wta newsletter volume1 issue 1 022012
TRANSCRIPT
8/2/2019 WTA Newsletter Volume1 Issue 1 022012
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could take many more months. If the
legal arrangements are pursued in isola-
tion, without any consistency in require-
ments, a clear, overarching strategy and
complementary responsibilities -- the
resulting disconnects, white spaces and
duplications will consume resources and
create headaches for a very long time.
There has been a trend lately to recom-
mend multi-sourcing as the “right” way to
source -- without consideration of the
client circumstances. I believe strongly
that multi-sourcing is not for everyone.
Clients should be aware of the considera-
tions inherent in this model and carefully
investigate whether or not it will work for
their organization. If the organization is
up to the management and process
challenges, and the strategy enhances
and optimizes its delivery of services –
multi-sourcing can be very effective.
I don’t view “multi-sourcing” as a new era
or new trend in sourcing. The concept
has been around for many years, albeit
under other names --- such as “best of
breed” and “selective” sourcing. I see this
model as a natural evolution for certain
organizations, whose high process disci-
pline, governance and sourcing /
organizational sophistication allow it to
work with multiple providers and act as
the “prime” in the overall delivery model.
There are organizations that have used
this strategy to great success for many
years, but there are also those that have
tried it and failed. Why does it work for
some and not others?
There are two important considerations
surrounding multi-sourcing: clear vision/
strategy and management discipline.
Multi-sourcing is the tactical realization of
a sourcing strategy for service delivery.
It is a path that should be undertakenpurposefully, with careful planning and
coordination. Sometimes, organizations
find themselves in a “multi-sourcing”
environment after making serial, and
sometimes independent, decisions
around sourcing – I call this “accidental
multi-sourcing”.
This multi-sourcing-by default model is
riddled with pitfalls, including the possibil-
ity of disjointed processes, inconsistent
methodologies and technologies, duplica-
tion of effort and costs, lack of account-
ability and customer dissatisfaction. Done
correctly, it can be a very flexible way to
get the best solutions for a complex
environment. In either case, the hard
work is up front. Defining the portfolio of
services, and determining their suitability
for internal, external or joint sourcing, and
determining how to group services and
deal with the “grey” areas and touch
points is critical preparation to engaging
with service providers.
Secondly, most organizations who under-
take a services sourcing agreement for
the first time seriously underestimate
how challenging it can be to manage the
agreement. A multi-sourcing delivery
model requires far more attention, inter-
face and coordination than a single
source service delivery model. Enormous
challenging exist in managing three or
four different services providers, and the
touch points, processes and communica-
tions between each of them and the client
organization. I would not recommend this
approach for a company that is resource
or process challenged, or one whose time
horizon is short term. Getting multiple
service agreements in place will be only
the first challenge. Getting the operating
agreements and common processes set
up among the various service providers
A C C I D E N T A L M U L T I - S O U R C I N G B Y K A T H R Y N D O U G L A S S
S E R V I C E D E L I V E R Y M O D E L S
Thanks to Lou Dobbs and many of ourpoliticians, most Americans think that
outsourcing is synonymous with offshor-
ing – in other words, moving US jobs to a
foreign company. The impression is that
any company who outsources is forcing
US jobs overseas. Not always.
Many people would be surprised to learn
that many of the Outsourced services are
being provided by US companies, with US
Citizen employees. Even some foreign
companies provide outsourcing with US
Citizen employees. Often, even though
company employees may have lost their jobs, there may be no net US job loss.
Often, employees who are affected by
outsourcing keep their old jobs but are
simply “rebadged” – they go to work for a
third-party company but deliver the same
type services they formerly performed as
employees.
If this all sounds confusing, let’s take a
look at the terminology to see what it all
really means. “Sourcing” is simply the act
of obtaining designated services from a
particular source. Services can be
sourced internally, often called “in-sourcing”, or they can be sourced exter-
nally, typically known as “outsourcing”.
Most companies have service delivery
models, which may include a combination
of these sourcing approaches. Some
complex delivery models involve multiple
processes or sub-processes/services,
which may be sourced to multiple third
parties , what we call “multi-sourcing” or
in some cases, “best of breed sourcing”.
