Transforming Solutions Inc. (TSI), was engaged by a Southwest University Health Science Center to create an organizational culture of continuous improvement. As background, the institution is one of the nation’s premier graduate academic medical centers, with five schools that specialize in patient-centered education, research and health care. They are part of the University system. 

Spearheaded by the Chief People Officer, the University sought to explore new ways to address problems and continuously improve through guidance and training to transform the institution into one that embraces LEAN and Agile in an employee-centric and pragmatic way. 

Starting with pockets of exposure to Agile and LEAN methodologies, the University wanted TSI to help the overall organization take this, along with other cultural attributes (such as their vision, mission and values) and transform the culture to improve quality and gain efficiencies. 

TSI’s Approach and Role

Approach

To accomplish the identified goals, TSI engaged in the following:

• In the initial phase, the University sought to develop and prioritize processes for improvement and initial process improvement implementation for critical need areas to help build a business case with proven effectiveness and value for further buyin. This work intended to implement and share best practices and training with internal LEAN coaches and key stakeholders for process improvement, establish a usable, sustainable communication plan, evaluate improvements through metrics, and estimate return on investment for the improvement initiatives.
• In the second phase, TSI was asked to develop a Continuous Improvement methodology to be shared with University staff through training with follow up coaching. This methodology was intended to be sustainable and usable for improvement initiatives across the University. 

TSI collaborated with the University Leadership Team to identify and prioritize business processes to implement a practice-based training and mentoring program to enhance LEAN and Agile understanding and development of implementation skills. TSI created a training program for continuous improvement and led a cohort of leaders through process improvement methodology using processes that were identified as critical processes including Budgets, Contract Administration, HR Hiring, and the University Leadership as a pilot. Once the pilot was complete, phase two was implemented that provided full training and mentoring to the cohort for implementation of business process improvement and other continuous improvement strategies throughout the University Health Center and coaching for growth and development for future Continuous Improvement sustainability at the University.

Role

TSI served as a methodologist, project manager, continuous improvement leader, trainer, coach, and facilitator throughout this project. TSI provided and tailored its methodology as the basis for the methodology that is currently in place. After that, TSI evaluated trainees and quality of deliverables after they were trained and did a variety of “hands on” activities to get familiar with the tools. 

Results

This project was viewed as a huge success. Based on TSI’s involvement the University achieved the following:

• Developed and used a repeatable methodology to use on areas deemed “ripe for improvement”
• Took dozens of areas through the methodology which resulted in hundreds of improvement ideas implemented
• Trained over a dozen practitioners thus improving their skillsets
• Realized tangible savings, from the improvement ideas mentioned above, that resulted in hard dollar savings of over $1 million dollars annually.

The post Transforming a PMO and Creating a Culture of Continuous Improvement appeared first on Transforming Solutions Inc..

Personally, I agreed with all of those principles and, especially for organizations that needed a different paradigm about doing business, this made perfect sense….at least until a recent conversation I had.

Let me tell you about an experience I had, which highlighted the potential shortcomings of treating your customer like a customer. 

I had a meeting with a doctor (I’ll just refer to him as Bob) that I’ve known for many years and he shared a perspective that impacted my view of this “customer centric” perspective. Now if you are scratching your head that an MD could teach us something about being customer focused, then get behind me in the line for skeptics. Perhaps we’ll save the blog about how the healthcare industry should transform for another day/blog.

So during our conversation, Bob said “yeah, we’ve had consultants come through the hospital telling us that we need to treat our patients more like customers. We shouldn’t simply view them as a queue of work that will always be here or, even worse that we treat them in a manner that indicates how inconvenient it is that they are seeking our services at times that are not always convenient.”

Bob went on to say something that stuck with me.  He said “I became a surgeon so I can heal people. So they can walk out the door in significantly better shape than when they arrived.  For me, if I simply reduced this to a ‘customer relationship’ whereby they have a need, I have a service and they pay me for that services, it completely depersonalizes what we do here. In fact, that defeats why I became a doctor in the first place”.

I reflected on that a bit, especially in the context of some recent articles and books about servant leadership.  Does this mean we now need to treat our customers like a patient?  Or act like doctors?

So much of the time we get consumed with important metrics, that we don’t want to ignore, but this begs the question, how can we think about our organization beyond the typical revenue per customer, average spend, customer loyalty/retention and other measures.  Hmmm, so much to ponder here.

