“An outstanding manager does not mean an outstanding consulting expert. Each function requires different set of skills.” – said Mr. Nicolai Andler, the Director of Ignite – Group and the senior consulting expert, especially in the field of management and IT. With the expert’s experience and enthusiasm to clarify this point as well as share core consulting competences and knowledge with driven attendants, the seminar on “Consulting skills” hold by MBA-MCI Program, HCM University of Technology, on recent 24 July 2011 became an ebullient discussion between managers and experts.

According to Mr. Nicolai Anlder, consulting is a systematic approach to solving a problem in a professional process including four main steps: diagnosis, goal setting, analysis and decision making even though this process could be adjusted to various kinds of problem. These essential consulting activities requires a complete spectrum of body of consulting knowledge, which is the combination of general knowledge on commerce and economics as well as the profession, ethics…, core consulting competences and detailed functional consulting or industry expertise. In addition, he also emphasized the importance of the cognitive and methodological competences for personal development: “The different problem solving models and consulting approaches are often similar. The important part is that you understand the principle”. Those competences could be talents or shaped by skills and experience in life… To provide the attendants with an overview of consulting process so that they could customize it into their companies as well as develop personal skills, different kind of charts, consulting toolbox and concepts were introduced during that two – hour session. A case study concerning human resource problem in a French insurance company was raised at the end of the session in order to help attendants absorb the enlightenment as much as they could and promote the networking among them as well.

To sum up, a person could achieve success in their work if he understands the current economic scenario in globalization as well as realizes the core competences and knowledge for appropriate development.