The Consulting Recommendation that All Your Employees will Agree on is Usually the One They Make. Traditional consulting often left the person key to an operations appraisal—the frontline worker—an afterthought. The outside consultant, trained to interview only those in key positions, would develop a corporate picture and plan for improvement that was inevitably judged irrelevant by those forced to implement it. Replacing the selective one-person interview with dynamic, all-inclusive group discussion, facilitative consulting made the forgotten worker a key contributor to the fact-finding process. Control Self-Assessment epitomizes the best of this approach to business process improvement. In this first comprehensive introduction to these methods, Control Self-Assessment explains how to successfully use CSA sessions to get a realistic look at the machinery and muscle of your firm—its day-to-day operations and staff—and develop a plan that will be enthusiastically put into practice. A chapter-by-chapter blueprint to setting up a CSA workshop, the book details everything from meeting mechanics, selecting the right time versus place model to creating the session agenda. Offering a practical profile of an ideal CSA facilitator, the book coaches consultants, auditors, and facilitators on the attitudes and skills needed (including when to use humor and how to manage difficult behavior) to keep a workshop dynamic, constructive, and in focus. It also describes how the core of CSA techniques can be adapted to assess and improve business risk as well as for use in sales seminars. Control Self-Assessment is a must for any firm in which CEOs and staff share a common vision built on their collective wisdom. "Traditional consulting is failing to meet client needs because it overlooks a key source of information: the client. Tritter’s facilitative techniques take consulting to the next level, detailing processes for sharing knowledge and gaining agreement. His focus on Control Self-Assessment gives the reader an excellent leverage point for improving business performance. With an emphasis on ‘how-to,’ this book gives practical techniques for assessing and managing business risk." —Tom Mcnamee, President, Sales Focus, Inc. Designer of Conexus® Voting Hardware and Software "Control Self-Assessment: A Guide to Facilitation-Based Consulting provides a comprehensive guide to understanding the processes involved in CSA facilitation. Realistic problem-solving examples guide the novice facilitator through common facilitation pitfalls to enable the planning of a successful meeting. A good reference tool." —Lynda Sharpe-Lalonde President, Sharpe Decisions Inc.
About the Author
RICHARD P. TRITTER is the Director of Regional Business Development at a major software consulting firm in Massachusetts. Previously, he was the Director of Facilitative Consulting and the Director of Business Self-Assessment practice worldwide at a Big Five accounting firm, which involved conducting facilitative meetings with groups of client executives at the vice-presidential level or higher. Regarded as a major authority on CSA technique, Tritter researched and wrote Control Self-Assessment: Experience, Current Thinking, and Best Practices for the Institute of Internal Auditors. For his facilitation work in improving adult-handicapped programs, the author was the cowinner of the Massachusetts Better Government Competition awarded by Governor William Weld in 1991.
