program? Sign in to the ATD Learning Portal with your ATD account credentials two weeks before the first day of class to:
- Engage with your facilitator and peers.
- Access pre-work assignments.
- View any technical requirements.
- Review logistical information.
TRANSFERS/CANCELLATIONS
Click here to review our cancellation policy.
ATD HEALTH & SAFETY POLICY
View our health protocols for in-person courses.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
Have additional questions about ATD courses? Visit our FAQs for answers.