Home About Dawson Consulting Group Press Releases April 10, 2002

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Dawson Consulting Group
2000 Bering Dr, Ste 460
Houston, TX  77057
800-422-7540 In Houston: 713-784-3197

Dawson & Dawson Consultants Launches Organizational Alignment Practice

In response to growing competitive and performance pressures across industries, Dawson & Dawson Consultants has added an organizational alignment consulting practice to its group of established human resource and business development practices. For 25 years Dawson & Dawson Consultants has provided industry-leading outplacement and career transition services to technology, energy, manufacturing, engineering and construction, medical, and service firms. In addition, Dawson & Dawson Consultants provides consulting support to companies facing increasingly difficult decisions about their people, business development, strategies and alliances to help them improve their performance results and competitive position.

"Executive teams feel as though they're constantly dodging bullets from shareholders, suppliers, partners, and employees. When responding to sudden threats, it is very painful for organizations to make quick decisions; and when executives deliver the orders, change doesn't seem to happen fast enough," says Dawson & Dawson Consultants' Managing Director Mark Tanenbaum. "Executives tell us that the news is often not good from the rank and file. Results from employee surveys suggest a drop in confidence in several areas including company direction, quality of decisions, company commitment to people development, and leadership team capacity to effectively manage recent mergers and acquisitions."

Dawson & Dawson Consultants now offers firms a means to rebound from, and head off, poor grades issued by employees or other stakeholders. Included is a multiphase organizational alignment effort that reinforces executive team strengths, buffers the organization from some of its vulnerabilities, and creates the capacity to quickly "straighten the frame" of the organization. The essence of the approach involves creating greater visibility of executive perspectives on how effectively their top team is leading. With this enhanced view of their own effectiveness, executive teams then examine and challenge their current business direction, performance, contributing and limiting leadership behaviors, and then gain consensus on the need for, and means to, effective change. At various points teams focus on identifying climate requirements for future efforts, creating success profiles for key levels and positions in the organization, and creating road maps for alignment throughout their organization. This alignment approach, which often augments broader change management and performance improvement initiatives, ensures that each employee, and team understands the path forward and what needs to be done to accomplish the strategic plan and established goals.

Asked about the Dawson & Dawson Consultants difference among a rather crowded field of providers, Tanenbaum says, "We don't assume the organization needs fixing, nor do we assume it's too late for change. We put a very large mirror in front of executives making the tough decisions and ask them to consider what they need to do differently to get better results, be more competitive, and improve organizational climate. Most of the time executive teams make giant leaps in willingness and readiness simply by hitting the issues head on, accepting personal responsibility for their current situation, and acknowledging their capacity and obligation to align the organization for positive change." Tanenbaum adds that few teams have the discipline and the internal resources to manage this process without outside facilitation. Dawson & Dawson Consultants' new alignment practice is built to respond quickly, deliver with a high level of business insight, and ensure that all levels of the organization understand changes in direction, and buy in to new requirements.

Research abounds in the areas of organizational change and the factors that differentiate effective and ineffective leadership teams. Two recurring themes that contribute to effectiveness include communicating in ways that ensure each contributor knows what is expected at work and why, and carefully linking individual contributions not only to the vision but to departmental objectives. In companies where these two areas score well, performance tends to be higher and individuals are more engaged and productive. "In cases where people have a yardstick, a sense for where they are headed and the requirements for individual contribution, they tend to deliver better, more customer-focused, results. When they see and feel the impact of their efforts -- efforts for which they are recognized -- they are happier and give managers higher marks," says Tanenbaum.

Most firms create lofty mission statements that few people know and understand, visions that could fit hundreds of other firms, and structures that reward consistency and predictability, not productive debate and true innovation. This is where Dawson & Dawson's Organizational Alignment Practice steps in. "We see ourselves as an extension of very capable executive teams - teams that have historically delivered acceptable and even superior results, and may continue to do so. But employees and other stakeholders have greater expectations; they want to feel their company is very competitive, truly prepared for change, and led by a team that has its act together in an uncertain economy. This is where the challenge lies; the "rank and file" often doesn't believe the leadership team is focused and aligned around the most critical issues," observes Tanenbaum.

To get a full a view of the way things are, Dawson & Dawson Consultants gets very close to the top of the house, clarifies where the company needs and wants to be over the next few years, and helps identify the behaviors and processes that must be in place to support the new level of success. Dawson & Dawson Consultants helps organize the expedition for the team ensuring participation and buy-in during all phases. The journey continues with identification of success profiles and planning to ensure outcomes are clearly defined and attainable.

In describing an important difference presented by the Dawson & Dawson Consultants team Tanenbaum says, "We owe it to our clients to put only seasoned business consultants with a real bias for action in their midst; there is far too much at stake to provide anything less. Our consultants understand the need to ramp up quickly to respond effectively to client challenges, achieve expected outcomes, and overcome competitive threats. To their core Dawson & Dawson Consultants demonstrates customer-focused thinking and client guidance."

Dawson & Dawson Consultants is a Houston-based, global human resource and organizational development consulting and training firm specializing in change management, business development, performance and retention strategies, leadership and talent development, executive assessment and coaching, and career transition and outplacement. They are certified as woman owned by the Houston Women's Business Council. For more information, call 713-784-3197.