A consensus-based group process transforms a
‘talking’ meeting into a ‘doing’ meeting! Here are some examples of the
use of a facilitated group process to:
- Discover and articulate the problem or
need.
- Define the mission and the resources
needed to act.
- Identify the plan and develop ownership
amongst stakeholders.
- Execute and manage the plan.
Turnaround: Aviation Textiles
Problem: Startup business unit was near collapse. Overly dependent
upon two, highly cyclical customers. No business plan existed. Workforce
lacked trust in management due to a botched attempt to sell the business
unit in the prior calendar year.
Solution: Staff gathered in a two-day, offsite StoryBoard-facilitated
retreat to outline a business plan and clarify roles.
Results: Business plan in place within 60 days. Included aggressive
diversification via new-product/market development. Recovery attracted a
buyer for the business unit, boosting the share price of the parent
corporation by 75%.
Underperforming New-Product
Development Process: Industrial Minerals
Problem: Effectiveness of the new-product development process
varied widely between project teams.
Solution: Team leaders of 70 active projects gathered for a one-day
StoryBoard-facilitated session to identify and categorize ”best
practices.”
Results: Consensus was reached on the identity of the best
practices, and on how to proliferate those practices. Four ailing
projects, with revenue potential of about $500,000 annually, were salvaged
and successfully launched.
Quality Problems: Major Rubber
Compounder
Problem: Persistent quality problems led to six-figure dollar
losses over several months. Defensiveness by suppliers and compounding
line operators made it virtually impossible to confidently identify the
problem(s) and take corrective action.
Solution: Supplier and compounding company staff met for a
half-day, root cause investigation within the context of the existing
”Quality Circle” infrastructure, but with the added benefit of a
StoryBoard-facilitated format.
Results: Root causes were identified, prioritized, and endorsed by
group consensus. Action plans were developed to address the list. Two
suppliers avoided loss of future business valued at $1 million annually.
Identifying Profitable Leverage:
Civilian Division of Defense Sector Parent Corporation
Problem: Defense sector technology, infrastructure and
manufacturing capacity were not being tapped for valuable synergies in the
civilian division.
Solution: A daylong meeting of representatives from division and
parent was conducted and facilitated via StoryBoard, with the objective of
identifying profitable synergistic opportunities.
Results: Menu of potential spin-offs sufficient to fill the
pipeline for 18-24 months was identified and prioritized. Tactical plans
were outlined. The civilian division (revenue of $7 million annually) was
spared from closure.
Startup: Not-for-Profit
Corporation Targeting At-Risk Youth
Problem: A visionary group had developed an intervention program
for at-risk youth. The content and format of the program were felt to be
sound, but the business case was untested.
Solution: Two, half-day planning StoryBoards were conducted with
the interim Board of Directors. These sessions were separated by a 30-day
period of concentrated off-line research.
Results: In the first planning session, consensus was developed on
the criteria for making a ‘go/no-go’ decision. This focused the 30-day
period of research much more tightly. The study confirmed that costs were
too high and competition too well established. It was possible to make a
decision to abort…with minimal lost investment…and no second thoughts.
Generating New Opportunities:
Specialty Chemicals
Problem: A thriving U.S. specialty chemicals company (recently
acquired by a very savvy overseas parent) was facing a mandate to lessen
the historical dominance of field sales in new-product development.
Product development had tended to be too customer-specific…lacking
leverage in the marketplace. The desire was to identify drivers of
new-product development that would place more emphasis upon proprietary,
high-value-added, technology platforms.
Solution: A cross-functional group with representation from
technology, marketing, and sales was convened for two, half-day
brainstorming StoryBoard sessions.
Results: A prioritized list of almost 100 new-product ideas was
identified, qualified, and endorsed by the group. Action items were
identified and captured…focused primarily upon development of full-blown
business propositions for the prioritized list of opportunities. Second-
and third-tier prioritized lists of potential opportunities were also
developed for future introduction into the pipeline, as appropriate.
Establishing a Speakers Bureau:
Continuing Education Enterprise
Problem: A recently established ‘knowledge boutique’…offering
technical, business, and personal enrichment workshops to the general
public...was struggling to build an identity in its potential marketplace.
Solution: The entrepreneur/owner identified and qualified a dozen
professional speakers with a broad spectrum of audience appeal, based upon
their professional, personal, and ethnic profiles. A half-day StoryBoard-facilitated
group session was convened to develop script outlines for ‘canned’
presentations, and to develop protocols for booking and delivering the
presentations.
Results: The Speakers Bureau was operational within less than one
week following the group session, was fully booked for the ensuing 90
days, and was using a set of core scripts for the oral presentations that
had ‘buy-in’ from all the speakers. The Bureau continues to remain fully
booked more than one year after its formation.
Going to the ‘Next Level’:
Industrial Controls Company
Problem: A well-managed, 7-year-old company had experienced 5 years
of uninterrupted growth…convincing both management and staff that it was
time to go to the ‘next level’. As a ‘straw man’, the vision for the
company was proposed to include a doubling of annual sales, a 30%
sustainable annual growth rate, and a handful of related, ancillary
metrics.
Solution: Executive management took the courageous step of
gathering the entire company staff (15 persons) for a day-long, StoryBoard-facilitated
session. The group had a charter to discover how to make the ‘Next Level
Initiative’ happen.
Results: The group reached consensus on an ambitious, but
defensible, definition of ‘next level’ and identified the Critical Success
Factors (CSF’s) for reaching it. A 6-month plan was developed and
resources allocated. The group agreed to reconvene quarterly to check
progress and revise the plan, as needed. The outcomes of the 6-month plan
will establish the context for the next annual Operating Plan. This was
the group’s first experience with cross-functional collaboration. Their
anecdotal feedback suggested that the value of the team-building is likely
to prove as great as the doubling of sales.
Triage and Diagnosis: Export
Packaging Company
Problem: After 7 years of enviable performance, the flagship
business of a multi-unit holding company had fallen into a death spiral.
Implementation of appropriate corrective measures was deadlocked because
of a lack of clarity, objectivity, and agreement about salient facts. Amid
a growing sense of desperation, completely abandoning the subject business
unit was emerging as the favored option.
Solution: One-on-one interviews were conducted with the 12
stakeholders to lessen their suspicions about an outside consultant, and
to gauge the diversity of their perspectives. The interviews were
supplemented by several man-days of market and competitor intelligence
gathering. Finally, the stakeholders were called together for a StoryBoard-facilitated
group session, whose focus was upon getting totally objective about
reconciling…and responding to…the available facts.
Results: With suspicions defused and defenses lowered, the group
was able to quickly reach a consensus on the underlying causes of the
deterioration of business in the troubled unit…and a consensus on
appropriate responses. The ultimate remedy involved simply folding the
products of the troubled business unit into the portfolio of a healthy,
closely aligned, sister unit. All of the products of the troubled unit
were rather advanced in life cycle. The consolidation removed the burden
on those products to support the entire weight of the infrastructure for a
stand-alone business.
© 2001-2005, Consensus
Consulting. All rights reserved.
|
