Hey, that calls for a CATWOE!

Kitty Cat
Originally uploaded by zeddyorg.

I great post at LifeHack about a problem solving tool:

CATWOE is a method for expanding your thinking about a problem or situation before you zero in on a specific problem that you want to solve.

Customers: Who are they, and how does the issue affect them?

Actors: Who is involved in the situation? Who will be involved in implementing solutions? And what will impact their success?

Transformation Process: What processes or systems are affected by the issue?

World View: What is the big picture? And what are the wider impacts of the issue?

Owner: Who owns the process or situation you are investigating? And what role will they play in the solution?

Environmental: Constraints What are the constraints and limitations that will impact the solution and its success?

The idea is that before attempting to resolve a problem, you run through the CATWOE checklist so you’re not fixing one thing but potentially letting something else go wrong.

Read all about it at the source, MindTools.

How to get things done

Patrick Star, Getting Things Done
Originally uploaded by gordasm.

Doug Sundheim at Fast Companies Expert Blogs suggests most of us need to simplify through focus. He notes

Simplicity isn't simple. Complexity is simple. Anyone can make something complex. Read the front page of any newspaper. You'll find complex problems everywhere. Look into your own life. You'll find complex forces at play. Complexity is the natural state of things. Sophistication lies in your ability to SIMPLIFY complexity. It lies in your ability to make sense of the world around you. You can't do everything. Understand what's important and what's not. Pick your focus and act.

Mr. Sundheim offers this daily strategy to help maintain focus.

1. Write down your objectives for the next year.


2. Identify the 3-5 primary buckets in which you spend your day (might be Admin, Development, Production, & Personal for instance).


3. Write down active tasks in each bucket.


4. Prioritize each list.


5. Consult your objectives and pick the top 3 tasks across all buckets.


6. Each day bring yourself back to them when you get off course.

Repeat daily.

Simple, eh? Sure. But it's all about the execution, as we all know.

Rules for meetings

Coover-Clark Conference Room.
Originally uploaded by Jeffrey Beall.

Here's a good reminder of hints to start (and end) meetings on time.

Change is Good!

I teach change; I don't "do" change.

A great resource for all things strategic planning

I came across this site today; I highly recommend it. Great tools. Great resources.

Packing and not overdoing it

Lifehacker reminded me that we can always learn to pack better. They cite Travelite for hints:

Even by paring down your things to a pack-light minimum, the key to traveling light is to be organized with your stuff. And now that you've had a chance to gather all of your things for your travels, this section tells you how to put it all together in your pack.

Have you ever needed to get into your pack and had difficulty finding things because your bag was stuffed full, your hand shuffling around blindly feeling for some document or bottle of sunblock? Have you ever opened your travelpack and had small things fall out all over the place? The secret is to compartmentalize all of your goodies by category, puttings things into sacks, bags, envelopes and packs. This will allow you to easily get to the item you are looking for. When you open up your pack the most that will happen is that some smaller sacks will tumble out, ready for you to grasp.

See the details here.

The Scooter Libby jury is using meeting management tools

I'm pretty certain some on the Scooter Libby journey are trained facilitators. Check out what they're asking for in terms of supplies and information... I'm just surprised they didn't ask for Mr. Sketch markers, too.

Army job opening: Organizational and Strategic Planning Analyst

Here's a job for someone.

Serves as a Army Capabilities Integration Center Organizational and Strategic Planning Analyst and staff action officer in the Program Management Division, with responsibilities for organizational and strategic planning issues. Independently plans and conducts both short-term and long-range strategic studies and reviews other broad scale actions/projects associated with ARCIC goals, efficiencies, increased productivity and reduced manning which directly affect the resource posture and the accomplishment of the ARCIC mission. Assesses the impact of resource and programmatic constraints upon the ARCIC organizational structure, management systems, and/or utilization of personnel. Provides guidance and direction for areas of studies/projects. Establishes overall milestones, conducts meetings, and consolidates staff notes/comments for response to installations and activities. Maintains close liaison with ARCIC staff subject matter specialists in activities.

Any CG OPC could do this with one hand tied behind their back.

Er, actually, probably not as it's difficult to type with one hand tied behind the back.

