Our Major Product / Service Areas Include:

 

CollaborWriting-Planning - Our Flagship Product

Virtual Web-Based Services For Geographically Distributed Teams

Training/Mentoring Services

General Collaboration & Decision Support Services


 

CollaborWriting-Planning - Our Flagship Product

The CollaborWriting-Planning process lies at the heart of our consulting practice. Refined over the past decade, we have delivered hundreds of planning sessions for a wide range of needs. CollaborWriting Planning is ideally suited for Strategic, Operational, Major Initiative, Process Re-Engineering or Project planning. Vision, Mission & Values creation are also frequent applications.

CollaborWriting Planning is effective for rapid organizational alignment. As such, we’ve had particular success with:

  • Newly appointed leaders or newly formed teams
  • Organizations undergoing radical transition such as reorganization, merging or downsizing
  • Major change management efforts
  • Global teams who must optimize rare ‘together time’
  • When a key project or initiative must be supported by a wide variety of passionate stakeholders that cross organizational boundaries or functional affiliation


Depending on the volume and scope of planning objectives, the process itself can be delivered anywhere between ½ -4 days and typically engages 12–40 participants. For larger organizations or efforts, it is often employed in a series of carefully dovetailed sessions designed to ‘cascade' the effort out to as many as 200+ participants.

Sessions can take place either face-to-face or virtually over the WWW. Face-to-face situations are best conducted in a large meeting room with a central U-Shaped table and additional physical areas for sub-teams activities. With the exception of a printer, copy machine and projection device, Macro Thinking Inc. can provide all of the computers, networking, software and required equipment. We have delivered sessions extensively in the US, Canada, Europe & Asia. Web-based sessions can take place asynchronously over time, which dramatically reduces travel expense. Complexity and stakeholder passion levels will determine which venue is best suited for your needs. For maximum team-building, face-to-face is optimal.

CollaborWriting-Planning was developed out of extensive field experience in a variety of industries. As a collaboration methodology, it delivers consistent value in the following ways:

Rapid Initiation Respects Your Time - We have developed rapid-initiation methods to ‘jump-start' work on new projects with our busy clients. Our approach anticipates exactly what is required to efficiently manage the Pre, During & Post activities necessary for a successful project together. This results in lower cost and an easier start-up with less time demand on our clients and their staff. This is a refreshing alternative to traditional consulting practices that often require intensive front-end research, one-on-one interviews or other intrusive pre-work.

Fast & Efficient –You can count on covering at least twice as much territory than you would in a traditional planning session with much higher quality output. In a 2.5 day session with 25 participants the developed strategic and implementation plan yielded a total of 945 decisions!

Goal Oriented To Achieve Closure – Finishing what you came to do is paramount in our design philosophy. We carefully tailor the session design to meet leadership objectives. Our range of experience building process enables us to accurately time each activity against the desired outcome. Up-front session planning is further supported with a firm but gentle facilitation style that drives closure. Getting done what we set out to do is why over 75% of our projects come from repeat customers!

Active & Engaging – This process is an amalgam of technology and tradition designed to produce a consensus report / product. The technology helps to drive an aggressive pace, which alleviates wasted downtime. This is largely achieved with simultaneous idea generation and real-time metrics not possible in paper based meetings. Traditional techniques like breakout sessions and team report-outs however, are essential to alter the pace, energize, and engage participants to deliver fresh ideas. Perhaps the greatest motivator is experiencing in real-time that the work being done is leading toward a rich and useful outcome. Too many planning meetings go round-and-round without producing a substantial product on the back end, which drains people during the session.

An Iterative Approach Fosters Consensus and Improved Quality - Technology and process are carefully merged to facilitate multiple review cycles. With each iteration the final product is significantly improved and participants are drawn deeper into consensus. In traditional methods, there is rarely enough time to complete these important iterations. Without them however, participants may acquiesce to decisions out of frustration or exhaustion, which greatly diminishes the quality of the outcome.

Divide & Conquer - Our unique sub-team approach takes best advantage of precious ‘together time'. We divide the planning load without loss of participation in the larger dialogue, which is critical to building consensus and promoting investment in the outcome. The technology facilitates maintaining this careful balance with great efficiency. Automated documentation in real-time simplifies cross team review, response and revisions.

100% Participation Assured – CollaborWriting levels the playing field. To motivate participation, our technology and processes assure that everyone is heard from and all ideas are considered on their merits. Discussions that would typically be frustrated by dominant participants or competing forces are handled with grace and efficiency.

Invented Here = Built-In–Buy-In - Attending a meeting and investing in its outcomes are two very different things. When those responsible for implementation ‘invent their own destiny', the likelihood of a successful implementation is enhanced with pride of ownership. This is why we encourage bringing as many into the planning experience as possible.

