Various departments were largely stove-piped and focused on their internal processes. For example, customer service did not provide complete and timely data/information to design engineering and material management departments. Additionally, the design engineering department did not provide complete specifications to the production engineering department. Morale, product and service quality, profit margins and customer satisfaction were adversely affected by ineffective and inefficient business processes.

As Director of Training and Organizational Development, appointed by the President to conduct a company-wide, customer-focused reengineering process. All executives, mid-level managers and key supervisors participated in the reengineering process and were tasked to answer the following questions: 1) Who are your customers (internal and external)? 2) What are their business needs? 3) What processes have your departments created and used to satisfy those needs? 4) Have your customers validated those processes and are they satisfied? Formed cross-functional committees to reduce costs enterprise-wide.

Resulting new and enhanced business processes achieved lower costs, higher profit margins, and created significant and lasting changes in corporate policies and procedures. At least 25% of annual costs associated with shipping packages via several overnight delivery services were saved by negotiating deep discounts with one national delivery service and establishing a decision matrix for managers and supervisors to use in justifying overnight delivery versus first-class mail delivery.

Company remains increasingly focused on customer service to both internal and external customers. Executive management team continues to pursue lower costs of doing business and selling products and services at or above set profit margins.

Squadron life-support units in the Pacific Air Forces had excessive numbers of personnel. Each unit was assigned eight manpower authorizations regardless of the unit's mission, which increased administration and operations costs due to training, housing, etc. of unnecessary personnel assigned to units in Hawaii, Japan, Philippines, and South Korea.

Analyzed each unit's manpower authorization relative to the unit's mission. Proposed a new manpower standard and assigned revised manpower authorizations to each unit based on the new mission-related manpower standard.

Administrative and operations costs reduced by 25-50% in the Pacific, Europe, and continental US operational theaters. The "4-5-6" life-support technician manpower standard was adopted by Headquarters Pacific Air Forces and later became and remains the standard for all tactical flight squadrons in the Department of the Air Force.

Members of executive management team were chronically complaining about the performance of key mid-level managers, but were not taking action to correct the unsatisfactory job performance of their managers. Morale, throughput, and quality were low in several departments and adversely affecting both internal and external customer satisfaction.

Initiated a mentor-protégé program for key mid-level managers. Created and enhanced key procedures to improve the overall performance of the customer service department. Held several customer service meetings and workshops with internal and external customers to improve working relationships.

VP of Electronics terminated and replaced his engineering manager, which improved morale within the department. VP of Manufacturing terminated quality control manager, but he was not replaced due to ongoing downsizing directed by the Chairman of the Board. Morale improved within the quality control department and on the production floor.

Actions taken to hold mid-level managers accountable for the productivity of their departments are being reinforced by the President and executive management team.

Key administration officials of a large community college district were unaware how to use focus group methodologies to gather and analyze data to support strategic planning. Administrators did not possess adequate knowledge to formulate meaningful strategic plans. Data gathering for strategic planning was limited to student questionnaires. Strategic planning processes involved community leaders, but not the community citizens served by the community college district.

Designed and delivered train-the-trainer modules on data collection and analysis using focus group methodologies. Common focus of the modules was to determine if the community college district was meeting the community’s education and training needs. Train-the-trainer modules were held for selected administrators and faculty members.

Administrators and faculty members were certified in design, conduct, and data-reduction phases of focus group processes. During the certification process, participants were observed and critiqued on their performances in facilitating focus groups of students and business community members. Submitted formal report including findings and recommendations to the Chancellor during an out-briefing session. The focus group process is still employed five years since the initial training.

Prior to adoption of standards, innovative instructors across the Air Education and Training Command employed technologies in uncoordinated ways. Technologies were unilaterally introduced and used during the tenures of the innovators to decrease their workload and that of their peers.

Unfortunately, after the innovative instructors were reassigned to other units most of their technologies were unsupportable and the investments were lost because programming codebooks, operator manuals, etc., were not developed for use/reference by successors. Without necessary supporting documentation, the innovative technologies could not be economically maintained by successors and could not be efficiently adopted enterprise-wide.

Championed adoption of enterprise-wide design, development and implementation standards to increase the likelihood of economic sustainment of classroom-based and distance-learning technology insertions. Policies and procedures were adopted to ensure proposals for new technology insertions included adherence/compliance with enterprise-wide standards.

