Wednesday, November 16, 2011

What American Football Can Teach Organizations About Leadership

If you follow American football at all, you can't miss this year's debate over intangible leadership skills and technical position skills.

The spotlight of this debate is a quarterback who has been in the NFL for 2 years.  His critics say he cannot throw the football. Yet his ardent followers say his innate leadership qualities and a will to win  overshadow his technical skill deficiencies.

We agree with Jim Collins, to succeed, "an organization must get the right people on the bus and in the right seats," However, leadership requires certain soft skills that we believe can be taught.

Kouzes and Pozner, in their book, The Leadership Challenge, identify 5 qualities of exemplary leaders.

Lets go back to our young quarterback to see if Kouzes' and Posner's qualities are present in the young athlete.
  • Model the Way- Does giving 110% on every play  meet Kouzes' and Posner's criteria?
  • Inspire A Shared Vision- Does  inspiring his teammates and fans that victory is possible, no matter the circumstances, meet Kouzes' and Posner's criteria?
  • Challenge the Process- Does turning the assumptions that drive the modern game of American football on its head, meet Kouzes' and Posner's criteria?
  • Enable Others to Act- Does the read-option put the power to enable his teammates in the young quarterback's hands? Does this meet  Kouzes' and Posner's criteria?
  • Encourage the Heart- Does the young quarterback's passion for the game, meet  Kouzes' and Posner's criteria?
This is the question when searching for and training leaders:
Must they have all the technical skills that their followers and team possess? Or rather, can they learn a model of leadership that will enable any organization to thrive regardless of the leaders technical know how?

Conversely, does promoting technically great individual contributors or managers to positions of leadership, present great challenges, without proven leadership training?

www.klgconsultants.com

Tuesday, November 8, 2011

Motivation

According to Psychology Today

"Motivation is literally the desire to do things. It's the difference between waking up before dawn to pound the pavement and lazing around the house all day. It's the crucial element in setting and attaining goals—and research shows you can influence your own levels of motivation and self-control. So figure out what you want, power through the pain period, and start being who you want to be."

 

We believe motivation is the motive to take action.

 

How do you motivate others to take action? How do you motivate others to achieve superior results?

Tell us below!




www.klgconsultants.com

Monday, November 7, 2011

Leader Vs. Manager

  • Are you a good leader or a manager?
  • What is the difference? 
  • Does a team have to have a leader?
  • Does a leader question norms, assumptions, and the usual methods?
  • Who sets the strategy?
  • Who carries out the strategy?



Tell us your opinion-




www.klgconsultants.com

Tuesday, October 18, 2011

What is the Leadership Challenge Workshop?

Immensely practical and hands‐on, this program is designed to inspire, engage, and help participants develop the leadership skills needed to meet whatever leadership challenges lie ahead. The core curriculum is structured around seven components, including five independent modules that focus specifically on each of The Five Practices of Exemplary Leadership®. Each module describes the practice, reviews the Leadership Practices Inventory (LPI) items related to that practice, and ends with techniques that ask participants to reflect on how to apply what they have learned to a
current leadership challenge of their own. What is this program designed to achieve?  

The Leadership Challenge Three‐Day Workshop will help you become an effective and high‐performing leader and learn the skills to: 

  • Identify your own leadership strengths and areas to improve.
  • Communicate your fundamental values and beliefs.
  • Focus people’s efforts on key values through your own actions.
  • Express your image of the future vision.
  • Search for opportunities to take the risks needed for growth.
  • Build collaboration, teamwork, and trust.
  • Strengthen the ability of others to excel.
  • Recognize the accomplishments of others.
  • Apply The Five Practices to a current business challenge.
 
Contact us today to see if this workshiop fits your organization.

Tuesday, September 20, 2011

The Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce Engages KLG Consultants, LLC for Strategic Human Resource Consulting

We are excited and honored to announce that The Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce has engaged KLG Consultants, LLC to provide strategic human resource consulting. The scope of the engagement includes design and delivery of employee surveys and their integration into the strategic planning process for The Chamber.

KLG Consultants, LLC believes the integration of qualitative data from internal stakeholders such as employees, is a critical part of creating balanced scorecard tools that measure the performance and effectiveness of an organization. When properly analyzed and integrated into the strategic planning process, these tools can help organizations learn and drive change initiatives that promote growth and profitability.

