Organization Articles and Blog Posts

Trending – Wrapping Up With The Top Trends of 2021

Dan Feely — Mon, 06 Dec 2021 14:00:00 +0000

As we wrap up 2021, we want to say thank you for your continued engagement with us at TSI. We feel so fortunate that we had the opportunity to partner with many organizations and help them with some of their most important organizational change, technology strategy, process improvement, and training-related projects and programs.

We also want to say thanks to many of you who have spread the good word of TSI’s work and the positive impact that our team has had. Thank YOU! This has led to other projects and useful contacts allowing us to help them. In 2021, TSI received more referrals than the last 3-4 years combined. Thank you – you are awesome!

So, let’s kick off the celebration of 2021 with YOUR top 21 “trends” from this year.

Top Blogs on TSI Insights from 2021

Thank you for joining us for #TransformationTuesday on TSI Insights all year long! We are so thankful for all of the amazing authors we got to hear from this past year, including guest contributors and our very own consultants.

Here were your favorite blog posts from this past year:

Interested to see what else our authors wrote? Visit TSI Insights.

Top 5 Change Management Trends of 2021

When this year started, we reflected on change management trends from 2011. Kyle Glick was blown away by how relevant these trends still were in 2021, although the projects have changed. We saw these top 5 trends remain consistent throughout 2021. Will these trends remain consistent in 2022?

Rapid, Process, and Quality Improvement Events
Need for More Performance from Technology (Results Relative to Cost)
Developing a Shared Services Model
Driving Customer Service and Service Excellence
Training

Top Guest Contributor Pieces from 2021

This year, we introduced Guest Contributors – professionals like you who wrote about their passions and expertise.

We heard from Jim Gallo, Managing Partner of Gallo Associates, as well as Alyssa Moy. Alyssa Moy is Senior Director, Product Strategy, Adoption & Integration at Option Care Health.

Dive deeper into their passions + expertise:

We would love for you to share your expertise with our networks and community! Contact us to learn more.

Top Staff Picks from TSI Insights

Our team is committed to sharing relevant and helpful information from knowledgeable sources. This is why most of our content is produced by TSI’s Founder and Senior Consultants.

Interested in learning more about one of these topics from an expert in the field? Meet our team.

Top Taken Quizzes

Cheers to 2021!

This Top 21 was only a glimpse at what happened this year at TSI. We are looking forward to continuing to partner with amazing organizations in 2022!

4 Challenges to Moving (Too Quickly) to Agile (Project Management)

Carl Manello — Mon, 18 Oct 2021 13:00:00 +0000

Benefits should be conferred gradually; and in that way they will taste better.
–Niccolò Machiavelli, Italian diplomat, historian, and political theorist (1469-1527)

While Agile has grown in acceptance over the last twenty years and is currently influencing organizational design and operations, a company taking on this change might consider moving slowly. In his recent book Sooner, Safer, Happier: Antipatterns and Patterns for Business Agility, Jonathan Smart coaches that moving too quickly for the sake of changing will not be effective. “Agile for Agile’s sake…does not necessarily lead to agility, to better outcomes.”

By adopting an incremental approach to change, an organization will realize a larger stream of benefits. In the real world, where institutions have legacy methodologies and people have an aversion to change, implementing agile methods can be challenging. TSI believes this is where an incremental approach can guarantee success.

Here are some challenges we see in making the move to Agile:

Product Owner

A product owner is ‘the voice of the customer’, the evangelist, and the decision-maker for the product. It is critical to have the right person in this role, to champion the effort within the organization. Additionally, they also provide the balance of skills between the operational and technical requirements of the project. To effectively guide the work of the development team, a product owner needs to be willing and able to commit the time to provide clear direction on priorities and requirements.

Projects that have multiple product owners introduce additional organizational complexity that can limit the effectiveness of Agile methods. Multiple owners blur the clear roles and responsibilities that Agile methods advocate. If there are multiple product owners, then a formal steering committee and prioritization process will need to be established. These will allow for the creation of release goals and provide the development team with the requirements to move forward.

“Do Agile Now!”

Agile is an approach that may require a new set of behaviors across an organization, from management and project sponsors, down to individual contributors. Most organizations have an established way that things get done; this relies on formal processes and tacit practices. Agile will change the project processes, roles, and responsibilities. It changes how work is measured and assessed. While some organizations want to move to Agile immediately, there is concern about speed. Creating Agile teams and launching projects without planning for the change, as well as the impacts on team members, is an organizational change management oversight. Simply put, it is a clear recipe for failure. Moving too quickly may result in a lack of clarity or insufficient time to educate and train.

In situations where a company wants to move urgently to Agile methods, it may be helpful to remember the sage wisdom of Machiavelli:

“And it ought to be remembered that there is nothing more difficult to take in hand, more perilous to conduct, or more uncertain in its success, than to take the lead in the introduction of a new order of things.”
–The Prince, Chapter 4

Make no mistake, adopting Agile is a new order of things for any team. It will require focus, a clear vision, organizational change management, and resource development. Without addressing the organizational and process changes needed to move to Agile, an organization prematurely puts its overall effectiveness at risk. If a company wants to start its transition to Agile quickly, it should identify a pilot project. Then, they can build a team around that effort to limit both the necessary investment, as well as increase the likelihood of success. Simple, incremental, value add.

