I wasn’t completely right (not the first time that happened).

To make a very long story short and tie it back to another favorite topic – process transformation – let me share a few things I’ve learned. These lessons are courtesy of the many hours I’ve spent making brick oven pizzas from scratch.

1. The Right Environmental Conditions are Essential

It took longer than I care to admit to learn how to create a proper fire, as well as how to heat up the oven. These factors, as you can imagine, are essential to the process. Apologies to any of you who may have been victimized by our early undercooked, bland experimental pizzas. Likewise – during process transformation – the stakeholders, capacity to change, self-awareness, case for change, and other factors are 100% essential. Trying to change, without any one of these is like trying to bake a pizza on a cold pizza slab. Take a look at our Change Readiness Survey for a more detailed look at these factors.

2. Preparation results in a better experience and outcome

As illustrated both above and below, having the right ingredients and proper tools that are organized in a logical order will make all the difference in the output you deliver. The methodology one uses to map, analyze, and improve the process is critical. While the organizational culture and other factors that change are sought, if the facilitator/practitioner knows his or her approach well, they can get the analytical and creative input needed to transform the process. To that end, TSI’s 6-Step Methodology is a solid framework. Yet, depending on circumstances, it can be adapted. Those of us who use it on projects may also adapt it to fit each of our styles.  But in the end, we know which tools and techniques work. This way we can leverage these and deliver a meaningful project to our clients.

3. Pizza (& Process) Is Best Consumed When You are Starving

In the early days of our pizza making, when our oven needed an extra hour or more to be at the right temperature, some of our guests got quite hungry (maybe even hangry) while they waited. Then, when the amateur pizza finally came out and was instantly devoured, I was amazed to hear how much folks enjoyed it.

Obviously, the product was not stellar, but the reaction to an average pizza was.

In terms of transformation, this reaction makes me wonder how a better way of process transformation may be considered.  

Are your constituents starving for improvement, or they relatively fulfilled?  Is the impetus to change being forced upon a group or is there a “pull” for change?

Give that some thought when fashioning your approach or selecting your next area to transform.

If you are ready to transform an area within your organization, let’s connect! If you are still selecting your next area to transform, learn more about how we serve our current clients.

The post What Making Pizza has Taught Me about Process Transformation (and organizational change management) appeared first on Transforming Solutions Inc..

Through our work at Transforming Solutions, Inc. (TSI), we believe that understanding critical aspects of emotional Intelligence and applying them to our work with clients and other parts of life is essential to achieving goals and realizing one’s potential in many areas. In addition, leading organizational research on emotional Intelligence and effective organizational management shows a strong relationship between emotional Intelligence and effective organizational management. Leaders who have high emotional Intelligence are more likely to be effective in their roles and are better able to create a positive work environment. Do a Google search “Importance of Emotional Intelligence, and you will see an overwhelming number of articles supported by research that discuss the correlation between emotional Intelligence and success. One recent study, “What matters more for entrepreneurship success? A meta-analysis comparing general mental ability and emotional intelligence in entrepreneurial settings”, was authored by Jared S. Allen, Regan M. Stevenson, Ernest H. O’Boyle, and Scott Seibert; notes Emotional Intelligence has an 89.1% predictive variance in determining an entrepreneurs success with IQ being only 10.9% predictive of their success.

Daniel Goleman, an American psychologist and renowned author, says emotional Intelligence is highly predictive of success. He has also said, “CEOs are hired for their intellect and business expertise – and fired for lack of emotional intelligence.“. Goleman explains emotional Intelligence can be broken down into the following five categories (pictured in the graphic), as summarized by Andrea Ovans’ 2015 Harvard Business Review article titled “How Emotional Intelligence Became a Key Leadership Skill“:

• Self-awareness
• Self-regulation
• Motivation (defined as “a passion for work that goes beyond money and status”)
• Empathy for others
• Social skills, such as proficiency in managing relationships and building networks

6 ways to practice your emotional Intelligence as an organizational leader

1. Practice empathy: Empathy is the ability to understand and share the feelings of others. As a leader, it is essential to be empathetic toward your employees and their situations. Practicing empathy can help you build trust and respect and foster a positive workplace culture.

