Category Archives: Consulting

Zoe Presenter Spotlight: K.J. McCorry

Posted by on April 12, 2011 Comments Off
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K.J. McCorryby Zoe Training staff

K.J. McCorry thrives on helping people save time, reduce stress, and protect the environment. Upon recognizing the need for organizational help in the workplace,  K.J. founded her own organization in 1996 to offer a wide spectrum of productivity consulting services. Her consulting specialties include increasing efficiency using electronic tools and becoming less paper-based. K.J. has also founded an innovative sister organization called eco-officiency, which offers sustainability consulting to individuals and organizations.

We asked K.J. to divulge some interesting tidbits about herself that go beyond just her consulting background.

Three words to describe her presentation style:

Fun, practical and engaging!

What are your most popular presentation topics?

Email, Time and Task/Priority management. Read more »

Six Sigma in Hard Economic Times

Posted by on March 7, 2011 Comments Off
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Steve Ouelletteby Steve Ouellette

What purpose, if any, does Six Sigma serve in economic downturns? Full disclosure: I teach and consult in Six Sigma and related areas, and you’re reading this article because you’re interested in Six Sigma, so we may not be the most objective people to assess this, but in this article, I will do my best to find the truth.

I remember when I was working as an engineer for a company that made aluminum for aerospace and commercial applications. One of the apparently inevitable downturns in aerospace was occurring and the company was looking to cut costs, critically eyeing headcounts. At the same time, there was a consulting team training and implementing the technology that would one day be called Six Sigma.

Of course the talk around the table in the lab revolved around the uncertainty of the times, and sooner or later someone would begin to complain that the company was spending enough money on consultants each year to avoid laying off four full-time employees. I was torn in what I thought. On the one hand I was a recent hire, and thus first in line for the chopping block, but on the other, I also knew that the benefits the company and employees were accruing from what the consultants had to teach us was enormous. Read more »

Zoe Presenter Spotlight: Steve Ouellette

Posted by on February 14, 2011 Comments Off
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Steve Ouelletteby Zoe Training staff

Take a background in engineering and higher education, combine with expertise in ethical decision making, statistical design and analysis, survey design, process management, strategic planning, policy deployment, and business performance excellence, add a touch of humor and irreverence…the result? Steve Ouellette, the Six Sigma Heretic™, who helps facilitate fundamental change within organizations to help them greatly improve their profitability.

What’s your favorite topic(s) to present on? Why?

Applied research tools (like Six Sigma), because I love to see “unsolvable” problems get solved (and because I love it when people say that they finally “get” statistics). Strategic planning and policy deployment, because it is great to show people a logical way to successfully deploy a plan. Read more »

From Lawyer to Manager: Essential Skills for Managing Attorneys

Posted by on October 1, 2008 Comments Off
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Anna Conradby Anna Farber Conrad with contributions from Elizabeth A. Weishaupl

As lawyers approach partnership status at a firm, they frequently are given greater levels of responsibility in firm management, including serving as a department or group supervisor. Despite the important role supervisors and managers play in the workings of law firms, firms often fail to train new supervisors or give them guidance regarding management methods or techniques. Management of firm resources, including employees, is vital in controlling the bottom-line costs of any business. Training in this aspect of law firm management is critical in maintaining a business’s solvency.

Developing a few key skills can help the supervising attorney optimize associate productivity, assimilate the new associate quickly into the firm, and create associates who may stay with the firm for many years. This article provides tips and techniques for three essential management skills needed for attorneys who supervise others: (1) giving feedback; (2) coaching; and (3) delegating.

Effective Feedback

Communicating well and providing constructive counsel are essential skills for legal professionals. However, we frequently fall short in using these skills to manage our own employees. Most associate attorneys likely are unfamiliar with the logistics of practicing law and may be unfamiliar with the law firm culture into which they were hired. Coherent, effective feedback by management is critical for productive development of the associate. Here are a few tips to follow when giving feedback to a new associate. Read more »

Would Strategic Planning Benefit Your Municipality?

Posted by on September 1, 2008 Comments Off
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Penny McDanielby Penny McDaniel and Anne Neal

What is strategic planning? And what do you need to know about the process to determine how strategic planning could benefit your municipality? This article provides a brief overview of strategic planning—the benefits, process, obstacles, and strategies for insuring accountability and follow-through.

Strategic planning is a systematic process where you identify why your local government exists, whom it serves, benefits derived from the services you provide, and your administration’s vision for serving its citizens. Your strategic plan serves as a blueprint for how your local government will achieve its vision, and it answers three basic questions: “Who are we?” “What do we want?” and “How are we going to get what we want?” At each stage of the process you will need to involve various people and groups, and this is where the power of strategic planning comes into play.

Does strategic planning sound like a long, drawn-out process?  Well, it can take a while to do it right.  What’s the old saying?  “Anything worth doing, is worth doing right.”  This may be quite true, but we think there needs to be a lot of benefits for embarking on a time-consuming and sometimes difficult process.  Participants in previous strategic planning workshops determined a number of benefits for undergoing this process: Read more »

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