Too funny... Goals... SMART goals...

And, on a somewhat related topic, a little something on SMART goals from Project Smart:

The acronym SMART has a number of slightly different variations, which can be used to provide a more comprehensive definition for goal setting:

S - specific, significant, stretching

M - measurable, meaningful, motivational

A - agreed upon, attainable, achievable, acceptable, action-oriented

R - realistic, relevant, reasonable, rewarding, results-oriented

T - time-based, timely, tangible, trackable

This provides a broader definition that will help you to be successful in both your business and personal life.

Pictures from the first two days of the Internal Consulting Workshop

Welp, I've finished the slide show with the pics taken thus far. Actually, that would slide shows as I had to break the darn thing in two because the file was too large to upload, even after I went through and got rid of some pics.

Here's Monday:



And, here's Tuesday:



Enjoy!

Topics for the LANT course

Thoughts on what we might take on during our May week together:

• Reasoning with statistics
• Flip chart art
• CPC Facilitation and Delivery (2-day course)
• Analyzing OAS and other quantitative tools
• Suggestions on getting qualitative information, including the list below and the list of ways to get customer information from the customer book, Customer Centered Growth
• Change management & perhaps the Kotter stuff

Your thoughts?

Focus Groups

What are they? What's the difference between a focus group and a group interview?

Try this overview from Iowa State University.

Scott Krejci named first qualified adjunct Leadership Development Center instructor

ATLANTA, GA. LT Scott J. Krejci, an organizational performance consultant assigned to the Eighth Coast Guard District in New Orleans, was awarded a qualification as an instructor with the Leadership Development Center in New London, Connecticut. Mr. Charles Coiro, Assistant Chief of the Leadership & Organizational Performance Branch, and CWO Michael Brzezicki presented LT Krejci with his certification during a training session at Leadership Strategies in Atlanta, GA.

As the first adjunct instructor with the Leadership Development Center, LT Krejci is qualified to teach the Commandant's Performance Excellence Overview Course.

LT Krejci has been an organizational performance consultant since August 2004.

They look awfully serious, don't they?

Neal Thayer named Coast Guard's Ancient Consigliere

ATLANTA, GEORGIA. Ms. Chris Wehrenberg and Captain Joseph Re, both of the Office of Performance Management and Decision Support, presented Neal Thayer, an organizational performance consultant assigned to the Thirteenth Coast Guard District in Seattle, Washington, with a plaque designating him the Coast Guard's Ancient Consigliere. The Ancient Consigliere is an award similar to the Coast Guard's Ancient Mariner for cutter personnel or the Ancient Albatross for aviators; the Ancient Consigliere is the organizational performance consultant who has the longest continuous tenure within the consultants' cadre.

Mr. Thayer, a former Coast Guard officer, has been an organizational performance consultant with the Coast Guard for more than a decade. As the "Advisor to the Capofamiglia," Mr. Thayer serves as one of the key internal organizational consultants for the Coast Guard, providing counsel to all levels of the Coast Guard.

Captain Re and Ms. Wehrenberg presented Mr. an engraved crystal plaque which read:

---

Neal B. Thayer

Ancient Consigliere

Having served as an Organizational Performance Consultant for the longest continuous tenure

Advisor to the Capofamiglia

Inducted to the Order of Consultants, June 1996

Named Ancient Consigliere, February 2007

---

Deliberatio Senatus: Consultant Council of Elders

Some people would say this is scary.

ATLANTA, GEORGIA. Neal Thayer, Peter Stinson, and Dan Canavan were, today, inducted into the Deliberatio Senatus, or Consultant Council of Elders, of the Coast Guard's Organizational Performance Consultant corps.

Litmus Questions for Measures

I stumbled across these questions in an old file on my U: drive. They reminded me that as we develop metrics, we really do need to keep a laser focus.

Anyway, here they are; perhaps they'll help you as you put together metrics to monitor the health of your organization or the progress of your program or initiative.

• Will you crash if you don't monitor this gauge?


• Does it help the organizational unit reach it's vision?


• Does it help manage the business? Can you make decisions based on it?


• Can you make changes and improve your results based on it?


• Is the data worth collecting? Does it actually tell you anything?


