At Blueline, we have set a high bar for creating cutting-edge interactive classroom and electronic training. Yet oddly, the fastest-growing service in our business is something we refer to as Blueline’s Voice of the Business (VOB) Process.
Maybe it isn’t really odd at all.
It’s a little funny (and a lot scary) that some custom learning developers suggest that they can do a thorough needs analysis in just a few hours. I guess that might be okay if you are developing a simple training program.
But at Blueline, one of our core convictions is that sustainable change requires an intervention far beyond the training delivery. Every custom solution we develop aligns to specific, mission-critical business objectives. And when your goal is to impact the business, you aren’t going to uncover the answer in just a few hours.
About six years ago a long-time client asked if I could interview roughly 50 stakeholders – each of whom had a unique perspective about the problem that needed to be solved and the most effective response. When I pushed back, the client admitted that maybe all 50 wouldn’t have unique perspectives, that in some cases our goal would be to see what if any commonalities they shared. As a practical matter, all 50 needed to be involved if for no other reason than to earn their buy-in.
What I discovered during the interviews was that, in fact, each stakeholder did have a unique point of view, honed by their own special set of experiences. And, that the interview questions needed to evolve and the discussion morph to get the most out of each interview. I experienced first hand the power that involvement has on buy-in and learned that the best way to get my arms around any problem is to examine it from all angles.
From the client’s perspective, the process was even more eye opening. The process delivered information, mental models, patterns, and insights that were surprising, unsettling, empowering… and even transforming.
That first experience was seminal in creating what is now Blueline’s Voice of the Business Process offering. Sure, the process has evolved a bit: for one thing, I’m not the only one conducting interviews. For another, interviews are just one piece of a very comprehensive process designed to allow our team to quickly become expert in a critical aspect of your business. This enables us to build consensus where there are disparate points of view, and to allow us to turn a broad range of inputs into insights.
Every new prospect demands maximum speed and flexibility in our design process. Thanks to Blueline’s VOB Process, our clients can also expect that we will get it right.
Whether your need is to wrap your arms around a difficult business problem, build consensus where there is disparity, build buy-in, or all of the above, we’re here to help.
