This is the first edition in a regular column on leadership. Recently I attended the annual conference for an organization called the Association of Internal Management Consultants (AIMC). Attending this conference is an opportunity to step back a bit from the day-to-day delivery on projects and listen to what my colleagues in other organizations are doing.

There were two sessions at that conference that stood out. The first was a summary of some research that was done by Development Dimensions International (DDI) and the American Society for Training and Development (ASTD). The second session was delivered by the Chief Learning Officer at Becton Dickenson, a medical technology company, on "Leaders as Coaches." I'll report on that session in my next column.

I had been looking forward to hearing the results of the DDI/ASTD study to find out if there was some new skill out there for internal/external consultants of which I wasn't aware. To put this in context you would have to know that I spent five years at McBer, a management consulting firm in Boston, studying competencies. I also was very familiar with the work of David Ulrich at the University of Michigan defining HR competencies in the early '90's, and his revisit of that work ten years later.

The DDI/ASTD study put consulting competencies in two categories, Business Management and Interpersonal/Personal. The competencies listed were:

Business Management

• Thinking Strategically
• Analyzing Needs and Proposing Solutions
• Driving Results
• Planning and Implementing Assignments

Interpersonal/Personal

• Communicating
• Building Trust
• Demonstrating Adaptability
• Influencing Stakeholders
• Networking and Partnering

This list resonated with conference participants; it's a good description for what it takes to be an effective consultant. I agree. However, it didn't describe the more technical skills within a particular discipline like OD, process engineering etc. There was one part of me hoping I would hear of that one skill I had never heard described before. On the other hand, it's a pleasant confirmation to hear others in the field agree with what you've been preaching as important. Déjà vu isn't all bad!