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Consulting
Methods |
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PART
1 - INTRODUCTION
Gregory Small gained his consulting experience while working for Xerox
Corporation. He has spent over twenty five years consulting in the areas of
Quality and Organizational Development.
He has worked with the Xerox Total Quality Management (TQM) strategy that
eventually led to Xerox being honored with the
Malcolm Baldrige National
Quality Award. He helped design and implement the Xerox strategy for
Self-Directed Work Teams for the U.S. Service Organization, with 18,000
employees and 3,000 work teams.
Greg also consults globally, having worked with organizations in the
U.S., Canada, Taiwan, Norway and Russia and two years teaching Self-Directed
Work Teams in California at the University of The Pacific has further
enhanced his experience. |
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PART
2 - APPROACH
The following background information is provided to help the reader
understand the basic consulting and training approaches used by Gregory
D. Small & Associates.
Gregory D. Small & Associates is an Organizational Development
consulting firm whose focus is on people AND processes. We have
expertise on designing, maintaining and improving work processes as well
as people processes. Although the term Organizational Development sounds
extremely academic and scholarly it basically means a series of steps
proven through application to increase the effectiveness of any
organization (large or small).
The mission of Gregory D. Small & Associates is to bridge the gap
(Diagram 3a) between what people-centered organizations have and what
they want in order to create a higher performing workforce. Our vision
is one of a future where employees are full of energy and life, working
interdependently, controlling their destinies, and being totally open
and honest in their dealings.
Key to our philosophy is that we teach people how to create their own
solutions, thereby gaining their full commitment.
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Diagram 3a |
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PART
3 - CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT
The consultants at Gregory D. Small & Associates believe that high
performance comes from continuous improvement. We believe that all
organizations seeking high performance (Diagram 4a) must consider their
customers, employees, products & services and most importantly the
system that drives their current business results. Regardless if your
organization is made up of 7-8 functional team members or 10,000
cross-functional employees all successful change efforts require a clear
picture of where you are, a vision of where you want to be and a plan of
continuous improvement to close the gap.
At Gregory D. Small & Associates we not only understand what needs
to be done, but have experienced the "how" to get there. We
can share what works and what doesn’t work from first hand experience.
Our experience with common pitfalls and detours act to aid our clients
in their journey toward high performance.
When working with a client, our primary focus is to better understand
their requirements up front and insure that we meet their expectations
at the end of each stage of the intervention. Through this method we
constantly strive to meet the needs of the client and role model the
behaviors that are key to the concepts and principles of Organizational
Development and TQM.
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Diagram 4a |
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PART
4 - DIRECTION*
The first part of any project will focus on establishing a vision,
mission, values, common goals and performance measures (Diagram 5a) for the
organization. This is a vital first step in any successful change
effort.
Activities to support establishment of the direction will include
working one-on-one with the appropriate client representatives to
develop a vision for their organization. Secondly, facilitation of a
retreat for the Executive Management Team to develop their mission,
values, common goals and communications plan.
Critical to the success of the work of the Executive team, is the design
and agreement of the cascade process to communicate the new direction to
all the employees of the organization. The Executive team needs to agree
to a common process and timeline for the cascade of the direction.
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Diagram 5a |
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PART
5 - TRAINING GAPS
Gaps in training should be determined after completion of the assessment
and training of the Executive Management Team and the Internal
Consultants. Determination at that time may be to modify, seek out, or
create new materials. It would be the intent of the Consultant to
recommend utilization of existing materials whenever possible, and
modify them for the clients culture.
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PART
6 - DEPLOYMENT
Following the direction setting work the Executive Management Team will
need to cascade the direction throughout the organization. The follow-on
work of the Executives, with the help of their staff, will be to
establish strategies and performance measures for the common goals.
This process of goal deployment provides alignment throughout the
organization around common goals and objectives.
The appropriate team will identify any and all requirements in the area
of Human Resource Management. This includes such elements as: |
- Selection and Recruitment
- People Development
- Reward & Recognition
- Employee Involvement
- Work Environment (Health &
Safety)
- Valuing Diversity
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A design and plan for
evaluating the competencies and training needs of the employees
throughout the organization needs to be developed. Training should be
part of the strategy for change in an organization versus a point
solution to a perceived need. Focus on the utilization and establishment
of employee involvement teams provides the process for working smarter
not harder. One must then provide the skills and tools to the teams as
needed.
A key measurement of the success of the change effort and processes that
support it, is utilization of an employee survey system. The consultant
will work with the organization to develop the process for surveying
employees utilizing resources available from the HR or Personnel
department.
Development of a Human Resource plan as a part of the strategic plan
will facilitate the engagement of employees through teams, advisory
groups and union representation. A recognition program needs to be
established in support of the cultural changes required to transform the
organization into the future state vision.
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PART
7 - SELF ASSESSMENT
This phase of the project is designed to provide a closed loop process
for implementation. The strategic plan developed by the Executive
Management Team is the basis for an annual business plan. All managers
working with their staff will complete a business plan. These plans will
indicate the critical tactics and strategies for each part of the
organization to achieve the target performance required. The performance
measures that are developed by the staff become part of the annual
assessment tool.
The self-assessment will be designed to aid in providing the Executive
Team with a means to measure trends, progress toward goals, and
management direction. A piece of the measurement systems must include
the sharing of data throughout the organization.
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PART
8 - FEEDBACK & ONGOING SUPPORT
The Consultant at various points in the project will solicit feedback.
Recommended feedback sessions will be conducted after each part of the
project. The Consultant with the appropriate client representatives will
determine changing or ongoing needs at the time of the feedback
sessions. Additional support to deploy and cascade the strategies within
the organization may be required. The expertise and experience of the
internal consultant could significantly affect the consulting time
required. Our goal would be to enable the internal consultant to sustain
the process and gain self-sufficiency for the organization.
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PART
9 - PROJECT MANAGEMENT PLAN
The process utilized by consultants from Gregory D. Small &
Associates will be based on gaining up front, a clear and agreed to
understanding of the requirements. Then outlining in writing the
milestones, deliverables, and check points throughout the project.
Our process is to schedule regular project status meetings with the
internal project leader or team to insure that the project stays not
only on task, but also on time, and within budget. Identifying the
critical success factors in the project plan phase will insure that the
client and the consultant agree on the success measures for the project.
Since there are regularly scheduled project meetings and the monthly
review by the Consultants from Gregory D. Small & Associates, this
allows the Consultant and the Client together to anticipate potential
problems, risks or issues. The need for any course corrections to the
plan will be identified through this process.
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