Applied Business Philosophy - Short Case Studies You may be wondering what practical issues a consulting philosopher can help you address as well as how a philosopher works with an organization. Following are over twenty concise examples of sample projects I have done for one or more clients. Following that list are three short case studies. All my work is customized to your specific needs. I draw upon many tools that will best match your needs, values, the people involved and the relevant world views. I don't teach people philosophy; I draw out their own philosophies and wisdom to address their challenges. You will note that our work together is very integrative tying together practical organizational goals with relationship issues and values. Organizations and people are complex interweavings of the intellectual, practical, relational and spiritual. To have deep and lasting change requires addressing all of these or the "solutions" begin to unravel fairly rapidly. Sample Projects: Designed custom retreat series for an industrial manufacturing company on authenticity, purpose and communication to improve collaboration, truth telling and productivity of the executive group. A privately held corporation needed to define a successful alternative path for the transition to the next generation of leadership team when their original plan failed. I used Spiral Dynamics to assess the culture and leadership. I also guided them in the identification of candidates and selection of a new Co-CEO. Shepherded a nonprofit through a major growth stage including a major building project, a quadrupling of staff and events and as well as creating a new leadership and communication structure. Coached executive leaders in the transformation of their leadership philosophies from command and control to teach, equip and trust. An architectural firm was facing fast growth that needed more guidance and focus. I guided the partners through an exploration of their values, needs, leadership structures, growth expectations, marketing philosophy and workload balance. We implemented many changes that continue to serve them well five years later. Provided clear, honest, insightful feedback to clients on their observable leadership beliefs, values, and behaviors as compared to their stated beliefs, values and expected behaviors. We examined the effect of that gap on the organization's performance. Then how to close the gaps and realign closer to their true essence were explored and strategies mapped out. Led leaders in becoming aware of their own boxed-in thinking about the future of their industry and how to break out of it and practiced foresight about new alternative scenarios and their implications. Guided a senior leadership team in expanding their thinking about a move it into a new foreign market by expanding the context and creating linkages to relevant additional issues, identified the crux to of the issue and new ways to deal with it. Created a retreat environment designed to allow a senior group of leaders to learn how to be able to be influenced by their colleagues as well as how to influence. Practiced this on major issues confronting them. Provided a cultural scan and commentary on an organization's current commitment to, practice of, and implementation of their corporate vision, mission, and values statement in order to identify opportunities and threats. Offered an organization with declining morale, increasing complexity, stress and doubts about their vitality a new vision of how work could be. Guided an industrial manufacturing organization in how to navigate a major decline in revenue and profit while being true to their values. Guided a strategic business unit in how to understand their philosophical differences with the larger hierarchical organization in such a way as to be able to navigate the differences while living true to their own integrity. Constructed a leadership development program for the top three tiers of leaders in an organization that created great leverage and return for the dollars and time invested. Facilitated a visioning and values retreat for a group of five diverse leaders in order to minimize the conflicting messages that the organization was receiving and to improve their ability to work with each other. Provided one on one coaching with leaders regarding the handling of particularly difficult, complex or challenging employees. Provided insight into motivation, behavior and practical options for dealing with both. Provide context and roles for a leadership group to walk around a complex issue and look at it in a long term and holistic way. Developed strategies that address the relational, intellectual, financial and ethical dimensions. One-on-one coaching with executives regarding strategic foresight on the long-term positioning of the organization, its purpose in the world, and selecting from the alternative paths available. One-on-one coaching to assist leaders to understand their own world views and values as well as that of others so that they could increase their capacity to manage upwards downwards and horizontally. Completed focus groups, research and interviews of employees throughout an organization to explore changes in their mission statement. Conducted reflective sessions on many aspects of a managing, rewarding, disciplining, providing benefits to individuals or groups of workers applying practical wisdom, balancing justice, compassion, and constraints. Individual coaching on purpose and life planning for those who are in transition or anticipated transition due to their own dissatisfaction or downsizing or retirement. Branding research conducted in such a manner as to help an individual or organization develop a more comprehensive understanding of how their significant stakeholders perceive them. For individuals this can help them "to know