Consulting skills training 

The London based "Skills with People" course is relevant not only for managers but also for professional specialists whose role is to advise managers.  Its title could equally be Consulting skills, or Influencing skills.

One of the differences between a professional specialist and a line manager is that the latter has the power or authority to make decisions, whereas the former has only the power of influence.  The training objective for a professional specialist who comes on the Skills with People course is therefore to develop his or her consulting skills, in other words, increase his or her power of influence.

The difference in effectiveness between a professional specialist who has well developed consulting skills and one who does not is immense. 

For example:

Many professional specialists' minds are so busy with their own thoughts about the technical problems they are addressing that they have little or no attention available for tuning in to the thoughts and concerns of their managerial clients.  Consequently, even though they may be the world's top experts in their own field, they can't influence their clients because they don't really listen to them.  Or perhaps they do really listen, but not in a way that makes their clients feel that their real concerns have been understood and taken seriously.  It's unlikely that your client will take you seriously if he doesn't feel you have taken him seriously.

The "Skills with People" course:

focuses on how to listen in a way that makes people feel you really are taking them seriously, and how to speak to them in a way that makes it hard for them not to take you seriously.  These are precisely the consulting skills you need in order to maximise your power of influence (see Skills with People course contents, Influencing skills).