could take many more months. If the

legal arrangements are pursued in isola-

tion, without any consistency in require-

ments, a clear, overarching strategy and

complementary responsibilities -- the

resulting disconnects, white spaces and

duplications will consume resources and

create headaches for a very long time.

There has been a trend lately to recom-

mend multi-sourcing as the “right” way to

source -- without consideration of the

client circumstances. I believe strongly

that multi-sourcing is not for everyone.

Clients should be aware of the considera-

tions inherent in this model and carefully

investigate whether or not it will work for

their organization. If the organization is

up to the management and process

challenges, and the strategy enhances

and optimizes its delivery of services –

multi-sourcing can be very effective.

I don’t view “multi-sourcing” as a new era

or new trend in sourcing. The concept

has been around for many years, albeit

under other names --- such as “best of

breed” and “selective” sourcing. I see this

model as a natural evolution for certain

organizations, whose high process disci-

pline, governance and sourcing /

organizational sophistication allow it to

work with multiple providers and act as

the “prime” in the overall delivery model.

There are organizations that have used

this strategy to great success for many

years, but there are also those that have

tried it and failed. Why does it work for

some and not others?

There are two important considerations

surrounding multi-sourcing: clear vision/

strategy and management discipline.

Multi-sourcing is the tactical realization of

a sourcing strategy for service delivery.

It is a path that should be undertaken

purposefully, with careful planning and

coordination. Sometimes, organizations

find themselves in a “multi-sourcing”

environment after making serial, and

sometimes independent, decisions

around sourcing – I call this “accidental

multi-sourcing”.

This multi-sourcing-by default model is

riddled with pitfalls, including the possibil-

ity of disjointed processes, inconsistent

methodologies and technologies, duplica-

tion of effort and costs, lack of account-

ability and customer dissatisfaction. Done

correctly, it can be a very flexible way to

get the best solutions for a complex

environment. In either case, the hard

work is up front. Defining the portfolio of

services, and determining their suitability

for internal, external or joint sourcing, and

determining how to group services and

deal with the “grey” areas and touch

points is critical preparation to engaging

with service providers.

Secondly, most organizations who under-

take a services sourcing agreement for

the first time seriously underestimate

how challenging it can be to manage the

agreement. A multi-sourcing delivery

model requires far more attention, inter-

face and coordination than a single

source service delivery model. Enormous

challenging exist in managing three or

four different services providers, and the

touch points, processes and communica-

tions between each of them and the client

organization. I would not recommend this

approach for a company that is resource

or process challenged, or one whose time

horizon is short term. Getting multiple

service agreements in place will be only

the first challenge. Getting the operating

agreements and common processes set

up among the various service providers

A C C I D E N T A L M U L T I - S O U R C I N G B Y K A T H R Y N D O U G L A S S

S E R V I C E D E L I V E R Y M O D E L S

Thanks to Lou Dobbs and many of our

politicians, most Americans think that

outsourcing is synonymous with off-

shoring – in other words, moving US jobs

to a foreign company. The impression is

that any company who outsources is

forcing US jobs overseas. Not always.

Many people would be surprised to learn

that many of the Outsourced services are

being provided by US companies, with US

Citizen employees. Even some foreign

companies provide outsourcing with US

Citizen employees. Often, even though

company employees may have lost their

jobs, there may be no net US job loss.

Often, employees who are affected by

outsourcing keep their old jobs but are

simply “rebadged” – they go to work for a

third-party company but deliver the same

type services they formerly performed as

employees.

If this all sounds confusing, let’s take a

look at the terminology to see what it all

really means. “Sourcing” is simply the act

of obtaining designated services from a

particular source. Services can be

sourced internally, often called “in-

sourcing”, or they can be sourced exter-

nally, typically known as “outsourcing”.

Most companies have service delivery

models, which may include a combination

of these sourcing approaches. Some

complex delivery models involve multiple

processes or sub-processes/services,

which may be sourced to multiple third

parties , what we call “multi-sourcing” or

in some cases, “best of breed sourcing”.

See Page 3, Outsourcing or Staff Aug for

more details!

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F E B R U A R Y , 2 0 1 2

V O L U M E 1 , I S S U E 1

T H R E E S I X T Y T R E N D S

I N S I D E T H I S I S S U E :

A C C I D E N T A L M U L T I- S O U R C I N G

1

S E R V I C E D E L I V E R Y M O D E L S

1

W T A E A R N S M O B I S C O N T R A C T S C H E D -U L E

2

O U T S O U R C I N G S E R -V I C E S A P P R O A C H

2

O U T S O U R C I N G O R S T A F F A U G ?