We are happy to meet with any organization interested in improving performance and effectiveness.

303-721-1467
admin@klgconsultants.com

www.klgconsultants.com

Wednesday, August 31, 2011

Increase Sales?

Profiles Sales Indicator
— A tool for selecting, managing, and training salespeople. It measures five key qualities of successful salespeople and predicts performance in seven critical sales behaviors. Using the Profiles Sales Indicator to build and develop a sales organization can result in record-breaking productivity, retention of top performers, and exceptional profitability.

Tuesday, August 16, 2011

Using a Mentor's Approach to Managing

  • Do you tell people what to do? 
  • Do you take the sink or swim approach? 
  • Or do you mentor and coach them to behave like a top performer? 
 The article at the link has some great discussion on the subject:
Great Read on Mentoring
Click here to see how KLG approaches the issue.

Tell us how you manage in the comment section.

Thursday, August 11, 2011

New KLG Consultants, LLC Client

KLG Consultants, LLC is proud to announce The Data Entry Pros has become a new client. The Data Entry Pros provide scanning, data entry, structured workflow and complex ECM integration to clients. They employ the often forgotten and overlooked peoples of our world such as the disabled in the United States and the Dalit people in India.

The Data Entry Pros has taken advantage of KLG's small business development program. Other than assessment costs, they only pay KLG Consultants, LLC when they see improvement in top line revenues.

Contact KLG Consultants, LLC if you think your business qualifies for our small business or small practice development program. Other than assessment costs, you only pay us when your firm or practice sees improvement to an agreed upon result.

To learn more about The Data Entry Pros click here:  DATAENTRY

Tuesday, August 9, 2011

Select Services for this Economy-

Selection, Hiring and Management by Assessment

Which candidates fit your culture?
Would you like to know who should be on the fast track in your organization?
Who can motivate your staff to accomplish corporate objectives?
Do you have the right people in the right jobs?

We offer a hiring and succession planning process that benchmarks top performers and identifies candidates and employees who best fit your criteria for success. The results of this process allow you to hire and coach employees for accelerated professional development, manage them more effectively, and develop succession plans.

Strategy Management

Having difficulty implementing the strategic plan down through all levels of the organization?
Is your business model working in this economy?
Do you need to get your management team focused on accomplishing goals?

We offer a facilitative process for a management team or department that helps them to
identify critical success goals. The outcome of this process results in all employees having personal objectives that align with the organization's goals. We show you how to measure your people's performance based on those objectives.

We believe that training should cause behavioral change, and that behavioral change takes time. 
All of our training programs include one-on-one coaching and feedback
meetings with participants’ managers for accountability and results.

Team Results – Builders and Blockers

Does your executive or departmental teams need to focus on getting better results and reaching annual
goals?

Our Team Results – Builders and Blockers program helps teams build and increase team
effectiveness by improving trust, communication, accountability, planning, and execution.

Management Development

Are your managers effectively planning, directing, motivating, and 
holding employees accountable for results?

We offer supervisory, management and leadership training for all levels of management in the
organization. Through the use of a one-on-one and group training process, we train and hold managers
accountable for their personal leadership development and achievement of their organizational and
departmental objectives.

Sales Development

Are your salespeople generating enough new business as well as growing the current client base?

We offer sales productivity improvement by teaching your sales managers how to manage a sales team. We teach sales teams to develop their annual sales plan, identify current attitudes that block sales success, measure and monitor sales ratios, time and territory management skills, creative prospecting techniques, consultative sales techniques, presentation and closing skills, and building client relationships.

www.klgconsultants.com

contact: admin@klgconsultants.com
303-721-1467

Thursday, August 4, 2011

Own or Manage a Business? What Happens to the Business If You Get Hit by a Bus?

KLG Consultants, LLC team members understand the value of a systematic process for succession, continuity, and contingency planning.  Our contingency planning is about who does what, not who owns what, when key people depart for any reason.  We believe that it is critical, as many case studies illustrate, to use a proven process to build a team of great leaders and executives in order to survive and prosper during a succession process or at other times of corporate change.

We combine the insight, perspective, and experience from our previous business endeavors with our training in the administration and interpretation of our assessment tools.  Also, we are trained and certified in facilitation techniques for organizational planning, team training, and leadership coaching.