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V O L U M E 1 , I S S U E 1
T H R E E S I X T Y T R E N D S
I N S I D E T H I S I S S U E :
A C C I D E N T A LM U L T I - S O U R C I N G
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S E R V I C E D E L I V -E R Y M O D E L S 1
W T A E A R N S M O -B I S C O N T R A C TS C H E D U L E
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O U T S O U R C I N GS E R V I C E S A P -
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O U T S O U R C I N G O RS T A F F A U G ?
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L E A N T H I N K I N G 3
T O P 1 0 C O M M U -
N I C A T I O N F A U X
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WTA is Headquartered in Denver
C U S T O M E R H I G H -L I G H T — W E S T E R ND I S P O S A L
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W T A W E L C O M E SN E W T E A M M E M -B E R S
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W T A E N G A G E SN E W M A R K E T I N GF I R M
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C O M M U N I C A T I O NT H O U G H T S F O RC O N S U L T A N T S
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Our symbol is the WillowTree, known for itsresilience, strength and flexibility.
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W T A E A R N S M O B I S C O N T R A C T S C H E D U L E
Page 2T H R E E S I X T Y T R E N D S
Provider of Lean Consulting Services
to the Federal Government
In November, WillowTree Advisors
(WTA), began offering business
transformation and Lean consulting
services to the Federal Government
with recent approval from the General
Services Administration (GSA) under
the MOBIS Schedule, SIN 874.1,
contract number GS-10F-0002Y.
Today’s economic and political pres-
sures have pushed governments to
do more with less. Lean Government
methodology enables agencies and
public entities to do more with theresources they have and provide
better services to their stakeholders
and constituents.
“The application of Lean techniques to
business processes can save time,
reduce waste and eliminate costs –
while improving customer and
employee satisfaction,” said Kath-
ryn Douglass, WillowTree Advisor
managing partner. “This opportu-
nity is an excellent way for the
Federal Government to optimize
its operations and focus on the
customers and stakeholders it is
serving.”
Lean Government initiatives cen-
ter on the agencies’ work and
operations, helping them think
differently about the way they
work, while increasing capacity
and adding value for those they
serve. Lean initiatives focus oneliminating administrative and
transactional waste and lead the
organization to design and imple-
ment its processes by directly
focusing on achieving desired
outcomes.
The following are real results from
organizations that resulted in costs
savings and improved services to cus-
tomers:
Lean is the reason that an Iowa
business can now obtain a clean
water permit in four and a half
months instead of 28.
Lean is the reason that, in S.
Carolina, the lead time for proc-
essing storm water applications
dropped from 47 days to 10.
Lean is the reason that, at BAE
Systems, the time to upgrade the
enterprise resource planning
(ERP) system was reduced from
24 months to six.
We’re betting that Lean initiatives will
be a key focus this year in federal, state
and local governments.
helps companies establish successful out-
sourced service provider relationships by using
process improvement and organizational trans-
formation methodologies to streamline the
processes and organizations that feed, manage
and interact with the outsourced services. By
utilizing this new approach, we help the cus-
Whether an organization is just getting started
with a significant outsourcing transaction; ornegotiations are completed and the team is
getting ready for transition; or the team is ex-
periencing dissatisfaction with an existing
relationship --- it pays to take an holistic
approach and consider the way in which
the organization will use the services, and
address these issues directly.
During the initial stages of an outsourcing
initiative, significant focus is placed on
pricing and contractual negotiations.
Less focus is usually placed on the com-
munications, operational change manage-
ment and process adjustments that need to be made in order to successfully ac-
commodate the new service delivery
model. As a result, customers often find
themselves one or two years into a major
services agreement, with customer satis-
faction issues, performance and cost
problems, and significant concerns over
whether the arrangement is successful.
360 Sourcing Services™ a service offering for
contract remediation and services transition,
tomer focus on the root cause of issues that can
up-end even the most well-negotiated services
agreement. We help our clients establish a
healthy working relationship, with sound commu-
nications and operational proc-
esses that help avoid cost overruns,
value leakage, performance prob-
lems and the expense of contract
breakage or renegotiations.
The 360 Approach can be applied
with new services contracts in
transition, existing services con-
tracts needing revitalization or
remediation, renewals with current
service provider, or services trans-fer between providers.
The 360 Approach for all outsourc-
ing scenarios focuses on an end-to-
end analysis in five key dimensions:
· Process Maturity· Organizational Maturity· Contract Relevance· Service Cost· Service Quality
This holistic approach ensures that all key areas
of sourcing are addressed.