3

L E A N T H I N K I N G 3

T O P 1 0 C O M M U N I -C A T I O N F A U X P A S

4

WTA is Headquartered in Denver

C U S T O M E R H I G H -L I G H T — W E S T E R N D I S P O S A L

4

W T A W E L C O M E S N E W T E A M M E M -B E R S

4

W T A E N G A G E S N E W M A R K E T I N G F I R M

5

C O M M U N I C A T I O N T H O U G H T S F O R C O N -S U L T A N T S

5

Our symbol is the WillowTree, known for its resilience, strength and flexibility.

W T A E A R N S M O B I S C O N T R A C T S C H E D U L E

Page 2 T H R E E S I X T Y T R E N D S

Provider of Lean Consulting Services

to the Federal Government

In November, WillowTree Advisors

(WTA), began offering business

transformation and Lean consulting

services to the Federal Government

with recent approval from the General

Services Administration (GSA) under

the MOBIS Schedule, SIN 874.1,

contract number GS-10F-0002Y.

Today’s economic and political pres-

sures have pushed governments to

do more with less. Lean Government

methodology enables agencies and

public entities to do more with the

resources they have and provide

better services to their stakeholders

and constituents.

“The application of Lean techniques to

business processes can save time,

reduce waste and eliminate costs –

while improving customer and

employee satisfaction,” said Kath-

ryn Douglass, WillowTree Advisor

managing partner. “This opportu-

nity is an excellent way for the

Federal Government to optimize

its operations and focus on the

customers and stakeholders it is

serving.”

Lean Government initiatives cen-

ter on the agencies’ work and

operations, helping them think

differently about the way they

work, while increasing capacity

and adding value for those they

serve. Lean initiatives focus on

eliminating administrative and

transactional waste and lead the

organization to design and imple-

ment its processes by directly

focusing on achieving desired

outcomes.

The following are real results from

organizations that resulted in costs

savings and improved services to cus-

tomers:

Lean is the reason that an Iowa

business can now obtain a clean

water permit in four and a half

months instead of 28.

Lean is the reason that, in S.

Carolina, the lead time for proc-

essing storm water applications

dropped from 47 days to 10.

Lean is the reason that, at BAE

Systems, the time to upgrade the

enterprise resource planning

(ERP) system was reduced from

24 months to six.

We’re betting that Lean initiatives will

be a key focus this year in federal, state

and local governments.

helps companies establish successful out-

sourced service provider relationships by using

process improvement and organizational trans-

formation methodologies to streamline the

processes and organizations that feed, manage

and interact with the outsourced services. By

utilizing this new approach, we help the cus-

Whether an organization is just getting started

with a significant outsourcing transaction; or

negotiations are completed and the team is

getting ready for transition; or the team is ex-

periencing dissatisfaction with an existing

relationship --- it pays to take an holistic

approach and consider the way in which

the organization will use the services, and

address these issues directly.

During the initial stages of an outsourcing

initiative, significant focus is placed on

pricing and contractual negotiations.

Less focus is usually placed on the com-

munications, operational change manage-

ment and process adjustments that need

to be made in order to successfully ac-

commodate the new service delivery

model. As a result, customers often find

themselves one or two years into a major

services agreement, with customer satis-

faction issues, performance and cost

problems, and significant concerns over

whether the arrangement is successful.

360 Sourcing Services™ a service offering for

contract remediation and services transition,

tomer focus on the root cause of issues that can

up-end even the most well-negotiated services

agreement. We help our clients establish a

healthy working relationship, with sound commu-

nications and operational proc-

esses that help avoid cost overruns,

value leakage, performance prob-

lems and the expense of contract

breakage or renegotiations.

The 360 Approach can be applied

with new services contracts in

transition, existing services con-

tracts needing revitalization or

remediation, renewals with current

service provider, or services trans-

fer between providers.

The 360 Approach for all outsourc-

ing scenarios focuses on an end-to-

end analysis in five key dimensions:

· Process Maturity · Organizational Maturity · Contract Relevance · Service Cost · Service Quality

This holistic approach ensures that all key areas

of sourcing are addressed.