Our resources help the leaders of any organization handle the grieving, stress, and fear that come with a change in leadership.  The contingent successor  leadership team has to "hit the ground running" in the event of the sudden departure of a key leader or leaders.  KLG's program facilitates the creation of the contingency plan and then puts in place the teamwork necessary to execute the plan.  Contingency planning does not have to be unpleasant and our  customized solutions are an important step in securing your organization's future.  Our tools and techniques are time tested and proven in large and small organizations and we focus our work solely on the client's goals. 

When necessary, we can seek additional expertise from various management succession planning experts.

Have a story to share about a well panned or poorly planned succession? 
Please share!

Thursday, July 28, 2011

Why hire a professional facilitator for strategic planning and team building?

 KLG Consultants, LLC believes that there are 5 key reasons why an “outsider” may be more effective at leading your strategic planning or team building process:

  • If you want to ensure a level playing field between the CEO and the team members: The outside facilitator has the skills to make sure the CEO does not take over and run the meeting.  It is extremely difficult if not impossible for the CEO or other inside person to effectively facilitate because the other people will still react to the CEO or inside person as their superior thus limiting open, honest, feedback and discussion.
  • If you want to complete the process in a timely manner and profit from the time a team spends in planning: The facilitator will commit to making sure you finish the process in the time allotted.
  • When you need to address sensitive issues and conflicts: An outsider brings the benefit of a dispassionate perspective and can more effectively diffuse arguments and channel intense moments into a problem solving opportunity.
  • When your team is not making any progress: The outside facilitator will raise issues that you may try to avoid and will point out the dysfunctional behaviors that are being denied.
  • When your group must address complex issues and diverging viewpoints: The experience of the facilitator will help to identify the issues, generate options to resolve issues, and make decisions.

    In summary: A professional facilitator brings an independent and open-minded perspective to your strategic planning or team building process. He or she will keep the discussion focused, keep the process on track, and will encourage team members to act as equals in the process.

    This approach has been vailidated by such experts as Timothy M. Nolan, Ph.D. , Leonard D. Goodstien, Ph.D and Jeanette Goodstein, Ph.D. We utilize many of the concepts they write about in their book Applied Strategic Planning.

Sunday, July 24, 2011

Kenneth L. Greenberg selected as a Facilitator for the DMCC's CEO Exchange Program

KLG Consultants, LLC is proud to announce that, its CEO, Kenneth L. Greenberg, has been selected as a Facilitator for the Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce’s CEO Exchange Program. 

The CEO Exchange program is The Chamber’s Flagship Program that offers executives and directors from non-competing industries an exclusive forum to share ideas, discuss best practices and problem-solve on current business challenges.

Participants develop long-term business relationships with other executives who motivate each other and provide honest feedback. Each CEO Exchange group is focused on both personal and professional growth.

If you are an owner, c-suite professional or partner in a firm,  consider this program.
  


Wednesday, July 13, 2011

The failure rates for small businesses are high. A small business owner's partial "to do list" to succeed is found below.

 Failure Rates

A Partial To Do List For Success:

Sales Skills and Business Development Skills
Business Writing Skills
Creative Problem Solving
Cross-Cultural Effectiveness
Presentation Skills
Service Excellence
Strategic Planning
Ethics & Business
Balancing Work and Family
Managing a Diverse Work Force
Interviewing Skills
Selection and Hiring
Employee Morale
Negotiations Skills
Motivating a Team
Executing The Plan!



 KLG Consultants, LLC can help you with this long list.

Tuesday, July 12, 2011

Own or manage a business or sales force?

It's Ok to Be The Boss

KLG Consultants, LLC now offers a unique training for business owners, organizational leaders and sales managers- 

WHAT IS THE PROGRAM DESIGNED TO ACHIEVE?
To change the way managers think about their managerial responsibilities.

Participants will be better able to:
Build relationships of trust and confidence with employees.
Delegate tasks, responsibilities, and projects.
Keep employees focused and moving in the right direction.
Increase productivity, quality retention of high-performers, and turnover among low-performers.
Sharply reduce waste, inefficiency, errors, down-time, and conflict among employees.

