Index

PEOPLE PRACTICE Q&A WITH
KARA O’CONNOR

At The Gunter Group we categorize our work into four practice areas: Technology, Execution, People, and Strategy, with client engagements often stretching across multiple service categories.

In our People Practice work we empower companies across all industries to align their people and strategic objectives in order to maximize results.

In this Q&A we explore our People Practice in greater detail — as we visit with Kara O’Connor, Service Delivery Manager – People Practice.

Tell us a little bit about the nature of work TGG focuses on within the People Practice:

What separates our People Practice is the unique and focused way that we ensure people and culture are cared for and prioritized in any big change. We frequently assist organizations with large complex change initiatives that balance technical proficiency (project management, business analysis, etc.) and people proficiency (change management, employee engagement, etc.). Our team focuses on being well-rounded so we can thoughtfully bring both perspectives to the table.

What is the most rewarding aspect of supporting clients in TGG’s People Practice?

If we do our jobs well, people feel like we’ve helped them prepare for and overcome something challenging. We’re helping avoid burnout, helping find clarity, and helping design a future with people at the forefront. This truly makes a difference for people’s lives, when their human emotions and reactions are respectfully accounted for. When we’re able to support change like this, it’s very meaningful and very rewarding.

What are recent trends you see impacting businesses in the People Practice space?

I’ve really loved seeing more conversations about integrating change management into agile projects. You’ve typically seen change management presented in very traditional, waterfall methods and these methods are not the only way!

What do you anticipate impacting organizations over the next 3-5 years in this area?

I think People Practice issues are becoming more mainstream. A few years ago, change management was really on the periphery, not many people were prioritizing it in their projects. Now, we’re seeing more acknowledgement that without addressing the human component in the workplace, you’re missing half of the picture.

Tell us about one of your favorite projects your team has worked on:

Right now we have someone working on a social and emotional wellness program for a large public school system. At a time when school staffs are being stretched thin, it is great to know we have someone to help organizations strategically plan for and build programs that support the mental wellbeing of their staff. This ultimately has a huge impact on our community as a whole in light of school staff connecting with parents and students.

More about Kara O’Connor:
Kara owns a diverse background in organizational change, team leadership, project management, communications, and marketing analytics. She is passionate about keeping “people” at the center of change management and large-scale initiatives and has enjoyed bringing strategic, people focused solutions to her clients for over 10 years. Kara is very skilled at considering issues with a fresh perspective, which results in her suggesting and implementing viable solutions that may not have been previously considered by an organization. She has worked in a wide range of industries for many nationally-recognized brands, in technology, healthcare, sportswear, and education. Kara holds a B.S in Business Administration and Marketing from Central Washington University. She is also a Certified Scrum Master and PROSCI Certified Change Practitioner. In her free time, Kara enjoys spending time in the great outdoors with her family of four.

STRATEGY PRACTICE Q&A WITH STEPHEN BACON

At The Gunter Group we categorize our work into four practice areas: Technology, Execution, People, and Strategy, with client engagements often stretching across multiple service categories.

Our strategy work capitalizes on existing organizational strengths, as we lead executives and their teams to develop and implement plans that allow them to reach their strategic objectives.

In this Q&A we talk with Stephen Bacon, Service Delivery Manager for our Strategy Practice, and explore our strategy work in greater detail.

Tell us a little bit about the nature of work TGG focuses on within the Strategy Practice:

Strategy for us is about working to articulate our clients’ goals and then helping to articulate and organize a plan for them to get there. Sometimes clients might not know their goals, and sometimes they do. We help them discover the path and make recommendations.

Tell us about a recent engagement supporting a client initiative?

We helped a senior leader in a financial services organization articulate their long-term strategy for a product line. We helped them discover a different way to go to market and recognize the challenges of the industry. And by using their strengths to overcome those challenges and execute, they delivered a record financial year.

What are recent trends you see impacting businesses in the Strategy space?

There are unique economic factors at play right now. Since capital is abundant and interest rates are low, businesses can undertake a wide variety of initiatives. Deciding where to go and how to use their capital in the best way, for their organizations and shareholders, is going to be the main goal.

