Items related to The SPARKS Framework Assessment : Charting Your Preferences
Synopsis
THE workbook for designing your firm's ideal operating model, based on the Sparks Framework strategy as described in Ellen Flynn-Heapes' best-seller, Creating Wealth: Principles and Practices for Design Firms. In 20 categories of company strategy and structure, the Assessment helps your management team identify the conscious and unconscious choices you've made - and how well they form an aligned whole. It also helps you identify your future choices, and define the exact changes you'll need to make. The Assessment is the best way to prepare for focused strategic planning, especially for architects, engineers, and other design professionals as they seek to manage and market themselves as high-value consultants.
Among the 20 components of strategy covered are: Image, capabilities, target clients, sales, promotion, project leadership, project management, technology, in-house discussions, employee educational background, staff mix, basis of career growth, compensation, values, fee pricing, MIS systems, investment, ownership, organizational structure, and office configuration.
"synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.
About the Author
Ellen Flynn-Heapes, president of SPARKS, pioneered the current generation of strategic planning for architecture, engineering, design, and construction firms. An MBA and 25-year veteran in the industry, Ellen grounded her early career with HOK and Skidmore Owings and Merrill. Today she consults with firms throughout the nation, and is a committed contributor to the industry's advancement. She has written over 100 articles on company growth and transition, and has taught courses for PSMJ Seminars as well as national conferences for AIA, SMPS, ACEC, PSMA, and A/E/C Systems. Academic lectures include the University of Denver, the University of Wisconsin, and University of Phoenix.
Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
Introduction to the Assessment
Although some firms find themselves well aligned in both strategy and practice, many more experience crippling conflicts that sap the energy of the organization. They fall victim to the prevailing one-size-fits-all advice, such as grow or die, diversify to hedge your bets, be problem-solvers who chase anything, get cheaper, be more flexible, go global, TQM, and re-engineer!
The Sparks Framework Assessment is a succinct decision-making tool for helping company leaders craft a clear, integrated business model that generates value and builds high client esteem. The Sparks Framework is the product of ten years of research into the most successful firms in the industry. The Framework is organized into six cultural archetypes, loosely based around the six heroic archetypes of Swiss psychologist Carl Jung, as discussed in Creating Wealth: Principles and Practices for Design Firms, by Ellen Flynn-Heapes. Each archetype is defined by distinctive best practices in twenty specific categories.
The Assessment helps company leaders understand past choices and thoughtfully consider options for the future, using the master archetypes as a baseline of comparison. Not only does the Assessment help highlight inconsistencies within your firm s current model, but it also paints a vivid picture of the gaps between current practice and the future vision. The Assessment, when used by all members of the leadership team, becomes the ideal staging ground for truly excellent strategic planning.
At SPARKS, our goal is to help you identify and realize a position of distinction in the marketplace. Why? Because distinctive firms attract and keep the great clients and staff, they reap the rewards they deserve, and they make a lasting contribution to the world.
To become distinctive, you must first design your practice around your strengths, and then purposefully and confidently act in concert with your design. This is the fundamental lesson of leadership, and the basic principle of creating wealth.
Who Should Participate in the Assessment?
Firms use the Assessment to gain wide input from principals, managers, key staff, and sometimes even sometimes favorite clients to prepare for company strategy retreats. This participative effort pays off in better information, enhanced consensus-building, and ultimately, implementation.
Firms also use the Assessment to test the waters for a cultural and strategic match prior to mergers and acquisitions, strategic alliance partnerships, and the lateral hiring of senior personnel.
Note that we ve kept the price affordable so you can easily distribute original workbooks to all participants.
Instructions
The analysis should take about 20 30 minutes to complete. It requires you to choose the single most fitting of six current and six future scenarios for your firm, in twenty key areas of operation. Fill out the survey as you see it personally for your firm. For each question, indicate your view of current practice, using only one check in the Current column; and indicate any changes for the future, using only one check in the Future column. Feel free to make notes in the margins where you would like to generate a group discussion. (See examples in workbook).
We recognize that these scenarios oven overlap in everyday practice. However, in most cases one choice will ring more true for your firm than the others.
Responses to these 20 questions, when correlated, will chart both alignment and areas of conflict in your business design. When the picture becomes clear, action becomes clear. And remember, there are no incorrect answers, only inconsistencies that rob the firm of its energy.
Worksheets
Where does all this data go? Following the strategy questions, you will find specially designed worksheets and samples. These tools let you capture and crystallize your preferences, graphically compare current and future variations, and visually understand your group s thinking.
Results
When you ve completed the Sparks Framework Assessment, you should be fully aware of the dynamics underlying your choices in business design, and much clearer about your direction for the future. This knowledge is the spark you need for building the high-performance firm of your dreams.
............. If dreams were for sale, what would you buy?
"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.
(No Available Copies)
Search Books: Create a WantCan't find the book you're looking for? We'll keep searching for you. If one of our booksellers adds it to AbeBooks, we'll let you know!
Create a Want