Center for Business-to-Business Consulting

Areas of Expertise

The Breckenridge Institute® is a research and consulting firm that focuses on organizational development and organizational culture. The Institute’s Center for Business-to-Business Consulting has a growing staff of technical and business professionals who are committed to providing the highest levels of service, competence, quality, and value to our clients using our portfolio of research-based methodologies and assessment tools. The Breckenridge Institute’s staff has extensive expertise in the nine areas listed below.

What We Do

• Organizational Analysis™
• Strategic Planning
• Improving Execution and Operations
• Organizational Climate and Culture
• Building IT Infrastructure
• Business Systems Integration
• Meeting Facilitation
• Process Facilitation
• Training and Mentoring
• Organizational Assessments

Results You Get

Aligning and integrating an organization’s structures, systems, and culture in the areas listed above helps client organizations to:

• Increase Total Revenue
• Decrease Operating Costs
• Increase Productivity and Efficiency
• Decrease Destructive Conflict
• Increase Effective Communication
• Discover Hidden Profit
• Build a Culture of Excellence

A more detailed description of the Institute’s areas of expertise is provided below.

Our Areas of Expertise

Our areas of expertise are built around the open-systems diagram shown below. Aligning and integrating an organization’s strategy, execution, and climate is key to building a high-performing organization and ensuring sustainable performance. The structures, systems, and climate shown in the diagram have an interdependent cause-and-effect relationship with each other, so a change in one element creates change in the others, sometimes unintentionally.

Seamlessly integrating these business systems with IT infrastructure is also a key to building a high-performing organization. The Breckenridge Institute® staff helps clients develop an IT infrastructure that: a) moves information from the external environment to the correct place in the organization so it can be analyzed, digested, and acted on, b) moves information from enterprise-wide business processes to the correct place in the organization so it can be analyzed, digested and acted on, c) moves information on the status of key performance indicators (KPIs), goals, milestones, deliverables, and budgets in operating plans to the correct place in the organization so it can be analyzed, digested and acted on, and d) structures and manages data storage so it is a resource that’s available to everyone who needs it, e.g. data isn't isolated in data silos or shadow systems.

Our goal is to design systems that help clients find key business-related information within 30 seconds using a minimum number of clicks.

Organizational Analysis™

The Breckenridge Institute® specializes in helping organizations identify and move beyond the impasses that keep them from getting the results they want using the powerful methodology of Organizational Analysis™. Described in Mark Bodnarczuk’s book, Making Invisible Bureaucracy Visible, Organizational Analysis™ is a methodology used to evaluate the business results that an organization is getting and identify the cause-and-effect relationships between those results and: a) the configuration of an organization’s structures and systems, b) the day-to-day patterns-of-interaction between work-groups and key personnel, c) the tacit, unquestioned assumptions and beliefs of organizational culture, and d) the business context within which an organization is embedded. Organizational Analysis™ helps clients identify and move beyond the impasses that frustrate and undermine organizational and individual performance. Some of the key indicators that an organization is at an impasse and will benefit from conducting an Organizational Analysis™ are listed below.

• It’s difficult for an organization to make key decisions, and (once made) many decisions go unimplemented.
  
  
• An organization has a gap between the formal (written) rules for how things get done, and the informal (unwritten) rules for how things “really” get done.
  
  
• Vital business information gets filtered, altered, or stopped as it moves up and down through the organizational structure.
  
  
• Projects that seem to have the full support of top managers and key personnel often die a slow death and no one knows what happened to them.
  
  
• An organization is unable to change in the face of forces and threats from the external environment, so it falls prey to the same problems over, and over again.
  
  
• The universal principles of organization development and business excellence do not seem to work in an organization.
  
  
• The change and improvement initiatives that have been conducted in an organization have shown failed or marginal results.
  
  
• Managers struggle against the flow of overly complex systems and are frustrated by an invisible force that undermines their attempts to effect positive change.
  
  
• People are not free to present the unvarnished truth about organizational matters because they fear retribution.
  
