Valuable Work

Valuable Work is an outsourced consulting service that provides a professional audit for your organization's . . .

Communication quality
Decision-making quality
Alignment quality
Coordination quality

These four fundamentals typically control the destiny of an organzation, and they can degrade and decay over time. Each of them is currently either in poor, average, or excellent health at your workplace. They directly impact peoples’ attitudes, work efficiency, outcomes, and job satisfaction. They govern the speed, ROI, and stress levels of projects, processes, and programs.

Our purpose is to support your decisive shift onto the "excellent" level with all four fundamentals.

We audit these four fundamentals for you by using a blend of data gathering, shadowing observations, interviews, and surveys to build a professional analysis of current realities along with recommended enhancements. We will do this for your team, your department, your special project, or your full work system.

If you would also like us to design and supervise the implementation of your enhancements we will do that for you as well by facilitating: customized training workshops to match your situation and your needs, guided practice-to-proficiency with new skills, focused coaching, fine-tuning, issue troubleshooting, and re-testing.

We are most often hired to support . . .

Board and C-Suite OpEx

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Digital Transformations

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Organizational Restructuring

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Management efficacy and style

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Learning and Development

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Front Line OpEx

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SOME OF OUR CLIENTS . . .

POPULAR CLIENT REQUESTS . . .

Breakthrough Projects

"Our team outcomes are stagnant or below our potential. Can Valuable Work help us raise standards, exceed targets, and be a success story?"

Yes, we will develop and coach your team to:

-   achieve premium results with fresh strategy
-   manage lead indicators to get lag indicators
-   leverage time & resources to enhance OpEx
-   maintain high coordination for new speed
-   use more valuable communication skills
-   steer from a smart analytics dashboard

Digital Transformation Support

“As the end-user client, we’d like help with enhancing any human levers of risk mitigation and ROI. Can Valuable Work partner with us on this aspect?"

Yes, we'll facilitate workshops and troubleshooting for:

- completing checklists through each stage
- maintaining stakeholder alignment
- relationship and communication dynamics
- mediating differences and conflicts
- reducing adoption hurdles and resistance
- building new capabilities and behaviors

Organizational Restructuring

“We need updated structures, processes, and routines for better efficiency and competitiveness. Can Valuable Work help us?"

Yes, we will facilitate a refresh of your shared purpose, common aims, new gameplan, and new roles & responsibilities. We will help you proactively mitigate risks and protect ROI during your restructuring. We will train your team members in enabling behaviors, better work techniques, and proven mental models.

Manager Success

“Can Valuable Work help our managers develop their skillsets, mindsets, adaptability, and confidence to succeed in their dynamic stressful roles?"

Yes, we will train and coach your managers to apply more effective skills for connecting, communicating, delegating, and resolving breakdowns. Their growth will also cause growth for their teams. We’ll supervise their practice-to-proficiency with fresh approaches for maintaining their own balance and good energies.

SERVICES

Organizations often do not have the time nor the specialized experience to provide well-integrated professional training, development, and coaching support for their leaders and their front line's unique growth needs, or for achieving OpEx.

We provide outsourced services for Learning and Development solutions and OpEx consulting. We perform readiness and needs assessments, produce and facilitate, and guide ROI.

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As a contractor supporting your change initiative we facilitate and supervise alignment-building, checklist success, capability training, and resolving breakdowns.

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We design, facilitate, and troubleshoot your organizational restructuring using best principles for OpEx and capability-building.

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Some of our trusted tools . . .

Learning and Development

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Communication Models

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Change Management OpEx

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Process and Execution OpEx

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Project Management OpEx

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Strategy & Competitive OpEx

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FAQs

For a free consultation to help you better define your problem and explore some possible solutions please feel free to reach out to us.

Send us a note

What are some common root causes of organizational dysfunction that Valuable Work addresses?

What are some common pitfalls that should be avoided during digital transformations?

What are some common pitfalls that should be avoided during breakthrough projects or organizational restructuring?

What is a typical pathway followed in order to hire Valuable Work?

Marc Benioff . . . quotes

“A good leader recognizes the need to see change as their friend, and then have the flexibility to evolve in smart ways with good timing."

“Leaders must learn how to decide and manage through reliable data. Front line teams must learn how to operate in ways that are responsive to that data."

Amy Edmondson . . . quotes

“Holding on to past strategies can be a recipe for failure. Having the emotional resilience to keep being responsive and innovative in small useful ways is becoming a more highly valued talent at all levels."