• What are the things that keep you up at night? Are they covered by your measures?


• After two months away, what do you really want to know?

What do you think?

Location for our May 2007 LANT OPC Mini-Conference

Looks like we're headed to southern Connecticut! I see Mystic tours and Native American gambling. Oh, and performance excellence work, too.

Tools & methods to get things done

While I teach time management and organization, I'm always struggling with it myself. Here's a list of twenty tools & methods to help with to-do lists.

Working on our location for the May conference

Aaron and I are stuck at SFO, waiting for our flights. As much as we wanted to leave northern California a little early, we're both on red eye flights and were unable to make changes to an earlier flight.

I hate flying east.

I'm working on the costs for our Atlantic Area OPC conference. I am building a spreadsheet; you'll find the spreadsheet here. When you get a chance, please take a look. We're going to be making the decision based on best value to the government. To me, best value means a comparative low cost, no outrageous costs for any particular office (ie, it costs one office $3K, but everybody else gets away for $900), and wear & tear on the body (Hono would be out; sorry, folks).

I will be soliciting your input at some point soon. As always, questions/concerns, shoot 'em my way.

A good time in Petaluma

Wondering what your colleagues are doing? Wonder no more.

A bunch of us are in Petaluma for the Instructor Development Course. We've had a great time and have learned a great deal. We had a little fun along the way, too.



Don't miss out; this five-day course is well worth your time, even if you are a seasoned presenter or trainer.

Leadership according to Colin Powell

Colin Powell
Originally uploaded by dfarber.

Colin Powell spoke this week at the Salesforce.com's user and developer conference in San Francisco. Here's some of what he said.

• Good leaders inspire, not motivate. The best leaders can inspire people, so they can do things through self-motivation.


• Leadership involves developing a vision and conveying that purpose throughout the organization.


• You need to make sure the followers have the skills and tools needed to get the job done. Leadership is about creating bonds of trust.

Good stuff, eh? So, how can we help our Coast Guard leaders -- at all levels of the organization -- abide by these Powellisms?

A graphical UPF...

Several years ago, I sat through a UPF workshop conducted by one of our superb colleagues. I thought the workshop went well, but I also thought the participants -- all senior Captains and a disctrict commander -- didn't get it. What they didn't get, I thought, was why this document is important, what the relationships of the stuff on the UPF are, and how the information can help in strategic planning.

The workshop was fine. The form sucks.

So, I came back and built the GUPF. Here it is:



As you click through it, you'll see that one slide builds upon the next. Yes, it's pretty convoluted by the end, but...

Anyone who wants to try and create a different mental model, please have at it. We need to nail this so that we have a working mental model that appeals to various people and makes things easier to understand.

Is that OMG or OGMI?

Leaders are always looking for good tools... A couple of years ago, I developed the OGMI model... while I'd posted the workshop process, I hadn't posted an example... well, you can now find it here.

Job opening

Here's a job opening at the Milton Hershey School for an organizational development specialist!

Requisition Number 06-0016

Description

This position serves in the role of internal consultant and facilitator for the MHS by applying the following areas of expertise: Diagnosing and translating high-level development needs in conjunction with implementing processes and systems to support leadership development skills and talent management throughout the School. This position works collaboratively with leaders and teams throughout the organization to design and implement initiatives which move the MHS strategic student success plan forward.

REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS:
• Master’s Degree in Organization Development, Adult Learning, or related area.
• Minimum 5 years of experience in organization development, talent management or organization effectiveness.
• Minimum 3 years curriculum & instructional design, large-scale change implementation, and leadership development systems.
• Knowledge of web-based applications, on-line learning and performance management applications.

PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS:
• Prior experience in implementing succession planning and performance management strategies within a corporate or academic environment.

Minimum Salary $49,730.00
Maximum Salary $62,160.00

Sounds like an interesting job that any of us could take on with ease... ;-)

Delusions of Effectiveness

Enough said...

For the larger size, click here.

Deja Vu all over again

Ziggurats
Originally uploaded by JayMG.

I'd mentioned to a couple of folks that I thought I was back in college here at the National Conference Center. And, here's the reason. For six months I lived in a room in this dorm at the University of East Anglia; I find the similarities striking.

