Team Building consultants generally use three overlapping, but distinct roles. Each of the roles mentioned below keeps the learning and Team training meaningful, self-reflective, team-reflective, and most importantly fun!

The overlapping of roles are best summarized in the explanation below:

o Consultant. In this role, he establishes and maintains contact with the client, jointly assesses the client’s situation, elicits information, designs programs, serves as confidant and adviser to the primary client contact.

o Trainer. In this role, he sets the tone of the training, then communicates, educates and improvises as he orchestrates and delivers the content through a sequence of activities and facilitated group discussion

o Facilitator. In this role, he leads the debriefings [processing], engaging and challenging participants to dig for deeper meaning, mediating disagreements and pushing for ever-greater clarity and understanding.

Each of these roles is inter-dependent upon each other. For example if the training lacks the full “buy-in” or approval of the primary client contact, (usually Human Resources, a Team Leader, or a Supervisor in some capacity), the program will fail to reach a higher level of success and fail to have a long term effect on the team and the participants within the team.

It is imperative that a discussion takes place between the Team Building Consultant and the client contact. All parties need to reach an agreement on how the program will progress, what objectives and goals are going to be reached as well as how to follow up the Team training program. What if the client contact is unclear about what objectives and goals to be reached? That is where the Team Building Consultant should meet, process and enable the client contact to better see and understand what it is that really needs to be addressed in the training session. If the Team Building Consultant can not facilitate a discussion to lead to clarity on goals and objectives both parties, the consultant and the client, should agree to go elsewhere.

Additionally during the training new evidence of inter-behavioral barriers may present themselves and the program takes an unexpected turn. This is when the true test of a trainer’s ability becomes evident. Does the trainer choose to stay the course and work on the pre-defined objectives? Does the trainer choose to go in a different direction and follow what has just arisen? Does the trainer have the skills, knowledge and abilities to in a synergistic fashion meld both together? Experienced Team Building Consultants have been in all three situations and the answer really is “YES”. It all depends on the situation at hand. That is why when choosing a team building consultant or team building company an organization must research and feel comfortable with the qualifications of the facilitator.

Some questions to ask team building companies are as simple as, who are your facilitators? Can you tell me an example of a program you have lead that is like our situation? Can you supply me with a list of sample questions you ask during the debrief [processing]? Give us a specific example of a program you have created that was a success? A failure? Can you provide my organization with a written proposal or agenda of what will be accomplished during our team training?

An effective team building consultant has the ability to move seamlessly through the consultant; trainer; and facilitator role. This comes from experience and Team Building consultants who are well educated and trained, in several fields. Choose the right consultant and always ask for and check references.

The after effects of the greatest mortgage meltdown in history have changed the dynamics of the real estate industry probably forever. Housing sales continue to slump, less future homeowners can qualify for a loan, and foreclosure filings continue to rise. Though the current snapshot of the industry looks painfully dismal on the surface, opportunities await the savvy businessperson.

Why consider a Foreclosure Consulting Business? This consulting business offers great income potential, is easy to start and run, and fills a huge demand to help people in pre-foreclosure save their homes.

Did you know that as of mid year for 2007 there was an average of 925,986 foreclosure filings? At that current rate, it was estimated that over 1.8 Million foreclosures were to be carried out by the end of 2007. A light bulb should also go off to factor that also equals a lot of foreclosures needing to be stopped. This means that businesses are needed because homeowners need help to stop foreclosures. Now I am not taking about the Foreclosure Investor who is really a real estate investor who goes around asking homeowners to sign their property deeds over to them. A true consultant will never request that homeowners sign over their property deeds. No Sir, I am talking about legitimate consultants who work as a liaison between the homeowner and the mortgage lender/ bank to negotiate forbearances or a loan workout plan. This allows the homeowner in pre-foreclosure situation to keep their homes.

Even if the foreclosure process has started this consulting business offer trained professional consultants who know how to help the homeowner stop foreclosure. Often times Bankruptcy Attorneys encourage homeowners to file a bankruptcy to stop foreclosures. A bankruptcy is very hurtful to the homeowner’s credit and takes 7 long years to recover. A consultant offer better solutions over filing bankruptcy to stop foreclosures.

A consulting business concentrating in foreclosures provide a service that is in great demand for a severely underserved market, the distressed homeowner facing foreclosure. Literally hundreds of thousands of distress owners desperately need this service but there are only a handful of foreclosure consultants fulfilling this great need for the demand. Therefore the market for this business is wide open.

Starting this type of business is ideal for real estate professionals who have experience as mortgage brokers, real estate agents, real estate investors, etc. Also, this is a great business for stay at home parents and persons running a home base business. I have trained many people on how-to start this kind of consulting company and seen them become successful. Make no mistakes about it; the need for the demand is very real and not extreme.

