. CONSULTING AND COACHING GREAT08 Improvement Process The ASAP Process: Ask, Synthesize, Analyze, Plan LD3: Leadership Development Series Breakthrough Coaching for Improvement Teams Now YOU can lead one of our most requested workshops . Want to make this a breakthrough year? Then use the GREAT08 Improvement Process to define goals, establish priorities, clarify responsibilities...and turn good ideas into great achievements. The process can be used by an entire organization -- or by a division, department, region, unit, or work area. GREAT08 combines creative thinking with practical planning. It keeps people focused, aligned, and moving forward. It puts a premium on meaningful action and real results. Parts of the process are facilitated by Tom Terez. As a team veteran with more than 20 years of facilitation experience, Tom is skilled at helping groups get focused, stay on track, generate ideas, build consensus, and translate their good ideas into workable plans. He also has a deep understanding of the factors that make or break a workplace. Having worked with more than 100 organizations and written the book on meaningful workplaces, he brings a solid base of real-world experience. Here's how the GREAT08 Improvement Process works: In a launch session facilitated by Tom Terez, key leaders gather for a full day to envision possibilities and develop goals. These are then used to create a portfolio of high-priority initiatives for the next six or so months, with one or two people taking responsibility for each initiative -- as implementer, team leader, team sponsor, and so on. The day concludes with clear assignments, expectations, and a timetable for moving forward. NOTE: "Key leaders" is used here as an umbrella term that can refer to a senior executive team, a group of managers, an existing committee or subcommittee, or a chartered improvement team. Following the launch session, the initiative leaders begin working on the plans they sketched out during the launch session -- adding detail, building a team (if necessary), taking unilateral action (not all actions require a team), or getting started in some other way. The emphasis is on taking action and continuing the forward momentum. One month after the launch session, the leaders reconvene to review progress. The meeting lasts about two hours, with each of the initiative leaders reporting all actions to date -- and others weighing in with questions, suggestions, and offers of assistance. The leadership team meets one month later, and each month thereafter, to keep its improvement efforts in the spotlight. At each of these one-hour (approximate) sessions, the initiative leaders report their latest progress and compare the current status with the original goals set forth during the launch session. As always, anyone else can comment, pose questions, and offer their help to turn the plans into reality. These monthly track-it sessions ensure focus, accountability, and alignment. About six months after the launch session, the leadership group gets together to recharge the effort with new initiatives -- to replace those that have been fully developed and implemented. The meeting is facilitated by Tom Terez and similar in format to the launch session, with participants revisiting their initial plans, exercising their creativity, and developing a new round of initiatives that builds on success thus far. NOTE: The six-month time frame is approximate. A more accurate sense of the timetable will emerge during the launch session. Phases 1 (Imagine It and Plan It) and 5 (Renew It) are facilitated by Tom Terez. He can also facilitate Phase 3 (Review It), though outside facilitation is not always necessary at this point. Throughout all phases, he is available by phone and e-mail to answer questions and provide immediate guidance. With its thoughtful measure of structure and process, the GREAT08 Improvement Process can be applied in many different situations. Here are some examples: Your organization has recently completed an employee satisfaction survey. There's plenty of data, but no one is sure how to use it to improve the workplace. Through the GREAT08 process, a group can get organized to study the survey input, convert it into useful findings, and translate the findings into meaningful goals and action plans. There's a clear need to improve communication in your workplace, but the challenge seems so big that no one is sure how to proceed -- and nothing is getting done. The GREAT08 process can break the logjam by helping people narrow the scope of their improvement effort. Your senior leadership team wants to increase employee satisfaction and engagement, but different people have very different ideas on how to proceed. GREAT08 can be the forum for a full sharing of ideas -- and an opportunity to reach consensus on a plan of clear action steps. You co-chair a labor-management improvement committee. Committee members are expected to be "change agents" in the workplace, but in reality, there tends to be a lot of talk and little action. The GREAT08 process can provide the structure for turning words into specific action commitments, clarifying who does what and creating an expectation for results. From your vantage point as a senior leader, you get the sense that employees in the organization are not as motivated to serve customers as they could be. You have chartered a task force to learn more and develop a plan. The team includes managers from key work areas, many of whom have not worked together before. The facilitative approach of GREAT08 is perfect for unifying the efforts of people who have been brought together from different areas. Your organization is scheduled for an on-site survey at the end of the year. Now is the time to evaluate current systems and implement some targeted improvements, but no one seems to know where to begin. GREAT08 can organize the effort and create forward momentum. The process builds in accountability and creates an imperative for action. You've just received a feedback report from an outside examiner/auditor. Some of the comments are likely to cause friction because they focus in positive ways on some work areas -- and negatively on other areas. The GREAT08 process, with its structure and neutral facilitator, can ease much of the tension and get people talking in a blame-free, solution-focused way. For more information, click here to send a note or call 614-488-9721. 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