W T A E A R N S M O B I S C O N T R A C T S C H E D U L E

O U T S O U R C I N G S E R V I C E S A P P R O A C H

“Lean Government is

about increasing our

capacity to do good.”

Page 2 T H R E E S I X T Y T R E N D S

Tate and Lyle, Americas Headquarters in Decatur, Illinois, where a

team of WTA advisors has been working with the Global SAP Imple-

Outsourcing vs. Staff Augmentation

While outsourcing involves contracting

with a third party for entire processes

or services, there is another, some-

what-related approach, often confused

with outsourcing. This model is called

“staff augmentation”. There is a subtle

difference between outsourcing and

staff augmentation. There are some

tests to help determine whether the

relationship is true “outsourcing”:

Outsourcing: If a firm gives a third

party the full scope of the responsi-

bility for service delivery, it is proba-

bly outsourcing. Outsourcing typi-

cally implies that there are fixed

deliverables or services, managed

by the third party, with some con-

tractual performance standards.

Because there is an agreed-to

charge for those deliverables or

services, fixed-price arrangements

are typically indicative of outsourc-

ing. Let’s look at some scenarios:

Outsourcing Scenario 1: Company A, a

New York based company, chooses

to contract with Service Provider X

to deliver support for its Customer

Call Center, which is in New York.

Service Provider X has a call center

already established in Arizona, and

it shifts the work from the com-

pany’s location in New York to

Arizona. Most of the employees are

terminated.

Outsourcing Scenario 2: Company A

chooses to outsource with Service

Provider X. Service Provider X

chooses to purchase Company A’s

facility and hire all of its employees

to deliver on the contract.

Outsourcing Scenario 3: Company A

chooses to outsource its call cen-

ter services to a Service Provider,

who is responsible for all calls

placed to the call center. The Ser-

vice Provider offers end-to-end

services, including the systems and

software to track and resolve

issues and problems. Pricing is

typically on a by-the-user basis.

Let’s see how staff augmentation is

different.

Staff augmentation: With staff

augmentation, a third-party pro-

vides temporary employees to a

firm for a particular project or

service, and those employees join

with the firm’s team to help deliver

services for a period of time. The

test for staff augmentation is the

inverse of the outsourcing test. The

project or service is managed by

firm, and the price varies based on

what services that are requested.

Billing by the hour is typically indica-

tive of staff augmentation arrange-

ments. If there are no set deliver-

ables and there are no service

levels, this is probably a staff aug-

mentation relationship.

Why does this matter? It matters

significantly in several key areas:

contract negotiations, pricing, service

levels and contract governance.

O U T S O U R C I N G O R S T A F F A U G ? B Y K A T H R Y N D O U G L A S S

L E A N M I N D S E T B Y S C O T T Z I M M E R M A N

our work environment, we think not of

'change', but 'improvement'. We also

think of improvement as global - if my

job gets easier, but my internal cus-

tomer's or supplier's job gets harder, it

may or may not be the right move,

depending on the overall cycle time,

transparency, quality, etc.

The Lean Enterprise Institute dis-

cusses Lean Management in this way,

also. Using Deming's terminology, the

lean mindset understands change in

the context of Plan, Do, Check, Act. I

describe it in as the Closed-Loop

Methodology. Closing the loop is the

foundation for every important mana-

gerial system. It's the way systems

engineers view the world, and how

junior officers are trained to think in

the military.

The best leaders in the military are not

what Jim Collins would call "Level 4

Leaders". Contrary to popular lore,

they are not heroes. In fact, one of the

tenets of Lean is to create a team, not

heroes. Having literally led a team of

courageous firefighters, I know that it

is difficult to create the mindset of

peacetime operations. Everyday activi-

ties, the management of the mundane,

takes discipline and will, but not individ-

ual "above and beyond the call of duty"

courage. Fire prevention is the answer,

not putting out fires. How many times

have we been told that an ounce of

precaution is worth a pound of cure,

but we reward the firefighter, not the

fire preventer. Daily operations call for

making the job easier, not overcoming

adversity to get the job done.

The Lean Mindset, then, is thinking

constantly in terms of global improve-

ment, creating self-managing, closed-

loop systems, and developing an or-

ganization that values predictable

operations that obviate the need for

heroic comebacks.

