INTRODUCTION TO OUR NON-NEGOTIABLES

At The Gunter Group, the leadership traits and characteristics that define us are our Non-Negotiables: Collaborative, Integrity, Intellectual Curiosity, Thrives in Ambiguity, Emotional Intelligence, and Grounded Confidence. These traits and characteristics guide us every day in our interactions with clients, each other, and our community.

Our Non-Negotiables are the foundation upon which we built our business. They provide the framework for how we hold ourselves accountable in our work and relationships. These six Non-Negotiables represent the leadership traits and characteristics we seek out and expect from each member of our team.

At TGG, we believe in the value of diverse experiences and often hire consultants from non-traditional backgrounds. Despite our different experiences, we find commonality through our Non-Negotiables. Growing our firm with people who have the ability and commitment to being adaptable, constantly learning, and acting with a strong moral compass, is more valuable to us than hiring people based on their years of consulting experience. We surround ourselves with people who lead with intention, not only within our team, but with our clients.

Our Non-Negotiables define how we show up with our clients. We build relationships by working together to understand and solve problems. By listening, asking questions and immersing ourselves in our surroundings, we can adjust our approach to fit our clients’ working environments. But our Non-Negotiables are always there to guide us. We are persistent and go above and beyond to understand our clients’ businesses to find the right solutions. We always act in the best interest of our clients and are unafraid to ask the tough questions.

Over the next few months, we are introducing a blog series where our consultants will be sharing their perspectives on each of our six Non-Negotiables; how these traits and characteristics are translated within our company and applied to client engagements. We look forward to sharing more about our firm culture with our clients and our community.

TGG SPONSORED AGILE PDX EVENT – JOHARI WINDOW, WHAT’S THAT? DO I NEED ONE?

We hope you will join us for May’s event to learn about how to use the Johari window to help teams connect on a deeper level without oversharing.

RSVP here: Johari Window, what’s that? Do I need one?

Wednesday, May 15, 2019
6:30PM – 8:00PM
Puppet Labs, 5th Floor
308 SW 2nd Ave
Portland, OR 97204

Details about the event:

One of the keys to effectiveness is to know yourself and show yourself the Goldilocks amount. How do you avoid TMI (Too Much Information)? And, at the other end of the spectrum, how do you keep from being too reserved to share much of anything with other people?

If you know yourself well enough, you can share relevant information to improve communication and connect with others. And the more expert communicators you have on your team, the more potential you have to build trust in a professional way.

One tool to help you on this journey is the Johari Window. Created by psychologists Joseph Luft (1916–2014) and Harrington Ingham (1916–1995) in 1955, the Johari Window helps people understand what they show and what they hide from the world; what they don’t see and what they don’t even know about themselves.

Neal first learned about the Johari Window in one of his leadership training sessions, and it piqued his interest as a facilitation tool. We are excited to have Neal share his insights about how to use the Johari window to help teams connect on a deeper level without oversharing. And for those interested, we’ll have an opportunity for hands-on exercises.

Speaker Bio:

Neal Peterson is a business consultant who helps businesses utilize the full capacity of their systems and processes. His goal is to enable businesses and people to do more with less, more efficiently and effectively. As a certified Project Management Professional (PMP), Six Sigma Lean Black Belt Professional (LBBP), and self taught agile coach, he collaborates across the functional departments of an organization to enable continuous measurable improvement of end to end value chain processes. He has done this for companies in the healthcare, financial services, retail, government, software, semi-conductor, transportation, shipping, and manufacturing industries. He seeks to share the agile mindset with others in the community via conversations and facilitated sessions that enable learning in a collaborative environment.

In case you missed our previous posts, Agile PDX is a large organization of Agile practitioners among the greater Portland metropolitan area. Their vision is to see Portland as a world-class leader in software development. Their vision is to see Portland as a world-class leader in software development, defining “world-class” as profitable, sustainable, and joyful. Their mission is to work together to create a vibrant, successful Agile community of practice in Portland, sharing experiences, distilled wisdom, and innovative ideas for Agile done well.

Their regularly held meetings are as follows and more information can be found on their Meetup page:

Downtown Pub Lunch: 12:00PM – 1:00PM on the first Friday of the month.

Westside Cafe Lunch: 12:00PM – 1:00PM on the fourth Friday of the month.

Downtown Evening Events: Third Wednesday of the month at Puppet Labs: Doors open at 6:30PM, main event starts at 7:00PM and usually runs to 8:00PM, out of the building by 8:30PM.

We will announce each TGG sponsored event as they are posted, so please check back for updates! Mark your calendars now for May 15th and we hope to see you there!

TGG SPONSORED AGILE PDX EVENT – ALIGNING YOUR TEAM…BEYOND PRE-DEFINED ROLES

We hope you will join us for April’s event to learn about some areas to be aware of, that we can sometimes overlook, or be completely blind to when we start a project that is agile, waterfall, or hybrid as well as avenues for addressing these oversights to empower you and your team.

RSVP here: Aligning Your Team…Beyond Pre-Defined Roles

Wednesday, April 17, 2019
6:30PM – 8:00PM
Puppet Labs, 5th Floor
308 SW 2nd Ave
Portland, OR 97204

Details about the event:

Some Agile methodologies prescribe roles within a team. Then why can it be so hard some times to get a team aligned and firing on all cylinders throughout the course of all sprints? This presentation will call out some areas to be aware of, that we can sometimes overlook, or be completely blind to when we start a project that is agile, waterfall, or hybrid. We will then look at avenues to address these oversights to empower you and your team to better see and address how you can improve your team’s effectiveness in building deliverables, your organization, and individual team members.