WHAT’S UNIQUE OR DIFFERENT ABOUT THIS PROGRAM OR ITS APPROACH?
It reflects a very strong philosophical point of departure: Weak hands-off management is the norm among most managers, but strong highly-engaged management is much better for everyone involved. The workshop will teach managers to put their management time where it belongs and attend to the basics every step of the way.

STEP BY STEP GUIDANCE FOR HELPING MANAGERS BECOME THE HIGHLY ENGAGED BOSS’ THEIR EMPLOYEES NEED
The It’s Okay to Be the Boss Workshop is a hands-on resource that will help you learn how to overcome the common obstacles to becoming an engaged manager. Managers will gain a clear understanding of which management challenges can be controlled.




Contact us today to see if this program is right for you-
303-721-1467
admin@klgconsultants.com

Friday, July 1, 2011

Help New & Recently Hired Employees Hit the Ground Running

KLG Consultants,LLC now offers HR departments and hiring executives: The Total Onboarding Program: An Integrated Approach to Recruiting, Hiring, and Accelerating Integration of New or Promoted Employees.



"The Total Onboarding Program is a comprehensive, step by step, guide to successfully integrating new hires into an organization. For the first time, there is a road map for those who help new leaders develop their own road maps during the onboarding process. Any organization that wants to increase its return on human capital needs to utilize the specific best practices so clearly described in this invaluable new resource." -- Ben Dattner, adjunct professor of Organizational Psychology, New York University and founding principal of Dattner Consulting, LLC

The Total Onboarding Program provides  HR professionals with a detailed approach for bringing new and recently promoted employees up to speed and productive in half the usual time. The program's techniques will inspire and enable new employees to deliver better results faster.  Our program presents the core concepts of onboarding -- alignment, acquisition, accommodation, assimilation, and acceleration.

Call or e-mail today to see if the The Total Onboarding Program can help your organization!
P.303-721-1467
email: kgreenberg@klgconsultants.com



KLG Consultants, LLC offers The Total Onboarding Program through its partnership with Pfieffer.

Emotional Inteligence-Have it? Want it? KLG can deliver it!

Do you and your organization have emotional intelligence?

KLG Consultants, LLC now offers the dynamic Emotional Intelligence Skills Assessment (EISA) workshop in which you will be given the opportunity to measure your skills in five key areas—Perceiving, Managing, Decision Making, Achieving, and Influencing.

These are the key areas that most influence personal performance.

Our one day workshop will help you better understand how emotional and social skills impact your performance and how you can strengthen your effectiveness by using these skills successfully. The program will also help you:
  • Discover the major components of emotional intelligence
  • Recognize the behaviors and characteristics of an emotionally intelligent person
  • Identify areas where you can apply emotional intelligence
  • Evaluate your own emotional strengths and opportunities for growth
  • Generate action steps for improving your emotional and social abilities that will lead to success
     
    We offer this program though our partnership with Pfeiffer.
     
     


Wednesday, June 1, 2011

New KLG Consultants, LLC Client

KLG Consultants, LLC is proud to announce One Man Design has become a new client.
One Man Design has taken advantage of KLG's new small business development program. Other than assessment costs, they only pay KLG Consultants, LLC when they see measurable improvement in top line revenues.

Contact KLG Consultants, LLC if you think your business qualifies for our small business or small practice development program. Other than assessment costs, you only pay us when your firm or practice sees improvement to an agreed upon result.  admin@klgconsultants.com


To learn more about One Man Design click here: One Man Design

Thursday, May 26, 2011

KLG Consultants, LLC delivers Proven Training and Development Programs!

Our proven training programs – customized and delivered at your facility.

Leadership and Management Development
— Are your managers effectively planning, directing, motivating, and holding employees accountable for results? We offer in-house or “roundtable” supervisory, management and leadership training for all levels of management in the organization. Through the use of a one-on-one and group training process, we train and hold managers accountable for their personal leadership development and achievement of their organizational and departmental objectives. Training subjects include Strategic Planning, Motivating, Interviewing, Coaching, Change Management, Managing Tasks and Responsibilities, Delegating, Dealing with Difficult Employees, Holding People Accountable, etc.


