Guiding Principles

The challenge of pursuing a strategy while developing and managing human performance is both complex and critical. Allison Partners supports organizations’ efforts to manage their human assets in ways that help individuals perform to their potential while maximizing support of business goals and objectives. The following principles guide the design and execution of our projects:

• Good strategic planning uses a holistic picture of data, beliefs, constraints and opportunities to inform choices about an organization’s actions and goals, enable clear communication with internal and external constituents, and foster alignment and commitment among stakeholders.
• Development is not an end to itself; effective organizational development must be aligned with and supportive of operational strategy and goals.
• Systemic change taxes an organization; implementation efforts that foster candor and productive dialog between leaders and employees about critical issues often result in more successful and lasting change.
• Organizations benefit from diverse workforces; to realize these advantages, organizations must foster work environments where all employees are welcomed and encouraged to contribute to their full potential.
• Successful organizational development efforts leverage a variety of tools including, but not limited to, individual or group coaching, team facilitation, training, leadership development, and team-building experiences.
• An effective professional coach has a clear set of coaching objectives, the relevant expertise to address an individual’s development priorities, and a style and approach that is complementary to the individual’s.
• Sustainable organizational development efforts are integrated with-not isolated from-overall performance management systems (competencies, job descriptions, hiring practices, compensation, performance evaluations, etc.).
• Performance measures-for the entire organization, its workgroups and individuals-must be both practical and relevant to ensure that feedback is timely and actionable.

We have found that programs that are consistent with these principles yield a higher degree of success for both the organization and its members.