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Non Profit Index - Blog
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How the product „OpenProfIT” was created? |
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środa, 31 październik 2007 |
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OpenProfIT is the result of mutual cooperation with one of the best managed companies I have encountered – Xtech. The company asked us to help with their compensation systems, and was open to any solutions. After the first visit we knew that their organizational culture is exceptional. In the result we were giving a lot of work to build tools and analysis, they paid as if the tools were ready. In other words we invested a lot of our time to help this company, and after the project we stayed with an exceptional tools. All we had to do was to create a product out of these tools, and look for other customers.
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Price list of Stocki Associates |
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sobota, 13 październik 2007 |
Pricing and costing consulting services is a very difficult task, especially if a consulting company performs original projects tailored for the specific needs of a specific organization. The reason is simple, the price cannot be reduced due to the mass delivery of the same service elsewhere. This is the reason why we are considered by some small companies to be rather expensive. In the past we used to work for lower prices, but it would turn out that the meeting was even one hour late, or those who were to participate would come unprepared without prior reading of the documents, etc. There was so much time wasted that such projects were not only expensive, but also highly demotivating for those who participated in them. With higher prices the companies are interested in doing a lot on their own, and ask for help only when they cannot do something on their own.
The working hours are the second problem in pricing. It may take 2 days or more to prepare to a one hour meeting, but the customer pays only for this one hour. Of course next time such preparation may be shorter but both preparation and time to gain experience have to be reflected in the price. In other words the price refers to reported hours and not real work hours.
Finally the consulting services have seasonal character. Usually there is more work before Christmas, and less during the holidays. The pricing policy of a company should also take this into account. If you want to know what are the prices for today write to us.
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Winning negotiations |
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wtorek, 18 wrzesień 2007 |
I believe in cognitive approach to negotiations. My training material („Improving negotiating skills”) is based on that assumption. This means that both negotiators approach the situation with their own private theory of the issue at stake. The negotiations are really won, when the people are clever enough to enter the other's world of meanings and theories of the world. The key issue in the theory may be – understanding the specific situation, price, person involved, etc. This is why the better we know our business partners, the easier it is to fit the offer to what they expect. This is why companies should not save money on learning about their partners. I have written in this blog about situation where you know your business partner too well. You loose distance, instead of identifying with your own company, you identify with the partner's interests. In such situations quick intervention is necessary. You must realize who pays your salary and for what, but this is a different issue.
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Drawbacks of consulting profession |
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niedziela, 16 wrzesień 2007 |
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This is related to one's
personal situation and personality, what is a drawback for me, may be a great
advantage for someone else. So to explain my point of view, I should say I like
working at home. I am able to use every minute of my time. When I have to
travel, especially abroad I hate the losses of time spent either on walking
kilometers of airport corridors, or on waiting for flight changes, or when I
finally get there on getting used to the new place. I have also problems in concentrating when I
am alone in a hotel. This is probably lack of a skill I have not mastered well
enough.
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The most important among NPI modules |
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środa, 12 wrzesień 2007 |
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I think that the most important one is strategy, that is the way of organization's founder thinking. Everything else results form strategy
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poniedziałek, 27 sierpień 2007 |
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There are many products and methods we develop that are not made public. We are closely connected to academia, we do research, write articles and papers. We have many ideas, research tools and techniques. Usually, in order for the innovation to become a product, we need client's interest. This is why we try to involve our clients in the research process. This is not easy, even if we do research free or almost free. Transition from a research tool to commercial product takes months of hard work. We had some experiences of engaging into project that proved to be futile, but we believe that it is always worth the effort.
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Consulting and training: how did the basic TDRS products evolve? |
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sobota, 25 sierpień 2007 |
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I remember that when I got my very first client, Wawel, I analyzed the entire Polish confectionery industry. The offer I prepared was really good and everyone at the company seemed to be really impressed. Well, there was maybe one small detail - I learned that the company I was supposed to work for wasn't actually the confectionery firm, it was the Wawel Royal Castle. It was 1992. Since then, the market has evolved. I've noticed an interesting trend - the training sector was developing really fast. Everyone wanted to be a trainer, but noone actually offerede anything after that, there was no analysis of the initial state of the company nor the implementation of the solutions. This is how the offer of Stocki Associates was created.
For the first couple of years we were focused mainly on trainings. This was a bit frustrating, as usually when we met with the group we found out that they needed something entirely different from what we were suppose to give them. To make things worse, no one wanted to have a decent training needs analysis. Right now I am fully convinced that it is better to do a good diagnosis and save money on training than the other way round. It is very common for organizations to have a number of people who would do very good at conducting trainings. On the other hand, the diagnosis process requires a kind of outsider view on the organization. Let's give an example. We want to conduct a customer service training for sales representatives. How do we know what they need if we don't ask the customers about their basic shortcomings? In order to conduct such training in the responsible manner we have to do a decent customer satisfaction research. Having a report like that in our pockets, we won't have any problems with designing a training program or better yet a full sales strategy.
But immediately after we introduced diagnosis as part of our product portfolio, our clients started to complain that we leave them with the hardest part of the process. This is why we were virtually forced to offer transition consulting, which later evolved into total participation consulting and OpenProfIT for IT companies.
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The essence of our epidemiological approach |
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wtorek, 07 sierpień 2007 |
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Beliefs are contagious. This simple fact is every politician's playground - everyday they must confront opinion that are not based in facts. Mass media are usually involved in spreading the epidemy: writing about teenage suicides is the simplest way of increasing the occurance of this act. It is similar in management. The difference is that the role mass media is played by unions or other institutions in the workplace. As a consequence, representations spread easier in buildings, rooms or cicles. It is worth taking into consideration in the process of result analysis.
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The ideal client |
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niedziela, 05 sierpień 2007 |
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Consultans usually divide clients into those who bring them good reputation, those who bring them good money and those who bring them knowledge. Of course, the ideal client would be the client that brings it all. I would also add that the ideal client should be challenging and demanding but at the same time understanding and appreciating our services.
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How long does it take to diagnose an organisation? |
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piątek, 27 lipiec 2007 |
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It all depends on the size of the company, time reserves in the company as well as the size and competencies of the research team.
Assuming that the research team is offered an unlimited access to the company, it is possible to collect as mych as a couple of thousand of questionnaires within 2-3 days. A lot depends on the level of employee dispersion. In dispersed companies one can use mail or electronic questionnaires. Focus groups usually take about 2h, so conducting 4 with 12 employees each would take appx. 8h. It means that within a week time we can learn personally the opinion of 250 persons without bringing chaos to the company. Document analysis can take a couple of days, assuming that everything is collected and ready (unfortunately, that process can take up to a couple of weeks). Simply put, it is possible to diagnose a company with a couple of thousand employees within a month in order to gain a reasonable image of company's problems and possible cures.
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How do I start the diagnostic process in the organization? |
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czwartek, 26 lipiec 2007 |
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I start
with a few hours' long conversation with a person who contacted me. Of course
before we meet I prepare myself by collecting information about a company and
specific branch. It is just a perfect situation if the first conversation in
the company finishes with a walk around where I can see how everything looks
like, what are the processes and products. How the whole diagnostic process
should look like you can read in my book.
Ryszard Stocki
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