2. Practice active listening: Active listening involves hearing what someone is saying and understanding what they mean. As a leader, you should practice active listening to gain insight into your employees’ concerns, needs, and desires. This will help you understand what motivates them and how to best support them.

3. Manage conflict effectively: Conflicts are inevitable in any workplace, but as a leader, it is your responsibility to manage them effectively. Emotional Intelligence can help you understand the underlying emotions driving the conflict and guide you toward a solution that benefits all parties involved.

4. Provide constructive feedback: As a leader, it is essential to provide feedback to your employees. However, the way you deliver that feedback can have a significant impact. Emotional Intelligence can help you frame feedback in a constructive and empathetic way that encourages growth and development.

5. Build strong relationships: Building solid relationships with your employees is critical to success as a leader. Emotional Intelligence can help you connect with your employees deeper, understand what motivates them, and build strong bonds that contribute to a positive workplace environment.  

6. Use tools: Using tools can help you gather input from others to better understand their perspective. While you can use various surveys, check out TSI’s Free (and short) Change Readiness Assessment.

Overall, emotional Intelligence is valuable for any leader looking to improve organizational management. By focusing on empathy, active listening, conflict management, constructive feedback, and relationship building, you can strengthen your emotional Intelligence and become a more effective leader.

If you’ve liked what you read and would like to hear more on this topic or similar topics, feel free to comment or reach out to TSI for more.

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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

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Benefits should be conferred gradually; and in that way they will taste better.

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..

Whether this gnawing feeling is triggered by your recent end of a campaign or you simply know that you and your team have outgrown your current technology, this is a topic that is top-of-mind for most institutions (and non-profits alike).

Let’s be authentic – your institution needs to engage alumni in a personalized and contemporary manner. And if you don’t, another organization or cause will engage with them in a manner that might cause them to participate more with them, than with you.

Based on what we consistently hear, organizations fall into 1 of 3 categories:

1. Have, in the past few years, converted to a new system
2. Are in the process of implementing their new system
3. Watching those intuitions in groups 1 and 2 to see how they are faring

We are in a most remarkable time and space for advancement systems – unlike I’ve ever seen. Perhaps because one of the major CRM vendors is announcing “end of life” for their system. Or perhaps, with the promise of new, cloud-based systems, many organizations are giving serious thought to replacing their aging systems that are often 20+ years old.

The problem is there are not a lot of options. The landscape is further complicated by a workforce, which expects everything to be Amazon-like in its delivery – easy to use, seamless, requires no training. As a result, we have little patience for anything else. At the same time, we are asking our advancement systems to be more than just a “system of record”. Our systems need to personalize outgoing communications, provide meaningful data for decision making, all while being as efficient as possible.

Today, there is a clash of viewpoints regarding an age-old question in the advancement world. The core database, is a system of record for biographic information, gift and pledge transactions, a repository for contact reports, correspondence, and other documentation. What’s exciting about today’s landscape is that you can overlay the core database with a whole host of tools. This helps with personalization, communication, segmentation, relationship management, reporting, and data analytics. These are powerful software tools to conduct business in the way in which is important to you.

One way we think of advancement system needs is in the form of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs:

We need basic functions like servers, internet, authentication, and security before we can think of anything else. Core data needs, such as biographic data and what is done with that biographic data, signify low engagement. Belonging needs, or beginning engagement, include gifts, pledges, and research. Esteem needs or substantive engagement involve stewardship and prospect management. Self-actualization is realized with predictive modeling and artificial intelligence that may result in increased personalization and improved engagement.

Tools overlaying a core database create an ecosystem. If you have the right integration tools, you can swap out old tools once new ones are developed, or as business needs change. Yet, as you can imagine, this means there are multiple products involved and it is common today to see products such as MuleSoft, Dell Boomi, and others move data from one application to another.

The following diagram has the nickname the “layer cake” diagram at TSI:

With this type of ecosystem, we can do more to take advantage of technology and be nimbler to react to constituent and business needs. Some vendors are doing fascinating, good work in this space. And if you are open to this type of advancement systems ecosystem, you can more readily take advantage of this exciting time in advancement.