Like you, over the years, I have seen a few trends and see a few more on the horizon and I would like to share a few takeaways:

• Hiring people whose mission and/or personal value system is aligned with that of the organization is the single best action leaders can take so that an organization’s culture and how it operates the majority of the time, is in turn with your most important stakeholders. I’m not an expert in recruiting and assessment best practices, but it would seem that the big challenge is how do we assess this alignment with the candidates we are considering? How do we truly know if a candidate is all talk and no walk?
• I would argue that no amount of training, empowerment, job enrichment or compensation will, with integrity, overtake a disconnect between an individual’s values and the culture an organization is striving to embrace over the long term.
• Those of us that are in the business of providing a service, have a lesson, if not an obligation, to consider. How aligned is our personal mission with that of the service we provide?  Are we providing: consulting, financial planning, legal, educational, insurance, hospitality, health and wellness and other services merely for the money or are we truly in it to get our “customers” to a significantly better place?
• The same standard holds true to anyone providing a product – are you selling the product to meet quotas or is it truly the best solution for the customer’s need? How have you integrated the “voice and needs of the customer” into the continual evolution of the product?
• The patient/customer has an obligation here too. If this relationship truly has integrity, how ready is the patient to follow the treatment protocol? By the way, here is an excellent change readiness survey if you need to assess how ready your organization is to change.

In summary, organizations own the responsibility to create and cultivate an environment where the mission of the organization and the personal mission of its employees are aligned.  Beyond that, enabling employees with the proper processes, policies, technology, analytics, training, reward mechanism and physical environment can only serve to keep an organization thriving.  As you know, this takes time. It takes an intentional focus.  The best time to start this was last year.  Then second best time is now.

Transformation initiatives like this one is a good example of the types of challenges that TSI helps our clients with.  Please reach out to us and let us know how we can assist you or your business.

Written by: Dan Feely, TSI’s President and Founder. For more information on TSI’s expert consultants, visit The TSI Team page.

The post The Shortcomings of Treating your Customer like a Customer appeared first on Transforming Solutions Inc..

Do you remember when you graduated from college? I’m guessing if we try really hard, we can remember all the way back then. Like you, I was filled with excitement and had so many questions after I graduated, ranging from what my first projects would entail to how soon I might be able to be promoted. While everything was new, naturally, all of us were filled beyond capacity with questions about nearly every aspect of that first “real” job.

However, sadly, over time, for many of us, this natural curiosity dissipates. In fact, within many organizations we are encouraged to “shut up and do our job” versus slowing activity down to ask clarifying questions.  This is unfortunate since that exact sense of wonder is exactly what so many organizations need to innovate, reinvent, remain relevant to customer and employees, and just stay ahead of the competition.

Over years of consulting and being involved in a number of diverse industries, I believe one of the best tools we have as business leaders, organizational change leaders and business analysts is asking a well-crafted question (and of course carefully listening to the response). Based on the response given, or the response you do NOT get, both verbally and non-verbally, this well-crafted question is one of the most valuable tools you have at your disposal and should be used on a daily basis.

At TSI, we’ve crafted a handful of questions that we use both internally and with our clients.  While some of these may seem basic, these questions have yielded insightful, poignant responses time and time again.  And based on this information, we’ve made remarkable progress in refining our clients’ strategic direction and even more so, in implementing key changes that make a difference for these organizations.

Here are 7 questions that we use with regularity. Some of these are intended for discussion with small groups and others are more appropriate for individuals. Regardless of the audience, feel free to leverage these for your own transformation needs and ask these questions with regularity, ranging from daily to monthly:

1. What specific organizational goals related to growth, quality, customer service, efficiency and profitability do you have that shape the context of how the organization, or parts of it, should improve?
2. What specific targets or metrics do you have for each of these goals?
3. What is your personal “brand” and what evidence do you provide that makes your brand apparent to those around you? How is this brand working for you?
4. What threats exist that you must address to be competitive and grow in the manner you are expecting?
5. What area in your organization operates in largely the same way as it has for the past 5 years or more? Does that hold it or other areas back?
6. What do your customers say your organization’s key overall strengths are? Relative to any differences in price, how “bullet proof” are your key customer relationships?  How differentiated is your product or offering?  How about your business model overall?
7. What is going well at your organization that you can possibly replicate in other areas?

On a different level, another tool that organizations find useful when they need to take a step back and see the forest through the trees is the Business Model Canvas. The Business Model Canvas was proposed by Alexander Osterwalder based on his book: Business Model Ontology. Here is a link where you can create one for your organization.