  
• People find their work to be a substantial part of life’s problems, rather than one of the solutions to life’s problems

Developing Strategy

The Breckenridge Institute® helps organizations take a strategic (100,000 foot elevation) view of the external environment and internal operations using methodologies based on principles taught by business experts such as Jim Collins, Peter Drucker, Jay Galbraith, Harry Beckwith, Al Ries and Jack Trout, Larry Bossidy, Michael Porter, Edwards Deming, research results from the Harvard Business Review, and the Global Organization Design model developed by Elliot Jaques. We help clients:

• Define organizational purpose, direction, strategy, goals, objectives, and codify them in a written strategic plan that is linked to their financial management system

• Identify the most important sources of revenue that drive financial performance

• Develop a balanced array of key performance indicators (KPIs) to focus the time and energy of the entire organization on a common purpose

• Only budget for, and commit resources to, things that help the organization achieve its strategic goals and objectives

• Evaluate their talent management strategy to ensure that they have the expertise, experience, and intellectual horsepower to meet the organization’s human capital needs now and in the future

• Ensure that the organization’s high-level policies are aligned with its strategy, goals and objectives and send a consistent set of signals that reinforce the desired behaviors

• Motivate and inspire employees around the organization’s purpose and vision

• Create and sustain organizational change to get the desired results

Improving Execution and Operations

The Breckenridge Institute® helps clients more effectively carry-out and implement the organization’s plans, goals, and objectives so that strategic goals and objectives flow down to (and are implemented by) work groups. Our staff uses methodologies and principles taught by business experts such as Dave Hanna, Alec Sharp, Edwards Deming, Thomas Davenport, Paul Harmon, J.M. Juran, Alfie Kohn, Edwards Deming, the Human Performance Technology model, research results from the Harvard Business Review, and the Global Organization Design model developed by Elliot Jaques. We help clients:

• Translate strategic goals and objectives into well-defined operating plans and budgets that flow down to day-to-day, week-to-week work assignments of managers and staff members

• Develop action-oriented, fact-based decision-making skills using quantitative data and scientific analytics, not just business experience and intuition

• More effectively direct week-to-week and month-to-month operations by only supporting decisions that implement and accelerate achieving goals and objectives

• View time as money that can be used to achieve the organization’s goals and objectives

• Organize and staff work-groups so the right people work together on the right tasks to get the desired results

• Produce predictability and order in business processes and day-to-day operations

• Increase communication and cooperation between departments and work-groups so that key information is shared, e.g. the left hand knows what the right hand is doing

• Develop more innovation and creative problem solving skills

• Optimize team performance and morale

Organizational Climate and Culture

The Breckenridge Institute® helps clients create a more productive, positive, effective and creative work environment, e.g. Organizational Climate. More specifically, “climate” is the experience of what it’s like to work in an organization day-to-day and is a reflection of the underlying tacit assumptions and cultural norms that compose an organization’s culture. The Institute’s staff uses methodologies and principles taught by business experts such as Edgar Schein, John Kotter, David Cooperrider, Terrence Deal and Allan Kennedy, Chris Argyris, Clotaire Rapaille, Alan Wilkins, Howell Baum, William Bridges, Lawrence Millar, Rollo May, Anthony Storr, Arthur Koester, research results from the Harvard Business Review, and the Global Organization Design model developed by Elliot Jaques. We help clients:

• Adopt a “no blame” philosophy where the root causes of ineffective organizational performance are identified in the structures, systems, and culture, e.g. individual employees don’t get  blamed for organizational performance problems

• Practice “fair process” where managers are fair and objective and base their evaluations of performance on facts and quantitative data, not “politics” or personalities

• Identify and narrow the gap between the formal (written) rules for how things get done and the informal (unwritten) rules for how things “really” get done

• Create an atmosphere in which people trust managers to deliver on their promises and do what they say

• Develop well-defined accountabilities where managers are held accountable for the outputs of their direct reports, for creating and sustaining a team capable of producing the desired outputs, and for getting their direct reports to collaborate with each other to produce the desired results

• Develop well-defined authorities where managers can veto the appointment of people to their organization, conduct performance appraisals of their direct reports and reward the desired behaviors and discourage ineffective performance, and initiate the removal of a direct report from their role in the organization