thyself" especially relative to their gifts and calling. One-on-one coaching with a senior leader who wanted to become more effective, insightful and efficient in dealing with the increased quantity and complexity of the number of a employee issues and conflicts confronting her on a daily basis. This led to a process of assisting her to articulate her philosophy of leadership and management. It made her feel more clear, centered, and consistent. A CEO was confronted with two senior leaders whose conflicts ran deep and were an ongoing problem. Uncommon conversations that sought to uncover whether there was any path for resolving fundamental disagreements. Then we explored options for dealing with either answer. Case Study #1 Market: Telecommunications equipment manufacturer Presenting Issues: Client's customers were complaining about costly missed shipment dates and invoicing. Customer service had morale issues and high turnover. Sales and marketing were losing market share. Not enough resources were available to address all of these so internal competition was occurring over prioritization. Assessment: A form of degenerative blindspots and lack of strategic foresight about what really mattered. One unconscious belief was that each different silo - accounting, customer service, manufacturing and sales - should solve its own part of the problem. There was a significant amount of finger pointing between the silos as to who owned the problems. They shared a belief that the biggest problem was with manufacturing capacity and that would take $750,000 to $1 million to correct and a lot of time. While they talked a lot about continuous improvement and systems thinking, they were not living it. Solution: Exploration of what really mattered and the how less is more. Drew out greater clarity from all stakeholders about real needs and priorities. Developed a cross-functional team with the required wisdom to develop a systems perspective on all the interrelationships in the problems looking for the key critical factors with greatest leverage. Also challenged them to develop foresight and creativity to add more value for the customer. The biggest insight was that advance notice of late shipment dates (rather than 100% on time deliveries) gave the customer the ability to deal with their own major complaints. This was implemented for a few thousand dollars. Additional changes in the system also could address 85% of the capacity issue for the next year or so. Transformed the rest of competing projects into one integrated, synergistic, and collaborative effort implemented by the cross-functional teams who made joint customer site visits. Within 6 months, 17 major improvements for customers and employees were made requiring very modest investments. Benefits included speedier results, increased market share and more co-worker and customer satisfaction. Lasting value occurred as the team participants learned to become much more empowered, creative systems thinkers. Case Study #2 Market: a number of clients ranging from nonprofits, to churches to corporations have had a similar need as described here. Presenting issues: It seems that almost every organization at some point in its growth runs into problems about the issues of communication, trust, power and mixed messages. Often it happens in the daily course of business when it seems like everyone just has too much to do and too many errors are occurring. There's more complaining, frustration, and conflict. In other cases, it may become more apparent after some organizational trauma such as downsizing or some breach of ethics and trust. Assessments: Advanced motion sickness and congestion are frequently apparent here although other forms of corporate illness may also be interacting. Advanced motion sickness frequently happens when an organization is changing too rapidly or when business is becoming more complex. It is time to step back, be reflective and look at the big picture. Congestion frequently happens as well because the diverse leaders are not talking to each other about the big picture and so they seem to send contradictory messages to the organization causing great confusion. Everyone's moving faster by getting in each other's way. Solution: The most important thing an outsiders does for an organization at this point is force it to slowdown and take a timeout to look at values, beliefs, vision and mission versus behavior. In some way, shape or form the gap analysis has to be done between what they say they want to do and who they want to be versus what they are doing and who they are being. The methodology needs to fit the culture. The traditional methodology of focus groups or interviews may work a very well for those who are highly verbally oriented and extroverted. Other groups are more visually oriented or graphically oriented so having people draw simple pictures has been enormously effective, and much more subtle than the traditional approaches. For introverts or people who are text oriented, asking them to answer written questions is much more effective. The right methodology opens a deeper and more honest and full revelation of what is really going on under the whining and conflict. One client is a good example of this. I could have used interviews etc. but they were a graphic and visual arts oriented firm and I felt a visual approach would be more powerful. In addition, they had a limited budget and individual interviews would have been much more costly. I ask them to draw three simple pictures next to each other using some kind of symbolism from nature that showed who they used to be, who they are now and if nothing changed who they would become. Everyone engaged with that with enthusiasm. One woman's picture was extremely powerful and the most revealing of everyone's and used a simple tree. The picture said it all