This way of thinking, leveraging well thought out questions, has served TSI well over the years. Hopefully these questions will elicit valuable responses for you as well. Feel free to send us your favorite to tsi@transforming.com or post a comment.

The post 7 Questions to Keep your Organization Relevant appeared first on Transforming Solutions Inc..

Over the last 30 years, I have seen a lot of buzz words and management fads come and go. The area of organizational change has certainly generated more than a few new acronyms and theoretical approaches during this timeframe. Many of us are involved in and responsible for making change stick in our respective organizations. In a world where the majority of programs and projects fail due to a lack of focus on the people side of the equation, we all ask “what’s the secret formula for success?”

At TSI, our seasoned group of performance improvement consultants considers the following fundamentals as three basic elements needed to drive and sustain organizational change:

1. Impacted people must clearly understand what they need to do differently,
2. Those impacted need to gain the skills, knowledge, confidence and tools to successfully perform their new roles, and,
3. The right people need to be incented and held accountable for achieving measurable and sustainable results.

Sounds simple doesn’t it?  If it’s that simple, why do so many efforts fail? Well, chalk a lot of it up to human nature and the challenges that can come along whenever people assemble under boxes on an organizational chart.

To increase your odds of successfully driving organizational change, consider the following best practices:

• Getting people to adopt and sustain change takes more than the traditional communication and training tasks. Not to say that these two areas aren’t important, but other levers often need to be pulled. Determine if your change program includes all the right elements, no one size fits all.
• Involve influential stakeholders early in process and solution analysis and design. This increases the likelihood of effective requirements definition up-front with increased downstream buy-in, understanding and adoption. Focusing on business processes, while keeping the end customer in mind has proven itself to be a valuable framework time and time again.
• Communicate a clear and simple business case for change. Don’t assume people will figure it out on their own. In fact, assume they will not. And even if some individuals won’t agree with the reasons for change, they will appreciate the upfront effort to share critical information and will be more likely to follow early pioneers and adopters. In addition, celebrate and reward wins wherever possible, small and large, as part of an on-going communication strategy.
• Assign dedicated roles/teams to assess operational readiness, develop migration/transition plans and support successful cut-over and sustainment of the new solution and/or environment. An effective way to get from point A to point Z is to define Z, work backwards to A and assign responsibility for executing the tasks needed for the successful transition.
• Pilot and test solutions before full roll-out and incorporate lessons learned in subsequent implementation waves. Fail small and learn vs. fail big.
• Try out agile and fast approaches (e.g., SCRUM and Work-out) to rapidly design and implement small chunks of change. In today’s fast moving economy, many groups do not have time for long, drawn out change exercises.
• Finally, identify and actively involve the right sponsors and advocates in your change efforts. Don’t be afraid to prod leaders for active involvement and support, they will appreciate your focus and discipline on important goals and objectives.

Keeping the 3 basic tenets of successful change management in mind and following the above best practices will pay huge dividends to you and your organization. At TSI, we are always available to help rapidly power up and enable your efforts. We would love to hear about your challenge and what works in your companies.

The post 3 Overarching Requirements for Successfully Managing Organizational Change appeared first on Transforming Solutions Inc..

By Dan Feely, TSI President and Managing Partner

Last month, I had an opportunity to go to the great city of Duluth, Minnesota to watch my favorite first daughter (not to be confused with my favorite 2nd or 3rd daughter) run her first marathon (shout out to Grandma’s Marathon). It was everything you would imagine a marathon to be – inspirational, motivational, emotional, and more.

After bouncing around to different marathon locations, the marathon app indicated our runner was nearing the last mile. So, we jockeyed for position in an area about 400 yards from the finish line hoping we could get a picture of and watch our favorite participant finish.

As we waited, we saw runners who were jubilant, fatigued and everywhere in between those extremes. Most, if not all runners, had their eyes fixed on the balloons marking the finish line that they’ve been dreaming about for the previous 26 miles. It was obvious that most, if not all, were using every bit of fuel they had left in their tank.

We spotted one runner, a guy who did not look well. I mean really unwell. His legs looked like they were made of rubber, and he was increasingly losing his balance with every step he took. Then he crashed. Literally, his legs gave out and he face planted on the pavement.

He did not look like he could get up, nor were any race volunteers in the area to attend to him.