Tell us about one of your favorite projects your team has worked on:

We worked with a healthcare organization to learn about and recognize the impacts of an engaged workforce. The results of an engaged workforce result in a multitude of benefits like a sense of collegiality, more effective leadership of teams, and decision making processes that are inclusive and engage the whole workforce.

More about Stephen Bacon:
Stephen is passionate about understanding the overarching strategic goals of an organization and leading the changes that are so often necessary to implement those strategies. His expertise is guiding strategy and change efforts across a variety of organizations. Stephen has spent twenty years leading initiatives at Fortune 500 companies, academic institutions and not-for-profits in the education services, technology, financial services, consumer products, and healthcare industries, including extensive international experience. Stephen is a PROSCI Certified Change Practitioner, Certified Associate in Project Management (CAPM), holds a green belt in Six Sigma, and is accredited in various psychometric assessments (MBTI, ESCI, NBI). He holds a B.S. in Finance and Marketing from Boston College and an M.A. in Organizational Psychology from Columbia University. In addition to his service on not-for-profit boards, Stephen has three young children and a chocolate lab. He lives and works in Portland, Oregon.

TGG BOOK REVIEW – UPSTREAM

Over the past year, TGG consultant Josh Bathon has provided book reviews for The Project Management Institute of Portland. Throughout the summer and fall we will periodically share some of the reviews that previously appeared in the PMI-PDX newsletter.

Book: Upstream by Dan Heath

Much of what we do is planned out, driven by templates and schedules. We’re project managers: careful planners, skilled organizers, disciplined doers. However, no amount of planning can solve for everything–problems creep into our projects no matter what we do. Good examples include chronic last-minute change requests, hectic go-lives, scheduling conflicts, unforeseen emergencies and unexpected long-term stabilization escalations. Even the best-planned projects will experience pain points.

That is where Dan Heath’s book Upstream comes in. The book asks a key question: how many of our problems could we solve before they even happen? Reacting to issues is necessary, but preventing them by upstream intervention is even more valuable. Upstream provides a number of questions, barriers, approaches, and case studies that encourage us to think about problems differently. Here are a few of my favorite concepts and applications from the book:

Barrier – Tunneling – The problem arises, escalations occur and everyone scrambles to fix it. But once the fire is out, it is rare for the team to stick around and ask, “How do we prevent this from happening again?” Instead, we simply move from problem to problem with tunnel vision, never addressing root causes in the system. Moving beyond this barrier is key to upstream thinking.

Approach – Unite the Right People – The ones reacting to a problem aren’t necessarily the right people to change the system. Take the example of a scrum team that experiences a periodic loss of velocity. Once a quarter, a request from the executive team forces 3 of your developers to stop their work and spend time updating reports. This extra work causes a delay in feature releases. You can’t solve the issue of your developers’ productivity by asking the developers to make a change–solving this problem requires the involvement of the leaders who are making the request. By bringing the right people to the table, you can understand the reasons for the last minute requests and try to plan ahead.

Approach – Use the Right Measures – Any single metric can be abused. At a previous company I worked for, the corporate office decided they needed better visibility into our project spending. They required that any proposal above $5M be routed to Corporate for several months additional review. Within a year, every strategic initiative in my region had been broken up into several smaller projects with budgets under $5M, resulting in an enormous overall loss of efficiency. Upstream suggests a simple fix: pair multiple measures together, to prevent people from gaming your metrics and demonstrating a false indication of success.

Project managers spend a lot of their time scrambling to solve problems. Excellent project managers know how to solve problems before they materialize. Upstream is a solid read for the project manager looking to improve their approach.

CELEBRATING 10 YEARS
OF CLIENT SERVICE

The Gunter Group is kicking off our 10 Year Anniversary celebration, and will commemorate a decade of serving clients throughout the summer of 2021. As part of the celebration we will share videos, and historical photos and moments, as well as content that highlights the meaningful work and insights for which we have become known over the past 10 years.

Since our inception, The Gunter Group has taken great pride in providing consulting services to a broad range of organizations spanning Fortune 100 companies to locally-based businesses. We look forward to commemorating the past decade of relationships and service with our clients and consultants.

