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What they don’t teach in business school, but should…

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As Founding Partner of the executive search and leadership consulting firm Borderless, I was recently invited to the international meeting of the Accreditation Council for Business Schools and Programs to offer a “real-world perspective” of how business school education is perceived and provide guidance to more than 100 educators from around the world – from the US and Switzerland to Qatar and China.

I had the opportunity to share insights based on our experience at Borderless working with a range of senior executives, as well as my ‘earlier life’ experience as a Dow executive. Moreover, I shared views on executive education from the survey conducted recently by my firm, which highlighted clear areas of strength and improvement for business schools and provided the core of our discussion.

These were my top 3 recommendations:

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About the Author

Andrew KrisAndrew Kris is a Founding Partner of Borderless. He pioneered the Borderless approach to executive search in 1997; a global business focus and a service-oriented approach that appeals to clients and candidates. Since then, he has found leaders for corporations in chemicals and life sciences, served as an advisor to clients in industry and continues to maintain an extensive personal network globally. As a commentator and author on shared services and business process outsourcing, he co-authored Shared Services – Shared Insights, Shared Services: mining for corporate gold and Shared Services and BPO: an executive briefing and several other volumes.

How to Uncover Breakthrough Improvement Opportunities without Consultants

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Need a performance breakthrough but don’t want to pay a high-cost consulting firm to evaluate your organization’s performance? Want a solution that can be used over and over again across your entire company?
 
Sevian Business Performance Assessment ProgramStrategyDriven released its Sevian Business Performance Assessment Program, an immediately implementable process for performing in-depth evaluations of organizational performance.

StrategyDriven was founded on the principle of making top-tier consulting services affordably available to the leaders of small and midsized businesses and the mid-level managers and professionals of larger companies. In a radical departure from the traditional consulting model, we offer our clients the assessment method and analytical tools used by top-tier consulting firms; greatly reducing if not eliminating the need for outside experts and their associated costs.

And why not? Talented employees familiar with their company’s day-to-day operations are often capable of performing assessments more rapidly than outsiders. All they need is the method and analytical tools enabling the revelation of self-critical performance improvement insights. And if an outside perspective is needed, our advisors provide that support via phone, video conference, or onsite in whatever amount desired – no more, no less, no long-term contract… you decide.

Based on decades of operational and assessment experience, StrategyDriven’s turnkey Sevian Business Performance Assessment Program is fully customized to reflect our clients’ organization structure, positional titles, and common business terms. Each program contains all the components necessary to implement a fully mature assessment on day one – truly enabling turnkey performance excellence. Supported by world-class software applications (optional), the program package includes:

  • Program Introduction establishing the framework for immediate program implementation, effective execution, and long-term governance.
  • Program Procedure containing specific step-by-step process procedures that are fully human factored to ensure consistent, accurate program execution.
  • Program Execution Guides providing detailed information on how to optimally perform major assessment activities including the use of program forms and models.
  • Program Principles, Best Practices, and Warning Flags elaborating on those core elements necessary for consistently superior program and process performance.

To ensure implementation success, we provide onsite training and execution support when the program is delivered.

StrategyDriven Advisors possess decades of experience helping leaders of small to Fortune 500 companies define and implement the complex, mission-critical projects needed to improve operational effectiveness and reduce costs. Isn’t it about time these people were working for you?

Click here for more information and to schedule your free consultation.

StrategyDriven Enterprises Launches an Online Corrective Action Program Forum

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StrategyDriven Enterprises launched an online corrective action program forum; providing leaders access to decades of first-hand experience in programmatically resolving their organization’s most pressing issues.
 
StrategyDriven Corrective Action Program ForumStrategyDriven Enterprises, LLC announced the launch of an online Corrective Action Program Forum; providing innovative thought leadership and collaboration opportunities to help executives and managers programmatically drive the resolution of their business issues.

Corrective action programs encompass the identification, reporting, evaluation, resolution, and trending of an organization’s issues and work requests. Effective program execution ensures timely resolution of a business’s most pressing issues while fostering a high level of individual and organizational accountability.

“For a business to remain competitive, its leaders must be assured their company’s most pressing issues are resolved in an effective, efficient, and timely manner,” explains Nathan Ives, StrategyDriven’s President and Chief Executive Officer. “To help clients programmatically drive issue resolution, StrategyDriven advisors compiled their decades of corrective action program experience into a library of best practice methods and tools easily accessible from our online forum.”

“StrategyDriven’s recommended practices enhance organizational alignment and accountability through thoughtful identification of corrective actions and deliberate assignment of action owners and due dates,” says Karen Juliano, StrategyDriven’s Editor-in-Chief. “Through this greater focus on achieving the organization’s goals comes enhanced resource utilization and bottom line results.”

Contributed to by highly experienced business leaders, StrategyDriven’s online Corrective Action Program Forum provides actionable methods and tools executives and managers can use to implement and enhance key components of their corrective action program including:?

  • Identification – Personnel at all levels of the organization recognize conditions deviating from established standards and expectations, adverse trends and events, and other needs for action.
  • Reporting – Individuals identifying conditions meeting established issue and/or request reporting criteria notify the appropriate managers verbally and in writing, via condition reports, of the situation.
  • Evaluation – Qualified personnel assess each reported issue and request individually and collectively to establish its priority and identify needed corrective actions and due dates, typically documented within a work and/or service order(s).
  • Resolution – Management reviews, approves, assigns resources, and monitors response actions assigned to issue and request resolution. Management’s actions are commonly documented on the associated work/service order(s).
  • Trending – Metrics and associated management reports provide a picture of overall performance based on tags characterizing each condition report and work/service order.

