International FieldWorks

Registered Expert

International FieldWorks, Inc.

Email: C/O spk@mindsource.org

THE INTERNATIONAL FIELDWORKS DIFFERENCE

International FieldWorks, Inc. differs significantly from classical consulting organizations. These differences reflect in our approach to consulting projects. Classical consulting organizations consist of departments of or spin offs of the major accounting firms. Although these organizations possess vast resources, only a few key experts staff their consulting practices and a bevy of less experienced staff are directly involved in your project. This lack of experience is costly and seldom results in pivotal changes to an organization.

The second organizational type consists of a small, specialized staff of consultants who are employed in a broad practice and seldom have all the expertise individual projects require.

However, International FieldWorks has a broad base of over three hundred consultants federated under International FieldWorks, Inc. Our consultants are seasoned executives from Fortune 500 companies, Key Government Directors, and successful Entrepreneurs, who bring targeted experience and knowledge to projects.

This approach means International FieldWorks, can provide a surgically precise team of consultants with unparalleled expertise and experience to address known and anticipated issues. With the broad base to draw upon we can quickly react to unexpected issues or directional changes to the project. We match the skills, talents and experience of the consultants with the needs, and organizational culture, of the client and the project.

INTERNATIONAL FIELDWORKS

SERVICE AREAS

STRATEGIC PLANNING

Planning strategically is the first step to achieve the highest levels of operational and financial performance. Management-by-crisis will, in the end, prove costly in burnt-out employees, lost customers and lost opportunity. Our professionals assist you in taking the vision of the company and developing a usable, workable strategy that produces extraordinary results.

Executive retreats

Feasibility Studies

Board development

Mergers and acquisitions

Marketing strategy

Performance measurement

PROJECT MANAGEMENT

Successful implementation of a project depends on careful management. A project needs a well-thought out plan, a kick-off that is well orchestrated, frequent and knowledgeable monitoring, timely reporting of progress and leadership skills. Our professionals have many years of leading projects and can provide you the leadership necessary to power your projects.

IT projects

Sales

Operations

Budget management

INTERNATIONAL TRADE

Global competition has created an international marketplace that offers substantive and plentiful choices. Before expanding to another country, a complete international plan is necessary and will lead to a smooth implementation. This plan must take into account the national culture and how that affects issues of compensation; benefits; labor laws; hiring practices as well as compliance issues.

Firms re or co-locating to North America are also included in the international trade arena.

Relocation

Cultural integration

International HR/labor

Compliance

BUSINESS PROCESS REDESIGN

Are all departments and/or functional areas operating effectively? Are profit ratios lower than expected? Has growth exceeded planning and are people tripping over each other? Are the same tasks being done repetitively? These are just a few of the issues can be resolved with Reengineering. Any or all of the following may be included:

Accountability Audits

Benchmarking

Workflow analysis

Process Mapping and redesign

Metrics

Model development

Cross-functional teams

Implementation

Training on new processes and tasks

Best Practices

Documentation

Continuous Improvement

MANUFACTURING

Is productivity as good as it could be? Does quality drop as productivity rises? Is your re-work/return ratio too high? Are you making every dollar possible in your manufacturing environment? Are your customers demanding a specific quality certification such as ISO 9000? Our manufacturing specialists have saved thousands of hours and millions of dollars by resolving these issues.

ISO 9000

Six Sigma

Factory Floor design

Workflow design

Inventory control

Balanced Scorecard

Benchmarking

Total Quality Management (TQM)

Lean Manufacturing

Just in Time (JIT)

Statistical Process Control (SPC)

Continuous Improvement

NOT-FOR-PROFIT

"Profits" go to the people and projects for which the organization is set up rather than to shareholders. A not-for-profit organization, however, should be run with similar best practices as a for-profit business. Operations need to be cost effective and designed with the "customer" in mind; Fundraising is based on a sound marketing strategy and plan. At International FieldWorks we have helped client organizations put millions of dollars more into their projects. Services include:

Strategic Planning

Restructuring

Organizational Structure

Organizational Development

Strategic Planning

Process Improvement

Information Systems Analysis and Design

Marketing

Board DevelopmentGrant Writing

Public Relations

Training and Development

MARKETING – PRODUCT INTRODUCTION – CALL CENTERS

For your sales team to be effective, it is first necessary to do your corporate "homework": marketing. What product(s)? what market segment(s)? How do you get the word out? How can you capitalize on the success of product "A"? Our professionals have proven track records of developing products and markets that are profitable.

