Consulting Topics Leveraging Intellectual Capital for Competitive Advantage Designing Knowledge Management Infrastructures Turning Average Workers into Star Performers Improving the Productivity of Gold-Collar Workers Developing Management and Reward Systems for Gold-Collar Workers Creating Strong and Successful Leadership-Followership Partnerships Making Organizations Service and Customer-Driven Clients I have been privileged to work with some of the most admired organizations in the world during the past 20 years. These include: Bell Labs 3M Hewlett Packard Merck Pitney Bowes Northern Telecom Glaxo Andersen Consulting Alcoa Ontario (Canada) Teachers Pension Plan Board Family Communications Inc. (the parent company of Mister Roger's Neighborhood) Consulting Formats Initial Consulting During this single session, you and your colleagues present your problems and issues. Together, we brainstorm the causes and potential approaches to resolving them. I then can advise you on which alternative has the best chance for success and whether my colleagues and I would be appropriate to work with you. If not, I would refer you to other highly competent professionals. Consulting/Research Project Given my limited time, I tend to work on projects with the following characteristics: New problems that companies have never faced before, such as creating knowledge infrastructures for intellectual capital-intensive organizations; or Tough, long standing problems that have yet to be solved, such as devising appropriate productivity measures for technical communities that are tied to EVA and ROI. As a result, these projects are generally long term, lasting from several months to several years. When necessary, there is a research or evaluation component. For clients interested in our on-site productivity improvement program known as Star@Work Program Series , contact Dr. Kelley or click here for more information. Based on 10 years of research and work with Bell Labs and 3M, this productivity improvement program has been written-up in the Harvard Business Review and the Wall Street Journal. It teaches the nine work strategies employed by star performers in six half-day sessions spread out over three to six weeks. The program has yielded significant productivity improvements for minorities, women, and newer workers (400% increases in productivity improvement rates). Workforce Development Star@Work Performance Outcomes Star@Work is based on a combined two decades of extensive research by Dr. Robert Kelley. Over a seven-year period, they led more than 600 knowledge workers at AT&T’s Bell Labs through this development system. It was estimated that Bell Labs recouped the cost of the program after the first year. The indirect productivity benefits, such as increased teamwork, remain incalculable. As reported by Kelley in the Harvard Business Review, the participants showed a 10 percent increase in productivity immediately after the program ended, a 20 percent increase after six months, and a 25 percent increase by the end of the first year. The participants’ productivity was also rated by their managers. The study compared 300 participants with 300 nonparticipants. In seven key areas, such as "Spots Problems," "Does High-Quality Work on Time," and "Pleases Customers," the productivity of participants improved twice as much as nonparticipants over an eight-month period. Star@Work Results Star@Work can: Improve the productivity of knowledge workers. Participants at AT&T's Bell Labs reported a 25% increase in their productivity one year following the implementation. Their managers reported that the rate of productivity improvement of participants was twice that of non-participants. For a copy of the article, click here Help knowledge workers beat the schedule and exceed expectations. 100% of the participants of American Electric Power (compared to 69% before) said they were more effective in fully understanding the expectations for a particular work assignment after attending Star@Work. Attract and retain knowledge workers. Research shows that, when considering a job offer, knowledge workers place a high degree of importance on opportunities for development. And after using Star@Work, Southwestern Bell reported an 11% increase in organizational commitment. Broaden the perspective of knowledge workers. Managers at Southwestern Bell reported that the percentage of participants who understood the "big picture" rose from 33% to 67%. Build teamwork and improve team functioning. It can open or extend networks so that knowledge workers begin sharing their know-how with each other and complete tasks faster. 62% of the participants at Carnegie Mellon University reported increased opportunities to use team-building behaviors. Support knowledge management efforts. Star@Work provides a mechanism for facilitating human exchanges in which the productivity strategies of an organizations top performers are shared with others. Managers at Shell U.K. Exploration and Production reported that the percentage of participants who shared information with others when needed rose from 54% to 90% after using Star@Work. For a copy of the research results, call 412-344-8075 or 412-835-7306. Client Evaluations of Star@Work How 'Star@Work' Works The Creator of 'Star@Work' If interested in discussing consulting possibilities with Dr. Kelley, click here. 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