Team Skills

Agile focuses on the ability to rapidly develop components of a solution with quality and to adapt dynamically to new requirements. It requires a highly skilled and experienced team. On an Agile project, the development team will need to be able to work quickly with the product owner. They will identify the type of solution to address the business need. This solution will focus on understanding what needs to be done and roughly how long it will take. This forward-looking ability requires experience and an understanding of the problem that is in scope.

Organizational Commitment

Agile requires a high level of commitment by everyone participating in the process. This is because the method exposes gaps, inefficiencies, and weaknesses very quickly. If an organization cannot dedicate resources, rapidly prioritize, elaborate requirements, define estimates, produce products, and expose their status and results comfortably, then they could have problems adopting Agile approaches.

Borrowing from Machiavelli again, “He who neglects what is done for what ought to be done, sooner effects his ruin than his preservation.”

To best avoid ruin, a company should tread lightly into Agile. Assessing a company’s readiness (both technical and cultural) for Agile methods is ideally the first step taken. It is much less expensive – and more effective – to define what needs to be done. Then, assess the organization’s readiness and adapt a launch plan.

Conversely, if a company tries to fully transition to Agile all at once and fails, they risk losing long-term support for Agile approaches. If you find your company isn’t ready to fully embrace Agile, then it’s wise to start with a pilot project. Be sure to start with the right team of experienced and interested business and technical people. Success with the pilot project should lead to support for delivering additional projects using Agile approaches. In addition, this success will generate interest (and excitement) within the organization!

The post 4 Challenges to Moving (Too Quickly) to Agile (Project Management) appeared first on Transforming Solutions Inc..

7 Things to Consider Before Hiring a Consultant – Selecting the Right Consultant

Dan Feely — Mon, 29 Mar 2021 12:26:00 +0000

We hear from quite a few organizations that they’ve erred when it comes to hiring a consultant. Don’t worry – you’re not alone. It’s hard to find the right consultant who can make a difference in your organization. The best news is that we have outlined seven important factors to consider to hire the right consultant for your organization.

1. Ask Yourself “Why Do I Need a Consultant?’

There are many reasons why an organization might invite a consultant to join their team. Before assessing which consultant is right for your culture, be sure to understand your why.

Resources: your current team does not have the internal resources
Skills: your current team does not have the skills needed to complete the task
Objective or “Best Practices” Perspective: your current team wants the expertise of another individual, as well as an unbiased point-of-view
Political/Facilitator Reasons: the task at-hand does not fall cleanly into the boundaries of a single organization

2. Develop Goals and an Understanding of Intended Value to Your Organization

Ask yourself “how will my organization benefit from me hiring a consultant?” Defining set goals and intended outcomes of hiring a consultant will help you understand what kind of consultant you want to hire, as well as how you intend for them to fit in your company. When considering these goals, you will want to assess the financial benefits or consequences of hiring this individual as well.

3. Get Approval to Hire a Consultant

Finding a great, qualified consultant is like finding a good doctor or loyal employee: it is time-consuming and hard work! Instead of spending time and resources on hiring the right consultant, only to not get approval to hire someone, be sure you have tentative approval (or complete approval) to bring on a consultant. Along with this, be sure to define the consultant selection process.

4. Define Deliverables, Dates, and Expected Involvement for Both the Consultant and Organization

When bringing a consultant on to your team, it is crucial that you develop shared expectations. In addition, developing a schedule that accounts for both holidays and other demands will help to assure ample time to stay on track with your project. This also helps to keep both your organization, as well as the consultant, focused on time management.

5. Define Billing & Payment Terms

When defining billing and payment terms, there are a few crucial questions to ask:

Is the project fixed fee or within a range with a “not to exceed” clause?
If it is time & materials, what budget was set?
What “materials” are included/excluded from the project?
Is travel time included/excluded?
Will there be milestone-based payouts? If so, what is the schedule?

All of these topics need to be discussed, clarified, and agreed upon. Taking the time to have a conversation and determine what is right for both your organization and the consultant will be a ‘win/win’ for both of you!

6. Get a Second (or Third) Opinion if Needed

As you develop a trusting relationship with your consultant, be judicious about when you put projects out for a competitive bid. You need to realize that, for small projects, it takes time to develop a detailed estimate and approach. If developing a detailed proposal is the case for ALL projects – even if the dollar amount is low – be warned that you may be absorbing that cost in higher than normal rates on future projects to cover the increased overhead.

7. Make Sure that YOU and Your Consultant are Aligned

Sometimes I use a metaphor of personal trainer or a financial planner when I talk about how we management, OCM and technology consultants should work. Assume you just set a goal to run a marathon and are seeking a fitness trainer to help you. You ask around and you get referred someone everyone likes – “Big Jake”, who specializes in getting people ready for CrossFit competitions.

Obviously that is different than getting you ready to run your marathon. So even though Big Jake is knowledgeable and likeable, he won’t be a fit for YOUR needs. Consider your organization’s culture and both the knowledge and style that your consultant needs to make to make change stick.

Closing Thoughts

Finding the right consultant is more difficult than it seems. With these seven steps, you can be sure that you are asking the right questions when it comes to who you’re hiring, as well as why you need their talents.

For more information please email Dan Feely, Managing Partner, or call him at 847-705-0960 ext 202.

If emailing or contact forms are more your style, contact us here!

The post 7 Things to Consider Before Hiring a Consultant – Selecting the Right Consultant appeared first on Transforming Solutions Inc..