What has your customer done for you lately? With a Customer Relationship Management system, you will know who and where your most profitable customers are, and can target future marketing programs to them and other similar prospective customers. Your best prospect is an existing customer.

Designing and managing a call center – whether inbound or outbound, for customer service or sales, is complex and can be the difference that makes or breaks a company. Our experts have many years experience both with the technical equipment and also the strategic and management issues of running an effective and profitable call center.

Marketing Strategy

Market positioning

Market segmentation

Feasibility Studies

Advertising

Public Relations

Marketing communications

Brand Expansion

Call center design and management

Customer Retention programs

Media Relations

Special Events

Licensing

Sales support materials

Direct Marketing

Fulfillment

MARKET RESEARCH

A product is only a winner if the market agrees, and buys it. Our market research specialists can test the market for your product or service and identify market(s) for your product or service as well as identify competition. Are you listening to your customers? There may be other products or services you could provide to your market, or better ways to serve them. Developing an ongoing feedback mechanism with your customers can reap great rewards in customer retention and increased revenues. Our services in this area include:

Market intelligence

Feasibility Studies

Competitive intelligence

Customer Surveys

INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

Whether business-to-business or consumer based, e-commerce is growing. Knowing when and how to enter this market and what you need to make the investment worthwhile takes specific expertise. International FieldWorks has consultants who can help you develop a strategy, an action plan and facilitate the implementation of your entry into this market.

Knowing who your customers are, which are the most profitable, and how to manage your customer database is essential to growth. The right system and software for your organization is essential. Our consultants have a broad depth of knowledge that will assist you in purchasing and implementing the tools that will best support your objectives.

E-commerce

Internet strategies

Database development

Project management

Customer relationship management (CRM)

Systems Analysis and Design

Sales automation

Web design

User documentation

Data warehousing

Disaster Relief Planning

Data mining

TURNAROUNDS

Turning troubled companies into profitable companies by placing our consultants in interim executive positions and when applicable, exploring the feasibility of merging the company with another.

Mergers and acquisitions

Interim executives (CEO, CFO, COO, CIO)

FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT

A well-run finance department can be key to a profitable and effective company or organization. Our consultants have experience reorganizing finance departments, reducing costs and removing barriers to increased revenues; we also have accountants and CPA’s who can provide analysis and modeling to support your strategic planning efforts.

Financial analysis

Benchmarking

Forecasting models

Cost Analysis

Credit and Collections systems design

Mergers and acquisitions

Inventory Control

Purchasing/Procurement

Feasibility Studies

HUMAN RESOURCES

The maximization of profits demands that management capitalize on employee innovation and knowledge. Change, to yield lasting benefits, must be carefully managed. This is best accomplished with an integrated approach to restructuring that addresses the human factor; dealing with such issues as employees’ anxiety about layoffs and new procedures, new skills that are needed and how to evaluate performance. Our consultants are professionals with proven track records in all aspects of managing the most vital resource of a company: the human resource.

Organization Development

Compensation programs

Training

Coaching

Recruiting process design and management

Mergers and acquisitions

Change Management

Conflict Resolution

TRAINING AND DEVELOPMENT

As the market and the corporate environment change due to mergers, downsizing, and runaway growth, new skills are needed to meet the new demands. From the boardroom to the front line. We have skilled consultants who can coach one executive or train hundreds of telemarketers; build effective teams and strategic-thinking leaders. Our programs include:

Leadership Programs

Executive retreats

Project management

Effective meetings

Management Development Literacy

Supervisory skills

Executive coaching

Staff Development

Sales training

Teambuilding

Skills development

Skills analysis

Cost/Benefit analysis

Communications

Customer service programs

Industries Served by International FieldWorks

Aerospace

Automobile

Biomed

Consumer Credit

Consumer Products

Direct Relief

Distribution

Entertainment

Financial Services

Food Processing

Government Agencies

Healthcare

Health and Beauty Aids

Health and Fitness

Hi Tech

Hospitality

Insurance

Manufacturing

Media

Nutraceuticals

Not-For-Profit

Oil, Gas and Utilities

Pharmaceuticals

Publishing

Real Estate Development

Retail

Software Development

Sporting Goods

Telecommunications

Travel

Typical Results

Here is what we do for our clients - we focus on maximizing integrated results. Because it works. It works in increased satisfaction and loyalty of employees and customers, and produces reduced costs, increased revenues, enhanced morale and higher productivity. Actual examples of measurable benefits:

