Consulting Interventions & Approach

Our consultants build a collaborative relationship with our clients to ensure appropriate interventions, validation of data, inclusive problem solving, and widespread acceptance of solutions.  We specialize in interactive consulting that allows groups and organizations to identify, address, and solve specific issues, while gaining skills and knowledge necessary to solve similar challenges in the future.  The model, called action research, assists participants in discovering creative solutions and developing detailed action plans.

We are experienced facilitators and practitioners skilled in many methodologies that we employ to assist our clients.  The blend of real world practical application with the latest academic research allows our consultants to bring a unique perspective to our work with clients.  With a wide variety of talents and abilities, we can tailor our interventions to our clients' needs.  The following are examples of our processes, methods, and areas of focus.

Facilitation
We provide trained communicators to assist groups in conducting critical meetings, making difficult decisions, sharing information, and solving complex problems.  Our facilitators establish procedures to direct communication flow, involve participants, and help them commit to decisions made.

Future Search
We design future search interventions to work with competing groups to help them find common ground and form productive working relationships.  A series of exercises allow diverse stakeholders to discover their common interests, diagnose issues and problems, create desired future scenarios, and develop action steps to make it happen.

Mediation
We provide third party neutrals to facilitate structured discussions and assist parties in defining issues and creating mutually agreeable solutions.  Our workshop, "Managerial Mediation as a Supervisory Tool," enables managers and supervisors to use mediation as an effective leadership strategy to handle workplace disputes.  Another specialty is the design and implementation of mediation and dispute resolution systems and the training of mediators.

Process Consulting
We specialize in interactive consulting that allows groups and organizations to address and solve specific problems, while gaining skills and knowledge necessary to solve similar issues in the future.  Our process consulting follows an action research design that uncovers and identifies issue and concerns.  It engages participants in a specific problem solving process to discover creative solutions and detailed action plans.

Areas of Focus
Our practice focuses on improving organizational performance in:

Labor-Management Partership
Our consulting with labor-management partnership committees has two distinct goals.  Initially, we focus on coaching committee members on skills and tools in committee formation, meeting management, group development, rapport and listening, interest-based problem solving, and managing agreements.  We continue our consulting with more advanced techniques which focused on assessing group effectiveness and training the committee members to conduct ongoing assessments.

Leadership Development
We assist organizations in the public and private sector in the providing managers with concepts and tools necessary for leadership in the twenty-first century.  Our leadership model provides information on ten key leadership roles and functions, allowing for opportunities to practice and develop a personal learning plan.  We can conduct 360 degree feedback and individual executive coaching for optimal performance.

Building Effective Work Teams
We have led many successful team-building sessions for a variety of clients.  Our team-building model has participants identify desired goals, resources, obstacles, norms, and actions steps involving procedures and policies.  Participants build common agreement by working in a cooperative learning and consensus building design.

Strategic Planning
Our consultants can facilitate a strategic planning process that provides an analysis of the current state, and a clear and articulated vision of the desired state in critical areas of the organization.  Our clients can then identify one, three, and even five year goals and objectives that will move them forward toward their desired future.  This process also assists in disseminating these strategies throughout the organizations to better ensure success, flexibility, and sustainability.