Provisions for integrating the enterprise-wide standards are now required for all funding proposals/requests submitted to the Education and Training Technologies Application Program (ETTAP) Committee.

Department of Defense (DoD) had 28 education and training deficiencies that were known and defined; however, there was no coherent overarching plan to address the deficiencies. Organizational performance goals were not being met because deficiencies were either not addressed by senior managers or not appropriately prioritized using strategic and tactical/operational criteria. Senior management interest in resolving deficiencies waxed and waned with typical rotation at upper levels of management.

Led research team in reviewing all 28 deficiencies to define customers to whom a systematic education and training process must be directed. Customer population ranged from senior DoD civilian and service officials to low-ranking enlisted personnel at the unit level, and included the categories of retirees and their dependents.

Constructed a plan focused on linking mission performance to education and training. Determined what personnel needed to learn to achieve organizational performance goals. Submitted a proposed education and training strategic planning process to the customer. Proposal included short-term, intermediate-term, and long-term components that applied to DoD organizations operating in the US and abroad.

Customer accepted the proposed strategic planning process and applied it to eliminate the deficiencies.

Prior to performance of front-end analyses, customer's flight training programs included disconnects between learning objectives and learning activities, causing training costs to increase.

Examined each training activity for specific purpose relative to the formal learning objectives. All activities were linked with formal learning objectives in a database that could be accessed by instructors, supervisors, mid-level managers, and executives.

Unnecessary training activities were eliminated. Total training costs decreased. Overall effectiveness of the training programs increased. All activities remain linked with the appropriate learning objectives in all formal flight training programs.

US Air Force Undergraduate Pilot Training (UPT) student pilots’ productivity was relatively low during the first 17 training days. Students reported to their assigned flying squadrons ill prepared for duty. After entry into the intense primary jet phase of UPT, it was not uncommon for students to take at least one month to learn what they should have learned prior to beginning their flying duties. Progress was hindered by the students' lack of basic knowledge of the primary jet aircraft and traffic pattern terminology and procedures.

Designed, developed and implemented preflight training module and syllabus for the UPT program. Students were introduced to a rigorous study program on the first day of training. 12-hour duty days were scheduled for the first 17 training days to ensure student pilots were accustomed/acclimated to the rigors and discipline associated with Air Force flying squadrons. Students were required to learn aircraft operating limitations, emergency procedures, aircraft preflight inspections and procedures, traffic pattern terminology, and basic communications procedures prior to reporting to their flying squadrons.

Instructors and commanders reported significant improvements in student preparation at the beginning of the primary jet-training phase. Amount of training time to learn aircraft operating limitations, emergency procedures, aircraft preflight inspections and procedures, traffic pattern terminology, and basic communications procedures reduced by at least 50%. Module remains in use more than 25 years after it was first implemented and became the Air Force standard for preflight training.

Intra-organizational communication was ineffective and inefficient at a multi-national petrochemical corporation. Complete and timely information and ideas were not being shared by executives, key mid-level managers and supervisors. Morale and productivity in some functional areas were low.

Developed and delivered seminars on active listening. Each of the seminars included a vertical slice of the organization (e.g., one executive, several key mid-level managers and supervisors). Administered standardized listening tests and facilitated discussion of active-listening skills and techniques.

Communication skills and processes improved among all departments of the organization. Seminars facilitated many first-time face-to-face dialogues between key supervisors who had worked in separate departments for 20+ years and had previously not met their counterparts. The seminars also increased awareness among managers and union members regarding biases that had stifled open communication for decades.

All participants expressed appreciation for the active-listening techniques introduced in the seminars. Many participants were thrilled with the experience of working face-to-face with someone for the first time after being limited to only phone conversations for 20+ years.

Business revenues were not meeting expectations of corporate executives. The business ethics consulting and training practice was viewed as drag on corporate financials.

Introduced healthcare line of business to the practice. Successfully negotiated formal strategic alliances with a consulting practice, software development firm, and a healthcare staffing firm.

Increased revenues and profits. Traded professional services with mutual benefit to the consulting practice and the software development firm. The consulting practice achieved increased marketing exposure via CD-ROM technologies produced by the software development firm, and the software development firm received exposure to the consulting practice’s business ethics curricula.