Example of a Proposal

Diagnostic Listening Sessions Proposal prepared for:

Head of Human Resources

Prepared by Dennis Martin

Founder, Mentor and Organisation Development Consultant

MentoringandMentorship.com

18th August 2024

Introduction

This Proposal has been prepared as a result of a conversation between Head of H.R. and Dennis Martin on 16th August 2024.

The purpose of the discussion was to explore your company’s needs as preparation for me to help design and implement a site wide mentoring programme.

I wish to thank the Head of H.R. for his professional excellent communication and contribution to our discussion.

This proposal comprises six sections, as follows:

1. Context and your company’s needs

2. Proposal purpose and format

3. Diagnosis Listening Sessions Process

4. Estimated time requirements & structure

5. Benefits for your business and employees

6. My 7 values (what you can expect of me. How I deliver a bespoke and different process)

In total this proposal creates a discussion document for us to use as a basis for agreeing and owning a bespoke approach that matches your needs, expectations and desired outcomes.

1. Context & My understanding of your
Company’s needs

* your company has successfully dealt with many significant changes in its history.

The business is becoming more complex however and is needing more cohesion and security in providing consistently high performance standards from all employees in for example increasing Regulatory compliance requirements

* significant improvements in training have occurred in the last 18 months and there is now a need to consolidate, widen and deepen the successful learning processes involved

* a key method for the above need is an effective bespoke mentoring programme that is under consideration and that this proposal supports via a diagnostic listening sessions process with a sample of employees as an entry-point

* to ensure that mentoring and change management are built on sound foundations there is a need to invest in helping employees to realise more of their individual and collective potentials.

In particular, this need requires a strong intrinsic motivating degree of ownership by all employees (e.g. they are helping to ensure that the business survives and thrives, they are not just doing a ‘job’, they are helping to run your business and create its future)

* the above will require individual high performance and a supportive and appropriate collective culture that encourages effective informal leadership from everyone and in which employees can use the life skills they have learned from ‘managing’ their own lives.

This free resource is one of the most under-valued and ignored assets in most companies.

The above will be evident as an agile, creative, team working, motivating climate that promotes the release and realisation of your employees potential, personal and professional development of all employees, and high returns on learning, mentoring and training investments.

Your website proudly declares that, ‘Our people are our greatest asset’.

What follows in this proposal if implemented will transform those fine words into

undeniably potent action

2. The purpose and format of this proposal

My 30+ years experience has taught me that an effective return on change, mentoring and learning investments is more likely if:

a) there is a clear and credible definition of the needs to be addressed and the changes this requires.

In particular, there needs to be a compelling, non-negotiable ‘change lever’ which it makes sense for everyone to support (e.g. competitiveness – to be the best in the world at everything we do)

b) there is ownership of the change, learning and development processes by all employees and their Leaders

c) there is involvement of employees in the definition of needs and the best way of implementing change

d) (depending on the specific objectives to be achieved), there is a shared learning and change experience between employees and their Leaders

e) there is a follow-up procedure to appraise performance and hold accountabilities for implementation

f) there is a clear, visible and credible ‘Championing’ of the change process coming from senior leaders, especially in terms of their behaviours as a role model for all to follow.

The following four stage process is effective as both a mentoring and organisational development process.

1. diagnosis
2. design
3. delivery
4. development

This proposal provides us with a suggested approach that we can change as needed to ensure a bespoke approach that matches your needs and is fully owned and committed to by both of us.

By the end of that process we will have also agreed the investment consultant cost involved.

3. The Diagnosis Listening Sessions Process

The proposal suggested below is to involve a sample of the employee population (say, about 10-15%) virtually (e.g. via Teams), and their Leaders, on a small group or 1-to-1 basis, to:

** elicit their perceptions, concerns and expectations for the future

** clarify and define priority changes, learning and development needs

** identify inhibitors and obstacles to change, performance and the realisation of potential

** minimise any anxieties about future learning, mentoring, training and changes that may be needed

** encourage ownership of, and commitment to, the resulting learning and change processes

** provide an understanding of degrees of receptivity and, therefore, the pitch required in learning sessions, feedback and change initiatives

** collect data, examples, cases etc. which may be used as learning and mentoring materials or for project evaluation purposes.

