Solutions
Crafting a solution for an organization begins with two primary objectives: (1) the critical analysis of current business practices and their relevance in the changed world of the 21st century; and (2) improving how the organization adapts and learns as a group. Creating lasting change in an organization is dependent upon creating an organizational culture that will endorse and embody the new vision or change reality. The process consultant holds many conversations with leadership to begin to formulate an understanding what will make the organization sustainable in the future and what change an organization must make to live into its vision of the future.
Determining the existing culture of an organization takes time and is a multi-step process. The first level of this process is to observe many levels of the organization interacting, to analyze the written communications, values statements, mission, and to interview many organization members. The goal is to collect as many vantage points of the organization as possible, including that of the customer. Working with an outsider, someone with a more objective perspective than an organization member, helps to reveal the unspoken beliefs and assumptions of the group, to expose myopic thinking, and to reveal the group dynamics – the good, the bad, and the ugly.
The process consultant becomes a strategic thinking partner to the organization, guiding leaders to re-discover their challenges, to review, and re-think their objectives, and re-learn the fundamentals of conducting business in the New Economy. Central to leading the organization to a new level of effectiveness, efficiency, and enthusiasm is teaching the leaders to think collaboratively and to solve problems cohesively. The leaders must learn to think expansively, to reach full decision. Vital to coalescing as a leadership team is to learn together – to learn about each other’s ways of thinking and behaving, to learn about one’s own strengths and weaknesses, and to share a common understanding of the challenges and opportunities the organization faces.