Improvement in response time to customer requests: 100%

Increased customer retention of 10 - 15%

Sales increased 15 - 35%

Bad debt reduced 10-20%

Productivity increased 40-60%

Costs reduced 10-25% and…

Savings up to $11 million

Our Clients Say. . .

"We have had lots of consulting companies give us reports and talk about what needs to be done. International FieldWorks gets the job done. You have shown us that implementation is the most important part." ~Ken Von Rohr, Sr. Div. Dir.

"Recognizing that the contract language does not define a "day" in terms of hours, it is important to acknowledge there have been several days in which our organization has benefited from consultant services during "12-hour days".

Speaking for the team, we have learned a great deal about commitment to process, application of BPR methodologies, assumption busting, team dynamics, and the formulation of recommendations based on "factual" metrics and cost-benefit analysis. The investment in "team ownership of the process", combined with the didactic approach employed by FieldWorks, will continue to offer added-value to the organization during the implementation phase and for months to come." ~Steve Yust, Project Leader

"The work being done has made it possible for what would have taken a year to complete, to be done in two months." ~Jeff Wright, CFO

"I wanted better communications throughout the company, clearer and improved project management and an organizational structure that works. They were all accomplished. I am very satisfied." ~Murray Jacobs, CEO

"The key indicators are really the key to everything. With them, you know where to look for problems and for congratulations. I can’t understand how any manager can live without them." ~Ed Hannibal, Senior Vice President

"Thanks for giving us what I hope will be a lasting new direction."
~Joan Milke Flores, Los Angeles City Councilwoman

"As can be seen by the results, working with you was effective. After 13 years I still pick up the binder and get inspired." ~Ruth Taylor Kilday, Executive Director

"Being on this team and working with you has been like getting an advanced degree in business." ~Ross Hawkins, Credit Manager

Representative Client List

American Airlines

Animatronics, Inc.

Barlow Hospital

Building Trades Credit Union

Cambridge Computers Ltd.

Century 21 Val Realty

Children’s Center of the Antelope Valley

City and County of Los Angeles

City of Pasadena

Citysearch

Consumer Credit Counseling Service of Los Angeles

Compton Community College

County of Santa Barbara

Daily News

The Walt Disney Company

Edison International

Fremont Indemnity Insurance Company

D. Garvey, Inc.

General Electric

The Hearst Corporation

Interguild Federal Credit Union

The Internal Revenue Service

Jason Natural Cosmetics

Kaiser Permanente

Litton Industries

Los Angeles Times

MediaOne, Inc.

Mountains Conservancy Foundation

Phoenix Newspapers

RxDispense.com

San Francisco Newspaper Agency

The Kitchen Warehouse

Thomas Bros Maps

TRW, Inc.

WorldView Travel, Inc.

World Vision, Inc.

Our Mission --

"To help companies maximize integrated results as a focus of developing their business."

Our mission was developed from the knowledge that integration is critical to increase profits.

Satisfied customers are essential for the growth of a business

Satisfied employees are needed to produce the satisfied customers

Effective and appropriate processes are needed to satisfy both the employees and the customers

Reduced costs are the result of both the effective and appropriate processes and the satisfied employees

The more integrated, communicative, and cross-functional an organization is in today's environment, the quicker they are able to respond to rapidly evolving external influences in the market and the economy.

Our Approach --

We facilitate the redesign, implementation and perpetuation of processes and practices that decrease employee attrition while improving customer satisfaction and retention.

We identify the root cause of the problem. Often what is seen is merely the tip of the iceberg. By uncovering the total problem, a more effective solution is produced and perpetuation of results can be achieved.

We custom design programs, working within and across departmental boundaries and traditional lines of authority. We balance financial improvement with the necessity to acknowledge cultural influences that exist within each organization. We create positive change with the development of management and staff.