The diagnosis process comprises 12 one hour listening sessions based on the following key questions (we can change questions and / or add extra ones if needed):

## What would you describe as the major Strengths and Weaknesses of the Company today?

## What Threats and Opportunities do you see your business facing?

## If this was your business, and you had total power to change anything, what three priority changes would you make to improve Company performance, realise more of its (and its people’s) potential and make it a better place in which to work?

## How would you describe your vision of a desired, ideal future? How would you like things to be, say, in three years time?

## If we do nothing, what do you think will happen? (momentum forecast)

## What do you need to start doing; stop doing; continue doing; and change to increase your contribution to the business and to help bring about your ideal vision?

## Do you think investing in mentoring here is a ‘good idea’? Why?

## If we decide to invest in mentoring, to help the business and its people change, what would you see as the priority needs / topics to be addressed

In practice, I would like to have a 1:1 listening session with the H,R, Head; each of the four  function Leaders separately; and two leaders from the senior team separately.

I wish to have small group meetings (say, not more than six people in a group) with a 10-15% sample of employees, chosen by you and their immediate leaders as a diagonal slice of the hierarchy (so that if possible every level and function in the organisation will be represented).

Also, it will be vital to include some employees who may be perceived as being ‘negative’ in attitude or manner.

All views expressed to me will be treated as confidential and will not be attributed to anyone specific.

No information shared with me will be censored or ‘edited’. I will share the outcomes of the sessions openly and honestly with all employees as verbatim as I can.

Collation of all the data, views expressed etc. will be done and presented in a series of feedback virtual sessions in a ‘cascade’ format, beginning with the senior leadership team and cascading through the rest of the organisation in groups of an acceptable size that is least disruptive to business needs.

Assuming no major contra-indications occur (e.g. incompatibility of Company culture, values and my style; “negative chemistry” between your employees and me) this feedback process will also be used as part of a PLANNING & DESIGN PROCESS to decide on the final details of ‘what happens next?’.

The feedback will be summarised under three headings:

* Descriptions – i.e. what pictures emerged from the diagnostic process? What answers were given to the questions? What did this ‘look in the mirror’ reveal?’

* Interpretations – i.e. what does it all mean? What lessons should we learn? What messages should we take from the diagnostic data?

* Suggestions – i.e. what shall we choose to do and choose not to do? Why?

The above diagnostic listening sessions format is designed to role model the change processes that will form part of the future such that employees will experience congruence between what we say and what we do in your company (which is exactly what will be required of them in change, and other, situations in the future).

4. How much time will the diagnostic listening sessions require?

This is a possible breakdown of my time but the final process design will depend on our joint agreement of a bespoke approach that matches your company’s needs.:

7 1:1 listening sessions with:

Head of H.R.

4 1:1s with function leaders

2 1:1s with senior leaders

5 group listening sessions with for example:

* 2 groups of six from manufacturing

* engineering 1 group of six

* quality 1 group of six

* sales and admin.1 group of six

Total: 37 employees, 12 listening sessions each of approximately 1 hour

Collation of data and preparation of feedback sessions for:

* senior leadership team 1 half-day session

* everyone else in groups of 12, 16 half-day sessions

Follow-up review with Head of H.R.

5. What are the major benefits that typically emerge from the diagnostic listening sessions process?

* employees will experience and see a strong leadership commitment to trust, respect and engagement in the culture of the business. This will strengthen loyalty, identity and alignment with the business and its purpose and major goals.