The StrategyDriven Corrective Action Program Forum’s thought leadership documents are being distributed to StrategyDriven’s clients, including some of the world’s most respected companies. These documents are available at: www.StrategyDriven.com/cap.

How Top-Tier Consulting Became Available to Small and Midsize Business Leaders

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Need expert advice but don’t think you can afford high quality consultants to support your initiative?
 

StrategyDriven is launching a Personal Business Advisor Program; uniquely providing affordable cutting edge tools and expert advice that until now was typically available to only large company executives and senior managers.

StrategyDriven was founded on the principle of making top-tier consulting services affordably available to the leaders of small and midsized businesses and the mid-level managers and professionals of larger companies. Over time, we learned it wasn’t enough to simply deliver a traditional consulting program economically. Our clients wanted focused advice at very specific times during their projects and possibly a few analytical tools to use along the way – nothing more, nothing less. A radical departure from the traditional consulting model that would further lower costs.

And why not? Today, business coaches commonly advise their clients via phone or video conference and legal advice and forms are available from LegalZoom. All delivered affordably. So why can’t top-tier consulting advice be available virtually and turnkey processes, best practices, and analytical tools online? They can. And now they are.

StrategyDriven’s Personal Business Advisor program provides the experts and tools needed when and where they are needed with no long-term consulting contract. Our employment of true experts, use of modern technologies and streamlined business operations ensures clients receive exceptional advisory services at an affordable price regardless of their budget. Here’s how we do it:

  • Select the Advisor – Chemistry is everything. Client success depends not only on finding the advisor possessing the experience, education, and training needed, but in connecting with someone they can relate to and trust. That’s why we offer a free initial consultation. It’s an opportunity for the client to get to know their advisor and assess how he/she can help them succeed.
  • Identify the Support Needed… No More, No Less – Why pay for a small army of consultants when all that is needed is periodic, focused advice? Our plans ensure clients have access to the experts needed in the amount wanted with no requirement to include costly staff personnel. Want a just few hours per month or full time? No problem. The client decides.
  • Select the Tools Wanted – Don’t want a lot of bells and whistles? Really don’t want to pay for the development of your consultant’s thoughtware? Purchase only the tools wanted, fully developed and maintained on our dime.
  • Determine How We Should Engage – We’re flexible and technology savvy. We employ modern communications technologies; interacting via video and teleconference whenever possible thereby eliminating the need for expensive travel and client office space. (But we will always be there when we are needed!)
  • Choose the Engagement Duration Without Being Locked-in – Business circumstances change. Clients don’t want to be locked into long-term consulting contracts. StrategyDriven’s plans renew on a monthly basis. Clients can cancel at any time.

StrategyDriven Advisors possess decades of experience helping leaders of small to Fortune 500 companies define and implement the complex, mission-critical projects needed to improve operational effectiveness and reduce costs. Isn’t it about time these people were working for you?

Click here for more information and to schedule your free consultation.

StrategyDriven Releases a Turnkey Business Performance Assessment Program

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StrategyDriven’s turnkey Sevian Business Performance Assessment Program provides business leaders with an immediately implementable process for performing in-depth evaluations of organizational performance.
 
Sevian Business Performance Assessment ProgramStrategyDriven released its Sevian Business Performance Assessment Program providing business leaders with an immediately implementable process for performing in-depth evaluations of organizational performance. The assessment program contains fully developed process procedures, forms and templates, performance metrics, how-to guides, and a library of best practices.

“The Sevian Business Performance Assessment Program exemplifies StrategyDriven’s commitment to providing business leaders with high-quality, affordable solutions,” explains Nathan Ives, StrategyDriven’s President and Chief Executive Officer. “Our assessment solution embodies decades of experience in the evaluation of organizational performance; tested methods that have supported an unparalleled amount of performance improvement at companies both large and small.”

“In 2014 alone, Sevian Business Performance Assessments identified over $200 million in people, process, and technology improvement opportunities at four client companies,” continues Karen Juliano, StrategyDriven Vice President in charge of Sevian Business Program development. “Not only is this program cost effective to implement, but it yields real and immediate benefits.”

The Sevian Business Performance Assessment Program was developed based on decades of experience managing and improving complex business operations. This program was further enhanced through the first-hand performance benchmarking of leading companies throughout the world.

Sevian Business Performance Assessment Programs are fully customized to reflect client organization structure, positional titles, and common business terms. Each program contains all the components necessary to implement a fully mature program on day one – truly enabling

turnkey performance excellence. Supported by world-class software applications (optional), the program package includes:

  • Program Introduction establishing the framework for immediate program implementation, effective execution, and long-term governance.
  • Program Procedure containing specific step-by-step process procedures that are fully human factored to ensure consistent, accurate program execution.
  • Program Execution Guides providing detailed information on how to optimally perform major assessment activities including the use of program forms and models.
  • Program Principles, Best Practices, and Warning Flags elaborating on those core elements necessary for consistently superior program and process performance.

To ensure implementation success, Sevian Business Advisors provide onsite training and execution support when delivering the turnkey program.

The Sevian Business Performance Assessment Program is being implemented by StrategyDriven’s clients, including some of the world’s largest companies. Complete information regarding the Sevian Business Performance Assessment Program is available at: www.strategydriven.com/sbpap.