Transforming stakeholder relationships
A government enterprise partnered with YakTrak Consulting to help its Learning & Development team move from reactive support to proactive, strategic consulting. Through a four-month blended Consulting Skills program, the team strengthened stakeholder relationships, improved consulting capability, and designed more targeted, client-centred solutions that increased efficiency and influence.
The challenge
The L&D team needed to shift from reactive, transactional support toward proactive, strategic consulting, improving the quality of stakeholder relationships and the design of client-centred solutions.
Program design
4-month blended Consulting Skills program
Included
- 3 Consulting Skills workshops
- 2-hour face-to-face sessions
- Three 4-week cycles of deliberate on-the-job application
- Leadership workshop
- Case study presentations
The program approach focused on
- Building consulting skills to better understand client objectives, priorities, challenges and skill gaps
- Developing proactive, valueadding behaviours including trustbuilding, negotiation and influencing without authority
- Embedding a consultant mindset aligned to the organisation’s existing framework
- Using deliberate practice to apply new skills directly to live stakeholder relationships
YakTrak Consulting (formerly GRIST) supported the team by:
- Aligned the program to the organisation’s preexisting P&C consulting framework
- Used repeated, structured cycles of realworld application to build confidence and capability
- Provided practical tools for proactive conversations, needs analysis and influencing
- Enabled participants to apply new skills to live stakeholder relationships and present case studies showing impact
The results
- Significant uplift in consulting capability across the L&D team
- Increased consultation with stakeholders, leading to stronger relationships and improved efficiency
- Improved design and delivery of targeted, clientcentred solutions
- Streamlined workflows, reducing workload for both L&D and clients
- More collaborative, productive working relationships that enabled L&D to influence key decisions
- Stronger authority/credibility with stakeholders
What this shows
Targeted consulting capability development can shift L&D from reactive service delivery to proactive, value-adding partnership.
Client perspective
“Wow, you are really getting to know our business!” — L&D partner
“I went from having zero communication with the client to them reaching out to me daily for my opinion.” – L&D partner
“I used to find myself jumping straight into solution, pointing out courses. But I need to take a deep breath” – L&D partner
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