Then, out of nowhere, two runners grabbed and lifted him up. One runner on each side, they grabbed his arms and lifted, dragged and pulled him along. They basically carried him the entire rest of the race.

I watched the entire thing. There were no introductions, no asking “do you need help”. Based on how quickly they jumped into action, I’m confident they didn’t talk about politics as a prerequisite to make sure they were aligned on volatile topics.

They simply helped a fellow human.

I have no idea whether these two competitors who helped this man were striving for a personal best, or simply striving to complete their first marathon. Regardless, I’m sure their stopping added several minutes to their time. With the finish line in sight, they very easily could have just run around him.

But they didn’t. They just did the right thing and sacrificed minutes on their time to do so.

Remarkable.

This event got me thinking about how divided so many of our communities, including our places of employment, are today.

But in a few easy steps, we can create a culture that rises above the rhetoric and divisiveness that it is so easy to get pulled in to.

1. Focus on what you have in common (i.e., common goals, perhaps a few shared values) with your team.
2. Pay no attention to the stuff that you don’t have in common.
3. Just help, add some value, bring something to the table, be a good team member.

The rest will take care of itself.

What perspectives can you add to this?  We’d love to hear from you and your digital transformation experiences.

Looking for more on culture? Go here and here

The post Culture Change 101 appeared first on Transforming Solutions Inc..

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:

1. Change Management Trends: The Top 5 Trends of 2021
2. What is a Project Management Office (PMO)? And Why You Need One
3. A Moment of Silence for the Death of Office Space…or Maybe Not
4. Current State vs. Future State: How to Embrace Change

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?

1. Rapid, Process, and Quality Improvement Events
2. Need for More Performance from Technology (Results Relative to Cost)
3. Developing a Shared Services Model
4. Driving Customer Service and Service Excellence
5. 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:

1. Jim Gallo: A Moment of Silence for the Death of Office Space…or Maybe Not
2. Alyssa Moy: The Reality of Applying Robotic Process Automation in an Enterprise

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.

1. Carl Manello: The Truth About Status Reports and Product Delivery Teams
2. Dan Feely: What Making Pizza has Taught Me about Process Transformation (and OCM)
3. Kyle Glick: 3 Reasons an NGO Needs a Consultant

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

Top Engaged With Posts on LinkedIn

Thank you for joining our online community over on LinkedIn this past year. We shared #MotivationMonday, #TransformationTuesday, and a few #ThrowbackThursdays. We laughed at GIFs, read insightful articles, and connected with new professionals.

Here were some of your favorites from our LinkedIn:

1. Create Value Within Your Organization with Project Managers
2. The Value in a Niche Service Provider
3. Carl Manello: Value of Project Management Principles
4. Let’s Talk Project Management

If you aren’t already part of our online community, be sure to follow us over on LinkedIn to stay in the know about all things TSI in 2022!

Top Taken Quizzes

1. Change Readiness Assessment
2. Delivery Effectiveness Assessment

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!

The post Trending – Wrapping Up With The Top Trends of 2021 appeared first on Transforming Solutions Inc..

The Simple Answer: Organizational Change Models

Now that you’ve invested a lot into your projects, you are ready to recognize the return on investment as quickly and as fully as possible. We get it. Throughout our process improvement engagement, we planned for organizational change management. Our approach is anchored in Kotter’s Theory and ADKAR, resulting in added value and success from the individual to the macro level.

Organizational Management Planning

At the high level, these approaches offer you a checklist for your organizational change management planning. This gives you a tangible place to start in enabling your organization towards lasting change.

Your plan should include:

• Create and share a vision
• Create momentum for change
• Develop, grow, and sustain the momentum
• Maintain the results of the change

Model #1: Kotter’s Theory

Kotter’s Theory is an 8-step process that was developed through Dr. Kotter’s observations of 100 organizations engaged in a process of change. This step-by-step approach assures that there is buy-in from your team, organization, subject matter experts, and stakeholders.

So what are the 8 steps?