W T A E A R N S M O B I S C O N T R A C T S C H E D U L E
O U T S O U R C I N G S E R V I C E S A P P R O A C H
“Lean Government is
about increasing our
capacity to do good.”
Page 2T H R E E S I X T Y T R E N D S
Tate and Lyle, Americas Headquarters in Decatur, Illinois, where a team of WTA advisors has been working with the Global SAP Imple-
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Outsourcing vs. Staff Augmentation
While outsourcing involves contracting
with a third party for entire processes
or services, there is another, some-
what-related approach, often confused
with outsourcing. This model is called
“staff augmentation”. There is a subtle
difference between outsourcing and
staff augmentation. There are some
tests to help determine whether the
relationship is true “outsourcing”:
Outsourcing: If a firm gives a third
party the full scope of the responsi-
bility for service delivery, it is proba-
bly outsourcing. Outsourcing typi-
cally implies that there are fixed
deliverables or services, managedby the third party, with some con-
tractual performance standards.
Because there is an agreed-to
charge for those deliverables or
services, fixed-price arrangements
are typically indicative of outsourc-
ing. Let’s look at some scenarios:
Outsourcing Scenario 1: Company A, a
New York based company, chooses
to contract with Service Provider X to deliver support for its Customer
Call Center, which is in New York.
Service Provider X has a call center
already established in Arizona, and
it shifts the work from the com-
pany’s location in New York to
Arizona. Most of the employees are
terminated.
Outsourcing Scenario 2: Company A
chooses to outsource with Service
Provider X. Service Provider X
chooses to purchase Company A’s
facility and hire all of its employees
to deliver on the contract.
Outsourcing Scenario 3: Company A
chooses to outsource its call cen-
ter services to a Service Provider,
who is responsible for all calls
placed to the call center. The Ser-
vice Provider offers end-to-end
services, including the systems and
software to track and resolve
issues and problems. Pricing is
typically on a by -the-user basis.
Let’s see how staff augmentation is
different.
Staff augmentation: With staff
augmentation, a third-party pro-
vides temporary employees to a
firm for a particular project or
service, and those employees join
with the firm’s team to help deliver
services for a period of time. The
test for staff augmentation is the
inverse of the outsourcing test. The
project or service is managed by
firm, and the price varies based on
what services that are requested.
Billing by the hour is typically indica-
tive of staff augmentation arrange-
ments. If there are no set deliver-
ables and there are no service
levels, this is probably a staff aug-
mentation relationship.
Why does this matter? It matters
significantly in several key areas:
contract negotiations, pricing, service
levels and contract governance.
O U T S O U R C I N G O R S T A F F A U G ? B Y K A T H R Y N D O U G L A S S
L E A N M I N D S E T B Y S C O T T Z I M M E R M A N
our work environment, we think not of'change', but 'improvement'. We also
think of improvement as global - if my
job gets easier, but my internal cus-
tomer's or supplier's job gets harder, it
may or may not be the right move,
depending on the overall cycle time,
transparency, quality, etc.
The Lean Enterprise Institute dis-
cusses Lean Management in this way,
also. Using Deming's terminology, the
lean mindset understands change in
the context of Plan, Do, Check, Act. I
describe it in as the Closed-Loop
Methodology. Closing the loop is the
foundation for every important mana-
gerial system. It's the way systems
engineers view the world, and how
junior officers are trained to think in
the military.
The best leaders in the military are not
what Jim Collins would call "Level 4
Leaders". Contrary to popular lore,
they are not heroes. In fact, one of the
tenets of Lean is to create a team, not
heroes. Having literally led a team of
courageous firefighters, I know that it
is difficult to create the mindset ofpeacetime operations. Everyday activi-
ties, the management of the mundane,
takes discipline and will, but not individ-
ual "above and beyond the call of duty"
courage. Fire prevention is the answer,
not putting out fires. How many times
have we been told that an ounce of
precaution is worth a pound of cure,
but we reward the firefighter, not the
fire preventer. Daily operations call for
making the job easier, not overcoming
adversity to get the job done.
The Lean Mindset, then, is thinking
constantly in terms of global improve-
ment, creating self-managing, closed-
loop systems, and developing an or-
ganization that values predictable
operations that obviate the need for
heroic comebacks.
