The Situation Appraisal is where we get to know one another and establish the trust that
allows us to solve your problems effectively. Your part is to describe the situation as
you see it - to tell us where it hurts, for you personally and for your organization.
Our part is to ask questions and dig below the surface, to find out the underlying problem
beneath the symptoms you describe. We address questions such as:
If we fix this problem, what will happen? What happens if you just leave it alone?
If three things were to change, what would they be, and when?
2. Outline Clear and Specific Objectives
Clear objectives are absolutely necessary for the success of any project. What are we trying to accomplish?
What are our objectives and goals? Again, probing questions and reflective answers will help us to determine our desired results.
3. Establish Measures of Success
What will tell us we have achieved our objectives? How will we know we are making progress?
It may be an intensely personal objective, such as:
"John and Sally will cooperate during meetings rather than opposing each other and
causing friction between their two departments."
Or it may be related more to business outcomes, such as:
"Recruiting and hiring costs will decline by 6-11% in the next quarter."
Often, it is poor communication between people that impedes the business results.
Solve one and we solve the other. Measuring communication success may seem a bit nebulous,
but that's where we bring our training and experience to bear. And, in reality,
we all recognize good communication when we see it.
4. Providing Value
What will you get out of solving this problem?
The value may be quantifiable or subjective.
One quantifiable value would be: A sales increase of at least 5% within cost parameters would provide a pre-tax,
net profit of about $750,000.
One subjective value would be: An improvement in our help desk personnel's ability to handle customer complaints
would generate far better word of mouth and consequent repeat business.
5. Options
Once the situation is appraised, the objectives are outlined and the value provided
established, I will offer you a choice of options for moving forward. You may not have
the resources or, indeed, the trust in the process to do everything necessary to fix
all of your problems. So you may start off with Option 1, then add Options 2 or 3 as
you see results and gain trust in us. Obviously, each option is more involved, more
expensive, and has a higher probability of fixing all the issues/challenges we have
identified.
6. Bring in the Team
For some phases of our change project, you may need to call in the specialists. Our team members bring
specific skills and expertise in training, assessments, project planning, organizational development and more to help put the
details of the plan into action.
There is never an extra charge for the specialists' time, as we work on a "per project" basis. Everything needed to
accomplish the result is included.