Founded in 2011, in Portland, OR, The Gunter Group features an experienced team of consultants serving clients across a variety of industries in the Pacific Northwest and Western regions. The Gunter Group currently employs a team of 55 consultants with office hubs in Portland, OR and Reno, NV. The firm has been named one of the “best companies to work for” in Oregon by Oregon Business Magazine for seven consecutive years and named one of the “best small firms to work for” by Consulting Magazine two years in a row.

TGG RECEIVES PORTLAND BUSINESS JOURNAL AWARDS

We’re excited to share that The Gunter Group received recognition as one of the Largest Women-Owned Businesses in Oregon & SW Washington by the Portland Business Journal.

Managing Partner, Ashleigh Gunter, remarked that “it is an honor” to have been recognized and expressed that “we are proud to be a company where strong female leadership is valued and respected.”

“We have built a firm where all of our employees feel engaged and that is one of my proudest achievements”, reflected Ashleigh.

In addition, The Gunter Group, which represents one of the Largest Consulting Firms in the Portland Metropolitan area, was also the recipient of a Corporate Philanthropy Award by Portland Business Journal for contributions to Oregon & SW Washington nonprofits.

The award candidates’ philanthropic impact was evaluated based on the cash and in-kind donations made in 2019, as well as employee volunteer or pro bono hours contributed to support local non-profit organizations.

“Supporting nonprofits is something very close to the heart of Ashleigh Gunter [Managing Partner] and we will continue to make it a top priority for our team” explains Mike Gunter, Founding Partner of The Gunter Group.

The Gunter Group is a management consulting firm headquartered in Oregon, serving the west coast with offices in Portland and Bend, Oregon, and Reno, Nevada. Learn more about us and the services we offer here.

TGG RANKED AS #5 BEST SMALL FIRM TO WORK FOR IN THE NATION BY CONSULTING MAGAZINE

We are excited to announce that The Gunter Group was recognized as Consulting Magazine’s #5 “Best Small Firm to Work For” in the nation.

The rankings were based on an annual survey of over 12,000 consultants, representing approximately 300 firms nationwide, ultimately selecting only 20 small firms to be recognized. Award candidates were evaluated across six different categories of employee satisfaction including, client engagement, firm culture, firm leadership, career development, work/life balance, along with compensation and benefits.

Senior Consultant, Jim Calko, acknowledges that “it’s great to be recognized, but in many ways, our team (and clients) have known that this is a pretty special company.” He goes on to say that “from leadership on down, we have genuinely good people who care about each other, care about our clients, and care about doing the right thing.” According to Jim, “this is what drives everything from our culture through delivery.”

As a new member of The Gunter Group (TGG), Yoonjung Lee remarks that the Consulting Magazine award “makes it just that much more exciting to be a part of the company.” She shared that she “has already heard so many great things from team members who say they really enjoy working here, and the external recognition certainly lends credence to their reviews!”

“This recognition from Consulting Magazine is well deserved for reasons too many to number”, admires Nate Ferguson, a TGG consultant. Nate attributes the firm’s “thoughtfulness and deliberate decision making as key characteristics that directly impact increased client engagement, sustained employee satisfaction, and a thriving culture.” It was these distinctions, he explains, that drew him initially to join the firm earlier this year, and those which he is pleased to see “lived out on a daily basis” at The Gunter Group.

Despite the significant challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic, Nate observes, “Mike [Gunter], Ashleigh [Gunter], and the leadership team’s proactive, pragmatic, and vulnerable approach” has inspired a “positive outlook on the things to come for TGG.”

Learn more about TGG’s ranking in Consulting Magazine.

SALESFORCE: HOW TO GET THE MOST OUT OF YOUR CRM PLATFORM

As someone who enjoys traveling the world and has gained experience communicating with people from many different cultures, communication in corporate environments is no problem for Angela Tekulve.

For more than 15 years, Angela has been working in business analysis and systems improvement. Recently, she has been helping companies get the most out of the industry-leading CRM, Salesforce. We sat down with Angela to talk about this experience.

We started with the basics. What is Salesforce and why is it critical for how organizations do business today?