"Lean" seems to be everywhere. Whatstarted as Western manufacturers
emulating Toyota's unique production
methods has now been implemented
in every industry from healthcare to
the public sector. There is Lean Ac-
counting, Lean Sigma, Lean Service –
I’ve even seen ‘Value-Based Lean Six
Sigma (VBLSS) teams – now there’s a
mouthful! The tools springing from this
"methodology" are point-effective. By
that I mean that the tools are effective
at solving a single problem, but unless
the underlying philosophy is embraced,
the result will be limited to that issue,
that point.
What's missing is a Lean Mindset. We
run around the operation as ham-
mers, seeing nails everywhere. In-
stead, we need to give voice to our
inner engineer, and our inner leader-
ship guru. Engineers stake their ca-
reers on analyzing problems and
designing solutions, and the leadership
gurus facilitate change in an organiza-
tion. If we, as operators, supervisors,
managers, and executives have a
common approach to our work and
“The application of
Lean techniques ..
can save time,
reduce waste and
eliminate costs…”
Page 3 V O L U M E 1 , I S S U E 1
Scott Zimmerman is activelyblogging on Lean topics on the
WTA Website.
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When Communicating on any type of critical project, including business transformation, and outsourcing, how canyou go wrong? Let me count the ways...
1. Not developing a communications strategy and plan2. Communicating only with “select” individuals 3. Letting “bad news” sit 4. Not anticipating and thinking through answers to critical questions5. Approaching communications as an afterthought6. Sending “mixed” messages 7. Conducting only “one-way” communications 8. Being afraid to communicate9. Communicating inconsistently10. Not tying the communications to real business outcomes
No matter what kind of change an organization is undertaking, communication can make it a success or doom it to failure. Don’t let these problems happen in your project!
Approach:
WTA performed a one week assessment, which
identified business issues and laid out the key
business processes within the customer ser-
vice and sales organization.
Company Overview:
Western Disposal is a family-owned busi-
ness, headquartered in Boulder Colorado,
that started over 35 years ago with
one truck and a vision of what custom-
ers would value in a trash collection
company: dependable, on-time service
from friendly, well-trained employees.
Western Disposal has 120 employ-
ees, over 70 vehicles on the road
each day and 35,000 residential and
commercial customers. Western
Disposal attribute its success to the
commitment to provide the best ser-
vice to all our customers every day.
Business Problem:
Western Disposal was working with
an aging, in-house developed CRM
system that was the heart of its busi-
ness. They wanted to know if the high
turnover and difficult training for its cus-
tomer service reps was a result of the sys-
tem and if that system needed to be re-
placed.
WTA then proceeded to document and map all
processes within this critical area of service for
Western Disposal. As part of this process, WTA
consultants identified key improvements to the
system, to the business processes
and to the training for customer
service representatives.
Results:
WTA identified and installed a web
based collaboration tool, which now
houses the documentation for all
business processes, all training
tools and job aids.
The tool selected was InterfacingTechnologies, Enterprise Process
Center ( EPC) BPM solution.
“We chose the EPC because, not
only does it meet the client require-
ments, but we felt that it represents
us well and will serve as a reminder
of the engagement”. Kathryn Douglass
T O P 1 0 C O M M U N I C A T I O N F A U X P A S I N C H A N G E M G M T
C U S T O M E R H I G H L I G H T : W E S T E R N D I S P O S A L
“When you are leveling
with employees about
what is coming down
the pike, skip the
platitudes.”
Page 4T H R E E S I X T Y T R E N D S
Western Disposal, Headquartered in Boulder Colorado, was the siteof an extensive assessment and process mapping for customer
service and sales departments.
Our extended team has grownover the last year and we arepleased to welcome several newassociates, consultants, teamingpartners and support staff mem-bers.
Laura Powers—Technical
Writer
W T A W E L C O M E S N E W T E A M M E M B E R S A N D P A R T N E R S
Toni Martin—Administrative
Assistant
Colleen Kindler—Lean Expert
Catherine LeRoi—Lean Expert
Matt Bross—Financial Expert
Scott Zimmerman—Lean
Expert
Ed Powers—Strategic Planning
Expert
Triche Guenin– Lean Six Sigma
Expert
Spitfire Group, Inc.
Interfacing Technologies, Inc.
The Great Online, Inc.
Colleen Kindler, Ed Powers and TricheGuenin take a break from working on theDenver Water Lean Enterprise Project.