Become a "Guiding Documents Guru"

After Steve's great presentation today, I thought it might be good to gather links to all the various higher authority plans and strategies with which we need to be familiar and put them all in one place. So I have.

You can go here and find the list.

If you can think of other documents which ought to be on the list, let me know, and I will add them. And, whoever can find official Evergreen stuff online, pass the URLs to me, please. For as much as we preach transparency, we seem to be hiding the meat of the Evergreen stuff.

Job opportunity here in Hampton Roads

hampton - fort monroe
Originally uploaded by mpmb.

Folks, here's a great looking job that any of us are qualified for.

One note, it is at Fort Monroe which is slated for BRAC closure; the job will shift to Fort Eustis just a bit up the road.

Incumbent plans and conducts both short-term and long-range strategic studies and reviews other broad scale actions/projects associated with Futures Center goals, efficiencies, increased productivity and reduced manning which directly affect the resource posture and the accomplishment of the Futures Center mission. Assesses the impact of resource and programmatic constraints upon the Futures Center organizational structure, management systems, and/or utilization of personnel. Provides guidance and direction for areas of studies/projects. Establishes overall milestones, conducts meetings, and consolidates staff notes/comments for response to installations and activities. Directs Futures Center efforts in responding to taskings/inquiries from other MACOMS and HQDA and activities. Conducts or participates in conferences relative to resource and programmatic implications of proposed actions and or organizations.

Job closes in 10 days; get to work on that application!

P.S. And, no, I'm not applying. I have current apps in at independent boarding schools here in Virginia and in Minnesota; the positions are English faculty, dean of students, and counselor/director of student support services.

Tradition dies a cold & lonely death

Hot Donuts NOW
Originally uploaded by stepchile.

2100. Time for the conference's "performance improvement workshop." You know, the usual thing, a trip to Krispy Kreme Donuts to see the baking process & taste a dozen samples.

Hotel lobby; I'm the only person. Everyone has stood me up; not another soul.

I'm a alone.

Perhaps it is time for me to move along...

Here we are!

DSC00367
Originally uploaded by J. Puig.

Welcome to Orlando! Here we are at the Residence Inn: eleven of us huddled around a conference table, laptops powered up.

Sometimes, it feels as if we're talking about the same things we talked about four or eight or ten years ago. The wheels spin, sometimes...

There, Chris, I've posted.

Unit Leadership: A variation on the program

Hi, folks. We're doing something a bit different here at the MLCA staff with the ULDP. I thought you might be somewhat interested. Then, again, you might care less. In short, rather than administer the ULDP-36 to all hands, we used a focus group process. For full & detailed coverage on what we did and what the analysis showed, surf to A Place for My Papers.

From Middle America!

Something is amiss; perhaps it is all part of some gigantic conspiracy; we're going to have to look into this. Here's the scoop: this year's Baldrige recipients have been named. Check out this list:

• Sunny Fresh Foods, Inc., Monticello, Minn. (manufacturing)
• DynMcDermott Petroleum Operations, New Orleans, La. (service)
• Park Place Lexus, Plano, Texas (small business)
• Richland College, Dallas, Texas (education)
• Jenks Public Schools, Jenks, Okla. (education)
• Bronson Methodist Hospital, Kalamazoo, Mich. (health care)

My question is this: How is it all of the recipiants came from the middle of the country?

To view the complete press release detailing these role model organizations, visit the National Institute of Standards and Technology website.

An excellent overview of the "Q"

I know. I know. We dropped the "Q" in favor of PEC. Even so, I found this great site I wanted to recommend to everyone. I was stumbling (surfing) around the ASQ site and found this overview page that leads to pages on tools and organizational-wide approaches and four other helpful pages.

The "Q" stuff is still relevant and still helpful. Check it out.

Looking for new travel computers

another one bites the dust
Originally uploaded by Crunchy Pickle.

We're looking for new travel computers. I put out an RFP to replace the three computers for we three Tidewater-based consultants. Here's what we're looking for.