Teamwork: Builders and Blockers
— Are team members aligned and rowing in the right direction? Are team members accountable for results? We offer team development by addressing the blockers or builders to team success. Teams that don’t TRUST one another will not effectively engage in unfiltered debate that effectively leads to successful COMMUNICATION. When issues that arise and conflict is not addressed, team members are unable to “buy-in” to the teams direction thus resulting in a lack of team ACCOUNTABILITY. Without accountability systems in place, teams will often place blame on others or use excuses to avoid be responsible for expected outcomes. This leads to poor EXECUTION which requires understanding roles and responsibilities, goals and priorities, and performance management. (Teamwork - builders and blockers program outline and modules)

Sales Development
— Are your salespeople generating enough new business as well as growing the current client base? We offer sales productivity improvement by managing your sales team through a process of developing their annual sales plan, identifying current attitudes that block sales success, measuring and monitoring their sales ratios, time and territory management skills, creative prospecting techniques, consultative presentation and closing skills, and building client relationships.


CEO Roundtables
— Sometimes the best advice comes from your peers! The Leadership Edge is a unique monthly roundtable meeting designed for CEO’s and Business Owners who want to strengthen themselves as the leader in their company and industry. Unlike other CEO roundtables, the Leadership Edge is a development program with specific leadership training and problem solving around executive-level issues.


Professional Development Roundtables
— Do you have just a few managers to develop? Would you like to assess our leadership training process and program before bringing us in-house to work with other managers? We offer the Leadership Edge training program at our training facility. It is open to only 10 managers and includes one-on-one coaching and group training for improved learning and accountability. Topics include motivating, planning, time and project management, directing, coaching, and managing change.

Back to Consulting Services
Back to KLG Consultants, LLC

Friday, May 13, 2011

Who's on first?

Or should you ask; Who should we put on first if we want to succeed?

Cutting edge assessments can help you decide who to put where, doing what activities.

KLG can help you put the right people in the right place doing the right things!

Thursday, May 12, 2011

What is Employee Coaching?

Coaching & Feedback

In today’s economy, it’s critical to get the most productivity from every employee. Companies must be certain that every employee performs to the best of their ability and delivers significant value to the organization. But a wise individual once said: People have a way of becoming what you encourage them to be--not what you nag them to be. That simple sentence summarizes the primary purpose of employee coaching.


Coaching is the ongoing process of helping people fulfill their responsibilities and achieve results. As such, it is an inseparable part of day-to-day, face-to-face leadership. Coaching goes well beyond straightforward instruction. While it does address task outcomes and how to achieve them, it also deals with attitudes, discipline, morale, ethics and sometimes career development. KLG coaches are effective trainers, mentors, counselors, evaluators, resource people, and troubleshooters.


KLG coaching and feedback solutions provide actionable advice to help managers and organizations to:


  • Help people be more effective and productive than they are today. Drive the overall performance of your organization by coaching employees to developing the skills they need to be better at what they do.
  • Effectively communicate with each employee. Learn how to communicate with your employees – it increases morale and productivity.
  • Learn how to handle manager/employee conflicts. Prevent unnecessary turnover due to poor manager-employee relationships.
  • Build effective relationships with remote employees. Manage employees in any location and move beyond the face-to-face way of getting to know them.
  • Redeploy talent when your business significantly changes. Understand the core characteristics of employees so that you know where they fit within the organization, even in times of change.
  • Motivate people to do what you need them to do. Learn how to make your employees productive and keep them motivated to do their very best.
  • Learn how to handle diverse manager/employee dynamics. Empower employees and managers to learn from each other and use their differences to propel the team to success.


In addition to managing talent, organizations need to be able to handle conflict. Organization restructuring brings about change that brings about stress and conflict. It’s important for managers to be able to effectively lead their team through challenging and turbulent times. Being able to predict how each employee will respond to stress and conflict is the key to managing change smoothly.


KLG's solutions provide managers a “user guide” for each employee to help identify the best way to manage them in times of stress and conflict. This insight gives managers the ability to provide strong leadership so that they can maintain or increase employee productivity and retain key employees.

Back to Consulting Services
Back to KLG Consultants, LLC

Tuesday, May 3, 2011

Hold their feet to the fire for Teamwork?

We say no. KLG Consultants, LLC offers a customized approach
to Team development which includes 4 modules that can be delivered
in ½ day sessions over time, or in a 2 or 3 day program.

