Al Strauss Consulting
Welcome to web site for Al Strauss Consulting! Al specializes in performance improvement and human resource development, including:
Organization Effectiveness
Process Improvement
Change Management
Instructional Design and Training
Leadership Development
Al prides himself on solutions tailored specifically to the client's needs. "Cookie-cutter" solutions often don't succeed because each organization is unique: one size does not fit all.
Al isn't the type of consultant that will walk through your doors, tell you what to do and go away. He works collaboratively with organizations to design and implement customized solutions that achieve positive, lasting results.
Here is Al's basic process for collaborating with an organization:
- Listen to the needs and concerns of the organization, conducting a thorough analysis
- Provide the organization's leadership with the results of the analysis and a list of options or recommendations
- With the organization's leadership, jointly develop a customized solution that is owned by the company
- Implement the solution along with key members of the organization in such a manner that the change will be sustained
- Measure the results
Outside change does not work effectively, if at all. Al believes the best solution are ones owned by the organization.
Designing the strategic or tactical change
is always the
easy part -
Implementing strategies and tactics is the hard part.
Why is change so difficult? Although most everyone acknowledges the ability to change in today's turbulent world as important, there is usually a natural, normal resistance to change.
People take comfort in knowing what to expect - even if they don't like it. Hence, the phrase about being "comfortable in your misery."
Remember the TQM initiatives of the late 80s and early 90s? It was easy to see why so many companies jumped on the bandwagon. TQM made sense. But most efforts failed to live up to expectations because TQM didn't fit the organizational culture (defined as the organization's accepted behaviors, beliefs, attitudes and tasks) and the culture was not changed to accommodate TQM.
When a change in strategy or tactics conflicts
with the
organization's culture,
the culture will always win.
Therefore, it is necessary to proactively manage the culture to be successful!
Failing to manage the culture is failing to manage change! An outside consultant will have difficulty implementing a lasting change because the outsider is not part of the organization - that's why Al believes the organization needs to be the owners of the change.
Let Al help your organization succeed by:
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Identifying and implementing strategies to change the organization's culture
-
Facilitating meetings, including strategic planning sessions
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Conducting teambuilding sessions
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Assessing the organization's readiness to change
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Designing and/or delivering customized training
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Generating process improvements
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Documenting processes and procedures