Almost a quarter century of experience with organizations of varying size and makeup, from Fortune 100 companies to individual entrepreneurs, in the public and private sectors, profit and non-profit ventures, in the United States and throughout the world, International FieldWorks brings you knowledge, excellence, commitment and dedication to assist you in maximizing results.
CASE STUDIES

Finance Department - Operational Improvement Project

The objectives of the project were to analyze and redesign the Finance Department infrastructure to:

Provide improved service for internal and external customers

Improve resource utilization

Provide management with a viable reporting and communication structure

Benefits Realized Include:

50%+ productivity improvements

Service improvements including reduction in time and elimination of redundancies and inaccuracies

Elimination of redundant and excessive reports

Tools for the management of Performance, quality and service implemented

Improved internal customer service to other departments

A perpetuation process in place ensuring continuous improvement

Purchasing Department - Operational Improvement Project

The objectives of the project were to:

Centralize purchasing, reduce costs through economies of scale

Redesign the structure of the purchasing department

Design and implement an inventory management system

Benefits Realized Include:

Consistent buying practices throughout the company

Improved purchasing department’s internal customer service

All departments have more accurate cost data for budget development

A perpetuation process in place ensuring continuous improvement

Considerable savings for the company

Desktop Publishing Department – Feasibility Study and Operational Improvement Project

The objectives of the project were to identify the feasibility of the options for the department:

Outsource the whole department

Outsource part of the department

Keep the department status quo

Benefits Realized Include:

An alternative option that allowed for the expertise and knowledge of the organization to be utilized

Under-utilized staff in other departments were trained and able to carry more of their department’s load

Identification of the need for a separate Translation Department

Realignment of work within the department

Savings to the organization: over $400,000 per year

Feasibility Study of Five Production Departments and Operational Improvement Project

The objectives of this project were to:

Identify areas of overlap in the departments and eliminate the redundancy

Identify opportunity for productivity improvement

Benefits Realized Include:

Elimination of two production areas

Streamlining of workflows and processes which increased productivity

Elimination of unnecessary tasks

Elimination of redundancy of work

Savings to the organization: over $300,000 per year

Profiles of the Principals

BARRY ALLEN

Barry Allen is the C.E.O. and Visionary of International FieldWorks, Inc.. His specialty is in business management, law and technology. Barry’s background includes the startup, turnaround and management of businesses in Michigan and California. For many years he was the Deputy Director of Civil Defense in Southfield, Michigan, while owning, operating and building a multi-million dollar Physical and Electronic Security corporation.

Mr. Allen was the youngest Private Investigator in the state of Michigan, built his company from a startup to an enterprise with over a thousand employees, and was the first to computerize and to sell to his competitors. He designed industry-wide training and education programs, set up legislation and designed both workers compensation and liability insurance programs. Elected to the Michigan Private Investigators trade association, Barry created the first national trade association and became a lobbyist for the industry.

Barry managed a Los Angeles business talk radio station, designing marketing programs that built sales by 300% over a six-month period. He designed niche markets and methods to approach them for other media and is a sought after resource for editors and writers of the major news media in Southern California.

Barry has published many technical and business management articles and has been included as a reference in several books on networking, law, training and security. In Michigan he was Chairman of a Governors Task Force for Small Business and was a member of the Advisory Board of Los Angeles County Office of Small Business. He attended Wayne State University in Detroit and the Detroit College of Law.

PAULINE FIELD

Pauline Field, CPCM is C.O.O. and Alchemist of International FieldWorks, Inc. Prior to her position as COO, Pauline consulted for over sixteen years. Typical results of Ms. Field’s projects include an $11 million revenue increase after the redesign of an inbound call center; 25% unit productivity increase due to workflow redesign; inventory reductions resulting in nearly $1 million savings; bad debt reduction of 20%; 42 day response time reduced to same day with department redesign and up to 400% increase in profitability through improved systems and processes.

Pauline consulted major corporations, small companies and not-for-profit organizations in the U.S. and England. Prior to her career in consulting, Pauline spent several years in management in the legal, publishing and manufacturing fields and two years in high tech sales.

Pauline published numerous articles and audio tapes on business practices and management skills, and has appeared on both radio and television. Ms. Field was appointed Advisor to the Refocusing Committee of World Vision, Inc.

