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Powerful Professionals: Getting Your Expertise Used Inside Your Organization (2nd Edition)

by Murray Hiebert; co-published with Murray Hiebert & Colleagues, Inc.

308 pages; quality trade paperback (softcover); catalogue #01-0282; ISBN 1-55212-880-6; US$29.95, C$39.95, EUR26.00, £18.00

This book is to professionals what management books are to managers. Chock full of checklists, dos and don'ts, models, assessments, worksheets and flowcharts, this is designed to help professionals: -market their skills -establish 50-50 partnerships with managers -sell their ideas and proposals -establish powerful professional roles -secure client commitment to action

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about the book      about the author      Table of Contents      Reviews

Catalogue Information

About the Book Powerful Professionals addresses the dramatic shift in the role of professionals working inside organizations. The authors present a modern model to revolutionize professionals' view of themselves and their way of working. To get into a more powerful frame of mind, they encourage professionals and professional groups to think of themselves as an internal consulting business, offering skills and services inside their organization. This entails re-evaluating themselves--thinking of themselves as internal consultants delivering their expertise to internal customers or clients. Used effectively, the skills and models of this book will ensure professionals get their expertise used and valued within their organizations. This book is written for professionals such as project managers, engineers, systems analysts, financial professionals, human resource professionals--anyone whose expert services are used by an organization but who do not have direct control. It is a 'how-to' book full of checklists, assessments, models, examples, worksheets, etc. specifically tailored to assist professionals establish more powerful and influential roles. Powerful Professionals contains field-tested skills based on over 700 workshops worldwide with over 9,500 professionals and a database of over 50,000 client feedback surveys on what is valued by the users of internal professional services. This book is designed to help all internal professionals develop powerful professional roles--to become more effective deliverers of expertise to their internal clients and external customers. Professional experts are well trained in their technological fields, but generally woefully untrained and unskilled in delivery of that expertise to their organization. This book does not teach technical skills, rather it presents the skills that transcend any brand of expertise--processes for successful delivery of professional expertise. Organizations need these skills to succeed. Professionals need these skills to enhance their own work satisfaction. We know of what we speak. We have experience working with over 7,500 white collar professionals in hundreds of organizations worldwide. We have amassed the largest survey database of its kind in the world on what internal customers view as high performance from such professionals as engineers, scientists, systems analysts, finance and human resource professionals--to name but a few.

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About the Author Murray and Eilis Hiebert manage a consulting organization specializing in professional development and organizational effectiveness from their Calgary, Canada office. Murray has published a world-class internal Consulting Skills for Professionals Workshop, part of which are client feedback surveys, which have provided Murray with the world's largest database on high performance skills of professionals--as seen by their own internal customers. The constantly upgraded workshop is presented by associates in the U.S.A., Canada, Europe and Asia in English, German, French and Spanish. Murray's second book, The Encyclopedia of Leadership, co-authored with Bruce Klatt was released January 2001 by McGraw-Hill Business Books. Designed to provide modern, busy leaders with practical help in 15 minutes or less, it includes 130 classical and modern leadership tools, each summarized in a few pages, including application worksheets. An accompanying Coaching Guide will provide content and application focus for many successful coaching meetings. Leadership development materials are also available. Murray's skills and experience cover a wide range, with proven specialty in professional productivity--developing internal professionals and world-class internal consulting groups. With clients ranging from multinational petrochemical companies through very large utilities to small entrepreneurial organizations, Murray consults in the strategy of professional groups, marketing internal professional groups, internal customer service, career management, change management, organizational and work redesign and strategy development. He has worked with a wide range of organizations in Canada, U.S.A. and worldwide. He has presented workshops from the Arctic Circle to Brazil and across the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. Murray has presented on the topic of internal consulting and professional productivity at professional gatherings all over North America including for the ASTD, Linkage Inc.'s Consulting Skills Conference and the Association for Internal Management Consultants. Murray, who has a Masters Degree in Science, has published numerous articles in scientific journals, professional newsmagazines, international human resource development journals, Executive Excellence, The Wall Street Journal and the AIMC Forum. His work has been selected for the American Society for Training and Development's The Best of... series. He has written a comprehensive computer-based resources for professionals called the Desktop Workshop--a unique continuous learning and application resource accessible through the workshop Web Site, http://www.consultskills.com. Eilis Hiebert has worked in international development for many years, living and working in North America, Europe, Africa, India and Singapore. She designs and delivers programs in the area of cross-cultural relations to diverse groups. Her extensive writing and editing experience includes publishing a series of brochures on world religions and production of an award winning TV series. She has been Murray's writing (and life) partner for many years.