Minimum requirements for recapped travel computers for LANT/D5/MLCA Organizational Performance Consultants:

• Processor running at 1.3GHz or higher


• Memory of 512 MB RAM (or more) at 533MHz (or higher)


• 60 GB hard drive (or larger)


• Graphics card



• 13-inch screen (or larger)
  
• Built-in speakers



• CD-RW/DVD combo drive (or better)



• Minimum of 3 USB 2.0 ports (more preferred)


• Wireless 802.11 b/g capable


• Bluetooth capable


• Internal 56K modem


• Ethernet/network capable


• PC card slot



• Operating system of Windows XP
• Professional with Service Pack 2 with media Software to include Microsoft ® Office Professional Edition 2003 and Adobe Acrobat 6.0



• Carrying case and AC adapter, power cord, battery pack, automobile charge adapter



• No more than 6 pounds, complete

I know a couple of you suggested various other requirements, but we decided these were what our office needed.

I'll post results of the RFP here.

The noise of the babel

Detail van de Toren van Babel
Originally uploaded by Gryts.

Finding a way to quell the noise of the babel is probably one of the most important things a consultant can do.

Colored cards for facilitation

Some of us have been using colored 3x5 cards to help facilitate teams/groups/meetings, particularly with reaching a group decision. Here's another use.

Phone Conference this past Friday with G-CPD

Not many of us on the hook this past Friday with G-CPD. Between client work and leave, I think only half a dozen of us were available.

A couple of items of note.

First, the restructuring of the Chief of Staff's Office. G-CQM is now G-CPD, Office of Performance Management & Decision Support. The new emphasis appears to be on everything (including performance management) leaning toward supporting decision making. Decision Support is to span the various programmatic stovepipes and create systems which allow for fact-based decision making across the enterprise. From the G-CPD intranet site, it looks like there are five teams in the office:

• Executive Support Team
• Innovation Team
• Performance Excellence Team
• Business Architecture Team
• Decision Support Team

The biz architecture team is the remments of G-833, or whatever it was; they're the RMS people, Todd Watanabe & Lori Maselli. Yes, Lori's back in the fold with us.

Captain Ray noted there are 16 FTE at G-CPD with another 23 FTE as OPCs in the field. Not a lot of FTE, particularly if our work is not coordinated, to get a lot of work done.

Second, Captain Ray talked about beefing up the Organizational Performance Consultants' tool kits; bringing all of us up to speed on four additional elements beyond the former QPC toolkit:

• Readiness Management System
• Unit Leadership Development Program
• Organizational assessments
• Category 4 issues

There was some talk about what this beefing up means; I took it to mean knowing enough about each of these to help our organizational clients with their work; bringing these tools to them so that they can manage their performance and make decisions.

Captain Ray plans on making a spin around the CG to talk to all the OPCs, their supervisors, and the chiefs-of-staff; another dog and pony tour.

OPC Roles and Responsibilities

I'd been asked by Dan to write a little roles and responsibilities for organizational performance consultants to go into a new COMDTINST that is being drafted. You can find my first run at this here. Please take a look at it and, if you have any changes or suggestions, shoot them my way.

Thanks.

Blaming people vs. systems or processes

living like it's golden
Originally uploaded by Quereco.

I'm trying to wheedle my way in to work with a client who has what is, I believe, a huge process problem. Question: how can I identify this problem and highlight the benefits of solid management & leadership without coming across as if I'm attacking the people involved?

What we are missing

Sunset Over Back Bay
Originally uploaded by Hankins.

One AM, and I'm on watch. What I'm missing is a week at the Beach with my colleagues.

Some summer left here in Virginia Beach

There's still some summer left. Let's have fun!
Originally uploaded by cbonney.

Too bad we're not going to get to enjoy it together.

Conference canx'd

Cape Henry Lighthouse I
Originally uploaded by solanic.

I heard from Danny that our end-of-the-month conference has been cancelled. Hard to have a conference when everyone is deployed for Hurricane relief.

Well, it was a good idea.

Not my child

virginia 2005 014
Originally uploaded by Ethereal Elle.

Let me start by saying, "This is not my child."

And let me follow on by asking, "Does it seem to you this youngster is a performance consultant in training?"

Okay, all, let's head to the beach!

Our accomodations

Beach Training
Originally uploaded by IFGA.

