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Certificate Program
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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.

Face-to-Face
Face-to-Face
Live Online
Live Online
Credits: CEU 1.4 MORE
Level: Capable
Role(s): Independent Consultant More
Language(s): English
Capability Area(s): Consulting and Business Partnering More
Course Info

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

What You Will Learn
  • 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.
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Get the Course Brochure Brochure

Consulting Skills Certificate Brochure

Download the brochure to learn everything you need to know about this course.

Couse Topics
Becoming a More Effective Consultant
  • Driving the Consulting Process as a Partner
  • Examining the Consulting Process
  • Additional Tools and Resources:
    • Assess Your Learning Competencies
    • ATD’s Consulting Model
Assessing the Need
  • 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
Understanding the Issue
  • Using Data to Improve Consulting
  • Defining the Problem and Root Causes
  • Collecting Data
  • Additional Tools and Resources:
    • Interview Planning Checklist
Presenting Findings and Interpretation
  • 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
Developing and Implementing the Solution
  • Conducting an Alignment Meeting
  • Building an Implementation Team
  • Implementing the Changes
  • Additional Tools and Resources:
    • Alignment Checklist
    • Project Management Checklist
    • Accountability Chart
Completing the Project and Evaluating the Results
  • Finishing a Project
  • Achieving Success as a Consultant
  • Additional Tools and Resources
    • Consultant Reaction Evaluation Template
    • Consulting Process Evaluation Checklist
Who Should Attend

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.

Level: Capable
Roles: Independent Consultant, Instructional Designer, Trainer/Facilitator
Language: English
What Our Participants are Saying
Sue_Garner
Sue Garner

“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.”

Meriya_Dyble
Meriya Dyble

"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."

SH
Susan Heil

"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."

Dates & Locations
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  • Mar 26-Apr 04, 2024
    01:30 PM - 05:00 PM
    Live Online
    Live Online
  • Apr 09-18, 2024
    01:30 PM - 05:00 PM
    Live Online
    Live Online
  • Apr 30-May 09, 2024
    09:00 AM - 12:30 PM
    Live Online
    Live Online
  • May 02-03, 2024
    09:00 AM - 05:00 PM
    Face-to-Face
    Taipei, Taiwan
  • May 07-16, 2024
    01:30 PM - 05:00 PM
    Live Online
    Live Online
  • May 07-29, 2024
    12:00 AM - 04:30 AM
    Live Online
    Live Online
  • May 14, 2024
    09:00 AM - 05:00 PM
    Face-to-Face
    Shanghai City, China
  • May 17-18, 2024
    09:30 AM - 05:30 PM
    Face-to-Face
    New Orleans, LA
  • Jun 04-13, 2024
    09:00 AM - 12:30 PM
    Live Online
    Live Online
  • Jun 25-26, 2024
    09:00 AM - 05:00 PM
    Face-to-Face
    Beijing, China
  • Jul 09-18, 2024
    01:30 PM - 05:00 PM
    Live Online
    Live Online
  • Aug 05-26, 2024
    12:00 AM - 04:30 AM
    Live Online
    Live Online
  • Aug 06-15, 2024
    01:30 PM - 05:00 PM
    Live Online
    Live Online
  • Aug 27-Sep 05, 2024
    09:00 AM - 12:30 PM
    Live Online
    Live Online
  • Aug 29-30, 2024
    09:00 AM - 05:00 PM
    Face-to-Face
    Chengdu, China
  • Sep 03-12, 2024
    09:00 AM - 12:30 PM
    Live Online
    Live Online
  • Sep 07-08, 2024
    09:00 AM - 05:00 PM
    Face-to-Face
    Taipei, Taiwan
  • Sep 17-26, 2024
    01:30 PM - 05:00 PM
    Live Online
    Live Online
  • Oct 24-25, 2024
    09:00 AM - 05:00 PM
    Face-to-Face
    Shanghai City, China
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Facilitators
Lynn Lewis, CPTD
Erica Nelson
Sardek Love
Donna Steffey, CPTD

Things to Know

COMPLETION REQUIREMENTS

Participation in all originally scheduled days of the program, including both face-to-face and live online formats, and completion of all coursework is mandatory to receive the certificate of completion and continuing education credits.

Face-to-Face Programs:
Participants who miss more than two hours of the entire program will not be eligible to receive the certificate.

Live Online Programs:
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.

Make-up policy: You can miss and make up one session* by listening to a session recording. Instructions for reporting make-up sessions are posted on ATD’s learning platform.

*For full-day sessions, you can only miss up to 3.5 hours and make up the time by listening to the recording.

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 to participate in ATD Programs.

Face-to-Face Program Components (if applicable):
Please do not bring mobile devices (for example, phones or tablets) instead of a laptop. There will be no computers available on-site for participants. Note: You might not have an optimal experience using Internet Explorer or Microsoft Edge to access your courses. Chrome is the recommended browser.

Live Online Program Components (if applicable):
You must log in to the learning platform to access course content and to join all live online sessions. Special software is not required. You only need a standard web browser and Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) capability to participate. Please join your session from a location with a strong internet connection and plan to use VoIP for your audio during the entire session.

ATD LEARNING PLATFORM

Enrolled in a program? To check your course status and enrollment details, launch your course, or download your certificate, go to MyATD.

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.