On average this type of beginning business could attract anywhere from five to fifty plus clients in a week. The consultant has the luxury of setting their own service fees and typically collects upon signing on to provide services. When you hire an attorney do they tell you to pay later? Exactly, the consulting service being offered are not legal services or advice but expertise that the homeowner needs to save their homes. Therefore, homeowners typically have no problems with paying retainer fees to have their foreclosures stopped.

Kyle Ransom is the CEO of Ultisky Inc. online Real Estate Investment and Foreclosure Prevention Company with subsidiary companies in the luxury PR, E-commerce. Mr. Ransom’s professional experiences include real estate loan officer and mortgage broker, investor, developer, commercial and residential real estate financing, expert author, affiliate and network marketing, and public relations, expert Twitterer.

IT consulting services have been around for a while now. Many different people offer there services in claim that they will make your company a success. For the most part, if you hire a professional IT consultant, you are probably going to be affected in a positive way. An IT consultant always helps sell the person´s business not themselves. So be careful about this because there are the occasional few knuckleheads who are all about the money and not the customer.

In today´s highly competitive world, IT consulting service jobs are in high demand. Since there is a high demand in this field, a high volume of people look to attain these positions. Most IT consulting service jobs won´t be listed in the paper or on Craigslist or some other job listing medium. For the most part, these companies recruit young people to fill the vacancies. When recruiting, these lucky individuals go through a rigorous process of multiple interviews and super hard tests. This is a way to filter out the non qualified with the highly qualified. So pretty much, not only do you have to know computers well, you must be a heck of a salesman, and have an intelligent business mind as well. Once you have these qualities down, one can become a IT consultant.

After one receives there It consulting service job, out on the field they go. Many companies struggle with there websites trying to promote their business´s products or services. Where a IT consultant comes in handy is attracting to people to your site. They should be able to maneuver all the right computer things to make your company a success. Again, when hiring an IT consultant, make sure they are there to help you. Customer service is always the number one thing. Consider a IT consultant service if you need help with your companies web ideas.

Companies of all sizes are now implementing lean manufacturing. Businesses as small as a dentist office are blogging about using lean manufacturing techniques to improve the process and lower costs.

If a company is contemplating hiring a lean manufacturing consultant, they probably need one. If the expertise does not exist within the corporation, valuable time will be lost and money spent unnecessarily until the lean manufacturing consultant is hired.

If the company has lean manufacturing expertise in-house, the question then becomes one of execution and implementation. Can the in-house expert execute the lean implementation plan within the required time frame and budget? Additionally, will the expert receive the required management commitment to implement lean manufacturing?

It is common to see organizations hire a consultant and commit the resources that otherwise not be committed. Is that fair to the in-house consultant? No, but as they say, “it is what it is”. If it takes an outside lean manufacturing consultant to launch a system of massive waste elimination and value creation, does it really matter in the long run?

From a corporate view, all that matters is that the waste elimination occurs and value is created.

Lean manufacturing consultants are often good at motivating the organization into action. Sure, one reason is the corporation is paying for services so it is more compelled to make the most of it. Also, unless the lean manufacturing consultant is going to be paid to wander around, the corporation will probably make a concerted effort to implementation.

If the organization has an in-house lean manufacturing expert and top management commitment, the only reason to hire an outside lean manufacturing consultant would be for additional resources or ideas. A good outside consultant has seen many improvements in various types of organizations with different products. The consultant has undoubtedly witnessed or been involved with a few failures, and thus has the experience and knowledge to prevent or minimize it.

The first step in determining the need for a lean manufacturing consultant is an operational analysis. All areas of the organization should be assessed, including manufacturing, maintenance, engineering, shipping, purchasing, administration, and sales. The magnitude of the waste should be quantified.

Upon completion of the assessment, the need for a lean manufacturing consultant will become transparent.

It is critical for the organization and managers to keep an open mind. This cannot be mandated, but encouraged through written examples, benchmarking visits to and from other companies with successful lean manufacturing implementations.

It is not uncommon for a good lean manufacturing consultant to reduce cost of good sold by 10%. This extremely large number should not be shown to the entire organization up front. It shouldn’t be hidden, but any large number would initially bring fear into the organization.

All lean manufacturing implementations should be preceded with a promise of no job loss as a result. The company should be up front and hones about waste elimination, job combinations, and position elimination, but should also commit to keeping all employees through the process.

Obviously, potential outside circumstances would not permit a guarantee, but if a corporation wants total involvement and maximum success, they will not put people out of work as a result of a lean manufacturing initiative.

When positions are eliminated through lean manufacturing tools, those employees should become part of the 5S or kaizen teams. This only increases the resources and focus enabling more waste elimination.

Almost all successful lean implementations will lead to business growth, enabling the displaced workers to again become direct labor.

When companies “do the right thing”, they are almost always rewarded. The excellent morale and pervasive commitment will fuel additional business, products, or markets.