1. Create a sense of urgency – evaluate and share the benefits, as well as the need for change with your organization
2. Build a guiding coalition – utilize trusted, enthusiastic, individuals of your organization to champion the change
3. Form a strategic vision and initiatives – developing a vision through a collaborative effort will ensure direction while promoting buy-in
4. Enlist a volunteer army – massive, impactful change takes an army working together, pulling hard to get the ship moving.
5. Enable action by removing barriers – remove restrictions on creativity or process that are slow or inefficient.
6. Generate short-term wins – identify opportunities for immediate improvement that can help create momentum for change. This will encourage movement and future buy-in.
7. Sustain accelerations – regular check-ins, evaluations, and adjustments are a must. Movement is hard to continue once it has stopped, so keep the momentum going!
8. Institute change – demonstrate how the urgency and buy-in accomplished the goals of change. Consider things like how the organization improved and how are you positioned to succeed in the future.

Strengths

Kotter’s Theory is intuitive to follow, backed by observational research, and it is a clear guide to utilizing strengths within your organization to assure ensure is successful.

Weaknesses

Although change takes time, the step-by-step nature of this process may extend that time. Extensive planning must be done to ensure these steps are done in sequential order, as well as to ensure success. This limits the agility of the model and the ability to adjust quickly at any stage of the process.

Model #2: ADKAR

The founder of a global leader in change management, Prosci, created the ADKAR organizational model. In this model, Jeff Hiatt outlines 5 outcomes needed to ensure that your changes last and are successful. The overall theme of the ADKAR model is that true change occurs when the individuals of your organization change.

The 5 Outcomes of the ADKAR Model:

1. Awareness of the need for change – Inform your employees and stakeholders of the change and action, and ask for input
2. Desire to support the change – You must develop the desire to support, as a failure in individual support will impact further efforts
3. Knowledge of how to change – This is about knowing the what, as well as the how. Inform employees and stakeholders on the how and ask for their input. Out of this, create an action plan and enable execution.
4. Ability to demonstrate skills & behaviors – Gauge your employees’ ability to execute the proper actions of the change, identify any gaps, and provide support where needed.
5. Reinforcement to make the change stick – Ensure that the change is stable on the individual level through setting defined processes and incentives to keep the change moving.

Strengths

This model is agile, flexible, and outcome-oriented. Along with this, it allows for adjustments in-process and focuses on success at the individual level. This focus creates improved chances for success. Also, this method clearly states desired outcomes and shifts actions towards those outcomes.

Weaknesses

If you have large change management needs, ADKAR may not be the best fit for your organization, as it is so focused on that individual level. Also, the inputs are less defined, which means this model should only be used if the desired change is known and well defined.

Adapt These Models For Your Organization

Agile + Smaller Change? Start Here

If you are working on smaller change initiatives, the flexibility of the ADKAR model may fit your needs the best. This approach is outcome-oriented, as well as thrives on individual adoption to ultimately foster change.

However, this approach may lack the structure that is needed for a larger organization or initiative.

Complex + Large Initiative? Start Here

If your organization is embarking on a larger, more complicated effort, Kotter’s Theory is for you! This step-by-step approach provides a clear path to ensuring success in your long-term efforts towards change, as long as appropriate resources are available.

Somewhere in the Middle? Start Here

Of course, there is always a middle ground! A hybrid approach of ADKAR and Kotter’s Theory is often the route we choose here at TSI.

Highlights of this approach are as follows:

• Begin by understanding your organization’s Readiness for Change
• Start a movement through building a vision and involving stakeholders
• Grow this movement through empowerment and communication
• Sustain this movement through enablement and removing current barriers
• Maintain movement results with reinforcement and short-term success as the change becomes institutionalized

What You Can Expect From Us

Although this was a lot of information, this does not even begin to demonstrate all of the organizational change models out there. However, these are two that we believe in and have seen proven in creating lasting change. This is especially true when key portions of each method work together with our proven methodology.

1. We begin with an organizational context discussion, setting the basis for the design of your ideal future state.
2. Next, we analyze current state processes, identifying any gaps in ability or knowledge.
3. From there, we work with you to develop and implement a plan to fill those gaps.
4. Finally, determine the best way to sustain, institute, and reinforce change.

BONUS: We also involve those responsible for the workflows in the design process to encourage buy-in.

Whether you are feeling ready to dive in or overwhelmed with where to start, reach out to us to set up an initial call. We would love to walk through these processes in more detail, as well as help you determine which approach may be best for your organization.

The post How to Make Change Stick Through Organizational Change Models appeared first on Transforming Solutions Inc..

Jim Gallo is a Managing Partner at Gallo Associates, LLC. He is also a long-time friend and partner with Transforming Solutions.

Our Guest Contributor series aims to focus on new voices, new perspectives, and new stories of success. If you are interested in sharing your perspective or a story, please contact us.