“Psychological safety is a crucial source of value in a complex changing work environment. Mistakes will be self-reported more quickly, coordination improves, and smart ideas are more naturally emerging and shared."

W. Edwards Deming . . . quotes

“A bad process will defeat a good person every time."

“A big blind spot for leaders and managers is that they try to control the result instead of controlling the cause."

“It’s a great waste when we fail to use the abilities of people, to learn from their frustrations, and to enable the contributions that they are eager to make."

Pablo Isla . . . quotes

“Good things happen when we give teams stretch and safety while fueling their courage to show us their best."

“Learn from all of your people, not just in formal ways, but mostly informally."

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Learning and Development Solutions for OpEx

People tend to naturally protect ROI and mitigate risk during a change journey when they are engaged on emotional, social, and spiritual levels to resolve their considerations, learn how they can best contribute, and understand pitfalls to avoid..

UNDERSTANDING AND APPRECIATING YOUR EXISTING REALITIES AND VALUED FUTURE STATE:   We build trust and relationships to conduct useful discovery conversations across your diverse internal and external stakeholders. We accomplish needs and readiness assessments, and we translatie our insights into practical design requirements for learning and development. We network across your work communities to boost adoption and reduce resistance to learning solutions.   We collaborate with your executive and function leaders to assess and prioritize current and future training needs, and we use data analytics to help clarify strategy, opportunities, challenges, and capability gaps.

Producing and delivering value-add training, workshops, coaching, and consulting:
We propose and create pragmatic developmental experiences using adult learning principles, learning metrics, and holistic instructional strategies that satisfy identified need and drive valued outcomes.   We collaborate with fellow learning champions to establish workflows, version control, and quality assurance. We play an engaged pivotal role in facilitating, enhancing developmental experiences, and train-the-trainer.

Guiding investments in Learning and Development to translate into real benefit and value:
We facilitate the pivotal human dimension of change readiness, change management, go-live readiness, and new operational stability in partnership with business leaders. We to achieve their defined expected ROI, proactively mitigate risks, and fulfill on the shared purpose of front line and executive sponsors.   We leverage data analytics and business metrics to help evaluate and strengthen the effectiveness of learning iniitiatives, providing reasoned recommendations for adjustments and enhancements where appropriate.

Applying Lean principles in Learning & Development for cost savings and time savings:
We teach Pareto Analysis to your team to identify the “vital few” valuable leverage sources.   We teach Fishbone and 5 WHYs to your team to identify and correct root causes of breakdowns, bottlenecks, and instability. We teach Charlie Munger’s Inverting principle to your team to upfront identify potential failures or folly that can be prevented.   We teach the TIMWOODS model to your team to help minimize 8 types of operational waste . . . transport (delivery); inventory; motion; waiting; over-processing; over-production; defects; skills.

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Change Management Consulting for OpEx

CHANGE READINESS:    Readiness, impact, and benefits realization surveys and analyses.   Create alignment amongst all key stakeholders for shared purpose, success indicators, and a game plan with contingencies and corrective mechanisms defined.   Define process owners. Express reservations with an intention to get each of these addressed and resolved now before launching.   Name the new skills, along with a pragmatic timeline for learning and development.   Schedule adjustment sessions to fold in new learning and front line contributions during the journey.

For digital transformations watch out for potential:   adoption resistance (both intentional and unintentional);   misunderstanding about software functionality or new responsibilities;   misalignments about business value of the change;   misalignment of people, processes, and technology.

CHANGE MANAGEMENT:   Minimize decision latency and decision procrastination.   Establish proof points, positive traction, obvious benefit, and many small new wins.   Expect some hesitancy of buy-in for unfamiliar things.   Persuade through demonstration, walk the talk, and show via action rather than explaining or arguing.   Learn from action on the field-of-play those things which cannot be learned in a conference room.   Facilitate frequent brief huddles with the front line to enable them to contribute smart adjustments.   Learn from resisters.

