Editor's Note: Take a look at our featured best practice, The Silly Cow Exercise (23-slide PowerPoint presentation). The Silly Cow Exercise is a fun and effective activity for promoting out-of-the-box thinking and creativity in teams. This exercise is ideal for organizations that need to innovate their products, services, business models, and ecosystems to create a competitive advantage. It can be held in a [read more]
Need Specialized Input and Opinion? Use the Expert Panel, A Consulting Workshop Series Method
* * * *
In today’s business environment, management consulting firms must be ready to address client challenges and needs that will 
transform their business by 10 or 100 times. Tools and methods must be scaled up to ensure applicability to the widest possible audience globally.
The Consulting Workshop Series provides a good understanding of the 10 methods of conducting Consulting Workshops that are custom designed to fit specific workshop objectives. Different methods are developed for the purpose of providing organizations the most appropriate tool necessary to support organizations to achieve their strategic goals and targets in Strategic Planning.
If it is the management’s goal to have specialized input and opinion undergo evaluation, then the Expert Panel is the perfect method to undertake. An Expert Panel is a consulting workshop method that synthesizes a variety of inputs on a specialized topic and produces recommendations
Understanding the Expert Panel as an Effective Consulting Workshop Method
An Expert Panel is an effective tool in clarifying complexities in organizational issues. The method uses a broad range of subject matter experts on various fields thus enhancing its effectiveness and depth.
Once, consultants have a good understanding of the Expert Panel, it can be used in various applications. An Expert Panel is effective in addressing appropriate issues that require highly technical knowledge and/or those that are highly complex. It is useful when a conflict exists that opinions are necessary to provide credibility and resolve these conflicts.
At times when there is a variety of opinions, an Expert Panel can provide a credible alternative opinion based on credible expertise. Most importantly, it is best used when there is a possibility of legal ramifications.
The Expert Panel and Its 3-Phase Approach
The Expert Panel is designed using a 3-phase approach.
- Preparation. The Preparation Phase is the most critical phase as it is the defining stage of the project. It ensures that there is a proper understanding of the project supported by a well-composed and technically qualified panel.
- Conducting the Expert Panel. This is the main core of the event. This is where the Expert Panel is expected to investigate and study the topics assigned and set forth their conclusions and recommendations in written reports. A typical First Meeting Architecture is often composed of 6 sessions.
- Presentation of the Panel Report. The presentation of the Panel Report is the final phase which includes the issues, conclusions, and recommendations of the report. Upon completion of the report, it may be disseminated to appropriate persons and to the entire organization. However, prior to its dissemination, it is advisable to submit it initially for peer review for comments and further improvements.
When Quality Matters in Selecting the Expert Panel
The use of this method requires a careful selection of the members of your Expert Panel. Even prior to recruitment and selection, careful consideration should already be undertaken. One is the development of the Nomination Package. Next is having the right guidelines for proper selection. Most importantly, is understanding the 5 Key Elements of a Panel Profile.
The 5 key elements essential to the organization of your Expert Panel are Project Scope, Degree of Controversy, Technical Support, Uncertainties, and Disciplines. Each of these elements will guide consulting firms to have a well-composed and balanced profile of their Expert Panel.
As mentioned earlier, the Expert Panel is expected to investigate and study the topics assigned and set forth their conclusions and recommendations. Hence, diligence and thoughtful selection is needed to have an effective Expert Panel for the organization to achieve the results expected during the event.
Interested in gaining more understanding of the Consulting Workshop technique of the Expert Panel? You can learn more and download an editable PowerPoint about Consulting Workshop Series: Expert Panel here on the Flevy documents marketplace.
Do You Find Value in This Framework?
You can download in-depth presentations on this and hundreds of similar business frameworks from the FlevyPro Library. FlevyPro is trusted and utilized by 1000s of management consultants and corporate executives. Here’s what some have to say:
“My FlevyPro subscription provides me with the most popular frameworks and decks in demand in today’s market. They not only augment my existing consulting and coaching offerings and delivery, but also keep me abreast of the latest trends, inspire new products and service offerings for my practice, and educate me in a fraction of the time and money of other solutions. I strongly recommend FlevyPro to any consultant serious about success.”