Building IT Infrastructure

Enterprise-wide knowledge management requires that leaders and managers put their organization’s “whole brain” to work. This means viewing knowledge as information whether it’s stored and manipulated in a silicon-based system like a computer or a carbon-based system like an employee’s brain. In today’s information intensive environment, human and computing resources need to work together like a cross-functional work team to achieve an organization’s goals and objectives. All too often, an organization’s IT infrastructure is designed and maintained by IT professionals who give line managers what they think is needed to operate the business. Savvy top managers know that a high-performing IT infrastructure is a key element of maintaining competitive advantage, so it’s too mission-critical to delegate to IT professionals who often lack an intimate knowledge of an organization’s purpose, goals, structures, systems, and culture. The Breckenridge Institute® can help clients manage their knowledge resources with complete IT solutions for small, medium, and large size organizations. The Breckenridge Institute® has competencies in the following areas:

• Enterprise IT Strategy and Planning
• Custom Software Development
• Custom Database Design using platforms such as Access, SQL Server, or Oracle
• System Documentation and Training
• IT Performance Evaluation
• Independent Validation and Verification of Systems

Business Systems Integration

Studies have shown that 85% or more of the root causes of performance problems are in a company’s structures, systems, and culture, so the seamless integration of business systems is a key element of organizational culture and change. Over time, IT systems, spreadsheets, business processes, documentation, and training become fragmented, disconnected and squander enormous amounts of time, energy, and resources. Business Systems Integration helps identify overly complex systems that frustrate and undermine business performance and create an Invisible Bureaucracy™ of barriers between work-groups and functional units. Our unique approach to Change Management creates a high-performance culture by focusing on both the “hard” technical side of business systems integration, and the “soft” cultural side, using a simple three-step process of: a) identifying all business systems and evaluating their current level of performance, b) reconfiguring and seamlessly integrating them on an enterprise-wide platform, and c) migrating them back to autopilot operations that produce the desired results. Because it can be used across an entire organization or in work-groups and functional units, Business Systems Integration can be used by top managers or middle managers to seamlessly integrate:

• IT Systems (COTS, Spreadsheets, Shadow Systems)
• Paper Systems
• Operating Plans, Goals, and Budgets
• Customer Feedback
• Enterprise-Wide Business Processes
• Project Management and Work Flow
• Document Library (Polices, Procedures)
• Orientation and Training
• Compliance Systems

It’s important to note that the more defined the structures, systems, and culture are in an organization the less impact sub-cultures and the personalities of individuals will have on day-to-day operations because the differing ways of “seeing” and “doing” get eclipsed by these formal ways of doing business in end-to-end, enterprise-wide business processes. The less defined the structures, systems, and organizational climate are the more impact sub-cultures and the personalities of individuals will have on day-to-day operations because the informal power and authority of personality fills the void of formal authority and power. In other words, people are the process. The question that should be asked by an organization is, how much of the job gets done by the formal structures and systems and how much gets done by the informal power and authority of sub-cultures and individual personalities where people are the process?

Meeting and Process Facilitation

Facilitation is a core tool and methodology in the Breckenridge Institute’s portfolio of professional services because it uses effective patterns of interaction and group-dynamics as a foundation for high-performance. More specifically, we help our clients set goals, identify problems, explore viable options and alternatives, and develop appropriate plans for action. We use a variety of tools and methods for discussion, data gathering, analysis, scenario development, and evaluation of alternatives. This includes multidisciplinary work sessions with stakeholders to clearly identify issues, develop solutions, resolve problems, and build consensus for implementation. Some areas facilitation services include:

• Strategic Planning and Goal Setting
• Project Reviews
• Optimizing Team Performance
• Issue Analysis and Decision-Making
• Conflict Management
• Improving Communication
• Process Analysis
• Team Building and Consensus
• Increasing Creative Problem-Solving
• Understanding Group-Dynamics
• Conducting Focus Groups

Training and Mentoring

The Breckenridge Institute® offers a wide variety of training and educational experience in the areas listed below. Our workshops and seminars are tailored to the learning styles, capabilities, and interests of participants and the needs of client organizations. Some areas in which the Institute offers training and mentoring services include:

• Organizational Culture
• Cultural Assessment
• Cultural Change
• Organizational Assessment
• Organization Development
• Strategic Planning
• Change Management
• Human Performance Improvement
• Business Systems Integration
• Leadership Development
• Effective Group Dynamics
• Personality Assessment
• Individual and Group Mentoring and Coaching

Workshops and seminars can be presented at an introductory, college, or graduate level depending on the needs and capabilities of participants and the client organization. These training and educational experiences can also be used as modules in existing training and develop programs offered by client organizations, e.g. leadership development, succession planning, etc.

Personality in Context^®