Self assesment
At first I was nervous when I enrolled in this unit since was to act as a consultant with my team. A good consultant required proving expertise, recommendation, advice and solving problems related to clients.
The following is a Famous joke that illustrates the important of expertise for a consultant. A consultant was called in to a nuclear power plant that was about to blow, the consultant went into the control room and punched a few buttons and the situation was fixed. The consultant later presented the client with a bill of $10,000. They said, "You have been here for only 5 minutes and you're charging $10,000?? That's outrageous!" To which the consultant replied, "The 5 minutes of my time costs $5, while knowing which buttons to press in order to avoid disaster costs $9,995."So I asked myself in the beginning of this unit, do we know which buttons to press?
Eventually in the end of the semester when my team and I got special thanks from Professor Christian Langton, I answered myself “apparently, yes we know which buttons to push”. Therefore, I can say “I feel more confident now” and this one of the biggest reflection and benefits of this course. Furthermore, in today’s business world, I think meeting with others with maintaining the high level of professionalism is one of the most important skills that I gain through this project. Going through the historical data improved my skill in benchmarking and strengthening the idea of having deep and strong analysis resulted in useful findings. Additionally, working with a team with people from different backgrounds, focusing on the common mission to override the individual goals of each member made me a team player. I have also learned to be realistic and clear about my goals. I have realized the need of knowing what i want out of my arrangement so that I can state it up front. Around the bush is an indication of how to deal with clients
Despite the fact that this unit is one of the most beneficial units, I think making QUT the student’s customer was not ideal idea for two reasons. First, acting as a consultant with the “real” customer resulted to conflict. Secondly, the “real” customer (the student) established some of QUT weaknesses effecting in QUT reputation.
Most successful consultants never view their choice in terms of the risks involved. Rather, they remain focused on factors that contribute to their success, not potential failure factors.However a consultant cannot succeed without a cooperative team. Therefore the main reasons behind our success story are the team efforts, the cooperation from the process owner and the great support from BPM Authorities. Certainly,
In my attempt to sharpen my skills required for professional consultant, I try building and engaging in relationships with people. I try to make time, building networks and relationships with different people, and in social networks, and later work my way towards building new relationships with owners of various businesses in my local community. I also involve myself in storytelling and conflict resolution and getting additional training on how to improve my consulting skills through online training offered by various websites.