Look at our teamwork and other professional development programs.

Read what HBR has to say about Team development here. 

Call us for a complementary consultation on how you can improve  your team's performance!

303-721-1467

www.klgconsultants.com

Friday, April 29, 2011

What is your brand?

What does it mean to your customers both real and potential?

Does your company act in real time like your brand portrays your company?

Have changes in your company hurt your efforts to deliver on the mission your brand emotes?

Yes, we believe brands emote, or at least create emotion in customers and potential customers. However, if your people do not follow through and deliver on your message...........

Can you think of a brand that does not deliver? Let us know.

Friday, April 22, 2011

Sales Training and Coaching? Only if it increases sales!

As a small business owner who needs every dollar and minute to count, why should you pay a sales coach or trainer unless they really help you increase sales? If your profession allows you to pay a coach or trainer based on actual increases in sales, why not do it?

Next time you are approached by a sales training company or coach, get a quote for their services. Then come talk to KLG Consultants, LLC. We will help you understand our performance based compensation structure and see if your business qualifies for our unique sales and business development training for  small businesses or small practices.

Call us today for a no obligation consultation!  303-721-1467


If your business qualifies, other than assessment costs, you only pay when you see results!

Learn more here!

Monday, March 28, 2011

New KLG Consultants, LLC Client

KLG Consultants, LLC is proud to announce Shapiro Family Chiropractic has become a new client.

Shapiro Family Chiropractic has taken advantage of KLG's new small practice development program. Other than assessment costs, they only pay KLG Consultants, LLC when they see measurable improvement in top line revenues.

Contact KLG Consultants, LLC if you think your business qualifies for our small business or small practice development program. Other than assessment costs, you only pay us when your firm or practice sees improvement to an agreed upon result.



To learn more about Shapiro Family Chiropractic click here: SHAPIRO

Tuesday, March 15, 2011

Stress TEST

Success breeds complacency!

Services, strategies and products have to have a place to safely fail. If we don’t test what we do to the point of failure, we won’t know what works or doesn’t. When it comes to people, businesses do not have to let the failure happen real time on the job. Stress testing can happen safely using cutting edge tools.

Assessments and teamwork sessions can allow people a safe place to expose their weaknesses, and allow managers and organizational leaders the time to take corrective steps. We suggest using whole person assessments and 360s as early warning signals, and not waiting until a workplace failure occurs.

Products, strategies and services need to be tested as well. Certainly surveys, focus groups and other customer response tools can be useful in testing all three. However, we suggest using team strategy sessions that are well informed by data, and that are open and stimulate debate, as internal laboratories to test until failure. Yes, we suggest: test until failure.

Know what doesn’t work, so you don’t waste time on it.

Strategic Planning in Turbulent Times

 
The Strategic Edge 
— A process that helps leadership teams create a new focus and strategy for employees to align team and individual goals and activities with overall organizational performance expectations.

The Strategic Edge process includes:
  • Assess the leadership team and employees in key positions to identify natural strengths, performance weaknesses, culture-fit, development needs, and job expectations.
  • Identify opportunities for reducing overhead expenses.
  • Conduct a 2 day training program to assess the business model, the annual goals, and build leadership team trust, communication, accountability, planning, and results.
  • Conduct a 1 day follow-up session 1 month later which includes presentations from participants on how they will accomplish their goals using the proven KLG planning process and Strategic Edge Dashboard.
  • Follow-up quarterly team accountability meetings around the strategic plans and goals.
  • Individual coaching for improved individual performance.

Strategic Planning Program
— Strategic planning enables an organization to shape and guide its overall business objectives. Through effective strategic planning, an organization creates a framework for developing, adapting and aligning organizational vision, mission and goals to achieve and sustain competitive advantage. Through the process of a SWOT process (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats), companies will reassess their vision, mission, long and short term goals, and strategies.

Our Strategic Planning Program includes:

  • Formulating strategic plans to help your organization advance and grow.
  • Creating/Revisiting the vision, mission, goals, and values that will move your company forward.
  • Identifying the strengths, weaknesses opportunities and threats (SWOT) that drive strategy.
  • Identifing strategies to better position your organization for long-term competitive advantage.
  • Translating strategy into action.
  • Executing strategy and deliver results through people and processes.
  • Establishing strategic planning, monitoring and controlling mechanisms that ensure positive results.