– Bill Branson, Founder at Strategic Business Architects
“As a niche strategic consulting firm, Flevy and FlevyPro frameworks and documents are an on-going reference to help us structure our findings and recommendations to our clients as well as improve their clarity, strength, and visual power. For us, it is an invaluable resource to increase our impact and value.”
– David Coloma, Consulting Area Manager at Cynertia Consulting
“As a small business owner, the resource material available from FlevyPro has proven to be invaluable. The ability to search for material on demand based our project events and client requirements was great for me and proved very beneficial to my clients. Importantly, being able to easily edit and tailor the material for specific purposes helped us to make presentations, knowledge sharing, and toolkit development, which formed part of the overall program collateral. While FlevyPro contains resource material that any consultancy, project or delivery firm must have, it is an essential part of a small firm or independent consultant’s toolbox.”
– Michael Duff, Managing Director at Change Strategy (UK)
“FlevyPro has been a brilliant resource for me, as an independent growth consultant, to access a vast knowledge bank of presentations to support my work with clients. In terms of RoI, the value I received from the very first presentation I downloaded paid for my subscription many times over! The quality of the decks available allows me to punch way above my weight – it’s like having the resources of a Big 4 consultancy at your fingertips at a microscopic fraction of the overhead.”
– Roderick Cameron, Founding Partner at SGFE Ltd
“Several times a month, I browse FlevyPro for presentations relevant to the job challenge I have (I am a consultant). When the subject requires it, I explore further and buy from the Flevy Marketplace. On all occasions, I read them, analyze them. I take the most relevant and applicable ideas for my work; and, of course, all this translates to my and my clients’ benefits.”
– Omar Hernán Montes Parra, CEO at Quantum SFE
26-slide PowerPoint presentation
The Standard Pig Game is a creative approach to learning that aims to demonstrate the value of standard work in creating stable and repeatable processes to maximize performance and minimize waste. The game can be played in a classroom or workshop setting and requires only basic equipment, such [read more]
Do You Want to Implement Business Best Practices?
You can download in-depth presentations on Workshops and 100s of management topics from the FlevyPro Library. FlevyPro is trusted and utilized by 1000s of management consultants and corporate executives.
For even more best practices available on Flevy, have a look at our top 100 lists:
- Top 100 in Strategy & Transformation
- Top 100 in Digital Transformation
- Top 100 in Operational Excellence
- Top 100 in Organization & Change
- Top 100 Management Consulting Frameworks
These best practices are of the same as those leveraged by top-tier management consulting firms, like McKinsey, BCG, Bain, and Accenture. Improve the growth and efficiency of your organization by utilizing these best practice frameworks, templates, and tools. Most were developed by seasoned executives and consultants with over 20+ years of experience.
Readers of This Article Are Interested in These Resources
35-slide PowerPoint presentation
Introduction and Objective:
The Blue-Green Game is a team-building activity designed to highlight the significance of Win-Win thinking and effective teamwork. In many organizations, achieving a Win-Win situation where everyone benefits can be tough due to a lack of trust, communication, [read more]
|
|
133-slide PowerPoint presentation
|
|
97-slide PowerPoint presentation
| |||
About Joseph Robinson
Joseph Robinson is the Vice President of Strategy at Flevy. Flevy is the marketplace for best practices in business management. Learn how the Fortune 100 and global consulting firms do it. Improve the growth and efficiency of your organization by leveraging Flevy's library of best practice methodologies and templates. The documents at Flevy (https://flevy.com) are of the same caliber as those produced by top-tier management consulting firms, like McKinsey, BCG, Bain, and Accenture. Most were developed by seasoned executives and consultants with 20+ years of experience. Flevy covers 200+ management topics, ranging from Digital Transformation to Growth Strategy to Lean Management. You can peruse a full list of management topics available on Flevy here. Prior to Flevy, Joseph worked as an Associate at BCG and holds an MBA from the Sloan School of Management at MIT. You can connect with Joseph on LinkedIn here.
