The Catalyst Perspectives Group
An Opportunity?
Teamwork, Partnerships, Collaborations & Connections
The Catalyst Perspectives Group may be composed of independent consultants but, we most assuredly do not work alone. Indeed, the value that we offer are the results we are able to help our clients achieve through... teamwork, partnerships, collaborations & connections. Teamwork is an essential component of all of our engagements with clients. However, the relationships we develop with other consultants and service providers are also very important. The opportunities presented in this section are directed to other practitioners.
To consider if we might establish an ongoing relationship, it's first essential that we describe our approach so you can assess if we are sufficiently aligned with your way of thinking and practices that we could form a mutually productive connection. The CPG's model for client-engagements has been developed to transfer-skills to the client organization, establish the framework for enhancing those skills & employee-development and producing direct impacts and measurable results by deploying those skills as part of an implementation-project.
A typical CPG client-engagement has two parts and can be thought of as the “lecture” and “lab” of a traditional science course. The lecture provides the theory and the lab allows the learner to apply and test the theory and achieve actual results. From this perspective, there are distinct outcomes that should be expected for the participants and the company:
- The Overview Workshop incorporates a blended approach to skill-acquisition that leverages the benefits of different learning-styles with a direct “hands-on” learning component. The overview workshop, presents the “intellectual” framework for the skill and process being presented and provides participants their first opportunity to try parts of the method out for themselves. Participants are expected to attend all sessions and, working with a partner, prepare and present a “demonstration”. Participants are not “graded” during the workshop. However, each participant receives an assessment of their demonstration.
- Implementation Projects are a required and crucial part of every client-engagement. As a practical matter, the warm and fuzzy feelings that arise within participants during the Overview Workshop, create the foundation for applying the skill but, additional practice in a setting that includes active support and coaching are required to complete the transfer of the skill. The objective is to enable the participant to express the skill on a sustained and continuously improving basis. Moreover, because the Implementation Projects are selected to address key areas for improvement within the organization, the engagement produces positive and mission-critical outcomes.
We hope you agree that our approach can be effective and would consider developing a relationship with The CPG. Below are a few flavors that vary in the extent of shared engagements and activities. Please don't hesitate to offer something else that is better aligned with your needs and circumstances.
Help Wanted - eLearning Design & Development
As you troll around the website, it may be apparent that we were seduced by the marketing and "easy to use" hype offered by GoDaddy and have been building the website without benefit of a practitioner's intervention. The results may be something only(?) a mother would love, but DIY has too many limitations. Thus, we have an immediate need for HELP!
It is clear that leisurely pace we had been following is not adequate and we need help to accelerate our transformation to an internet-enabled and distance-learning organization. Specifically, we are looking for someone who has the skills and experience needed for eLearning Design & Development who also has a well developed entrepreneurial spirit (Help Wanted). Although our immediate need is for this specific project, the relationship we establish could certainly and, perhaps likely, continue in a mutually agreeable format after the project is completed.
Partnerships
For the sake of discussion, I'll characterize a Partnership as a relationship where we "regularly" work together on client engagements. For these engagements we would be jointly performing the work and supporting the client during a shared project. If we were to deliver an engagement as a partnership we would, of course, align our relative roles to optimize the outcomes for the client for that specific setting.
From a CPG perspective, we have three skills-transfer programs that are particularly popular, very effective and could easily be offered through a partnership. Each of these offerings is a skills-transfer program and uses the Overview Workshop and Implementation Projects approach. Although each program is broadly part of an organizational transformation to a lean culture, the emphasize for each program highlights different key elements:
- Job Instruction - A program for leadership, quality, HR & training team members to transfer essential training and training-program skills, develop training-materials, and establish the training-framework needed to support employee-development and skills acquisition so that it is aligned to organizational needs.
- Job Relations - A program for leadership, supervisors, HR, and anyone responsible for directing or enabling the work of others. The programs focuses most directly on engaging employees so that they become productive for and committed to, the success of the organization. JR accomplishes this by espousing and enabling a simple philosophy that, at its core means, effective Job Relations is treating people with respect. This begins by establishing the Four Foundations of Good Relations.
- Establishing Lean Practices - A program designed to develop an “application” knowledge of lean principles and practices across the organization. The “hands-on” simulation and applied nature of the learning positions participants so that upon completion of the workshop they are already able to see how lean can significantly improve their productivity and enhance the quality of their work.
Collaborations (ad hoc)
Collaborations could be regular or ad hoc. In contrast to a Partnership where we would be working on a specific project jointly using comparable skills, our collaboration would offer a client different sets of skills. You bring to the table what you got...and The CPG would do the same. Together, we would enable a client to benefit from the unique skills and experiences that we both offer. As with the other forms of potential relationships with The CPG, being open to collaborations will broaden your visibility to potential clients.
Connections
If your potential clients are likely to be clients of The CPG and you'd like to broaden your visibility, then you should consider being a Connection with The CPG. As a practical matter, it's like having your products & service offerings featured on an additional website.
Help Wanted
Is the Pandemic an Extreme Event That will Cause Disruptive Selection?
In recent decades one could have considered the inexorable pressure on organizations to change and adapt to the virtual world developing on the internet to be an example of directional evolution. That is, slow and gradual, albeit, perhaps inevitable.
