CDZ & Associates, Inc.

At CDZ & Associates, Inc., we specialize in helping organizations identify their critical success factors driven by the competitive environment. We establish a clear mission and vision that, when executed, will position the organization for competitive advantage. Once this piece is identified, we then develop a strategic plan that is concrete and results-oriented.

To fully position organizations to perform to the level of critical capability, we examine five dynamics that impact success and drive efforts to align these with the strategic imperatives of the organization:

Strategic Direction - What needs to be different?
Organization Structure - How do we eliminate organizational levels?
Culture - How can we eliminate bureaucracy?
Core Processes - Where can we improve efficiency?
Individual Capabilities - How do we teach our employees to make better, faster decisions?

By cascading the mission throughout the organization, and addressing change at all these levels, a sustained impact is made. Organizations achieve the position of being a strong competitor in their industry and employees are able to handle rapid change by aligning their performance priorities to support the strategic direction. The end result is an organization that operates with speed, clear direction, and expedient decision-making; characteristics required for today's successful organizations.

Embedding Change Methodology

Too often organizations use a particular intervention to change some aspect of the business, but they fail to incorporate the changes into the daily activities of its people. As a result, the goal of the intervention is not accomplished. For example, a strategic planning initiative that fails to incorporate new norms and practices supportive of the organization's mission will fail to take hold.

At CDZ & Associates, Inc., we specialize in ensuring that change is incorporated in every day business activities. We go beyond the change intervention itself and assimilate the practices and processes around the intervention to ensure that it makes an impact. We accomplish this by the following:

Define What Is and What Is Not Changing
We evaluate all dynamics of the organization and target those that require change to reach optimal effectiveness. Once these are identified, we design interventions appropriate for the culture and desired end state of the organization.

Involve the Leadership Ranks to Champion Change
Leadership must be engaged as change champions so that the results occur. Ownership of the change initiative by leadership demonstrates a commitment to both improving the way the business operates and holding the organization accountable for results.

Develop a Plan to Cascade the Change Throughout the Organization
Our change plan is deliberate and modulated. Change is sustained with long-term efforts consisting of accountabilities from the top. The change plan is systemic in that it addresses underlying, root issues impeding optimal performance. By going to the core issues and defining how it will operate in the future, a road map is spelled out for the organization.

Once top levels are practicing behaviors consistent with the change effort, these individuals can then equip those below them in the organization to do the same. As the process cascades down, the organization itself both owns the change and reaps its benefit.

Our strategy for incorporating change consists of instilling processes and accountabilities prior-to, during, and after the intervention itself occurs.

Pre-Intervention: We align leadership up front. We also identify each level and facet of the organization that the change impacts and design efforts appropriate for the culture and the desired end state.

During Intervention: We ensure that the intervention targets underlying issues impacting organizational performance such as strategic planning, cultural transformation, organization and process design, and leadership development.

To apply the intervention to work efforts, we establish definable action plans with participants. We use a modular intervention to encourage a total cultural process change versus a program-of-the-month approach.

Post-Intervention: We look for existing forums in the organization to apply the behavioral change that the intervention targets. We provide tools to leaders and managers to use with their work groups so that the change is incorporated, rewarded, and measured. This translates into an organizational return-on-investment from the original intervention.

We also require accountability from leadership for managers and employees to apply the lessons learned. We put processes in place to measure progress and ensure that results happen.

Competitive pressure mandates that you get the full value from change efforts. We help you accomplish your critical business initiatives by providing you the maximum return-on-investment for organizational effectiveness strategies.

Leadership Performance

Recent research into individual effectiveness on the job indicates that the distinguishing factor separating highly effective leaders from the rest is the ability to learn from experience. The research conducted by Morgan W. McCall Jr., Michael M. Lombardo, and Ann M. Morrison explains that leaders who have the ability to learn from experience have:

Greater potential for effectiveness and success in their work
Increased ability to learn from all experiences - both successes and failures
Heightened flexibility and adaptability to lead effectively in the midst of change and ambiguity

Simply put, these individuals are able to succeed regardless of the business challenge and with the imperatives they have been charged, because they have the ability to assess the situation, assess themselves, and take the right steps for an optimal outcome.