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WTA has been very busy with
marketing over the last year or
so,, and earlier this year, our
Marketing Assistant, Brett Piche,
left to complete his MBA and
start his own business. So we’ve
taken our own advice and out-
sourced! We have engaged a
local Denver marketing firm, The
Great Online, to assist with inter-
net marketing, blog development
and electronic customer out-
reach. The team of Joe Caston,
Julianne Salisbury, Suzanne Tran-
tow are providing great support
for our website, Linked In and
Facebook presences.
If you haven’t already done so,
please check out our new website
at www.willowtreeadvisors.com
(Designed by Colorado Web Solu-
tions) , our Facebook Page
www.facebook.com/
willowtreeadvisors and our Linked
In page at www.linkedin.com/
company/2279508?trk=tyah .
You can also follow us on Twitter:
WTA80209.
W T A E N G A G E S T H E G R E A T O N L I N E
C O M M U N I C A T I O N T H O U G H T S F O R C O N S U L T A N T S
you can't get excited about what
you're talking about, don't expect
anybody else to. You must showpeople that you believe what
you're saying. Enthusiasm should
not be faked. Think about it in
terms IASM: I Am Sold Myself.
Low energy, monotone voice and
a corpse-like appearance will not
convey that message. Project
energy through an animated voice
and purposeful gestures. If you
don't believe in yourself and show
it, no one else will.
3. Arrogance -- an "I'm right"
attitude. It doesn't matter if you'reright and you know it. Being
closed-minded to others' ideas or
confronting or challenging differ-
ent opinions creates an opponent
out of your colleague, not an ally.
You can challenge or accuse or
insist all you want, but "a man
convinced against his will is of his
own opinion still." You win people
over more effectively with an open
-minded attitude, a willingness to
say: "Well, you might be right. I
hadn't thought about that. Let's
discuss that possibility." You'll be
amazed how often people will talk
themselves out of their point of
view and see their way clear to
yours if you don't treat them as if
they're wrong.
4. Weasel words -- lack of convic-
tion or responsibility. Let's say you
express a complaint to a vendor,
and the response you get is: "I'll
see what I can do." Are you con-
vinced that the person will resolve
your problem? Roger Dawsonsays: "There is a place in heaven
for every person who says, `I'll
take care of it.' " A customer
doesn't care whether or not the
problem was your fault; she cares
only that you'll resolve it. Speak
confidently, take responsibility and
follow through.
5. "Yes, but ..." -- not listening. The
most important communication
skill -- listening -- is also the hard-
est to master. But there is noth-
ing that makes people feel more validated than being listened to.
Effective listening requires show-
ing people that you're listening,
through eye communication and
vocal responders ("mm-hmm")
and letting them know you heard
them through appropriate re-
sponses.
Whenever you respond to some-
one with "Yes, but...," it's a sure
sign you haven't listened. Before
you state your response, make an
effort to paraphrase what theother has said ("So what I hear
you saying is ...") or to identify the
feelings behind what the other
said ("You must be so proud").
When people feel listened to,
they're more likely to listen to you
in return. That creates a connec-
tion that creates understanding,
improves relationships and capi-
It doesn't matter how brilliant,
competent or even right you are.
If you can't master people skills, you'll get left in the dust. Commu-
nication lapses will affect your
people skills.
How we communicate with oth-
ers has a tremendous impact on
our business success or failure.
Here are some of the more com-
mon communication mistakes
people make:
1. Me, me, me -- focusing on our
own agenda. It doesn't matter
what you want. What matters is
what the other person wants. Zig
Ziglar said that you can get any-
thing in life you want if you help
other people get what they want.
When you frame your communi-
cation from their point of view,
you will be more successful.
A business advisor I know once
asked an insurance agent what
she thought about every time she
talked to a client or prospect. She
replied: "Making the sale, making
more money. I've got to do this for
my children, their well-being, their
future." My friend suggested that
instead of thinking about her
children, she think about the
client's children -- their well-being,
their future. With that new ap-
proach, her business turned
around almost overnight.
2. Ho-hum -- no enthusiasm for
your idea, product, service, self. If
“Whenever you
respond … with “yes,
but…” it’s a suresign you haven’t
listened.”
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3773 Cherry Creek North Drive #575
Denver, CO 80209
Phone: 888.998.0008
Fax: 888.233.1472
email: [email protected]
www.willowtreeadvisors.com
W I L L O W T R E E A D V I S O R S , L L C
F A S T . F L E X I B L E . F O C U S E D .
Visit us on the Web!
http://www.willowtreeadvisors.com