As you have likely concluded by now, the difficulty arises in deciding which tools to employ, as well as in what order. You also must decide which ones are best aligned with your needs, culture, budget, and current challenges. TSI can help you articulate the problem, objectively assess the business case, help evaluate and select a new system, as well as manage the implementation. Since so many other consulting firms have a relationship with software vendors, it is very important to be discerning, comprehensive, and forward-looking while selecting external help.  Please give us a call; we’d love to be a resource for your team. Contact us!

The post Selecting Your Institution’s Next CRM: A Look at Your Advancement System Needs 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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#1 – Hire a Consultant With Similar Values

This may feel obvious, but you want to be sure you are working with a consultancy with similar values to you and your organization. At TSI, we consider this the forgotten dimension of hiring a consultant.

Here are two quick questions for you to find out how compatible you are: how do your organizational values match up with the values of the consulting firm? How does the firm demonstrate its values?

Organizations that miss this evaluation process component risk poorly completed projects. In turn, poorly completed projects lead to an increased risk of projects not completing on time, on budget, or without error.

As a result, organizations end up spending more money to complete projects or fix errors, ending up over time and over budget.

Hiring a consultant who has similar values to your organization helps to assure that your projects are completed well and are cohesive with your current values.

#2 – Take Control of the Conversation

In the past, we have heard from more than a few clients that past consultants have come into their organizations and dominated the conversation around solution design. As a result, the consultants fail to take client feedback and insight into account. This resulted in the client’s team (in your case, you) feeling like their solution was pushed upon them. This is as opposed to the solution being developed with them.

So what happens next? The client puts the prior consultants’ findings on a shelf. They then will not look at the findings unless prompted to do so. As a result, the solution is not fully implemented.

And what does that mean? You guessed it. Time and money are wasted.

Hiring a consultant who includes you in the conversation around solution design helps to assure that you felt it was created specifically for your organization, instead of neglecting to use a solution that was pushed on your team.

#3 – Read the Reviews When Hiring a Consultant

Raise your hand if you always read the reviews before purchasing a product or service…just me?

Although you can find some people who simply want to blow off some steam on the internet, many reviews are quite helpful! They offer information around details that the maker or organization may have not known to include. They also testify to how valuable the product truly is.

So when it comes to hiring a consultant or utilizing their services to ultimately save time and money, reviews serve the same purpose.

When reading the reviews of a consultancy, there are a couple things to look for.

1. Collaboration with The Consultancy

As we discussed in point #2, YOU need to be able to take control of the conversation. If there is not a sense of collaboration and understanding, your project will not be successful.

TSI worked with us to complete a strategic technology assessment, which included the difficult task of coordinating and articulating our vision and strategy for new technology.

– Sara Barr, The University of Chicago

2. Mention of Time or Money Saved

Let’s cut to the chase. You just want to know if you can save time and money with a consultant. The best way to find out is to see how the consultancy you’re exploring has saved other organizations time or money.

Dan and the team engaged, were sensitive to how they approached our teams, and were tough-minded with my leadership team and me around ways we could deliver more effective service at a lower cost.

– Mike Orscheln • Former CEO, Phonak Hearing Systems USA

Every time they were on/under-budgeted timeline and costs. They were professional, hardworking, completely objective, and helped us in ways that I did not originally anticipate. I would highly recommend them.

– J. Brodsky, High Growth Telecommunications Company

Discover More Ways a Consultant Can Collaborate With Your Team

There are other factors that go into hiring a consultant to work with your team, but these 3 points are a great way to assure that how you are doing it aligns with your organization, as well as saves you time and money.

As your organization brainstorms its next project, discover 7 additional things to consider in the process. These 7 considerations help you further understand the timeline and develop expectations.

The post How to Waste Less Time and Money With a Consultant appeared first on Transforming Solutions Inc..

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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The use of a strong-performance brand causes participants to feel better about themselves when undertaking a task…

When companies are trying to improve their processes and do not have much experience in the areas of delivery effectiveness, they potentially face a need to spend more money on a big brand name consultancy than is needed. At TSI, we see this once in a while when a potential client may select one of the bigger national management consulting firms.