Short answer: Essentially it’s an application that gives users a shared view of its customers and potential customers. Salesforce is a scalable platform–organizations can do everything from automated marketing to customer support to billing and invoicing with applications built on the platform. Most companies enter Salesforce through buying Sales cloud, which helps sellers track their prospects and leads, and then close deals. A lot of companies expand into the marketing automation realm, customer support, learning and development, etc.

How does Salesforce–or really any CRM–actually help drive business results?

A CRM gets your customer and prospect data out of spreadsheets or notepads and into a central repository. This has benefits. It can help you predict your sales, understand why you lose deals, and help sales representatives focus their time on the most meaningful sales activities.

So it makes the sales process more efficient?

Yes, but not only that. It can increase quality too. A lot of companies use a CRM platform like Salesforce for their customer support function, so all of the notes around your customers live in one application.

So everyone can see it?

Exactly: all functional teams can access the information. So, often you will find that it facilitates better cross-functional communication because multiple user groups can communicate about one customer at the same time.

Salesforce has been around for a while…do organizations use it well?

Some do and some don’t–it depends on the organization. But eventually everyone falls behind in some way.

Do you see room for improvement?

Absolutely! As organizations grow and change, keeping Salesforce in sync can easily become an afterthought, especially where there is siloed communication between business users and system administrators.

How do they get out of sync?

A lot of organizations have their Salesforce administration in an IT Organization and the users of the tools are usually a Sales or Marketing team. The admin looks after the technical bits of the tool. If there isn’t frequent communication then they may feel like everything is working fine. Meanwhile the users are really frustrated because they feel like there are too many fields on the screen or they are being asked to enter useless information, etc.

It seems like it all comes down to communication.

Lack of communication leads to dissatisfaction, every time and for everyone.

What recommendations do you have for companies who have implemented Salesforce, but may not be using it to its full potential?

Listen to your users! Think through the parts of your business that have changed and tidy up the messy parts that aren’t working anymore. Also, try to take advantage of the new features that Salesforce pushes out in its regular releases.

What are the most common pitfalls you see where companies aren’t using Salesforce to its fullest potential?

Some of the more common pitfalls are overlooking end user input for the design and implementation of a CRM for the first time, investing in a CRM without a clear sales process or agreement between the various groups like Sales and Marketing, and running a powerful CRM like Salesforce without training the actual users.

What happens when these elements are overlooked?

Ultimately? Lost resources and missed opportunities. Organizations can spend so much time and money on defining requirements and configuring the tool for go-live. However, without a plan for post-go-live support and training, an organization won’t fully realize the benefits of the tool.

It almost sounds like problems with the tool are actually problems with the organization…

I’m a business process person at heart. I fundamentally believe that tools like Salesforce work best when the end-to-end business process has been fully thought out, ownership and accountabilities are clear, and there is a compelling narrative for how the tool will help achieve broader strategic goals.

And that doesn’t always happen?

Of course not! So where this forethought doesn’t exist, I enjoy putting the pieces of the puzzle together. Communication between business groups can be hard, but I enjoy helping people talk to one another.

What’s your approach for putting the pieces together? Especially when working with people who are afraid of the change that might be necessary for maximizing the use of a tool like Salesforce?

Listen, be empathetic, and put yourself in their shoes. Once you understand where they are coming from, you can talk to them about how the tool is going to make their life easier. If it’s a tool that you believe in (which, in the case of Salesforce, I do), then usually it will make things easier! All I do is ask them to come along with me and trust that it’s going to make their lives better.

Angela is an experienced management consultant with over 15 years of experience in business analysis, project management, systems implementation and quality improvement. She loves the ambiguous and changing nature of complex projects and has a proven track record of developing the systems, processes, and tools necessary to make the complex simpler. Angela’s open, collaborative working style and can-do attitude fosters team building and cross-functional communication. Angela has deep expertise in leading large global projects for Fortune 500 companies with locations across North America, South America, and Europe. She holds both a Bachelors in finance and biology from the University of Georgia and is a certified Project Management Professional (PMP). Angela is a travel junkie and in her spare time enjoys globetrotting to some faraway locale.

PEOPLE PRACTICE Q&A WITH KARA O’CONNOR