Focus all players on achieving the interim success indicators that were defined during Change Readiness.   Lock in gains while mitigating risk.   Just because your idea is great does not mean others will care.   Collect evidence of new value in the form of measurable impact and testimonies.  Keep one’s head down with intense focus on taking next effective physical actions.   Use action language instead of hinting, implying, hoping, or mind-reading.   Provide spiritual leadership to fuel positive emotions, optimistic outlook, healthy moods, and pressure release valves

GO-LIVE READINESS:    Practice, testing, and execution are becoming more efficient and smoother.   A noticeable increasing ratio of supporters to resisters. Interim success indicators are exceeding sponsor expectations.   People are embracing post-change narrative as the new normal.  A steady collaborative documentation of new standards, behaviors, protocols, and help guides.   Learning & Development and capability-building checklists are ahead of schedule.   High-functioning people are requesting to join the team.    New possibilities, opportunities, and innovations are emerging and being included usefully.   If anyone is still hitting the brakes or being a speed bump then we are not yet ready for go-live.

OPERATIONAL STABILITY:    Benefits realization is now manifesting in reality.   Fresh routines, practices, and structures are now established and trusted. The changes are integrated into the system with high harmony.   If the originators and champions of the change project now disengaged and disappeared this would not slow anything down.   Sponsors are formally acknowledging business value of the change in terms of money and time.  The value of the change has now made pre-existing approaches obsolete.   Distributed ownership is now evident and effective.

GO-LIVE READINESS

Perform a candid assessment of readiness. Be accurate. Be thorough. No evasion. No entitlement. If checklist items have been skipped or diluted, then go-live should not yet be approved. Some helpful indicators:

Communication training for OpEx

POST-CHANGE STABILITY

After go-live, your change process is not yet complete until post-change stability is achieved. Here are some typical success indicators:

The benefits realization promises that were made during change readiness are now manifesting in reality. Any shortfalls are receiving high priority to be methodically corrected starting at root cause.

Fresh routines, practices, and structures are now established and trusted. The changes and the change team members are integrated into the system with high harmony.

If the originators and champions of the change project now disengaged and disappeared this would not slow anything down.

Sponsors of the change project are formally acknowledging it's business value in terms of money and time.

Stakeholder complexity dynamics are now occurring as a source of value instead of waste.

Leaders of the change are being promoted because of how well they managed ROI and risk.

The value and benefit of the change has now made pre-existing approaches obsolete.

Distributed ownership is now evident and effective.

OPERATIONAL EXCELLENCE

Here are some new skills that were probably gained by many people during your change process. Just keep these capabilities alive and active by making them part of your new Standard Work moving forward. Tell people that this is the new normal. The recently trained change champions can easily serve as coaches to teach others how it looks and feels.

New normal . . . minimize decision latency and decision delays.

New normal . . . resolve breakdowns promptly instead of kicking the can down the road.

New normal . . . use pragmatic learning and development solutions to accelerate capabilities.

New normal . . . engage in regular communication skills training for OpEx.

regular process and execution skills training for OpEx.

regular competitive analysis and strategy analysis for OpEx.

The Void

Sometimes there is a void that ought to be filled with right choices, right action, and right discipline. If this fails to happen, then the empty void will naturally get filled with unchosen, irrational, or random activities and behaviors. Some illustrations are listed below.

If we neglect to do the right work of maintaining our garden, then weeds and pests will naturally fill the void. If we neglect to do the right work of maintaining good police in our community, then damaging vigilante-justice activity and organized crime activity will naturally fill the void. If we neglect to do the right work of selecting healthy foods to eat, then bad foods will naturally fill the void. If we neglect to do the right work of using effective communication practices, we should not be surprised when dysfunctional communication activity naturally fills the void.

There are 4 common decision-making styles to choose from. In order of highest productivity to lowest they are: (1st rate) PURPOSE-governed style; (2nd rate) DOMINANCE-governed style; (3rd rate) EVASION-governed style; (4th rate) CONSENSUS-governed style. When leaders and teams neglect to consistently apply a PURPOSE-governed style, it leaves a void. This void is naturally filled in by a less-valuable combination of dominance, evasion, and consensus. Nobody really wants this to happen, and no formal decision or clear choice is made to have it happen. However, it is happening and will naturally continue happening to fill the void.

When two or more people get together to discuss something, there are naturally different perspectives, different needs, different interests, and different values silently present. These differences establish a normal and continual void. The lazy default is to argue, preach, debate, look superior, one-up, or indulge in pretence or arrogance . . . an attitude which can guide each person into being more tone-deaf, reckless, and careless about managing good human relations. Conscious leaders and team members can train themselves to practice the simple art of guessing the possible intersection of interests for the current interaction. This is a jedi-level power move for dealing with the natural void, and it is a life-giving spark for leading the conversation and the relationship onto an upward, more productive, gracious, and profitable path.