Your people will notice afresh what is already great about the company and be inspired by your leadership in responding to what can be improved further. This will reinforce motivation and belief in a positive future for the business and for them

* employees will gain a feeling of ‘ownership’ which will facilitate intrinsic motivation leading to more consistent high performance and continuous improvement in all aspects of their work. They will feel that they are valued by senior leadership and that their opinions matter and this feeling is most likely to be reciprocated

* employees will have a positive view of the business’ strengths and weaknesses; leaders’ response to them; and greater clarity of likely future changes and how best to deal with them

* employees will know and understand the value of investing in a mentoring programme and an outline of what may emerge from it as benefits to the business and its employees

* employees will have experienced a real-world example of successful team working across the company and will know that it is more effective in terms of performance and fun than the ‘silos’ that can often arise from a hierarchical structure. Sharing the diagnostic process with leaders (i.e. vertical team work) creates positive improvements in working relationships which is invaluable in times of change or difficulty in the future

* in the longer term, but unknowable and unpredictable at this stage, employees may well yield measurable benefits such as greater realisation of potential with regard to continuous improvement (often the cost reductions / profit improvements exceed the diagnostic and mentoring costs, in effect making them self-financing); high initiative levels and creativity; flexibility; and productivity arising from their increased ownership and ‘bigger picture’ understanding of the business.

For example, in a Pfizer Ireland tablet manufacturing plant in Loughbeg, Cork I used similar processes to those described in this Proposal. The plant became a record-breaking success with great ROI and great enhancement of people’s work experience.

For example, in its first year of making 70% of the world’s supply of one of America’s biggest selling drugs, it generated sufficient profit to pay for the refurbishment of four other Pfizer plants in Ireland.

With Lubrizol, an American owned speciality chemicals manufacturer in their plant near Liverpool, we were awarded a U.K. National Training Award for my work with them which the judges described as, ‘revolutionary and inspiring’.

For example, after years of downsizing the remaining 70 employees saved the business from closure and radically changed the business culture. They saved £40,000 in their first month of the new culture which paid for the full costs of the mentoring and change programme.

They also tripled on-site productivity within two months.

You will pay only for the time that is actually used.

If, for example, the collation of data collected and preparation of feedback sessions require only 4 days not five, you will be charged only four days,

You will be invoiced monthly in arrears in GB£s sterling. Payments will be required in GB£s.

From my experience the diagnostic listening sessions process can be completed within a month depending on business needs and schedules. Whilst the diagnostic process shouldn’t be rushed, there are advantages in maintaining momentum once started.

6. What are my 7 values so you know what to expect of me?

Firstly, I will work collaboratively with you in everything I do. I won’t do anything TO or FOR you and your people, I’ll work WITH you and help you learn how to help yourself so you won’t become dependent on me (or anyone else)

Second, I will work transparently with you – no secrets or hidden agendas; no mystique or unnecessary jargon; just open communications designed to achieve high levels of ownership, involvement and self-responsibility by people

Third, I will work with you as partners. In particular, we’ll work together to achieve results through effective application. I won’t leave you to struggle in applying learnings to the real situation, I’ll be there with you to help people move up their learning and experience curves as quickly and easily as possible

Fourth, I will work with you holistically. That is, I’ll view your organisation, and its people, as an integrated whole. I’ll make sure that I help you deal with, and develop, the connections needed to make it all work smoothly

Fifth, I’ll help you, and your people, to do the right things, and get the results demanded by key performance indicators, in a self-sustaining, and continuously improving, way

Sixth, I’ll work with you to value differences and use them to discover new effective approaches. I’ll be trusting and trustworthy. I expect to challenge you and to be challenged by you. I expect to support you and to be supported

Finally, I won’t tell you what you want to hear – I’ll share with you what I believe you need to hear. I’ll say what I mean and mean what I say. If I preach at all, I’ll only preach what I practice.

It is your company, not mine, and I respect that of course. You will be here with the consequences of any changes we may make together long after I’ve gone. You will make the final decisions in anything we do.

I’ll ask you to appraise my performance openly; share your feedback; and help me to learn how best I can help you – because my approach will be bespoke and tailor-made to your specific needs.

THANK YOU

We have covered a lot on this page but I wanted you to see 'for real' what a proposal from me looks like.  You may have questions, of course, or comments or feedback for me.

If so, please use the Contact Help Form for Dennis below and I'll reply quickly.

I really do appreciate your interest in my work, it is critical to my future survival (especially if you disagree with my views and experience).

Kindest regards,

Dennis