Every morning, you can watch CNBC or any business channel and hear the constant drumbeat of the demise of office space. Offices are vacant, employees are at home, video meetings are all the rage, and not only do employees no longer have to sit in the morning rush hour, but they also don’t even have to buy new clothes or iron their shirts. Who could see wrinkles when just your face is on the screen? What could be better?

Each week for the last 15 months, the news outlets are reporting that companies in Chicago and other big cities will reduce their office counts by two-thirds. Rents will plummet. REITS will go broke, and office space is dead…

Well, probably not. It’s not time to back up the hearse just yet – and probably never will be. That’s because many companies are calling all their employees back – some quicker than others. But sooner or later, they want them back.

In an interview with Jamie Dimon, Chairman, and CEO of JPMorgan Chase, there is no human bonding when employees are working from home. He said, 

[Working from home] “doesn’t work for people who want to hustle, doesn’t work for culture, doesn’t work for idea generation. By September it will look just like it did before,” Dimon said at a Wall Street Journal CEO Council event last month. “We are getting blowback about coming back internally, but that’s life.”

Why Employees Like Working from Home (as Opposed to the Office)

I’ve spent a lot of hours behind the wheel in rush hour traffic, and there were times when it was at least three hours of my day. Working from home seems pretty appealing. I can sleep in, get out of the shower and dressed and join a 9:00 am Zoom call while my hair is still wet and no one would know. At 6:00 when the day is done, I wouldn’t have to rush home to catch my kids’ soccer games because I’ll be able to take them to the games. In addition to all that, I save gas money, put fewer miles on my car, have fewer maintenance costs, and it just gets better. Or does it?

What’s Not To Like?

Many employees are simply better employees when in an office environment.

This one is true for me. Many workers are more efficient, more diligent, and they are not easily distracted when in the office. But move them to work from home and there is no shortage of things to take them away from the desk. Go in the kitchen and grab a snack. Pet the dog, feed the dog and walk the dog. Check social media. Throw the wet load of clothes in the dryer. And on it goes…

Working from home can be a lonely experience.

Most humans feed off the energy of others. Many have set up offices in their basements and they’re “down there” in solitude trying to stay alert, and productive. It’s difficult. 

Conversely, many people thrive in a collaborative work environment.

When brainstorming or problem solving, it’s much quicker to get up and walk into the office next to yours than it is to send an email arranging a Zoom call. And people who feed off of others excel when they see better positive body language and facial expressions.

When we go into an office, we can talk sports, we can talk weather, we can talk politics (or at least we used to). But most importantly, we can easily collaborate and brainstorm on ideas or problems in search of a solution. There are certain occupations where being by yourself is not the optimal way to get things done. In creative fields like marketing and advertising, can you imagine someone trying to come up with an ad campaign all by themselves? Of course not.

You may feel like you never get away from work.

Many studies have shown people are more productive at home. What they omit is, if they’re not commuting three hours a day, are they working those three hours? And is that a good thing? Many employees report they work eight-hour days or more, but it takes them sixteen hours to do it. Moreover, because you never get away from work, you have little work life-personal life boundaries. One of the nice things about going to work is leaving work because then your day is done.

On-Boarding new employees is especially difficult.

It’s very difficult to train someone on their job when you’re not face-to-face. New employees may have trouble grasping certain tasks and can spend (or waste) hours trying to solve them. They don’t know who to call or even how to reach them. So they’re at home, feeling pressure to be productive, and wait for help. This was one of Dimon’s main points: new employees have trouble or may never bond with a boss or peer, have no one to help build morale, no one to go to lunch or drinks after work, and in the end, nothing that mentally attaches them to the company. The net effect is the company will see higher turnover as new employees haven’t grown roots.

Many managers can’t manage what they can’t see.

It may sound old school but many managers simply don’t trust workers if they can’t see them. In a recent non-scientific survey of tech workers by Blind Blog, more than seventy percent of the respondents said they work six hours or less on an average day, more than 40 percent said they work less than four.

Maybe go Hybrid: A Mix of Office and WFH

Some companies are attempting a happy medium where workers come in 2-3 days per week. The theory is companies will reduce their office space. Employees, instead of going to their office every day, will come in two or three days a week and simply take any empty office. While this seems like a possible scenario, it seems wrought with pitfalls. If you’re working on a team, and some of the team members come back the next day while others stay home, the lack of continuity is going impede progress. In addition, you’ll have employees jockeying for the best window office.  Employees will have no office to call their “home away from home.” No family pictures. No Feng Shui. Nothing. And I don’t know about you, but I don’t like someone sitting at my desk.  

