Overview
OCG facilitates a wide range of sessions, applying creative problem-solving techniques to meet the needs, challenges and opportunities of organizations. Our services include facilitation in the areas of change, communication skills, conflict handling, creativity, innovation, motivation, negotiation, presentation, problem solving and team dynamics. Some of the types of issues we address are vision and mission development, blocked creativity, new product development, interdepartmental conflict, organizational complacency, low team morale, problem solving, meeting management, and new team formation.
At OCG we believe it is important to interact with each participant before the session to identify individual concerns, establish realistic expectations, anticipate issues and pitfalls, and build commitment to participating.
We use three methods for interacting with participants prior to a session:
- Face-to-face interviews with participants.
- Telephone interviews, which combine efficiency with privacy.
- Group interviews, which can be efficient for briefing participants on session process; however, some participants may hesitate to speak openly with others in the room.
Key questions to discuss with participants include the following:
- Why is the session being held? What is the real purpose?
- What are the key results that should be achieved?
- What are the potential problems or issues that may surface?
- How do we ensure that the session is a productive use of time?
Executive Offsites
We custom design and deliver high impact Executive Offsites directed at helping leaders look into the future and invent alternative strategies about what they want to become. We specialize in developing high performance organizations, providing one-on-one executive coaching, facilitating trust building initiatives, building high-performance teams, and implementing organizational change.
Cross-Functional Team Development
The best source of process improvement ideas are the people who do the work. Multi-departmental or multi-functional teams are essential when activities or the results of activities involve multiple parts of the organization. Facilitation is often key to achieving timely, effective improvements in these areas. One of the benefits of using a cross-functional team is that they become early adopters of the change and create the critical mass necessary to gain acceptance of change throughout the organization. The team subsequently takes ownership of managing and mitigating the impact of the change effort on behalf of their peers.
OCG works with these leadership teams, managers, and front-line employees and helps them through the challenges of change, the disappointments, and the fear of watching jobs change or go away — all countered by the opportunity to provide outstanding customer service. The outcome will be a high performance/high commitment team of employees who will transfer the required knowledge to others and who will enthusiastically sponsor, rather than resist, the overall change effort.
Focus Groups
One of the most common phrases marketing and research professionals use regarding their products is “Let’s do some groups,” as if focus group research will provide all the answers. It is important to determine when a focus group is the correct approach and when it is not. There are many different situations in which a focus group is the best way to gather information about a particular product or service. OCG assists its clients in determining the research goals and approach. We conduct focus groups for both public and private companies by providing expert moderators and recruitment of the right people. We analyze the results and provide a confidential report to the client.
Whole Systems in the Room Sessions
OCG and its partners have ample experience in the inevitable tensions, ambiguity, and organizational immobility that can accompany large scale organizational change. Furthermore, we can help the organization, its leaders, and its employees successfully navigate through this transition to become a renewed, revitalized organization. A successful change effort should start with an intervention that brings “the whole system into the room” with major stakeholders and project team members, having them explore together — and truthfully — the impact of the proposed change effort on the organization and its employees.
In this room, the major stakeholders can look at their own environment, competition, technology, values, and goals as they relate to the successful implementation of the change. The over-arching goal of implementing the new change initiatives is to exceed customer expectations so that customers will benefit. By beginning with the whole-system focus, this perspective can be maintained throughout the effort. |