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Table of Contents

0.   Quick Launch-Finding What You Want
~How-tos: use this book, where to the find information you need
1.    High Performing Professionals
~How-tos: look at power, the internal consulting role, change of perspective, what is credible to clients
2.    Expertise Delivery Model
~How-tos: why have a model? overview of major stages, dos & don'ts, how to adapt the model
3.    Stage 1: Exploring the Need
~How-tos: starting questions, client fears, getting at the underlying issues, reframing problems, roles, rapport
4.    Stage 2: Clarifying Commitments
~How-tos: why clarify? what to clarify, checklists, how much to clarify, documenting agreements, examples
5.    Stage 3: Gathering Information
~How-tos: information gathering techniques, asking great questions, sorting out complex situations
6.    Stage 4: Recommending Change
~How-tos: sell your recommendations, deal with resistance, gain commitment, introduce change, worksheets
7.    Stage 5: Taking Stock/Closing
~How-tos: difference between closing and taking stock, meeting checklist, brief consultations
8.    Mapping Client Systems 7
~How-tos: why map stakeholders? types of clients, application worksheets, dealing with conflict
9.    Sustaining Change
~How-tos: principles for change, readiness assessment, change 'equation,' systemic change, 'people' change
10.    Dealing with Resistance
~How-tos: direct & indirect resistance, how to recognize a runaround, surfacing the real reason, example
11.    Listening Skills for Professionals
~How-tos: why they're important, levels of listening, listening assessment, listening‹mechanics to empathy
12.    Enhancing Your Role and Career
~How-tos: role principles, range of roles, career growth as a professional, productive & satisfying careers
13.    Your Strategy: Saying Yes or No
~How-tos: why a professional strategy?, a professional strategic model, examples, worksheets, saying "No"
14.    Marketing Your Skills Inside Your Organization
~How-tos: why market? self-assessment, what you have to offer, worksheets, 101 ways to market your skills
15.    Putting It All Together
~How-tos: principles, communicating about communicating, control, living at the edge, feedback
Appendix 1: 101 Ways to Apply the Book and 101 Ways to Coach Professionals
~How-tos: checklists to stimulate application and coaching
Appendix 2: Selected Further Reading
~How-tos: where to find further information, brief summaries, book order information
Index and Competency/Skills Matrix
~How-tos: comprehensive index to find what you want, competency/skill versus resource matrix

Reviews

"Powerful Professionals has equipped many of the innovators at 3M Company to optimize the results of the businesses they support. Our R&D, manufacturing and engineering professionals have learned value-adding influence skills. The notion of relationship building as equally important to one's subject-matter expertise was particularly enlightening. Even when an organization reengineers itself, and staff functions may be decimated, the departments and the individuals who have delighted their internal clients are the ones who thrive in the refocused enterprise. Later, when workloads increase to the breaking point, the prioritization/selection tools in Chapter 13 have prevented many a serious burn out."
Frank Berdan, P.E.
3M Company
Manufacturing Strategy Manager

"Guaranteed to help you think about your work differently. A rich resource. Years of experience and work went into this book and you are the beneficiary."
Geoff Bellman
Consultant, and author of The Consultant's Calling and Getting Things Done When You Are Not In Charge.

"My workteam has utilized the tools and insights offered in Powerful Professionals for the last several years. (We took Murray Hiebert's consulting skills course.) I have no doubt that these practical skills have helped us improve our quality, customer understanding of what we do, and increased requests for further services. I recommend this book to any group looking to improve customer satisfaction as well as differentiate their services from external consulting organizations."
Duane Kortsha
Amoco
Environmental, Health & Safety

"This is a book for ALL professionals who want to become more influential." Bob Ratay
Avery Dennison
Director, Logistics Consulting

"Dog-eared, coffee-stained and much-loaned. What a high commendation for any book like this. Nothing short of the best reference manual for professionals applying consulting skills inside their own organizations or any other. Guaranteed to be a timeless resource on your bookshelf."
Brenda Spilker
Suncor Energy Inc.
Human Resources

