What happens in an organizational behavioral assessment?

HSC is committed to using the best methods to provide an in-depth, customized, and affordable solution for organizations. Our goal is to leave the organization better off than when we came--which includes the organization receiving good value for it's investment.

Our engagements with organizations generally run 1-2 years in length and are much more affordable than big-name corporate consulting services. Our Organizational Behavioral Assessment (OBA) has been the core of our helping organizations improve their human systems. While our work with your organization will be tailored to your needs, a general five stage process is followed.

Organizational Behavioral Analysis: Sample Process*

Each stage below is followed by an estimate of the time to complete the stage and the typical number of billable days for the consulting.

Screen (2 hours--no cost)

At HSC we always do a screening process with every potential client. We believe this is the best way to run an ethical consulting business. This screening allows us to ensure that our services are a good fit for your organization and the goals you want to reach. This screening is typically is done through a phone or video conference but may also be done "on-site" in a face-to-face meeting. The end result is to point you in a direction that will help you find solutions that work for your organization. If that is to proceed with a organizational behavioral analysis then we proceed to a pre-assessment. There is no charge for the screening.

Design (Pre-assessment: One month--1 to 4 billable days)

To meet your organization's specific goals, HSC engages in a deep analysis of the organization prior to creating the proposal for your organization.  We believe, and research supports the idea, that many failed consulting projects are the result of not doing a thorough analysis. By using proven rigorous methodology, HSC can do an in-depth pre-assessment without draining large amounts of resources "borrowing your watch to tell you the time." HSC meets with leaders and/or key employees to determine the organization's needs, gather insight into the deeper construct underlying the issues and determine a "goodness of fit" for the OBA. A recommendation to proceed to a proposal or a redirection may result from the screening.

Propose (Two weeks--0,5 to 2 billable days)

HSC completes a proposal outlining the consulting process, the tasks to be completed, the timeline, and the costs. Depending on the complexity of the tasks the proposal can be crafted for an entire consultation project or crafted into stages if later stages are dependent upon the data collected in the earlier stages.

Engage (3 to 6 months--8 to 12 billable days)

Once the proposal has been committed to the implementation begins.

Step One: Meeting with leadership. An OBA is dependent upon working with leadership to get the right analysis, collect good data, and implement the plan based on the results. HSC meets regularly with leadership to guide the process.

Step Two: Gathering data. Guided by HSC, leadership designs the methods to gather an in-depth understanding of the issues.  HSC uses qualitative and/or quantitative methods to gather reliable data and validate that data. This can include qualitative interviewing, focus groups, surveys or other methods.

Step Three: Creating a plan. Based on the input of leadership, key informants, and the data gathered, HSC will develop an implementation plan. This plan helps leadership, supported by HSC, to begin to address any discovered issues and improve the human system's functionality.

Step Four Implementing the plan. In collaboration with leadership, HSC will determine it's role in supporting or implementing the plan.  This may include training with key employees, coaching sessions, participating in a hiring process, or other management activities.  The goal is to help the organization act--to put into practice the changes needed to make the consultancy effective.

Sustain (6 to 18 months--3 to 9 billable days)

Continued support. Often leaders tell us of past consulting experiences where the consultant "dropped a bomb" in terms of their findings then simply left the leadership to deal with the fallout. For this, and other, reason HSC is committed to following up on the implementation.

Obviously, a plan that is only minimally enacted or abandon may have little effect.  However, the consequences can be even worse, a lack for follow through can discourage or even demoralize employees and leaders. HSC is committed to making sure the work that the leadership has invested achieves results. Therefore, we continue to provide on-going support for the implementation until the goals are reached.

Interested in determining if HSC can help your organization?  Contact us for a free screening!

*The example given is most typical of a small organization of 20-100 employees. Larger organizations will often require more extensive services, more time, which will result in more billable time.