Services and Expertise
"Some men see things as they are and say, "Why?" I dream of things that never were and say, "Why not?" George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950)
This aphorism, which constitutes our vision, may be restated as: Bridge the gap -- between what is, and what could be! Services to help bridge the gap are three:
1) Strategy Star Audits
2) Strategy Executive Coaching
3) Enterprise Competency Centers
The details of these services are presented in section I.
Section II introduces our expertise, the very first step of which is the setting of SMART* goals, as explained therein. The sections are extensive, especially Negotiation Strategy with five subpages (e.g. "The Power of No!"), Start-up (EBO) Strategy with six subpages (e.g. "Don´t Buy This Business!") and 36 Tools & Techniques, which presents the principal ones of strategy over a sixty-year period from 1950 to 2010.
I. SERVICES
1) The Strategy Star Audit
This is a ninety minute one-on-one meeting at the Bridges offices – or a telephone (also conference) call – where you ask -- and are asked -- questions related to your company´s strategy. Die Unterredung über die strategische Unternehmungsführung bzw. auch über die (internationale) Vertriebstaktik kann entweder in der englischen oder der deutschen Sprache geführt werden. Strategy Star is a reference to the BCG "cash cow, dog, question mark, star" matrix. The audit is to help shift your business or sbu into, or higher in, the star quadrant.
N.B. Only two Strategy Star Audits per month are offered. This audit is not for the CEO or entrepreneur who merely wishes to "kick the tires.” It is intended for decision makers oriented towards high impact change, in accordance with the mission of Bridges: co-achieve strategically driven business growth.
How this works
You submit a list of strategic issues you wish to discuss with an agenda. This list allows Bridges to prepare for the one and a half hour meeting (or call). Some clients may prefer to have two 45 minute sessions. For instance, in the first session strategy formation could be considered, in the second session, its implementation. If the focus were on implementation, the first session could be about leading transformation, the second about the associated (internal and external) negotiations. Naturally other subject wishes can be accommodated, as well as agenda changes in the course of the meeting. A date and a time are set and we meet or call then. For suggestions on formulating the issues, see the subpage “Power Strategy Audit” on the menu at the right.
What is your investment?
Your investment is 500€ for the ninety minutes. Just one action taken as a result can easily generate 10 times the fee remitted.
Schedule
We look forward to hearing from you!
2) Strategy Executive Coaching
Executive coaching on a performance basis (outcome based billing), limited to one client per industry, is offered for corporate and marketing strategy, as well as for the negotiations implicit to realizing the strategy. The Q-methodology reflects a wide range of tools and techniques. Q represents, unter alia, Questioning (the basis of the coaching) and Quorum (tailored to the specific needs of the leadership team).
For details about how we work with clients, see "Client Selection, Coaching Plan and Fee Structure" at About Us. To learn more about our strategy approach, which is our core competency, please begin with "The Q-Ship Odyssey" on its subpage.
For a brief overview of the firm (just half-a-dozen slides for those who prefer them), click on Bridges PPT. We interpret "to coach" as meaning "to co-achieve." Naturally we have an acronym for achieve:
Assess where you are (the reality check)
Consider where you want to be (the impossible dream)
Have ambitious goals
Innovate
Evangelize
Validate & Verify
Excellence to Enhance profitable performance
3) Bridges Enterprise Centers
As we expand to other cities, we plan to open Enterprise Centers. These are intended as competency centers for Emerging Business Opportunities (EBOs) and start-ups. Each Enterprise Center would have a location (and intranet site) for Entrepreneurs and for Presidents of EBO companies ("Intrapreneurs") in that region.
Dual-track monthly meetings are envisioned. The first track would feature a speaker or trainer, whose presentation would be recorded for a future webinar. After that part ended, the second tract would consist of the members continuing in a private session. At it issues of concern to individual members could be brought to the table for a mutual peer group "coaching" session, moderated by Bridges. The membership fee would include access to the webinars should one be unable to attend a monthly meeting.
II. EXPERTISE
Our areas of expertise reflect different facets of strategy: its formation, tactics and execution. These are elaborated upon in the subpages beginning with "The Q-Ship Odyssey," which also explains the heavily armed merchant "Q-ships." We set sail to our destination on a "Q-ship." Its cargo is made up of various tools and techniques, common to which is the asking of questions. Deciding which questions to focus on depends on a Socratic mix of art and science. Often the very first coaching challenges are to determine the destination and to measure the gaps that need to be crossed to reach it.
Bridge the gap -- between what is, and what could be!
In other words, the first step is to determine one´s goals. "It´s hard to get there from here if you don´t have a destination." Goals should be SMART:*
Specific Strategic - goals should generate
Measurable Momentum - and include several
Achievable Alternatives - as well as negotiating
Realistic Reconciliation - of differences with
Timely Tenacious - monitoring and follow-up.
Tools & Techniques
Bridges takes an eclectic approach. The leitmotiv (roter Faden) to it is asking the right questions. These can be couched in terms of a variety of different frameworks. Such frameworks range from a basic SWOT analysis to a complicated Vasconcellos Analysis with Lorenz curves and Gini coefficients. The different frameworks are briefly explained at the subpage "36 Tools & Techniques."
Two Caveats
1) Expertise in of itself is useless, can even be pernicious, if delivered at the wrong time or in the wrong way or to the wrong people. For Bridges coaches to subscribe to a common set of fundamental values is therefore important. These values are stated on the Mission, Vision and Ethic page. They are predicated on the Bridges interpretation of "to coach" as meaning "to co-achieve.”
Some coaches will have more experience in, say, a local niche market, others with global markets, some with brown goods and white goods, others with turnkey factories and capital equipment, and so on. Their common denominator will be a focus on strategy. Because Bridges only serves one client in an industry, coaches are free to discuss among themselves strategic issues which "cross-fertilize" one another.
When a consulting, coaching or legal firm serves companies that directly compete against one another, this type of shared experience and idea generation would violate client confidentiality. Therefore a Chinese wall is raised between members of the firm. This Chinese wall impedes synergy and hinders members of the service firm from learning from one another.
2) Information is power. Another Chinese wall is erected when information is to be hoarded, guarded and kept secret. This approach is certainly appropriate for some information, ranging from military secrets and planned acquisitions to protecting the confidential data on one’s client list. However in most cases real power comes not from information guarded, but from information shared. In that spirit we provide the content on this website.
* The acronym SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, Timely) was created by George T. Doran, 1981.
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