Sometimes, client organizations do not select us because the bigger consulting firms simply are the “bigger consulting firms;” they have a more widely known and established brand. Hiring a national name brand can be important to clients. However, it can often be a disadvantage to them as well. This is because the big guys often cost significantly more, may not assign a seasoned consultant to the work, or may not have a specific “fix” for a client’s need.

Brand Names & The Placebo Effect

Several years ago, Shankar Vedatam, social science correspondent on NPR, did a story relating to the research of the placebo effect on consumer purchases. The story focused on the perception that big brand name products (e.g., Nike golf clubs) provide better results.

The report hit home for me with the following quote:

The effect is strongest among people who are novices in their respective task. Experts, really receive little or no boost due to the performance brand.

The Value in a Niche Brand

Take caution and beware as you move along the maturity path for your PMO, portfolio management, or program governance capabilities. Are you convinced in your path because the best solution is being put forward? Or because you are talking with a well-known, brand-name consultancy? Analogous to the study about golfing, in many situations, there is little real advantage in leveraging a more recognizable brand. And in many situations, there is a disadvantage to pursue the illusion of a “national brand” if the project team is less experienced than what is needed.

Instead, the key is a sound solution, a clear vision and roadmap for delivery, an experienced implementation team, and a measured way forward.

If your organization is a novice, or just not yet an expert in delivery, consider your needs, possible solutions, and the value you hope to realize. Do not be swayed by the placebo effect. There is value in the niche solution providers as well. I cannot promise a hole-in-one, but I can promise to reduce your anxiety on the fairway and help you improve your game. TSI has been around for more than 25 years; our consultants are seasoned experts, and we have the specific ‘fix’ for your need across a variety of service offerings.

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However, change doesn’t have to be uncomfortable. It can help you gain a greater understanding of where you currently are (your current state), as well as where you are headed (your future state). Embracing this ultimately helps you and your organization foster excitement for change and opportunities to improve your organization.

Educate and Prepare through Current State Process Improvement

With any challenge or test in life, the best way to improve comfort is to educate and prepare. Change is no exception to this rule. Through exposing your organization’s pain points and preparing to move forward, your organization will gain great value. We can further understand what we do through mapping the current state. This includes what we do, why we do it, and the pieces of our process that hold us back from achieving our goals. Too often, stakeholders in current state workshops don’t understand how their actions impact an organization beyond their immediate role. On top of this, they don’t even fully understand what others in the organization do. Through further conversation, we can identify pain points, as well as their fixes. Some of these pain points are able to be fixed immediately, while others require more identification of what opportunities exist in the ideal future state.

Think Ahead with Future State Planning

Once organizations have identified pain points in their current state, the next step is to begin planning for their future state. This is done with an understanding of where you came from, the pain points and opportunities for improvement that currently exist, and the ideal manner of using the functionality of new technology to optimize your business processes. Future state mapping is a realistic representation of opportunity, growth, and area for improvement for an organization. The ideal future state is not ‘wishful thinking’, but a balance between need, resolution, and realistic thinking. These things all adding up to a positive transformation.

We can’t solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them.

Albert Einstein

Communication Is Key

Using the total functionality of technology in your organizational processes will make embracing the change even more worthwhile. This may be difficult, as users can see technology as a threat to their job or out of their comfort zone. However, the objective of new technology is not to replace anyone, but make processes more efficient. This efficiency leads to more time, resources, and attention to value-adding activities. Clearly communicating the added value to users, the need for change, and a unified message can help to ensure buy-in towards successful change. This holistic approach to communication lends itself to success in implementation and powerful organizational change management.

Embracing Change and Technology to Create Future Value

What value-add activities will you be able to focus more of your resources on? Overall, understanding your current state, planning for the future state, and embracing change and technology make this value-add possible.

As your organization evaluates its current state, as well as plans for its future state, your team must be on the same page. As we discussed earlier, there can often be a disconnect in teams in terms of roles, expectations, and pain points. Take our Change Readiness Assessment and discover if your team is ready for this change. Beyond this, learn more about our offerings to determine your organization’s next step.

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