"The economic and technological triumphs of the past few years have not solved as many problems as we thought they would, and, in fact, have brought us new problems we did not foresee."
How many times have we seen "The Wall Street Journal" or the financial news channels report on some major multi-national corporation who just announced a staggering quarterly loss? Regrettably, many of these losses are associated with shutting down business units, major re-structuring charges, acquisitions gone bad or simply corporate cultures clashing in the night. In the post analysis, however, we often find that many of these companies simply have "lost their way." Growth strategies that seemed like "winners" at the time were in reality inconsistent with the core business, stated growth objectives or the core competencies of the organization.
Organizational Readiness . . .
An Organizational Readiness Study is that all-important, but often ignored, on-going process of asking the pressing questions: What do we do? What are we good at? Where do we want to go? Are we really capable of getting there? Do we have the right people? The results, while sometimes surprising, become the foundation for developing a renewed growth strategy, mission alignment or re-alignment and the all important implementation strategies.
Market and Opportunity Assessments . . .
The objective here is to take a careful look at the obvious, and sometimes not so obvious, market opportunities that are out there waiting for us, and match them to what we uncover through our Organizational Readiness work. Together, these findings lay out the blueprint for building - - teams, talent, processes, etc.
Critical Planning and Strategy . . .
Unfortunately, regardless of the effort, many companies find themselves in a truly crisis situation - - eroding margins, declining sales, negative cash flow, increasing customer dissatisfaction, etc., etc. Individually, any one of these problems is a major challenge. Combined, they present a real crisis situation that requires clear thinking and decisive action. Here, the objective is to work closely with the client in a comprehensive risk assessment mode, while at the same time bring years of "Critical Planning" experience and expertise to bear in the development of new strategy initiatives and tactical plan.
Often we hear corporate executives say ". . . our people are our most important asset . . ." However, when asked how they protect and grow these assets, silence is generally the reply. Many companies employ inordinate amounts of "raw talent." Given the right coaching, mentoring and professional development, often raw talent can mature into real talent. And real talent can turn lofty corporate goals and objectives into reality. This is success.
Organizational Leadership . . .
Services built around Organizational Leadership are intended to assist senior management in identifying, nurturing and growing strong, capable leaders now and for the future. Whether it is through personal coaching, one-on-one executive mentoring or more traditional training and development strategies, the objective is the same - - build a team of exceptional leaders throughout the organization who can execute on strategy.
Advisory Groups . . .
Concerns over the mission of an advisory group often take precedence over picking its members. Hence, the objective here is to work closely with senior management in not only articulating the mission and purpose of an advisory groups, but; to carefully identify individual skills, talent, knowledge and reputation that can positively impact the group as a whole.
Facilitation . . .
Finance claims Sales has no regard for cost; sales scream at delivery; Marketing is overwhelmed by Technology, and so on, and so on. "Facilitate", according to Webster, means "to free from difficulties or obstacles; make easier; assist." So too, the role of the facilitator is intended to make working, communicating, collaborating and building easier among groups and peers. Through carefully structured sessions, facilitation is designed to help people within the organization listen, understand, learn and communicate - - all in an effort to achieve some mutually beneficial goal or objective.
How many times have we walked up to someone in any given department and asked "why do we do it this way", and invariably, the answer comes back, "we have always done it this way." Not the kind of answer we want to hear, but likely indicative of a company in need of re-assessment and optimization. At the end of the long corporate food chain, process is what supports us. Process is what defines us and process is often the difference between success and failure.
Operational Readiness . . .
Operational Readiness is just that - - are the operations (internal and external) of a company ready to successfully support the vast collection of tactical challenges presented ever day. Often the answer is maybe . . . with a little help. Here the object is to examine, assess and optimize performance, reduce costs when able and establish metrics as a base for reward.
Technology Readiness . . .
Similar to Operation Readiness, Technology Readiness targets the sources and use of critical data and data flow. The objective is ultimately to provide management with valuable and timely data that is both reliable and actionable. The process carefully looks at the data collection process, data manipulation, data validation techniques, reporting and usage. Where necessary enhancements can be planned, implementation strategies developed and project management provided to improve the information flow.
Sales Readiness . . .
Following the same approaches above, the Sales Readiness assessment process is intended to fully optimize the sales initiative through fact-based reporting, data analysis for timely forecasting and accurate tracking to support incentive and reward programs.