Ms. Field completed her undergraduate work at California State University, Northridge and post-graduate work at Cornell University in New York.

International FieldWorks Affiliations

Association for Strategic Planning

California Cable Association

CNNText Global Business Index

Institute of Management Consultants

Organizational Development Network

National Bureau of Professional Management Consultants

Project Management Institute

Society for Advancement of Management

The Pen Group

Seven Steps to Successful Strategic Planning

Does your organization have a strategic plan? Is it real or a figment of management’s imagination? Does it sound nice, but sit in a desk drawer somewhere having no effect whatsoever on day-to-day operations?

Are you ready to give up, or would you like to make your plan more useful?

Whether an organization will succeed or fail often hinges upon strategic planning. Consider this: IBM, General Electric, Xerox and Mazda all share three common factors - success, competent strategic planning, and viable organization policy. On the other hand, W.T. Grant, Minnie Pearl’s Fried Chicken, and Braniff Airlines, at the time of their demise or decline, possessed three common factors - failure, inadequate strategic management, and dysfunctional organizational policy.

In the short run, any organization with a strategic advantage can survive and even prosper, but in the long run only those organizations that practice sound strategic management will be able to grow and survive.

To give your strategic plan more power, develop the following seven-step process.

Step 1 - Develop your mission statement. A mission statement should provide the core reason for your organization’s existence - its purpose. Usually stated in broad terms, a mission statement should be a unifying point for all organizational activities and should describe the organization’s ideal. A mission statement is an image of a desired state of affairs that inspires action, determines behavior, and fuels motivation. For example, the mission of a school district might be: "to provide the citizens of this district with quality education programs and facilities that enable its students and graduates to excel in life, while at the same time, providing an environment for all district employees to enhance their skills."

Step 2 - Develop your values. Value statements back up and support your mission statement. They should provide a guide to decisions and embellish on the basic organizational beliefs. Looked at another way, value statements show what you hold near and dear. It is an integrity check, a way of life; it sets the tone for the organization and compels management decisions. An example of a value statement is "We will adhere to the highest standards of ethical conduct in everything we do and in all dealings with the customer, suppliers, and among our fellow work team members" (An aerospace Fortune 100 company).

Step 3 - Assess your situation - internally and externally. Assess the current situation inside your organization, locally and corporate-wide. Assess the external situation by studying your customers, competitors, the economy (locally and nationally), etc. Use the SWOT technique: Determine your organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats (challenges).

Step 4 - Develop your goals. Goal statements must be complementary to, and take off from, your mission and value statements. The goals in your strategic plan provide you with general direction and guidance for developing specific objectives and actions. An example of a goal statement is "To encourage and promote community participation in City Government at all levels" (Municipal government).

Step 5 - Develop your Objectives. Objectives are specific steps you must take to implement your strategy. An objective describes a result to be accomplished by a specific individual or team within a specific period of time. Describe results that have a positive effect on the bottom line or on the members of the organization and in ways that can be clearly measured. Objectives need to meet the following criteria:

A. Objectives should state explicitly, in writing, what is to be accomplished, by whom, and by when (what, who, when).

B. Objectives should be realistic with respect to the abilities and the potential of the people involved and to the environment in which the objectives will be met.

C. Objectives must carry built-in evaluation. They must be stated in measurable terms. For example, a school district’s goal might be to improve the academic environment and to enhance options for the students. An objective of this goal would be: "Add a course in Advanced Composition and Advanced Spanish to the curriculum by September 1997 (Action: High School Principal)." Note the agreement between the goal and objective and how the objective is stated in terms of what, who, and when.

Step 6 - Develop an implementation plan. Implementation is where most organizations fail in doing their strategic planning. Implementation must address anything and anyone affected by a strategic plan, and take into account anyone who must contribute to the accomplishment of specific objectives. An easy way to accomplish this is by using TEMPS². TEMPS² stands for time, training, equipment, evaluation, money, materials, people, policies & procedures, systems and schedule. These cover all of the possibilities to be considered in your implementation planning activities. For each of these terms you need to list, in detail, the activities involved to satisfy these terms. For each activity, list who is responsible and the required completion date.

Step 7 - Collect feedback and make ongoing improvements. Make sure you build in regular updates (perhaps weekly or monthly) to keep track of your planning process and to measure progress toward your goals.