and generated an incredibly deep and productive discussion. Some people describe this type of conversation as getting below the waterline or getting the stuff under the table above the table. Nothing is more important than this. Once that happens in a safe way, then everyone owns the problem and therefore the solutions. So rather than having a consultant or manager fix everyone, the group takes responsibility for changing themselves. If they don't do that, only modest gains will be made if at all. Naming the real issues is often the hardest part of the work. Then we work together to discern how should whom do what for whom and towards what end. Case Study #3 Market: Health Care Provider Presenting Issues: The Vice President of a health care provider was charged with new business development. He was faced with the knowledge that more and more people are electing to turn to alternative healthcare providers even when they have to pay for it themselves. The potential revenue was significant but his traditional company was opposed to alternative methodologies. They were faced with issues of whether it was ethical to move into providing these services and products given all the assertions of traditional medicine that most of this was "quackery". If the organization could become open to alternative medicine as having value, then what form of business would be the best fit for the organization and their clients? What would be the resource needs and financial implications? Another big hurdle would be to receive the approval of the overall executive management team. Assessment: The client had questions about avoiding teleopathy (goal sickness). They also were facing a significant amount of organizational psychosclerosis (hardened attitudes). They would need a significant degree of wisdom, insight and foresight to navigate what would be a very controversial business plan. I did a Clearness Session with the VP which involved a deep probing of every conceivable way to look at this and to draw out all his values and beliefs and wisdom about this project. He started with the assumption that the project should have three phases done sequentially. • research about the credibility of alternative health care • development of the business case for it • exploration of how to make it fit the organization • sell it to the senior team After we drew out more of his wisdom and foresight, it became clear there was a better model that stewarded resources more wisely, involved the senior leaders much earlier and increased the possibility of opening their minds to the plan and would identify unknown support in the organization very early. He realized he needed to know how "hardened the arteries of thought were or weren't" and if there was any credible source of support within the organization or the whole project could be a total waste. For all that organizations say they are fact driven, they are not on highly charged issues. I also advised we change the language from alternative medicine to complementary medicine as less divisive. This was to prove very important. Solution: The new list of elements for the three phases where: 1) Make a small investment in an environmental scan of the current literature on complementary medicine and conduct a few local focus groups to update information I had from a previous project. 2) Implement an Open Space event designed to attract a people who were in the organization and supporters of complementary medicine to come forward. 3) Involve the top executive team very early in the process to identify their critical beliefs systems and values about this project and who or what would be credible sources of information in their minds. Rather than implement these sequentially, the first round of each item was implemented concurrently with insights from each feeding the others. The initial data from the environmental scan help to framed the invite to the Open Space event and the interviews with executives. The interviews with the executives helped to direct the ongoing environmental scan towards the resources that they would be most likely to trust. The interviews also identified what were the key issues in their minds. This helped us frame the information we needed from the Open Space event and led to arranging for a couple outside speakers to come as an educational effort for the executives. And the Open Space event provided more resources for the environmental scan and lent credibility and surprise to the executives about how much was already going on in the organization. So phase one had these three strands within it. And by the end of phase one, my client had clarity about what the true issues were that he would be facing. The individual interviews with the executives and the educational efforts were very worthwhile. He had garnered enough interest and support at multiple levels of the organization that he could move forward with a greater sense of confidence that the organization had at least some openness to this concept and felt it was appropriate to explore complementary medicine in more depth. The process itself had reaped rewards of circumventing a potential backlash because people felt included in the beginning and in the loop of information. It also provided more time for people to take in the information as it was being developed rather than being faced with a lot of data in a strategic planning meeting where they would be short of time, attention, and ability to interact and gain clarity. It was now clear that additional investment in a more significant marketing research phase and business plan development would be a wise use of resources. The knowledge gained in the first phase also help to structure and prioritize what could have been a mammoth task given the number of diverse alternative therapies. The plan was developed, presented and approved.