These authors emphasize that it is an individual's potential, not performance, that determines a leader's ability to learn from experience. Too often organizations select upcoming leadership based on current and past performance. This track record, although indicative of success in the organization, fails to address the leader's competency to truly lead in the midst of change and ambiguity. And it is this ability that will distinguish stellar leaders from the rest of the pack.

Organizations committed to accomplishing their strategic initiatives through their leadership will assess leaders based on their ability to learn from experience and develop the competencies associated with this ability.

At CDZ & Associates, Inc., we assess the unique competencies critical for leadership success and identify the individual's potential for leadership. The results of the assessment then determines the appropriate course of development we use to increase these competencies individually and across the executive level.

Long term, organizations have high potential leaders in place who are qualified to tackle the challenges of that competitive environment and bring new learnings to the organization. The result is an organization that is change resilient, adaptable, and strategic.

McCall, Morgan W. Jr.; Lombardo, Michael M.; Morrison, Ann: The Lessons of Experience: How Successful Executives Develop on the Job. Simon and Schuster, 1988.

Employee Performance

Improving individual capability is critical to carrying out the business imperatives of the organization. Our development approach is unique in that it provides a sustained behavioral and cultural change. We avoid program-of-the-month efforts and instead, embed new processes, practices, and competencies in individual employees.

We use the following methodology to improve individual employee performance:

Just-in-Time - Provide development opportunities that are driven by current business initiatives.
Modular - Chunk development efforts to maximize learning and transfer.
Cascade - Start at the top and work down through the organization.
Action Learning - Design learning and development efforts that are embedded in the context of real-work efforts.
Leadership to Participant Accountability - Require accountability around action plans of participants by their managers.
Leadership Equipping - Equip leaders to multiply their learnings with their direct reports down through the organization. Provide user-friendly tools for leaders to use with their direct reports to facilitate this transfer.
Rewards and Recognition Program - Link rewards and recognition to the new behaviors so that the right behaviors are reinforced and change is driven faster.
Action Planning - Require action plans to be developed and implemented after each development session.
Coaches/Mentors for Select Individuals - Provide coaching/mentoring opportunities to high potential individuals.
Cross Functional/Stretch Assignments - Design specific job assignments for participants to maximize their learning and development.
Business Simulations - Provide real-life business scenarios as the platform for learning and development opportunities.
Learning from Experience Methodology - Equip participants in competencies to improve their ability to learn from experience.

By engaging in this methodology, sustained behavioral change is accomplished, and employees play a critical role in contributing to organizational success.

Executive Coaching

Today, being a corporate leader is a much more complicated responsibility than it has been in past years. Leaders are subject to more assessments of their interpersonal skills, and they are turning to executive coaches to help them strengthen their skills.

Executive coaching is a very powerful tool!

Executive coaching needs to be strategically planned, properly timed and individually tailored to you. Coaching produces the best results when it focuses on helping you be a healthy leader. Executive coaches are hired primarily to you, the executive, to hone your "people skills" rather than business skills.

The Executive Coaching Process:

Initial Meeting - This is a get acquainted session to set up a personal foundation for you and the coach, consisting of boundaries, standards, integrity and character.

Fact Gathering - The coach questions you in depth and, using tools and methods, develops a profile. The coach interviews your peers, managers, direct reports, and sometimes family members and friends. The coach also watches you in action.

Issue Identification - Together, you and the coach review the feedback to identify key strengths and developmental needs. A strategic game plan is then developed.

Coaching - In regular strategy sessions, the coach works with you to improve identified developmental areas and provide regular feedback. These areas may encompass communication skills, negotiating style, and conflict management. To gauge your progress, the coach also follows up with individuals that you interact with on a regular basis.

Final Stage - You graduate upon meeting the goals set. However, the executive coach will be available for periodic follow-ups, consultations, and fine-tuning.