When people choose an ownership mindset and decide to make the language of conviction and commitment habitual, breakdowns are noticeably reduced and the expense of their troubleshooting is noticeably reduced. Every person is able to start practicing this basic productivity skill, and each person already has this faculty. When a person fails to do this a void results. And this void will get filled in with an impotence of pessimism, cynicism, victimhood, negative gossip, rationalizations, and back-doors.

People Power

Learning and Development

We prepare and deliver pragmatic developmental experiences using trusted adult learning principles.

Valuable Work serves as an outsourced contractor to provide “as needed” professional development experiences, both long-term and short term.

We synchronize with your senior sponsors and key stakeholders to ensure that our staff training, leadership coaching, and workshop sessions serve your immediate needs and your strategic objectives.

We apply Lean principles within all Learning and Development activities so that your staff have an experience of efficient usefulness when spending their valuable time with us.

We provide transparency so that you can easily monitor our specification, preparation, delivery, troubleshooting, and metric tracking throughout our partnership.

Change Initiatives

Valuable Work provides efficient outsourced consulting and training during your essential stages of change readiness, change management, go-live readiness, and new operational stability.

We trust the power of professionally supervised process checklists. A change initiative can easily get out of hand and disappoint when people skip or postpone simple scheduled stage tasks. We guide you to handle each thing diligently at the right time so that your process can succeed.

Implementing a breakthrough project can be turbulent and unsettling on a professional level and a personal level. Re-skilling, new emotions, new work style, new relationships, and letting go of past baggage. We guide your team to navigate these dynamics simply and successfully in support of your higher ROI and your enjoyable growth.

People in your own system can naturally and normally develop blindspots, social fears, or cynicisms. This can result in a toleration of work environments that include irrational or anti-valuable things. As an outsourced vendor, Valuable Work does not have these blockers. We provide a fresh perspective and a fresh objectivity to question strange artifacts so as to help keep your change process on a good track.

Organizational Restructuring

We train your team members to engage in periodic cycles of adjustment so that after we leave you can self-consult to stay fresh and adaptive. Each cycle includes 4 key questions:

What things should we PRESERVE because they are productive, well-liked, and give us strength and good results?

What things should we ELIMINATE because they do not work well and most of us dislike these aspects of our approach?

What things should we KEEP-BUT-MODIFY because they are right for us . . . but need some refining or adjusting in order to match our needs?

What things shoudl we START NEWLY because they will add value, the timing is right, and they will help our results and our brand?

Learning and Development

ADDIE . . . A systematic instructional design framework with five phases: Analyze, Design, Develop, Implement, and Evaluate.

Adult Learning Principles . . . Based on andragogy, emphasizing that adults learn best when content is relevant, self-directed, experiential, problem-centered, and immediately applicable.

Kolb Experiential Learning . . . A cycle of learning through experience involving four stages: Concrete Experience, Reflective Observation, Abstract Conceptualization, and Active Experimentation.

Gagné’s 9 Events of Instruction . . . A sequence for effective instruction: gain attention, inform learners of objectives, stimulate recall, present content, provide guidance, elicit performance, give feedback, assess performance, and enhance retention and transfer.

Learning-By-Doing . . . A hands-on approach where learners actively practice skills or engage in tasks to reinforce understanding and retention.

Co-Active Training and Coaching . . . A collaborative coaching model focused on balancing being and doing, empowering learners through awareness, responsibility, and practice.

Kirkpatrick 4 Levels . . . A framework for evaluating training effectiveness: Reaction, Learning, Behavior, and Results.

Bloom’s 2 Sigma . . . Refers to research showing that one-on-one tutoring can produce learner performance two standard deviations higher than traditional group instruction.

Munger Inverting . . . A problem-solving approach from Charlie Munger that considers the opposite or reverse perspective (“invert the problem”) to generate insights and avoid errors.

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Communication Models

BLUF (Bottom Line Up Front) . . . A communication approach where the key message or conclusion is stated first, followed by supporting details to ensure clarity and quick understanding.

Think-Feel-Do . . . Shaping communication based on what you want the audience to think, feel, and do after receiving the message.

Generative Listening . . . A deep listening practice that goes beyond understanding words to foster new insights, co-creation, and meaningful connections between participants.