Why hire a professional facilitator for strategic planning?

A professional facilitator brings an independent and open-minded perspective to your strategic planning process. He or she will keep the discussion focused, keep the process on track, and will encourage team members to act as equals in the process. KLG believes that there are 5 key reasons why an “outsider” may be more effective at leading your strategic planning process:

  • If you want to ensure a level playing field between the CEO and the team members. The outside facilitator has the skills to make sure the CEO does not take over and run the meeting. Also, It is extremely difficult if not impossible for the CEO or other inside person to effectively facilitate because the other people will still react to the CEO or inside person as their superior thus limiting open, honest, feedback and discussion.

  • If you want to complete the process in a timely manner and profit from the time a team spends in planning. The facilitator will comit to making sure you finish the process in the time allotted to do so.

  • When you need to address sensitive issues and conflicts. An outsider brings the benefit of a dispassionate perspective and can more effectively diffuse arguments and channel intense moments into a problem solving opportunity.

  • When your team is not making any progress. The outside facilitator will raise issues that you may try to avoid and will point out the dysfunctional behavior that are being denied.

  • When your group must address complex issues and diverging viewpoints. The experience of the facilitator will help to identify the issues, generate options to resolve issues, and make decisions.

Back to Consulting Services
Back to KLG Consultants, LLC

Monday, March 14, 2011

Interest Based Serving

So you think you can build a small business? Have you asked yourself, why some businesses thrive while other similar businesses barely break-even or worse?

In many cases, it is not about price anymore. Most small businesses are competing against DIY or “free.” Digitization has put many skill sets once left to paid professionals, at the finger tips of every consumer and business. Photographers, live music, DJ’s, web designers, journalists, even lawyers to some extent face an onset of on-line tools that are free or close to free. Social media and its tangential services, now make advertising and marketing almost free. While a cottage industry of social media “experts” has cropped up, most people and companies can navigate the social media universe on their own.

On the product front, China and Asia push prices lower for most consumer products. India pushes down the cost of technical talent. Programmers there are available for rent at a fraction of their cost here in the USA.

So how do you sell your goods and services for a profit in this environment?

There are numerous books out about this phenomenon. One is called The Experience Economy.  

You don’t have to read the book to “get it.” Just price and taste 7-11 coffee and then price and taste Starbucks coffee. Is there $2 to $3 in taste difference?  Now ask yourself, does Starbucks really sell coffee? Or does it sell experience, surroundings and image? There are many different types of coffee consumers to be sure. Hence, there is a niche for each price point. But the gross margins multiply when coffee is sold with ambiance, warm sitting space and an overall daily “must have” experience. These experience differentiators are like the difference between listening to the radio or i-tunes almost for free at home, and going to a concert for $35-$45 a ticket.
Here is another example: I was in an ice-cream store the other day, and the servers were singing. I don’t remember if the ice-cream was any good, but I can’t get the songs those kids were singing out of my head.

Starting to get the point? Its all about niche and giving more to your clients, customers or patients, then they thought they would receive when they first came to see you. It used to be called “The mint on the pillow” touch.  We believe, small businesses now have to be perceived as an indispensable part of routine. A “must have" for life’s journey.

We call it “interest based serving”. Not “selling” but serving! Think of it this way: You are in service to your clients, customers, or patients. Your mission is to make their life better; Better in a way that they won’t forget and can’t live without.

Wednesday, March 9, 2011

Poor planning and lack of planning are repeatedly cited among the top reasons for business failure. Attempting to perform the basic managerial functions of organizing and controlling your business in this economy can be difficult to impossible without a good plan. Corporate leaders must focus on strategies that will strengthen their companies and help them survive the economic downturn.





https://docs.google.com/View?id=df8gbhsr_56cx3wxqf7

Wednesday, January 19, 2011

KLG Consultants, LLC is proud to announce its new partnership with:






In addition to KLGʼs existing licensed curriculum for professional training,
The Pfeiffer relationship gives KLG access to a wide array of
professional training seminars, workshops and tools.

Pfeifferʼs training curriculum enables KLG to meet any HR,
leadership or management development training needs your firm may have.

You can buy any of their titles through KLG
and/or we can deliver their training to your company.