Significant Teambuilding Effect
– Conquering complexity together is a powerful binding force. A ‘big team win' builds a unique camaraderie that extends beyond the session to support a cohesive implementation.

Tracked and Published Decision Paths – Unlike paper-based methods, all work leading to final decisions are electronically documented in the exact words of the participants in real-time. These records serve to validate the experience with no delay between planning and publishing. Leaving the session with ‘plan-in-hand' is a jump-start on execution.

Highly Communicable Outcomes – Group wordsmithing is some of the toughest groupwork possible. Our A.C.O.D.E. sub-process alleviates much of the angst while improving quality in a fraction of the time it normally takes. Building the ‘right' words together extends the reach of leadership by making ‘articulate ambassadors' of session participants.

An Emphasis On Implementation – Anticipating what will happen the following day, month or years from the planning session is critical. Careful up-front planning and expectation setting throughout the session maintain a focus on the future such that participants leave the session with a clear understanding as to their roles and responsibilities moving forward. Our ‘implementation best practices' expedite post-session transitions from Planning-to-Implementation-to-Production.

Metrics-Centric – What you envision as a plan can only be realized if you understand in very explicit terms, what the end state will look like. Metrics secure the connection between planning, execution, results and accountability. The CollaborWriting-Planning process was designed for leaders who value metrics as the foundation for effective management.


To learn more about CollaborWriting-Planning check out Frequently Asked Questions, News & Downloads or Contact Us to discuss your specific requirements or request a proposal.

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Virtual Web-Based Services For Geographically Distributed Teams

Many organizations are reducing or eliminating travel to save time and money. Geographically distributed teams operating under such constraint can take advantage of our virtual web-based meeting services with often better results than can be achieved with fly-in meetings. Advisory groups, task forces and inter-industry association teams will perform with greater efficiency as they brainstorm solutions and evaluate one another's ideas with a synchronous or asynchronous connection. Add to this a phone conference and the experience is highly productive.

 

We have developed processes that can be delivered in as little as 1.5 hours that effectively replace ½ day meetings in volume of output and agreement. Tasks like major decisions, requirements development, focus groups or opinion research are typical projects.

 

Groups can work together over time with ongoing connectivity to solve more complex problems. Intact work-teams will dramatically increase their output with ‘always-on' connections.

 

The options are limited only by your imagination. Working to align with your business objectives, we will tailor a solution that is right for you. Because travel is eliminated, the cost of our services will be less than the travel expense in most cases. Cost justification is a no-brainer!

To learn more about Virtual Web-Based Services For Geographically Distributed Teams check out Frequently Asked Questions, News & Downloads or Contact Us to discuss your specific requirements or request a proposal.

 

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Training/Mentoring Services

Successful CollaborWriting projects pave the way for organizations to consider bringing these capabilities and processes in-house. Competent program managers and in-house facilitators are ideal candidates for training as in-house resources. We offer two types of training both of which are a combination of class-work and mentoring:

 

1) Process Training – If a workgroup intends to perform the same process on a regular basis, we can transfer that process into a CollaborWriting environment and train team members on how to administer it themselves. Depending upon the complexity of the process this can take place in a few hours with an individual or may require a mentored relationship with multiple members of the team over some time until comfort levels are high enough to ‘fly solo'.

 

2) General Training – We also have a 3-day CollaborWriting Facilitator Training, which is an intensive submersion into the tool and capabilities.

 

Training Overview & Benefits – For the past several years, CollaborWriting has only been available as a consultant delivered service. With the advent of web-based technology offered to the public for use on a pay-as-you-use basis (Application Service Provider) OR outright purchase of the system (to be managed internally) we offer Training & Mentoring programs. With our years of experience delivering CollaborWriting facilitation services we are in a unique position to share our knowledge and processes with those organizations that wish to bring these important capabilities in-house. Some considerations driving successful learning and organizational adoption include:

 