"No consultant should go on any assignment without this book by Murray Hiebert. It may save your life and that of your client."
AC Ho
Consultant
Singapore

"We have have successfully trained over 600 people in our organization using the skills outlined in Murray Hiebert's Consulting Skills Program. Our Education Solutions department has received overwhelming positive feedback and support for this consulting approach from our consultants as well as Senior Management. This consulting model provides a simple, yet profound approach to the customer/consultant relationship. Initially, we customized this program to the consultants that worked with our external healthcare customers, yet due to it's word-of-mouth success, we receive numerous requests from our internal departments as well. The consulting model, tools/techniques and processes are an excellent addition to anyone that provides consulting services."
Sheila Diggs
SMS (Shared Medical Systems)
Education Solutions

"Murray Hiebert has taught me more about consulting and managing professionals than anyone else. Read this book."
Norman Smallwood
Co-founder, Novations Group Inc
Co-author of Real-Time Strategy and Results Based Leadership

"For me, this is the most valuable and personally useful single source on how to take those extra steps from expertise and knowledge to deploying them within your organization. What makes Powerful Professionals stand out from the many other books dealing with these issues, is that Hiebert takes the extra step from the 'what to do' to 'how to do' and backs this up with an enormous amount of supporting information. Of course, there are similarities between internal consultancy and consultancy from outside an organization, and Powerful Professionals will be of value to you in either role."
Graeme Dick
Environmental Science & Research Ltd, New Zealand
Project Manager

"An important primer for those of us who feel we have valuable knowledge, skills and experience to pass on to our internal clients, but who are unaccustomed to marketing ourselves."
Ross McNaughton
Government of Canada
Learning Advisor

"Powerful Professionals is very practical and thought provoking, an excellent resource to help me leverage my expertise in my organization. It's like having a powerful coach by my side at all times! I've enjoyed reading it from cover-to-cover and it will be valuable as a reference tool as I need it."
Robin Sober
The Mutual Group
IS Training

"This book will help you succeed. It has great wisdom. The author spent years working with technical and administrative professionals in every industry imaginable. He has continuously perfected the ideals and models in this book. Now they're all yours, in one package! Page after page, this book is loaded with practical, well-tested guidance for making things happen inside organizations."
Bruce Klatt
Co-author of Accountability: Getting a Grip on Results and author of The Ultimate Training Handbook

"This is a 'must read' for all professionals--full of powerful ideas, pertinent and practical examples, and excellent tools for dealing with a world of rapid and challenging change."
Paul Thompson
President, Weber State University
Coauthor of Novations: Strategies for Career Management

 

Amazon.com reviews

A must have
May 15, 2000
Reviewer: A customer from Newton, MA

Powerful Professionals is well designed for the specific needs of internal consultants. I enjoyed the book thoroughly. It's easy-to-use, providing lots of practical tools and advice. Organized into a user-friendly handbook, it covers everything from establishing your credibility to managing change and resistance.

Written with a healthy does of humor, there are plenty of practical, step-by-step models supported by checklists, worksheets, assessment tools, and examples--rather than long-winded discussions on theory.

I STRONGLY recommend this book for anyone dealing with the day-to-day challenges of an internal consulting organization.

 

Excellent Manual for Internal Consultants June 1, 2000
Reviewer: Patrick Cordon (see more about me) from Berea , Ohio

I highly recommend the book! This book is a strong experienced based program that guides you through the Consulting Process. The tools are ready to use; I really enjoy that. I put this book on the same level as "Operational Profitability; Conducting Management Audits." John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

 

Powerful! - this book is a 'must have' for any professional
February 26, 1999
Reviewer: A reader from Canada

There has been a glut of books on 'how to be a consultant' that have been published in the last few years. I have become frustrated with the increasing quantity and decreasing quality of such books. All that changed with my reading of "Powerful Professionals". Finally, a superb book! "Powerful Professionals" is grounded in experience that I can relate to, and offered excellent, immediately useable advice for me as a professional. I also liked the easy-to-follow formatting and mix of text and graphics. There is also the behind-the-scenes theory for us who like such stuff. Chapter 15 of the book is "Putting It All Together". Well, the author and editor certainly have put together an all-encompassing and all-power book for all professionals. Bravo! Books of this quality are not often found by me. But when I do find a high-utility book like "Powerful Professionals", it becomes a jewel in my collection.

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Catalogue Information

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