Meet with ROM President, Mark Haas in a no-obligation strategy session to identify your organization's strengths, opportunities for improvement and a path to performance. Call now at (888) 684-5889 or email.

ROM is an Oath of Non-Allegiance signatory. We consider any approach, product or service if it can improve our client's condition, regardless of source, not just "our own brand."

Management Challenges

Executives place a great deal of trust in growth, investment or performance improvement plans and face risk that they will fail in return on investment. Conventional wisdom says that 70% of mergers yield no value or actually destroy shareholder value and 85 % of strategic plans are ineffective. You wouldn't undergo major surgery without getting a second opinion. Why would you commit your organization to a major change initiative or investment without getting an independent and objective second opinion?

Benefits of SOA 

If you are ready to implement a sizable strategic, operational or cultural change in your organization, call us for a second opinion. Whether you have already engaged other business advisors or you are planning (or are about to implement) a change initiative internally, we can talk you through a formal process of questions, insights and challenges to assure that you have considered and addressed major constraints and opportunities that you might otherwise miss. 

We will provide you the counsel of a senior Certified Management Consultant and former lead Baldrige Examiner for an independent and objective confirmation - or caution. For a fraction of the cost of your primary assessment and action plan, you will significantly reduce the risk that something was missed, misinterpreted, or mischaracterized. On the upside, you benefit from a different perspective, additional strategies, and the assurance that you are making the best choice possible.

In principle, the ROM SOA is analogous to an Independent Verification and Validation (IV&V) in that it provides an unbiased, professional perspective that can often "see the forest for the trees."  Our approach focuses on the person accountable for organizational performance subsequent to change rather than the project manager responsible for implementing change.

How SOA Works

Based on your explicit change initiative vision and objectives, a ROM advisor will work with the client executive to identify the underlying strengths and opportunities for improvement that enable or constrain the proposed actions.  The following steps are common:

1. A two-hour session with the client executive accountable for the change to clarify why the organization seeks change and its selected approach. 
2. A mutual confirmation as to whether ROM experience and skills are appropriate to provide an effective second opinion and/or referral to other experts
3. A one-day, limited review of foundation documents related to organizational performance and the change initiative. This review addresses Baldrige Criteria for Performance Excellence categories of Leadership;  Strategic Planning; Customer Focus; Measurement, Analysis and Knowledge Management; Workforce Focus, Process Management; and Results. Unlike a typical IV&V process, we deliberately limit this review to focus on the key challenges to project effectiveness. If warranted based on initial findings, and mutually agreed to, this step could be expanded.
4. A half-day session with the 2-5 individuals responsible for implementing the change. This session may include external advisors, who would be questioned about their assessment approach, analytical assumptions, data sources and risk mitigation strategies.
5. Documentation of findings and recommendations in a Baldrige feedback report format (i.e., strengths and opportunities for improvement)
6. A one-hour briefing to the client executive accountable for the change and discussion of recommendations and risks of the current change initiative.

The entire process can usually be completed with 10 business days.