Consulting Services
Strategic Planning
Strategy by Design utilizes years of experience in the art and science of decision-making to help clients make sound strategic choices. We assist in the setting and articulation of strategic direction in response to the opportunities and challenges clients face in their current environment. We provide consulting and training in a proven methodology and toolset for decision-making and coach leaders on the use of an effective strategic decision-making model.
Case Studies include work at the Cherokee Nation, the Small Business Administration, and the Athletic Department of a Top 20 University.
Organizational Design & Development
Strategy by Design brings experience with large-scale change initiatives to the table, and counsels clients on turning strategic thinking into strategic action. We employ a proven approach for achieving focus and alignment across an organization’s work processes, organizational structure, decision-making systems, and performance management practices. Our consultants have used this framework, known as the Organization Systems Design (OSD) Model, consistently to help organizations and their leaders achieve breakthroughs in performance.
Case Studies include AT&T American Transtech, American Express Financial Services, Blue Cross Blue Shield, Hill's Pet Nutrition, Lucent Technologies, Mead Johnson Consumer Products, National Semiconductor, the Veteran's Administration, and a number of American Indian tribes.
Leadership Development
Leadership development is a critical design element for any organization committed to a long-term future. As an organizationlays out a leadership development plan, it seeks to:
- Create a surplus of leadership skills beyond those minimally necessary to ensure ongoing operations.
- Identify individuals capable of assuming more responsibility (advancement vertically) or achieving greater expertise (horizontal advancement).
- Ensure continuity of operation in the event of the sudden death, disability, retirement, resignation, or other loss of key leaders.
- Identify individuals as possible replacements for key incumbents in critically important positions.
- Identify positions where no successors have been identified so that contingency plans may be established.
It is important to design a succession planning process with each of two perspectives in mind. From the company's viewpoint, there is a need to identify high potential performers who will be tomorrow’s leaders, and to prepare these individuals for future positions. From the individual’s perspective, there is a need to plan his or her future, understand what it will take to get there, and obtain the learning opportunities necessary for personal development.
Succession planning should include regular, systematic evaluation of future leaders as well as an organizational assessment of where leadership voids or gaps exist or where they could develop with the departure of individuals. It should also include some sort of plan to meet individual development needs in which future leaders are actively mentored and coached.
A leadership development program includes:
- A thorough understanding of where the tribe is going, and the responsibilities leaders must assume to get there.
- A behavioral model of leadership elucidating a comapny's unique way of leading.
- A knowledge model summarizing the competencies necessary for leading in theorganizationalenvironment.
- A 360 degree feedback instrument based on these models.
Case Studies in Leadership Development include the Cherokee Nation, Blue Cross Blue Shield, Lucent Technologies, the SBA, and Colgate/Hill's Pet Nutrition.
Customer Value Management
Strategy by Design's Decision Metrics groupprovides you with a way to chart a clear course to success --- Customer Value Management (CVM). CVM is a process that includes a collection of specific analytical tools and metrics that help a business track its competitive position, identify its source of competitive advantage, and align its strategy, business processes, and people with the constantly changing needs of its targeted markets.
Organizational Surveys
Strategy by Design's Decision Metrics group utilizes a broad and deep skill set in the design, administration, and analysis of survey instruments. Over the last 18 years, our consultants have conducted well over 100 surveys for at least 40 different clients in the areas of customer and employee satisfaction, team effectiveness, and organizational culture. We pioneered a survey methodology for measuring Employee Engagement that identifies the factors that drive retention and discretionary effort on the job. We can perform a full complement of analysis, from basic statistics to higher-level analyses such as factor analysis and multiple regression. We help clients discern the meaning behind the data and translate that understanding into actionable improvements. We provide both customized and “off-the-shelf” instruments that are proven and reliable.
360 Degree Feedback for Leaders
Also known as multi-source or multi-rater feedback, 360-degree feedback is a method of improving employee effectiveness that uses input from multiple sources. A 360-degree feedback process involves collecting perceptions about a person’s behavior from a range of vantage points including boss, peers and direct reports. The process provides individuals with a complete picture of their behavior on the job and its impact on others. Decision Metrics designs 360-degree feedback instruments, gathers and analyzes data, provides easy-to-use individual feedback reports, and provides coaching to individuals to assist in personal development.