One recent projection for office occupancy by Moody’s estimates offices will return to their 2019 occupancy rate by 2026. I’m betting much sooner.

About the Author

Jim Gallo is a Managing Partner at Gallo Associates, LLC. and a long-time friend and partner with Transforming Solutions. Connect with Jim on LinkedIn.

The post Jim Gallo: A Moment of Silence for the Death of Office Space…or Maybe Not appeared first on Transforming Solutions Inc..

Don’t reinvent the wheel, just realign it.

–  Anthony J. D’Angelo, founder of Collegiate Empowerment

In the face of challenging project delivery, and the critical need to grow, evolve, and improve, practitioners do not always know where to turn to improve their capabilities and processes. Lacking other guidance, some organizations try to achieve an improvement approach through internal consensus building. This is certainly a method that encourages everyone to get along; however, it is not always the best way to move forward.

Well-meaning leaders may assemble teams of participants who may lack relevant experience or insight. In an effort to make up for the lack of background and knowledge, an organization may engage in extensive research or waste critical time trying to ‘figure it out’ on their own. Sometimes that research may include reaching out into the ether of the internet and utilizing downloadable, generic templates and processes.

Watch Out for Generic Process Templates

Unfortunately, these downloadable, generic templates will not help the situation. Inventing an answer through consensus will not make the cut either. So, what is the answer? At Transforming Solutions, we are in favor of leveraging proven processes and methods. Our proven practices have been successfully leveraged repeatedly. We believe this proves them valuable.

Processes and methods must have repeatedly worked in a variety of situations – this makes them proven practices. To be sure, practices should be tailored to fit an organization’s purpose. Aligning or tailoring these practices is key. However, the tailoring exercise should be more than rearranging the steps, changing out corporate logos, and swapping the order of stoplights on a status report. The process of tailoring requires insight, experience, and even battle scars.

If it Isn’t Broke, Don’t Reinvent it

Here is an example of an organization that chose to invent a process and was unsuccessful:

A multi-year, multi-tens-of-millions of dollar program needed to track budget and schedule. Instead of using proven cost performance index (CPI) and schedule performance index (SPI) methods, the program team invented their own versions of these global standardized mathematical equations. This was analogous to saying “Einstein’s equation of relativity doesn’t work for us, so we’ll make our own version”. 

The project schedule was laid out in immense detail but was poorly managed and provided a false sense of security. Backing a plan into the desired result of the designed math was difficult. On top of this, the plan did not provide easy-to-understand insights to progress. Due to the poor design of the schedule and the ‘invented algorithms’, the program team regularly spent several ‘man-weeks’ per month generating revised cost and schedule numbers. The reporting was done even though it was relatively well understood that the numbers did not represent the real state of program progress. The invention of non-proven tracking methods impaired the project.

Did They Do it on Purpose?

You may wonder why an organization would choose to use tracking methods that required them to reinvent the process (rather than realign it), especially when they were falling behind and overspending. Finding the true issue in the schedule and budget was made more challenging by the customized math. As a result of this similar-but-different approach to tracking status and cost, the true reality of the program was hidden. This makes one wonder: was this creation of alternative methods done on purpose? The entire management team was aligned to the ‘invented’ approach. Groupthink had already done its damage. Against coaching from consultants, including yours truly, several finance analysts, and some vendor partners, the management team exemplified an emperor with no clothes situation. Sure, it ended up gaining the company more money, but it was as if they were purposely hiding the truth.

After more than a year of reporting status in an artificial way, the management team still did not fully understand what was needed to complete the large-scale effort. This was the case despite the abundance of resource function graphs, risk logs, engineering drawings, and project critical path representations generated every month. For this program, a lack of good methods and a lack of transparency impacted effectiveness.

Tailor it “Fit-for-Purpose“

Proven templates, processes, and methods should be leveraged and customized to meet your needs. When leveraging standardized templates, it is crucial that you work on customization with someone that has experience. Engaging experts will help assure that you do not leave out key data points. Experts understand which data is the most impactful. Great design celebrates the marriage of form and function. Think about the value of a status report with proper health metrics. Consider an issue log’s value with appropriate aging data, and assess a risk log with line-item currency valuation of risk. Reinventing does not always prove useful. Why invest the time, money, and cycles of trials to reinvent a process that already works well? Instead, follow Mr. D’Angelo’s adage and realign (rather than reinvent) the wheel.