What-So What-Now What . . . A reflection and communication model that progresses through describing an event (What), explaining its significance (So What), and identifying next steps or actions (Now What).

Intersecting for Value . . . A model for training people to build quick connection and lead conversation from and toward a common ground of value by taking turns trying to name shared purpose, common goals, and mutual concerns.

Action Language . . . A model for training people to use performative vocabulary: suggest, recommend, request, offer, propose, promise, accept, decline, counteroffer.

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Change Management models

ADKAR . . . A change management model focusing on five outcomes for individuals: Awareness, Desire, Knowledge, Ability, and Reinforcement.

PDCA (Plan-Do-Check-Act) . . . A continuous improvement cycle for testing and implementing changes: plan the change, execute it, evaluate results, and act to standardize or adjust.

Kaizen . . . A philosophy and practice of continuous, incremental improvement involving all employees to enhance processes, efficiency, and quality.

McKinsey 7S . . . A model for organizational alignment and change, emphasizing seven interdependent elements: Strategy, Structure, Systems, Shared Values, Style, Staff, and Skills.

PEMS (Preserve-Eliminate-Modify-Start Newly) . . . A model for engaging groups to discuss ideas togather and decide on valuable adjustments.

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Process and Execution tools

Simultaneous Engineering . . . Cross-functional teams work in parallel on product development to shorten timelines and improve quality.

Lean . . . A methodology that maximizes value by eliminating waste and optimizing process flow.

DMAIC . . . A structured Six Sigma cycle for process improvement: Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve, Control.

SPC (Statistical Process Control) . . . Uses statistical methods and control charts to monitor and maintain process stability and quality.

TOC (Theory of Constraints) . . . Focuses on identifying and resolving the most critical bottleneck to improve overall system performance.

RACI . . . A responsibility matrix clarifying roles as Responsible, Accountable, Consulted, and Informed for tasks or decisions.

SCOR (Supply Chain Operations Reference) . . . A framework for analyzing and improving supply chain performance across plan, source, make, deliver, return, and enable.

Hoshin Kanri . . . A strategic planning and execution method aligning long-term goals with daily activities through structured deployment and review.

5 Whys . . . A root cause analysis tool that repeatedly asks “why” to uncover underlying causes of a problem.

Align-Act-Adjust . . . A cycle for effective execution: align on goals, act to implement, and adjust based on results and feedback.

OEE (Overall Equipment Effectiveness) . . . A key metric for manufacturing efficiency combining equipment availability, performance, and quality.

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Project Management tools

ISO 9001 . . . An international quality management standard that ensures organizations consistently meet customer and regulatory requirements through documented processes and continual improvement.

PMBOK (Project Management Body of Knowledge) . . . A comprehensive guide outlining standardized project management processes, knowledge areas, and best practices.

Purpose-Goals-Methods . . . A planning framework that defines why (purpose), what (goals), and how (methods) to focus efforts and achieve desired outcomes.

Agile . . . An iterative project management and product development approach emphasizing customer collaboration, adaptability, and delivering value in small increments.

Kanban . . . A visual workflow management method that limits work in progress and optimizes process flow for continuous delivery.

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Strategy and Competitive analysis tools

PESTEL . . . Analyzes external macro-environmental factors: Political, Economic, Social, Technological, Environmental, and Legal.

Porter’s 5 Forces . . . Evaluates industry competitiveness based on new entrants, supplier power, buyer power, substitutes, and rivalry.

BCG Matrix . . . Classifies business units or products by market growth and market share: Stars, Cash Cows, Question Marks, Dogs.

SWOT . . . Identifies internal Strengths and Weaknesses, and external Opportunities and Threats.

Value Mapping . . . Visualizes how products or services deliver value along attributes compared to competitors.

360 . . . A holistic feedback or assessment approach using multiple perspectives (peers, managers, subordinates, self, customers).

VRIO . . . Framework assessing resources on Value, Rarity, Imitability, and Organization for sustainable advantage.

ISO 9004 . . . International guideline focusing on sustained organizational success through quality management.

Balanced Scorecard . . . Strategic tool tracking performance across Financial, Customer, Internal Process, and Learning & Growth perspectives.

Business Model Canvas . . . Visual template mapping key elements of a business model: value proposition, customers, channels, revenue, costs, resources, activities, partners.

CONOPS . . . Concept of Operations; describes how a system, project, or capability will be used to achieve objectives in practice.

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