Process

Business Improvement Process

Cleveland and Associates utilizes a process that produces a virtuous cycle of success for the firms with the discipline to learn and rigorously apply it. Our desired outcome for each client, each firm, and each line of business we support is that a new strategic capability is born and develops into full maturity, a strategic capability which allows the firm to continuously assess and align the business to its environment in order to maximize its ability to create and capture value in the marketplace. Our engagement approach is to guide our clients through the process, while imparting the wisdom needed for the leaders and members within the firm to take full ownership of the process in all its simplicity and all the nuances of its detail. Cleveland and Associates will then be a partner to our clients in their quest to use this process to be highly competitive, develop high performance, deliver the desired outcomes for all its stakeholders, outperform others in similar businesses with similar constraints, perform well against all external standards, perform better than their apparent potential, and generate a sense of excitement and enthusiasm for those that work in them and those that come in contact with them. Our clients will become uniquely prepared in their industries, within the economies in which they participate, with creative strategies and strategic competencies that allow them to set the pace and, potentially, transform the marketplace, creating superior value for their customers and clients. Their staff members will become highly engaged, as our process provides for the full participation of all who are involved in the highly meaningful work and mission of the firm. The process can be adopted by small teams as well as scaled for the largest of corporations. We stand ready to help your team or firm reach new levels of creativity, productivity, efficiency, effectiveness, and value creation.

Assess

Once the scope of the engagement, large or small, is established, the assessment process, or Discovery Phase of the engagement, inventories the "off the balance sheet" assets of the firm or business unit, the current competencies, every strategic mixture which must be managed effectively which includes customers, potential customers, other market participants, critical processes of the company, the work mixtures, etc. Each is analyzed using the appropriate technique. A strategic review of the business and business environment is also completed. With these analyses and reviews complete, Cleveland and Associates then uses structured creative processes to develop recommendations which range from highly strategic and transformative revenue diversification to incremental but continual improvement programs to lower employee frustration and eliminate process and work wastes.

Align

The alignment process aggregates the recommendations into a program of work which can be communicated to and enhanced by all key stakeholders. This alignment process assures development of a shared vision which is rooted in the team's or firm's renewed mission and values. This alignment process also communicates the risks which must be managed and identifies the policies and controls which are needed to assure appropriate management of those risks. Alignment also includes all initial exploration, if there is a need for new strategic partnerships, new investors or investment strategies, other external resources are needed, focus groups with potential customers or clients, etc. By the end of the alignment process, the high-level roadmap for implementation and management of implementations risks is finalized.

Empower

The empowerment process provides for the engagement of key stakeholders and seeks to engender the commitment of all involved. This process kicks off the implementation phase of the engagement. Empowerment includes all the following, as needed: leadership development, management system implementation for each identified management objective, employee training, development, and engagement, and cascading of any new roles and responsibilities. All delegations of authority are renewed and changed as needed. All new entities are formed and new business relationships codified and finalized.

Improve/Grow

The business improvement and business growth process is the final phase of the engagement. We support the client in building new capabilities, implementing new management systems, assuring integrated implementation of branding, marketing, and sales programs, establishing a regular cadence of business review, monitoring progress, making leadership and management adjustments as needed, and assuring that controls are working appropriately. This final phase is also driven to success by the learning process which assures the critical elements of the implementation program have after-action reviews along with recommendations. This is also the phase of the engagement which requires constant reinforcement from the leaders and change agents and a clear understanding and articulation of the gap between current results and desired outcomes. This phase is also where and when a any needed culture change is occurring. Navigating the culture change required for any identified and needed transformation is the most important aspect of implementing new strategies, building new competencies, taking on new clients, growing new lines of business, and making any operational changes which have ongoing impacts to cost and customer service. Our goal at Cleveland and Associates is to assure that our clients stay grounded in reality, which means discovering any flaws in the implementation plans, while maintaining the creative tension which comes from juxtaposing current reality with the commitment to team or firm's vision of value creation and high performance.

It doesn't matter where you are in your business development and maturity lifecycle, whether you're a large corporation or a small to medium enterprise, we have critical services that can energize and propel your business to higher performance, increased revenues, and greater profitability, while mitigating your most complex and perplexing risks. Contact us through our website and we'll revert back to you within 24 hours.