  • Prospective Facilitators Should Be Experienced Participants - We strongly suggest that before anyone is chosen for training as a CollaborWriting facilitator that they first have one or preferably several experiences as a session participant in live Face-to-Face & Virtual sessions. This is essential to establish a context from which to approach the transition from participant to apprentice facilitator.
  • Training Is Customized To Your Organizational Needs - Each organization will have a unique set of anticipated uses for CollaborWriting that should serve as the starting point when considering training requirements. A proper needs assessment should be conducted prior to any training so as to identify where the “hot-buttons” of application exist. This will direct the training in a meaningful way and increase significantly the likelihood of ongoing adoption. If, for instance, the business unit is heavily involved in efforts associated with Quality Improvement, training should be focused against Requirements Development and Metrics Development processes. Alternatively if a business unit has heavy day-to-day needs to support global conference calls, more attention should be focused against Conference Call Support processes.
  • A Mentoring Approach - The power of CollaborWriting is awesome, with a wide range of existing and potential applications. We do not expect, nor should you, that internal resources trained to design process and facilitate CollaborWriting sessions can be trained overnight. It has taken us years of practical experience to build our skill and knowledge base and we are still learning. As with all forms of facilitation, only so much can be taught, the rest must be experienced through trial, error and ultimately the development of a personal style. In addition, the needs of each organization are different and therefore training requirements may vary widely. For these reasons and others we strongly encourage a ‘Mentoring' approach to training where each apprentice learns the basics in a classroom setting but then can take advantage of on-going support as they arrive at new levels of session complexity.
  • Trainings Are Oriented Toward Organizational Adoption & Widespread Use - With the above said, it should be noted that there is a distinct difference between the skill set required to design and build processes and the much simpler training of larger internal populations to deliver these services on an ongoing basis. A very powerful aspect of CollaborWriting supported by WebIQ is that once a “process template” has been created, it can be re-used indefinitely. In effect, facilitators act as process designers and custom program templates unique to their environment. Once the template exists, the facilitator can switch hats and become internal trainers of that process to be delivered by many others within the organization who, with a fairly brief introduction, can be cut loose to replicate delivery of the process again and again. Depending on the complexity of the process templates and internal experience with CollaborWriting, this knowledge transfer can take place in as little as 1 hour. At Macro Thinking, it is our commitment that all trainings be oriented to ‘train-the-trainer' such that in a fairly short time, apprentice facilitators can serve to rapidly disseminate the use of CollaborWriting to others in the organization.

 

  • Our Focus Is On CollaborWriting NOT General Facilitation Skills – Our programs are oriented toward the CollaborWriting medium and are not general facilitator trainings. It is our assumption that all attending have some skill as existing facilitators OR have strong platform and group leadership skills. We will suggest appropriate pre-reading materials for those who need to know the basics of traditional facilitation.

 

What's Included With CollaborWriting Facilitator Training Services? – As mentioned above, there is no one-size-fit's-all approach to training internal resources to become CollaborWriting facilitators. However there are some basics that must be covered. A typical training is 3 days in duration with an expectation of some pre-work and post-training assignments/exercises to build real-world skill. All trainings are extremely hands-on with the technology. As much as possible, the learning is accrued through the active use of the groupware and insights derived from the class's collective experience. Class size is generally limited to between 5 & 15. For a complete syllabus Contact Us .

To learn more about Training / Mentoring Services check out Frequently Asked Questions, News & Downloads or Contact Us to discuss your specific requirements or request a proposal.

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General Collaboration & Decision Support Services

Additional Services
 


General Business

  • Vision/Mission/Values development
  • Strategic Planning
  • Operational Planning
  • Project Planning
  • Scenario Planning
  • Budget Planning/Resource Allocation
  • Strategic Decision Sessions
  • Postmortem Analysis
  • Best Practices Identification
  • Creativity & Opportunity Sessions

 

Human Resources / Organizational Development

  • Behavioral & Skill Assessment
  • Succession Planning
  • New Organization Role Decisions
  • Transition Planning


Market & Opinion Research

  • Consumer Focus Groups
  • Concept Testing
  • Customer Intimacy
  • Quality Programs

Marketing & Sales
  • Marketing Planning
  • Marketing Program Development
  • Client/Agency Brainstorming
  • New Product Marketing Planning
  • Creativity & Concept Generation
  • Name Generation
  • Brand Development
  • Positioning/U.S.P. Identification
  • Product Personality Development
  • Agency/Vendor Selection
  • Competitive Analysis
  • General Sales Planning
  • Strategic Sales Planning
  • Sales Meetings
  • Product Education


Thought Leader Forums & Conferences

  • Customer Intimacy
  • Research Studies
  • Concept Selling & Education for Major Conferences
  • Production of Knowledge Reports for Revenue Generation


Manufacturing

  • Total Quality Management
  • Process Engineering
  • Lean "Kaizen" Processes


Information Technology

  • IT Planning
  • Organizational Alignment
  • Operating Model Development
  • Infrastructure Practices / ITIL
  • Functional Requirements Identification
  • Joint Application Design (JAD)
  • Major IT Decision Making (Vendor Selection, Build-or-Buy, etc...)

To learn more check out Frequently Asked Questions, News & Downloads or Contact Us to discuss your specific requirements or request a proposal.

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