If you could show a $500,000 improvement in your organization’s bottom line, would you be a hero?
If you could show a 75% retention rate in your pool of valued employees, would you be content?
These are real life, internally verified savings of just a couple of our clients. Of course, not everyone reports these high figures, but with the right training or consultant being invited in to your organization to help you, these results are certainly possible.
Whatever your organization’s issue(s), in order to gain results like these, it is not enough to simply hire a consultant. You first need to know who are the stakeholders whose change in behavior measures the effectiveness of the end results? They might be internal or external stakeholders, or a combination of the two. You’ll also need to determine the metrics you’ll use to assess effectiveness. Lastly, you’ll want to know what success rate you’re expecting.
Let’s take an example using the above mentioned steps. You wish to hire an OD consultant because your sales are lagging. Customer surveys have shown that pricing is not the issue, although certainly higher sales is one of the metrics you’ll use. So, you then turn your focus to internal stakeholders. Are the sales personnel working as effectively as you’d like? These might be your first set of stakeholders. However, drilling down a bit, you find the issue seems to be that the interface between the sales department and the customer service department is strained by confusing communication and ego issues. Ah, now we’ve started to identify WHO the real stakeholders are, now we need to determine the metrics. Increased sales? More prompt sales fulfillment? Asking for repeat business? All of these might be used to assess your success and the success of the consultant. Now, what are your expectations? A twenty percent increase in sales? In repeat business?
The real reason organizations hire a consultant is to keep them at the top of their game, in whatever their field. When we’re in the middle of an issue, it’s difficult to have clear vision about it.
A good consultant will not only craft a program to meet your needs, but will also help you to make these assessments. At Boxer Advisors, we help you turn insights into action. And help you measure your results.
Visit us at www.boxeradvisors.com for more information on how we might best help your organization.
Boxer Advisors is a full-service consulting, training and coaching firm with more than 50 professional consultants, facilitators, and coaches and carefully selected partners providing services to Federal agencies and Fortune 1000 companies since 1996.
Contact us today to learn more.
photo credit: Bill David Brooks via photopin cc
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