Advanced Consulting Skills with AI

Peak Problem Solving with AI

Give your professional-services firm the power of McKinsey-style structured problem solving combined with advanced AI research, analysis, critical thinking, and executive communication.

In this eight-week, hands-on workshop, consulting teams diagnose complex business problems, investigate root causes, test competing hypotheses, evaluate alternatives, and deliver defensible executive recommendations.

Work through a realistic client-retention or new-client-acquisition case. Build reusable AI-assisted consulting systems that strengthen professional judgment, improve deliverable quality, and support measurable performance improvements. Individual professionals can also enroll.

You are not just learning prompts.

You are building business systems that are reusable and scalable.

You are not just watching lessons.

You are implementing real-work AI systems and building your professional business.

Quick Answers

What Is the CTS Advanced Consulting Skills with AI Workshop?

An eight-week, instructor-led, case-based workshop for professional-services firms and consulting teams, combining structured consulting methods with AI-augmented research, analysis, problem solving, and executive communication. Individual professionals may also participate.

Participants choose a realistic client-retention or new-client-acquisition case. They use evidence, MECE problem structures, issue trees, analytical frameworks, and critical evaluation to develop recommendations they can explain and defend.

The workshop includes weekly live instruction, applied assignments, feedback, and a reusable library of AI prompts, agents, templates, and professional workflows.

Go Beyond AI Productivity. Build Advanced Consulting and Problem-Solving Skills.

TL;DR

Take Aways

• Define complex business problems using structured, hypothesis-driven methods.
• Conduct advanced Deep Research, validate sources, and distinguish facts from interpretations.
• Use MECE, issue trees, root-cause analysis, SWOT, and other appropriate analytical frameworks.
• Develop and test competing explanations instead of accepting the first plausible answer.
• Challenge AI findings through Red Team/Blue Team critique and evidence verification.
• Compare solutions using decision criteria, risks, costs, constraints, and trade-offs.
• Prepare persuasive executive-ready reports and presentations.
• Build reusable AI-assisted consulting workflows and a professional resource library.

Why This Matters

Why Structured Problem Solving and AI Are Critical to Professional Performance

AI can rapidly generate research, analyses, and recommendations. But speed does not guarantee that a problem is correctly defined, evidence is reliable, or a solution is sound. Combining AI with disciplined consulting methods and professional judgment enables firms to examine more alternatives, challenge assumptions, and improve recommendation quality.

• Ask sharper questions and define the real problem.
• Structure complex issues into manageable analytical components.
• Validate AI research and challenge unsupported conclusions.
• Compare alternatives using explicit decision criteria.
• Communicate findings that executives can understand and act upon.

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Who This Workshop Is For

Designed primarily for professional-services firms and teams seeking consistent, rigorous, AI-assisted analytical methods. Individual consultants, advisors, executives, managers, and knowledge professionals are also welcome.

• Strategy and management consulting firms
• Organizational development and change-management teams
• Digital transformation and technology advisors
• Finance, accounting, and business advisory firms
• HR, operations, and professional-service teams
• Individual professionals responsible for complex business decisions

Who This Workshop Is Not For

This is not a general introduction to AI or a shortcut to faster content generation. Participants should be ready to examine evidence, challenge assumptions, complete assignments, and defend recommendations.

What Experience Do You Need?

Basic familiarity with ChatGPT, Claude, or another generative AI chatbot is helpful.

A paid subscription with ChatGPT or Claude is necessary to use the features we need.

No programming experience is required.

What Is in the Eight-Week Workshop

Weekly 90-minute live online sessions, instructor demonstrations, guided practice, feedback, and one to two hours of independent case work. Assignments begin with working prompts and AI systems that participants strengthen and adapt.

Prepare Your AI Consulting Workspace

Set up AI tools, context files, case information, and evidence standards.
Business Value: Begin with a structured workspace and clear business challenge.

Mod 1: AI-Augmented Thinking and Problem Framing

Separate symptoms from causes, verify baselines, challenge assumptions, and draft a clear problem statement.
Business Value: Reduce the risk of solving the wrong problem.

Mod 2: Advanced Deep Research and Evidence Validation

Design investigations; validate sources and citations; reconcile conflicting findings; document uncertainty.
Business Value: Build a trustworthy research foundation.

Mod 3: MECE Problem Structures, Issue Trees, and Hypotheses

Build issue trees, develop competing explanations, and define discriminating evidence tests.
Business Value: Investigate complex problems systematically.

Mod 4: AI-Assisted Consulting and Analytical Frameworks

Use root-cause analysis, SWOT, Porter’s Five Forces, and other suitable frameworks while retaining professional judgment.
Business Value: Improve the relevance and rigor of analysis.

Mod 5: Critical Evaluation, Verification, and Red Team/Blue Team

Challenge conclusions, test alternatives, examine weak assumptions, and revise findings.
Business Value: Reduce analytical errors and improve credibility.

Mod 6: Executive Decision-Making and Trade-Offs

Compare alternatives using decision criteria, risks, resource needs, constraints, and stakeholder considerations. 
Business Value: Support informed executive decisions.

Mod 7: Executive Reports and Persuasive Presentations

Create concise answer-first reports, briefings, presentations, and scripts with ChatGPT, Claude, or Gamma. 
Business Value: Communicate recommendations clearly.

Mod 8: Integration, Demonstration, and Reusable AI Systems

Complete and defend the case analysis; organize prompts, agents, templates, and workflows for reuse.
Business Value: Extend skills and assets beyond the workshop.

Two Realistic Consulting Case Options

Each participant or team chooses one fictional but realistic case. Evidence is released in stages. The aim is to teach professional reasoning, not customer service or sales operations.

Case 1: Client Retention: Why Are We Losing Clients?

A professional-services firm’s annual client retention has fallen from 85% to 70%. Partners disagree whether fees, responsiveness, relationships, or deliverable quality are responsible. Investigate competing explanations and recommend a defensible response.

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Case 2: New Client Acquisition: Why Aren’t We Winning More Clients?

Qualified opportunities remain stable, but proposal win rate has fallen from 35% to 22% and proposal preparation time has increased. Investigate pricing, positioning, targeting, and the buyer’s journey.

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Example ROIs

Example 1 — Research and Analysis Productivity

Three hours of weekly capacity freed over 48 weeks equals 144 hours per year. At $100 per hour, that represents $14,400 in labor-capacity value—not necessarily realized savings.

Example 2 — Reduced Analytical Rework

Four hours of avoidable rework eliminated per assignment across 20 annual assignments frees 80 hours. At $150 per hour, that represents $12,000 in capacity value.

These are illustrative scenarios, not actual participant outcomes or promised results. Realized ROI depends on costs, utilization, and productive redeployment.

What You Leave With

Your team completes a realistic consulting case and gains reusable analytical methods and AI systems for future assignments.

• Structured problem statements and MECE issue trees
• Validated research findings and source/evidence records
• Competing hypotheses and evidence-testing methods
• Root-cause and other consulting-framework analyses
• Decision comparisons with risks and trade-offs
• Red Team/Blue Team critiques and verification checklists
• An executive-ready report or presentation
• Reusable AI-assisted research, analysis, and reporting workflows
• A library of prompts, agents, templates, examples, and supporting files