Getting Started
GETTING STARTED: DISCOVERY AND CONTRACTING PROCESS
To ensure that you achieve your outcomes in the most affordable, timely, and efficient way there’s a lot to learn. First, we want to learn how you view the opportunity you want to seize or the problem you need to solve.
The discovery process usually involves a series of phone conversations and at least one meeting (of 2-4 hours duration) and includes the project’s executive Sponsor or champion. The engagement Sponsor has budget authority for the project and is accountable for making it a success. Our engagements are typically sponsored at the level of the CEO or President and his or her direct reports.
—————————————————–
Some of the questions we explore with the Sponorship team include:
Outcomes: What outcomes are you expecting the effort to yield? Clearer vision and greater alignment among employees? Increased revenues? Decreased costs? Improved organizational culture? Improved internal processes? Improved reputation and customer/citizen experience? Improved corporate sustainability
profile?
Consequence: Is the problem or opportunity you want to address worth working on? Are the implications of delaying action significant? Will responding to the problem/opportunity you are considering yield an order of magnitude improvement or an incremental improvement? Is it something you can influence?
Drivers and Timing: Why consider this effort now? What are the internal and external drivers for this change now? How does the timing fit with your annual planning cycle? Is the outcome tied to clearly defined existing strategies and tactics? If not, are you ready to explore strategic issues and scenarios that will help you establish solid strategies?
Readiness: Is the organization ready to move toward real improvements in economic, social, and environmental performance or is the organization’s current approach to sustainability primarily a PR exercise? Are you ready to get beyond PR?
Capacity and Resources: Does the organization have the time and people to invest in making this change successfully? Or, is the organizaiton already committed to too many initiatives? Is there sponsorship from executive management? Is there political will for implementation of change once designed? Does the organization have a budget for engaging help?
Past Experience and Learning: How have you attempted to solve this problem or seize this opportunity in the past? What did you learn from those attempts? How do you know you need assistance now? In your organization, what makes the difference between successful consulting engagements and ones that have gone poorly?
Stakeholders: What groups, entities, and individuals are implicated or impacted by the changes or efforts you are considering? How much influence does each have over your success? Which stakeholders have the most interest in seeing you succeed or fail?
Based on the Discovery Session, and assuming there is mutual interest in an engagement, we will prepare a proposal with statement of work, deliverables, fees, logistics, and so on. After answering your questions and making any fine tuning adjustments we will provide you with a simple agreement and invoice for a deposit to secure a consulting team for your dates. The next steps are outlined below and vary depending on the kind of services or products you’re engaging us to provide.
—————————————————–
CORPORATE & MUNICIPAL STRATEGIC PLANNING
Designing the Engagement Details: After the above Discovery Process concludes and an agreement is signed we begin project specific planning. One or two key Sponsors from your organization will meet with Sterling Insights to determine the specific engagement purposes, desired outcomes, participant and stakeholder lists, overall engagement timeline, and dates and venues for meetings and major collaborative planning events. At the end of this 3-4 hour meeting, Sterling Insights will have worked through the questions above and gained enough information to design the work flow for the engagement.
—————————————————–
Strategic Planning Rhythm Many engagements have a rhythm of executive level coaching and goal articulation followed by a collaborative design session of 1-3 days duration with anywhere from 10 to 100 participants. Some of the more familiar models we apply and customize for client needs in these engagements include:
All of the tools and models we bring to bear on client goals and problems are proven to get results in our own practice and well researched by their authors. Our role is to understand and customize them in a unique combination that gets results.
—————————————————–
The follow-up after design sessions often includes executive debriefs, implementation planning, and change management consulting. Our approachs to change management, in addition to models noted above are grounded in best practices developed by National Training Labs and others.