"Lean" seems to be everywhere. What

started as Western manufacturers

emulating Toyota's unique production

methods has now been implemented

in every industry from healthcare to

the public sector. There is Lean Ac-

counting, Lean Sigma, Lean Service –

I’ve even seen ‘Value-Based Lean Six

Sigma (VBLSS) teams – now there’s a

mouthful! The tools springing from this

"methodology" are point-effective. By

that I mean that the tools are effective

at solving a single problem, but unless

the underlying philosophy is embraced,

the result will be limited to that issue,

that point.

What's missing is a Lean Mindset. We

run around the operation as ham-

mers, seeing nails everywhere. In-

stead, we need to give voice to our

inner engineer, and our inner leader-

ship guru. Engineers stake their ca-

reers on analyzing problems and

designing solutions, and the leadership

gurus facilitate change in an organiza-

tion. If we, as operators, supervisors,

managers, and executives have a

common approach to our work and

“The application of

Lean techniques ..

can save time,

reduce waste and

eliminate costs…”

Page 3 V O L U M E 1 , I S S U E 1

Scott Zimmerman is actively blogging on Lean topics on the

WTA Website.

When Communicating on any type of critical project, including business transformation, and outsourcing, how can you go wrong? Let me count the ways...

1. Not developing a communications strategy and plan 2. Communicating only with “select” individuals 3. Letting “bad news” sit 4. Not anticipating and thinking through answers to critical questions 5. Approaching communications as an afterthought 6. Sending “mixed” messages 7. Conducting only “one-way” communications 8. Being afraid to communicate 9. Communicating inconsistently 10. Not tying the communications to real business outcomes No matter what kind of change an organization is undertaking, communication can make it a success or doom it to failure. Don’t let these problems happen in your project!

Approach:

WTA performed a one week assessment, which

identified business issues and laid out the key

business processes within the customer ser-

vice and sales organization.

Company Overview:

Western Disposal is a family-owned busi-

ness, headquartered in Boulder Colorado,

that started over 35 years ago with

one truck and a vision of what custom-

ers would value in a trash collection

company: dependable, on-time service

from friendly, well-trained employees.

Western Disposal has 120 employ-

ees, over 70 vehicles on the road

each day and 35,000 residential and

commercial customers. Western

Disposal attribute its success to the

commitment to provide the best ser-

vice to all our customers every day.

Business Problem:

Western Disposal was working with

an aging, in-house developed CRM

system that was the heart of its busi-

ness. They wanted to know if the high

turnover and difficult training for its cus-

tomer service reps was a result of the sys-

tem and if that system needed to be re-

placed.

WTA then proceeded to document and map all

processes within this critical area of service for

Western Disposal. As part of this process, WTA

consultants identified key improvements to the

system, to the business processes

and to the training for customer

service representatives.

Results:

WTA identified and installed a web

based collaboration tool, which now

houses the documentation for all

business processes, all training

tools and job aids.

The tool selected was Interfacing

Technologies, Enterprise Process

Center ( EPC) BPM solution.

“We chose the EPC because, not

only does it meet the client require-

ments, but we felt that it represents

us well and will serve as a reminder

of the engagement”. Kathryn Douglass

T O P 1 0 C O M M U N I C A T I O N F A U X P A S I N C H A N G E M G M T

C U S T O M E R H I G H L I G H T : W E S T E R N D I S P O S A L

“When you are leveling

with employees about

what is coming down

the pike, skip the

platitudes.”

Page 4 T H R E E S I X T Y T R E N D S

Western Disposal, Headquartered in Boulder Colorado, was the site

of an extensive assessment and process mapping for customer service and sales departments.

Our extended team has grown over the last year and we are pleased to welcome several new associates, consultants, teaming partners and support staff mem-bers.

Laura Powers—Technical

Writer

W T A W E L C O M E S N E W T E A M M E M B E R S A N D P A R T N E R S

Toni Martin—Administrative

Assistant

Colleen Kindler—Lean Expert

Catherine LeRoi—Lean Expert

Matt Bross—Financial Expert

Scott Zimmerman—Lean

Expert

Ed Powers—Strategic Planning

Expert

Triche Guenin– Lean Six Sigma

Expert

Spitfire Group, Inc.

Interfacing Technologies, Inc.

The Great Online, Inc.

Colleen Kindler, Ed Powers and Triche Guenin take a break from working on the Denver Water Lean Enterprise Project.