Mature Your Organization’s Capabilities

If you are looking to mature your capabilities and do not want to waste cycles reinventing, TSI can help you by sharing proven practices for effective delivery, organizational change management, business process improvement, and technology assessments. We will work with you to align our proven practices to your needs, your environment, and your culture. Drop us a line and let’s work together to align a wheel for you.

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Non-profit organizations have always operated in challenging environments where mission and donor expectations directly impact the outcome of their work. In a post-pandemic environment, needs are high and competition for charitable giving is even higher. In response, effective and efficient operation is key. The most successful non-profits will recognize this and incorporate a solution into their strategic plan. Some organizations require outside help in this planning. But how do you know you need NGO consulting? Below are 3 reasons an NGO might choose to work with a consultant. Including a preview of future thoughts on how to ensure you’re selecting a consultant that is right for you.

NGO Consultants Provide an Outside Perspective

There are several reasons why a consultant’s outside perspective will benefit an NGO. Their ability to provide a non-partisan, non-political, straightforward view and recommendations is only the start.

Consultants provide value by leveraging their ability to perform business analysis at a variety of levels. Internal staff is often much too close to the process and environment to be able to take a step back. They need to examine the organizational elements from a 30,000-foot level. This is necessary to see the whole picture, as well as what the upstream and downstream impacts are of various processes and experiences. Starting at this level of analysis ensures that the new design and implementation considers these changes’ impact, beyond the micro-level

In addition to the above, consider that part of any strategic planning is the insights gained from discussions with staff. A consultant brings a unique ability to gain these insights in an unbiased and unobstructed manner. Staff is often apprehensive about sharing details with peers or superiors that may adversely affect the culture or generate backlash. A consultant, however, can provide anonymity in these discussions, allowing the true value to arise.

Optimize New Technology and Ditch the Dated

You don’t have to be an expert in Moore’s Law to know how quickly technology can become obsolete or dated. With the doubling of computing power, even technology that is 5 years old will have shortcomings. Some NGOs are operating on technology that is 20 years old, significantly impacting the success of operations.

Over the past decade, we have seen technology move from on-premise to cloud. We have also seen many vendors move from integrations and middleware, solutions to modules, to increasing native technology to provide a complete solution.

These moves impact functional requirements, technical requirements, user experience, cost of hardware and software, and the need for ongoing maintenance. Additionally, organizations that continue to grow and leverage technology operate more efficiently and effectively, maximizing the use of their fundraising dollars. Consultants’ familiarity with the advancements in technology and their experience with vendors gives the NGOs they work with a serious advantage in ensuring proper use of their technology.

Increased Competition Leads to Higher Demand for Dollars

As the economy has experienced significant fluctuations, the need and competition for philanthropic dollars have become more intense. So much so, that even Facebook is targeting faith-based organizations and experiences on their platform as a major area of growth. While I’d like to believe that is out of the goodness of their hearts, I’d imagine they recognize the financial impact as well.

What does this competition mean for organizations? How does our consulting help organizations overcome this competition? The need for an updated strategic vision and a focus on customer experience is amplified. And just as an internal employee may be hesitant to share information with a superior, a customer or donor may feel the same, or may not share productively. Working with a consultant that focuses on strategy and customer experience ensures that information needed to drive this planning is collected in a valuable and unclouded way. Then, this information can be used to drive strategy and success.

Selecting the Right Partner is Crucial to Organizational Success

So you’ve decided your NGO will benefit from a partnership with a consultant. But how do you know you’re selecting the right one? Rather than selecting based on a brand name, you want to be sure that whoever you invite into work with you meshes well with your team, culture, and organization. Stay tuned for part II of this article, as we dive deeper into this topic.

It is important, especially for a mission-based organization, to select a partner with similar values. You want someone who aligns with your mission and culture. This allows you to understand who will be on your project team and the background of the firm. Will they come in and tell you what to do and claim to be the experts on all things? Or will the consulting group be a true PARTNER, working with you collaboratively to create a strategic plan that fits your needs? Consider these things when making a selection and you’ll find the one that is the best fit for your organization.

If you’re looking to learn more or would like to chat more with us about the work we do with non-profits, head over to transforming.com, check out our NGO offering, or contact us to set up some time to chat.

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