But now, with the global pandemic, are we suddenly in the midst of an extreme event that will, instead cause disruptive selection that will favor organizations that can perform at the extremes on the internet-enabled continuum? Or, is it safe to shelter in the belief that this too shall pass and we will soon be able to "get back to normal"?
If you believe the latter, best of luck. If you think the former...please consider becoming a vital part of and evolving with The CPG.
The CPG Needs Your Help
At The CPG we are fervent believers in the former...but, regrettably not nearly far enough along on the internet-enabled continuum. We are learning and are moving, hopefully, in the right direction. But, DIY has too many limitations and we need help to accelerate that transformation. If you are already closer to that extreme, you can get a measure of where we are as you browse the website. Hopefully, what we have shared on the website will have piqued your interest as well.
More specifically, we are looking for someone who has the skills and experience needed for eLearning Design & Development (details below). If you believe you have what we need, have entrepreneurial inclinations and would be interested in helping us evolve and adapt...please contact us and tell us how you can help and what you have to offer.
eLearning Design & Development
Technical skills and experience:
- Performance consulting so that you know how to determine the appropriate training solution. Our current perspective on what is needed may need calibration and an eLearning program may not be the best solution.
- Instructional design so that you know how to craft a great learning experience. eLearning is more than putting a bunch of text on the screen.
- Visual & graphic design skills are key because the course will look like something and you want that something to be good. As the course developer you may choose to be responsible for creating and laying out the graphics and visual design...and/or experienced in engaging others.
- Network & media technologies play a key role in course design. As currently imagined, our programs will include audio narration and videos that need to be streamed over a network. You will need a good understanding of the technologies related to course design and delivery so that we build a program appropriate technology available to The CPG and by the user.
- Authoring tool proficiency is important. We've used Moodle in a past life to develop E-Learning offerings. That may be the optimum choice or you may suggest other tools that would better meet our needs.
J. Scott Taylor - Senior Advisor
A Continuous Improvement Focus
Scott Taylor is a career long continuous process improvement enthusiast and practitioner. He has a passion for being a problem solver, a LEAN implementer, trainer, and team builder. Scott is adept at engaging employees – the only way to make and sustain positive change. Teams that he has led and worked with have produced results in a wide range of manufacturing, office, service and health care environments.
Diverse Leadership Experiences
Scott has been blessed to have many different career responsibilities, including Operations Director, Plant Manager, Supervisor, Lean Leader and Engineer, Project Manager, Management Consultant and Industrial Engineer – he understands the viewpoint of change at all organizational levels. In all of his job responsibilities, domestic or international, he employs a passion of eliminating WASTE through understanding the current state process, working with the teams to develop the future state and then closing the gaps.
Lifelong Learning
Scott's passion for continuous improvement starts with himself. He joined the workforce after high school. A year later he enrolled in community college and obtained his 2-year degree while continuing to work full time. He was hired at Eastman Kodak Company with his AAS degree and that Fall enrolled in night classes at Rochester Institute of Technology. It took 10 years but he did get his BS in engineering while his family grew. After 10 more years and a couple of job moves, he enrolled at Syracuse University Whitman School where he received his MBA in 2004 after being in the workforce for 26 years.
Denise Clarke Voice Talent
Your Message...
From warm and caring to upbeat and lively, your message will be delivered not only with
clarity and honesty, but on time!
Industry Niches
Television
Radio
On-hold messages
Children's books
Audio books
E-learning & Training
Education & Business
Podcasting & Internet
Contact Denise
Dr. Mark A. Finke, Principal & Founder
Leadership in Education and Industry
Mark is an accomplished leader and educator with a record of successfully developing strategies and managing organizational change in small businesses and Fortune 500 environments. His expertise lies in manufacturing, distribution, and research and development. As Founder and Principal of The CPG, Mark works with clients to design, manage, and implement lean practices and a lean-culture, innovation and product-development, organizational and market assessments, workforce development, and quality systems initiatives.
Transformational Results
Mark’s career began in manufacturing where he rose to senior executive positions including Vice President and General Manager. His extensive corporate experience includes Eastman Kodak, Palmer Food Services, and ReckittBenckiser. Mark’s expertise in organizational transformation and lean implementation has benefited companies through central and western NY when he served as a consultant for High Tech Rochester and the TDO. Mark transitioned from business to STEM education for several years holding teaching and adjunct positions with Monroe Community College, SUNY Empire State College, and Rochester City School District. He developed curriculum and taught courses both in classroom and distance learning settings. Mark is currently working with the Center for Workforce Development to develop career and technical education programs that are aligned to address the specific needs of employers throughout the region. In addition to providing the technical skills needed, the programs are comprehensive and have embedded literacy and business-skills & job-readiness training
A Diverse Thinker
Mark holds a Bachelor of Science and Masters of Science in Biology from SUNY Geneseo, a PhD in Biological Sciences from Illinois State University, and a Masters of Education from Roberts Wesleyan College. He served on the Board of Examiners of the NYS Governor’s Excelsior Award Program. He is also a TWI Institute Certified trainer for the Training Within Industry (TWI) Job Instruction (JI), Job Relations (JR) and Job Methods (JM) Programs.