Thankfully, our accomodations will be better than what these Navy sailors are going to get. And we'll be close to, but not on top of, the sand.

Sunrise Over Fort Story

Sunrise Over Fort Story
Originally uploaded by Hankins.

Not far from our hotel... Who's gonna get up early enough to see the sun rise?

Perhaps we could meet outside

_DSC2330
Originally uploaded by mikef99.

Now that I know Joy and Scott are okay, I feel we can press on in anticipation of our annual gathering. I suspect it might have some special significance.

I was thinking that perhaps instead of meeting in the room at the hotel, we could meet outside like these young business people. Oh, wait, they're not young business people; they're the executive committee of the Jay & Peter Fan Club.

Too bad Jay will not be in attendance to meet the members of the club.

Devastating news on the tube

Well, this post isn't going to be tongue-in-cheek or an attempt to engage you for our September get-together.

I've been surfing the net and so struck by Katrina's wrath. My thoughts and prayers are with our shipmates in the Eighth, particular our colleagues Scott and Joy. I'm guessing that Scott's condo is under water; while I never had a chance to see the inside, from the outside, it looked like quite a place. In the warehouse district. First floor. And likely under water now.

I pray for our friends and their families.

Peace.

My one real worry

Katrina in Fort Lauderdale
Originally uploaded by bfraz.

It seems -- and I am not certain the evidence actually supports this -- that the week we hold our conference is always a hurricane week. Perhaps pushing back a week will make this not so in 2005.

Anyway, my one real worry is that we get pounded by a hurricane and have to bug out. Perhaps our alternate site could be Sewanee, Tennessee?

Check out this list of storms to hit the Virginia Beach/Norfolk/Portsmouth area.

What we're missing

Here's one we're not going to be able to do... MLCLANT is hosting Chief Red Hawk on the 21st of September. He will be conducting a 90-minute session to kick off the MLC staff's leadership development program.

Red Hawk is a professional consultant and keynote speaker with 18 years of experience in the public and private sectors. He has lectured to government officials on diversity, leadership, and team building. He has written and developed motivational group programs, and facilitated organizational problem solving sessions. He has also contributed to developing training videos and training materials.

Red Hawk has extensive experience in the areas of managing diversity and cultural understanding. He has assisted in the design and implementation of system-wide programs in each of these areas. Hawk is a nationally known motivational keynote speaker on the topics of cultural diversity, issues of social change, and structural inequality. He has experience conducting complex workplace investigations, organizational problem solving, mediating employment disputes, and designing and presenting labor and employee relations training for managers and supervisors.

So, if you want to fly in a couple days early, I can get you a seat at his presentation (0900 on 21 September at the Marriott in downtown Norfolk)... and perhaps we can arrange something special, too.

Keep the sharks in the tank, please

Aquarium20
Originally uploaded by Elfinmoon.

About three miles south of our hotel is one of the nation's finest aquarium's, the Virginia Aquarium & Marine Science Center. The name recently changed (from the Virginia Marine Science Museum) indicating its continued emphasis on the aquarium aspects of the facility. This is no hands off, staid, look-at-stuffed-and-dead-things museum.

One of the top ten most visited aquariums in the nation, the mission of the Aquarium is "To increase the public's knowledge and appreciation of Virginia's marine environment and inspire commitment to preserve its existence." How do they do it? They have:

• 800,000 gallons of aquariums


• Live animal habitats


• More than 300 hands-on exhibits


• 1/3-mile nature trail


• ½-acre aviary


• "Larger that life" movies on an IMAX movie screen

The Aquarium is open 0900 to 1900 daily; the cost to enter is $12 or $17 for the aquarium and the IMAX theatre.

As long as the sharks stay in the tank... perhaps we'd like to visit?

I live in the matrix

Matrix_B00T
Originally uploaded by matthewvelie.

Yes, I continue to post here rather than using CG Central...

If CG Central were accessible from the internet (outside the firewall)... and if it were user friendly in it's ability to post pictures and links within a text using images already on the internet... and if it didn't take so damn long to load... and if it were easy to navigate... If it was as simple to use as Yahoo or Google (which, by-the-by, it was originally billed as)... Then I'd be the first person to advocate it's use...

In the mean time... ;-)