Different objectives require leadership in different ways – the “objective outsider” guiding a project team, an acting functional manager spearheading change within an existing group, or hundreds of other unique and specific needs – but all require leadership. Whatever your need, I bring a successful track record of more than 15 years providing motivational leadership and performance management to diverse, cross-functional teams of 2 to 50 or more, including both union and non-union environments, with or without formal reporting relationships.
Like leadership, coaching and mentoring can take many forms: with a dedicated resource or provided in tandem with other services, working 1:1 or with a group, focusing horizontally across a specific level of the organization or vertically within a function. I’ve delivered coaching for over 10 years, including 3 years in a dedicated role working with civil service employees on a US Air Force Base, and bring experience with front-line through executive leaders on technical and process guidance, performance management, and soft skill development.
Investment in personnel through training and development is one of the most positive and powerful strategies an organization can follow – but it can also be a huge expenditure with little return if not properly implemented. Critical activities like leadership development can become checkbox exercises that fail to align with the organization’s values, evaluation systems, or larger strategy. I bring experience in both classroom and on-the-job training design and delivery but more importantly can help align and integrate that training to ensure a return on your investment.
An undervalued skill in business today (and a key driver of lost organizational potential) is the ability to direct and translate the knowledge and strength of diversity in a room into meaningful outcomes. We’ve all seen – or worse, been part of – initiatives that had many “good conversations” but ultimately accomplished very little, or meetings that never leveraged the potential of their attendees. I bring over a decade of facilitation experience, regularly utilizing this approach within my leadership and coaching styles, have trained with the International Association of Facilitators (IAF), and can help to generate deliverables and improve the realization of talent already involved with your projects.
As much as we may rationally understand and acknowledge a requirement for change, it can still present significant challenges to performance and become a significant source of stress for many in the organization. With over 10 years of experience in improvement and compliance projects, business transformations and turnaround initiatives under various methodologies, I understand the change process and how deployment strategy can impact the reception. I can help to properly structure involvement, training, and communication systems to provide sources of continuity and stability amidst change initiatives.
John Ruskin said “Quality is never an accident. It is always the result of intelligent effort.” We will not improve or even sustain the quality of our products or services – and by extension, the success of our organization – without a focused and ongoing commitment. I’ve held multiple quality roles in my career, including Quality Inspector, Internal Auditor, and Quality Systems Manager over a 12 year period in highly regulated aerospace and food manufacturing industries. I’m familiar with QA/QC design and deployment, including documentation control and audit programs to keep your new or existing products and processes on track.
From articulation of the organization’s vision and mission to the creation of a plan to fulfill that mission to the organizational structure supporting that plan, your strategy provides the framework and guiding light for all activities within the organization. Whether you're starting from a blank-page planning session, weighting initiatives to build a manageable annual plan, or identifying core values in support of a talent management system, I can provide structured workshops and facilitated discussion to help define, capture, and accurately convey your strategy.
Where applicable, combining several of the elements listed here into a comprehensive program with specific goals and deliverables can help create a natural integration between the services and organizational infrastructure involved. Some of the programs I’ve developed through this approach include Management Operating Systems, Sales & Operations Planning (S&OP) cycles, Technical Training and Leadership Development Programs.
If initiatives have already been identified but you still need organization and strategic alignment of multiple projects and/or programs, I can help. From simple control systems and reporting to full PMO establishment, I’ll provide the experience and oversight required to monitor, guide, control, and ensure project success.