WTA has been very busy with

marketing over the last year or

so,, and earlier this year, our

Marketing Assistant, Brett Piche,

left to complete his MBA and

start his own business. So we’ve

taken our own advice and out-

sourced! We have engaged a

local Denver marketing firm, The

Great Online, to assist with inter-

net marketing, blog development

and electronic customer out-

reach. The team of Joe Caston,

Julianne Salisbury, Suzanne Tran-

tow are providing great support

for our website, Linked In and

Facebook presences.

If you haven’t already done so,

please check out our new website

at www.willowtreeadvisors.com

(Designed by Colorado Web Solu-

tions) , our Facebook Page

www.facebook.com/

willowtreeadvisors and our Linked

In page at www.linkedin.com/

company/2279508?trk=tyah .

You can also follow us on Twitter:

WTA80209.

W T A E N G A G E S T H E G R E A T O N L I N E

C O M M U N I C A T I O N T H O U G H T S F O R C O N S U L T A N T S

you can't get excited about what

you're talking about, don't expect

anybody else to. You must show

people that you believe what

you're saying. Enthusiasm should

not be faked. Think about it in

terms IASM: I Am Sold Myself.

Low energy, monotone voice and

a corpse-like appearance will not

convey that message. Project

energy through an animated voice

and purposeful gestures. If you

don't believe in yourself and show

it, no one else will.

3. Arrogance -- an "I'm right"

attitude. It doesn't matter if you're

right and you know it. Being

closed-minded to others' ideas or

confronting or challenging differ-

ent opinions creates an opponent

out of your colleague, not an ally.

You can challenge or accuse or

insist all you want, but "a man

convinced against his will is of his

own opinion still." You win people

over more effectively with an open

-minded attitude, a willingness to

say: "Well, you might be right. I

hadn't thought about that. Let's

discuss that possibility." You'll be

amazed how often people will talk

themselves out of their point of

view and see their way clear to

yours if you don't treat them as if

they're wrong.

4. Weasel words -- lack of convic-

tion or responsibility. Let's say you

express a complaint to a vendor,

and the response you get is: "I'll

see what I can do." Are you con-

vinced that the person will resolve

your problem? Roger Dawson

says: "There is a place in heaven

for every person who says, `I'll

take care of it.' " A customer

doesn't care whether or not the

problem was your fault; she cares

only that you'll resolve it. Speak

confidently, take responsibility and

follow through.

5. "Yes, but ..." -- not listening. The

most important communication

skill -- listening -- is also the hard-

est to master. But there is noth-

ing that makes people feel more

validated than being listened to.

Effective listening requires show-

ing people that you're listening,

through eye communication and

vocal responders ("mm-hmm")

and letting them know you heard

them through appropriate re-

sponses.

Whenever you respond to some-

one with "Yes, but...," it's a sure

sign you haven't listened. Before

you state your response, make an

effort to paraphrase what the

other has said ("So what I hear

you saying is ...") or to identify the

feelings behind what the other

said ("You must be so proud").

When people feel listened to,

they're more likely to listen to you

in return. That creates a connec-

tion that creates understanding,

improves relationships and capi-

It doesn't matter how brilliant,

competent or even right you are.

If you can't master people skills,

you'll get left in the dust. Commu-

nication lapses will affect your

people skills.

How we communicate with oth-

ers has a tremendous impact on

our business success or failure.

Here are some of the more com-

mon communication mistakes

people make:

1. Me, me, me -- focusing on our

own agenda. It doesn't matter

what you want. What matters is

what the other person wants. Zig

Ziglar said that you can get any-

thing in life you want if you help

other people get what they want.

When you frame your communi-

cation from their point of view,

you will be more successful.

A business advisor I know once

asked an insurance agent what

she thought about every time she

talked to a client or prospect. She

replied: "Making the sale, making

more money. I've got to do this for

my children, their well-being, their

future." My friend suggested that

instead of thinking about her

children, she think about the

client's children -- their well-being,

their future. With that new ap-

proach, her business turned

around almost overnight.

2. Ho-hum -- no enthusiasm for

your idea, product, service, self. If

“Whenever you

respond … with “yes,

but…” it’s a sure

sign you haven’t

listened.”

Page 5 V O L U M E 1 , I S S U E 1

3773 Cherry Creek North Drive #575

Denver, CO 80209

Phone: 888.998.0008

Fax: 888.233.1472

email: mail@willowtreeadviosrs.com

www.willowtreeadvisors.com

W I L L O W T R E E A D V I S O R S , L L C

F A S T . F L E X I B L E . F O C U S E D .

Visit us on the Web!

http://www.willowtreeadvisors.com