Over the last several months, we on the consulting team have taken a step back to reflect on our process. Looking at things holistically is giving us both an opportunity to celebrate what is working well and to think critically about areas for improvement or growth. For someone with an optimizer personality, this is a very fun place to be.
As we identify opportunities to improve, we’re piloting improvements right away. This effort has yielded small changes in everything from the design of community engagement exercises to the file formats of final deliverables. An area where we’ve paid particular attention is our onboarding process with new clients. We are being mindful of opportunities to emphasize relationship-building early on, scheduling extra exploratory calls to understand our client’s context more deeply, and engaging with a few additional stakeholders to help uncover a need or perspective that we otherwise may not have. We are, as NCN always has, taking a continuous improvement approach to the practice. This is just one reason why no two engagements are the same.
The emergent strategies principles of “change moves at the speed of trust” and “small is all” have been top of mind during this journey of reflection and adaptation. These phrases remind me that intentional and human-centered acts, no matter how small, are what will move us toward the collective future our communities deserve. Process is really about people, after all.