Once you have developed the Strategic Plan and put it into effect it is important to follow through. Do what you say you’ll do when you say you’ll do it. Tie individual employee’s objectives to the corporate objectives by being clear about what must be done, by whom, and what the payoffs will be. Make sure to provide ongoing feedback and progress reports.

One of the primary functions of a successful leader is to establish, develop, articulate, and reinforce the organization’s mission, values, and goals. For a strategic plan to be effective - and not dismissed as worthless by the work force - leaders have to live, model and continually beat the drums about the vision and the planning process.

Reprinted from the September 1996 edition of The Lakewood Report
From the International FieldWorks Archives

Published Articles . . .

Making Your Meetings More Effective

What is more important than communication? Most managers and supervisors spend more time in meetings than any other activity. These gatherings take all shapes and forms -big ones, small ones, ones with the boss, ones with subordinates, some formal and some informal. There are more complaints than favorable comments about meetings. Many consider meetings to be the biggest time waster of their jobs. The most common feedback from managers are that meetings are too long, that they are unproductive and that there are too many of them.

The purpose of this article to is give guidelines for conducting more effective meetings.

Preparation

Preparation is the key to any successful meetings. The time spent on preparation for a meeting should at least be equal to the amount of time spent in the actual meeting. Unprepared leaders conduct unproductive meetings. Effective preparation has a direct effect on the outcome. Preparation for a meeting is needed in five major areas: setting the objectives of the meeting, deciding on the participants in the meeting, setting the agenda for the meeting, determining place and time, making assignments and providing guidance and leadership to the group.

The most important step in the meeting planning process is the determination of the core purpose of the meeting and identifying the objectives for the meeting. Prior to the meeting the meeting leader has to identify the core purpose and objectives for the meeting. The specific objectives should be stated in the agenda. The agenda acts as the written action plan for the meeting. For example, the objectives could be stated as "This will be a successful meeting if at its conclusion the participants have ----." Following that statement the meeting leader would fill in the specific objectives they want to accomplish at the meeting.

Setting Up and Conducting a Meeting

The next thing the leader has to decide is who should attend this meeting and what role each should play. Meeting participants should be told in advance what they have to do to get ready for the meeting (i.e., read materials, prepare to make a report, accomplish background research, etc.). Make sure adequate advance notice is given. Giving the participants the agenda prior to the meeting allows them to know what is to take place and to prepare for the meeting.

There are some interesting hints on setting up and conducting a successful meeting. First, it is helpful to let the participants give their reports early in the meeting. This prevents them from being preoccupied and anxious about giving their reports while the meeting is progressing. Second, participants tend to be more alert early in the day. Next, the maximum length of time for a meeting should be no longer than 90 minutes and shorter if possible. Third, select an appropriate place for the meeting. Make sure the setting is comfortable and be sure the seating allows for eye contact between the members. Also, make sure the reservations for the room are made far enough ahead of time. Lastly, make sure meetings start on time. Waiting for late members penalizes those who are on time and develops a norm for coming in late.

A Plan of Action

Each meeting should have a written action plan. This plan should contain three items. First, the timing should be determined. This includes such items as the date, time, place, start and meeting start/stop times. The objectives should be stated in terms of when this meeting will be successful. Next in the plan should be the participants and the assignments. This would involve listing every person’s name who is attending as well as any assignments for them prior to the meeting. Lastly, the agenda to include the approximate amount of time each should take.

There are three major items that should be covered in each meeting. First, are the objectives. Under objectives, progress to date and assignments due should be discussed as well as the specific meeting objectives. The second part of the meeting is the agenda. Try to stick to the times listed as closely as possible. If the discussion is constructive and members need more time, allow them to have it. If the discussion is distracting move on to the next item, or take the discussion out of the meeting and handle as a separate issue. The last major item is the summary and review of assignments. Make sure the meeting ends on time. Were the objectives for the meeting met? Make sure all the assignments are reviewed. Get out the minutes of the meeting and the assignments within 24 hours of the meeting date.

Effective planning and conducting of meetings will go a long way to ensure the organization meets its goals and that the individuals that make up the organization work and interact well together. What is more important than communication?

Published in Leadership Forum, March, 1996

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