Speaker Bio:

Kip Davis is the Principal at Deal With The Gap LLC. He has 25+ years professional experience in and across multiple functions from software & hardware support to Director of Marketing to PMO Manager, to Product Manager, and CRM Administrator, among others. He has helped set up and manage Programs, PMOs and Portfolios. He’s utilized agile, hybrid, and waterfall methodologies as manager, consultant, contractor, and employee. He is a life-long learner and has an MBA degree, with applicable certifications of Project Management Professional (PMP), Certified ScrumMaster (CSM), Prosci Change Practitioner, Illumeo Organization Development Certification, and Certified Business Architect (CBA). Through extensive research and experience he has considered and conceptually combined and bridged several relevant industry models and methodologies and established an alignment framework which he uses to help individuals and organizations understand where they are in relation to their desired outcomes, and what options they can take or create to better accomplish their goals.

Their regularly held meetings are as follows and more information can be found on their Meetup page:

Downtown Pub Lunch: 12:00PM – 1:00PM on the first Friday of the month.

Westside Cafe Lunch: 12:00PM – 1:00PM on the fourth Friday of the month.

Downtown Evening Events: Third Wednesday of the month at Puppet Labs: Doors open at 6:30PM, main event starts at 7:00PM and usually runs to 8:00PM, out of the building by 8:30PM.

We will announce each TGG sponsored event as they are posted, so please check back for updates! Mark your calendars now for April 17th and we hope to see you there!

TGG SPONSORED AGILE PDX EVENT – AGILE UNBOUNDED: RE-IMAGINING EDUCATION

We hope you will join us for March’s event to learn about the impacts of taking agile mindsets, skillsets, and toolsets from our agile community and partnering with a school district to re-imagine education.

RSVP here: Agile Unbounded: re-imagining education

Wednesday, March 20, 2019
6:30PM – 8:00PM
Puppet Labs, 5th Floor
308 SW 2nd Ave
Portland, OR 97204

Details about the event:

While our tech-based companies are struggling to find the talent needed to grow a new creative economy, our schools are still stuck in a 100-year-old model that was designed to produce workers for an industrial age. Students desperately want to be a part of the future but many are struggling to understand why they are even showing up to school each day. Here in Oregon, we have the second worst graduation rate in the entire country. Some would joke that we are the Mississippi of the West, except that Mississippi now has a higher graduation rate.

Four years ago Innovate Oregon launched The Dayton Experiment, in Dayton Oregon, a rural community in Yamhill County where two-thirds of the students live in poverty and a third of the students are Hispanic.

This experiment explored what might happen if you took the agile mindsets, skillsets, and toolsets from our agile community and partnered with a school district to re-imagine education. Might it be possible for an entire school district to transform from a traditional teaching institution into a dynamic learning organization, one that unleashes the creative genius of their students?

Today, Dayton has a 97% graduation rate and recently sent a student design team to be showcased at MIT. It is inspiring agile cultural transformations in districts throughout the entire state.

Thompson will be sharing the story of this journey and lessons that have been learned when bringing agile to a complex ecosystem. These lessons have direct implications for companies seeking to scale agile within their organizations.

Speaker Bio:

Thompson Morrison is the Founder and Chief Evangelist for Innovate Oregon, originally a strategic initiative of the TAO Foundation. For 15 years he ran a software company whose development teams embraced agile practices. He was on the Board of the TAO and chaired their strategy committee that led the transformation of the organization from its earlier manifestation as the SAO. He led the team from the TAO and PDC that developed a community-based economic development strategy for the software industry. He was a founding board member of the STEM Investment Council and co-authored Oregon’s STEM Investment Plan. He is also the co-founder of both TaborSpace and the Rosewood Initiative.

Their regularly held meetings are as follows and more information can be found on their Meetup page:

Downtown Pub Lunch: 12:00PM – 1:00PM on the first Friday of the month.

Westside Cafe Lunch: 12:00PM – 1:00PM on the fourth Friday of the month.

Downtown Evening Events: Third Wednesday of the month at Puppet Labs: Doors open at 6:30PM, main event starts at 7:00PM and usually runs to 8:00PM, out of the building by 8:30PM.

We will announce each TGG sponsored event as they are posted, so please check back for updates! Mark your calendars now for March 20th and we hope to see you there!

TGG REVEALS NEW WEBSITE AND LOGO

We have exciting news to share — The Gunter Group has a new look!

To kick off 2019, we revealed our new website and logo! Refreshing the TGG brand was a conscious decision to better align our brand and website with the work we do every day as a firm. The launch gives us a much more effective way to present ourselves to current and potential clients as well as to potential candidates. In addition to laying the foundation for growth into new markets, we’ve revitalized our brand to reflect our capabilities as a management consulting firm. Learn more about what we do here.

“We’re so excited to introduce a new brand that symbolizes our connection to our clients in a very tangible way,” said Mike Gunter, founding partner. “We are continuing to grow to meet our clients’ needs, provide exceptional opportunities for our consultants, and build our communities in the best possible way,” added partner Ashleigh Gunter.

Check out the full press release announcing TGG’s website launch and logo reveal on OregonBusiness.Com.