Consulting Services

• An Independent Consultant is not  only a subject-matter expert, but also brings the value of an unbiased third-party viewpoint and perspective. 
• Consulting can be extremely customizable and as a result, consultants typically serve in one of 3 ways:
  • Role #1: Advisory – as an advisor, the consultant serves as your backstage resource, meeting with a small team that is tasked with achieving a particular goal. This role includes acting as a sounding  board for plans, ideas for implementation steps, and acting as a devil’s advocate on key moves. 
    • The average length of this role is anywhere from  1 to 3 months.
  • Role #2: Consultative – in a consultative  capacity, and in addition to the responsibilities and contributions of   Role #1, the consultant would work with selected managers, team leaders,       and others to help them individually with their role, recommend adjustments to systems and procedures, and attend pre-determined meetings to evaluate  the effectiveness of critical elements. 
    • The average length of this role is anywhere from  3 to 6 months.
  • Collaborative - In addition to the       responsibilities and contributions of Roles #1 and #2, the collaborative  role allows the consultant to recommend specific work distribution changes, recommend appropriate personnel changes, provide specific skills       development, and/or coaching to any employee identified by the primary team. 
    • The average length of this role is anywhere from  6 months to a year.

• In addition to the value of an      unbiased third-party perspective, consultants come, improve, and depart, with no intention of the corner office and/or a retirement plan.
• Through their expertise, they can also expand your network of   resources, provide fast access to an expert who can add immediate value,  provide real-time and impartial feedback from members of your team, and  can bring cost-effective responses to transformational needs.
• Since consultants can help you for as little or as long as you need (see time frames listed above), they are a quick solution that creates a low-risk, high-reward situation for any organization.
• Additionally, as a consultant works on the initial project, they often become more familiar with your organizational culture, team, and  processes, allowing them to identify other areas that can be improved, streamlined, and/or automated.
• Sometimes the client knows what they want but may not always be sure what they actually need. As a  result, part of our initial consultation would include a determination of  key pain points and an assessment of how these underlying issues are  affecting the organization. 
• That assessment is done through a short series of interviews with selected staff and a preliminary report is given to leadership. Since we believe in providing the most      value that we can to prospective clients, that assessment and report is  provided free of charge, with no obligation to retain any of our services.

Coaching is a very common deliverable when it comes to a consulting practice. In other words, it’s one of the ways that the best consultants can help assess underlying issues and help both the leadership and the employees of the organization unlock their true potential.

I believe in the power of coaching so much, in fact, that we have a separate tab devoted just to those services.

· Other common deliverables at Dr. Dawn ShopTalk Consulting include, but are not limited to:

o Trainings

o Workshops

o Seminars

· The subjects/topics of these options listed above would be determined after meeting with the client during our initial consultation so that these options are customized to fit your needs. 

In striving for the best results, keep in mind that professional consulting/training is only right      for you and your organization if you’re ready to move the needle on those goals that affect your organization’s culture, its leadership, its talent pool, and its bottom line. 

• When consulting is done effectively, both the client and the consultant walk away with a valuable and personalized experience, with both parties believing that their partnership provided the tools, strategies and insight necessary to move the organization forward. 
• To give client’s the biggest return on their investment, the team would  need to be committed to devoting the time, energy, and resources in taking  the recommended action steps to move forward, all while continuing the   momentum they will gain from their new-found knowledge and perspective.
• As a means of achieving the very best results, the prospective  client and I go over a set of clarifying questions that clearly outline the expectations, goals, and objectives of our potential projects from the  onset, which in turn, sets up our collaboration for even greater success.