Consultants Making a Difference
Simple, high value ways consultants can make a difference in their community
The United States (and world) is in the middle of a tremendous amount of upheaval and change. If you think of the country or the world as a collective, then we are essentially a massive organization made up of teams. To help frame our understanding of how well (or poorly) we as a ‘collective’ are reacting to this upheaval and change, we can use a framework we lean on during our work with clients, group dynamics (Forming, Storming, Norming and Performing).
As a member of this ‘collective’ reflecting on my own experience, it seems we continue to iterate between “forming” and “storming”. It is almost as if the more we understand, the less we realize we know. As we deepen our understanding of COVID-19 virus spread, health risks, treatments, and open our minds (and hearts) to the reality of systemic racial injustice, we unseat an ever-growing number of “norms”.
As seasoned business consultants, we are comfortable operating in the middle of storms. We understand how clear, structured communication helps teams cope with the commonly encountered feelings of anxiety in “forming” and frustration in “storming”. We see these challenges as opportunities to engage and grow.
“Start a huge, foolish project, like Noah…it makes absolutely no difference what people think of you.” - Rumi
Over the past several months, as we experience the upheaval of ‘norms’, we have been able to identify opportunities to engage and help our local cities, communities, and organizations in several meaningful ways. We have a few examples below. Please leave comments on how you have applied your consulting skills to help out!
Food distribution logistics
One of the biggest challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic has been providing food resources to individuals and families that have lost jobs and income. Long food lines to secure canned goods, produce, and other necessities have become commonplace. We have connected with our local city to help lead how food resources are distributed.
Problem A city needed to distribute 1,500 25 pound boxes of food that would be available weekly to those driving up (in cars) and those without cars (on foot).
Solution We engaged with community members, council members, police, and city leadership to design, staff, and operate the events.
Selected satellite locations for drive up and walk up
Determined food supply distribution to drive up and walk up sites
Defined safe, socially distant queue management for walk up
Scheduled and led daily distribution that helped feed more than 2,000 community members
Community communication
Our daily way of living has been disrupted. Every day brings new challenges and with it new information to keep one another safe and healthy. We all consume this information in different ways from national news, state, and local. We found that ‘hyperlocal’ communication was often the most meaningful and trusted channels for information.
Problem Citizens from small cities and communities need information on available safety supplies (masks and sanitizer), food resources, and COVID19 testing facilities.
Solution Researched leading practices deployed by other cities for COVID-19 and other disasters like fires and hurricanes and selected a platform that best met our highest priority requirements: ‘ease-of-use’, price, and campaign / list management.
Licensed a cloud text messaging service (simpletexting) that:
Supports regulatory requirements for mass texting (sign up to receive messages or stop to remove from list)
Allows for mass messaging to users by topic or campaign
Enables information collection from users
Configured campaigns that would meet regulatory standards for mass text messaging, enabled bi-directional communication, and supported multi-lingual texts