Organization Assessment, Strategic Planning & Capacity Building

Every organization, whether public or private needs to periodically evaluate how its people and processes are operating to remain effective. ECO is a skilled partner as you think through critical questions about your organization and its future. Our experience in understanding the patterns and characteristics of successful organizations provides perspective that supports you in achieving optimum results within your organization. Using organization assessment, including stories and qualitative evaluations, systems analysis tools, process improvement, and best practices, ECO can assist you in identifying patterns, and clarifying and achieving your goals. We can also help you in identifying how your organization can get its job done more effectively, improve performance, reduce redundancy and be better able to meet internal and external customers’ needs and expectations. We have extensive experience working with organizations experiencing unprecedented growth and major transitions; organizations wanting to create change in their culture or structure; and organizations needing to adapt to new initiatives or regulations.

Communications

One of the most significant, yet elusive problems within any organization or community is how to communicate effectively - both internally and with external colleagues and stakeholders. ECO helps you evaluate potential problems in your organization’s communications, define best practices and develop approaches that will achieve and maintain effective communications. ECO also provides customized communications training that is supported by technological advances; behavioral, thinking, learning and communication models; verbal and non-verbal communications; and honed listening skills. On projects where training is not a part of our services, we continue to model these skills for our clients by incorporating them into our ongoing interactions.

Adaptive Resource Management

Adaptive management strategies are applicable whether we are talking about managing resources within an organization or the natural environment. Critical to successful adaptive management strategies are linkages between ongoing information gathering and scientists, elected officials, agency managers, staff and other stakeholders, including the public. ECO’s broad experience in scientific assessment, monitoring, organization development and public involvement provides a unique perspective for developing management programs that seek to remain adaptive to changing resource conditions and regulatory requirements, as well as to changing economic, public opinion and political landscapes.

Public Outreach, Participation and Education

Adequate and pro-active involvement of stakeholders is crucial to the success of any organization or project. ECO offers innovative approaches to create outreach programs customized to your needs. We use industry-wide standards, best practices, and a variety of cutting-edge techniques to build bridges, reduce conflict, and educate and enhance stakeholder participation in regulatory and risk-based decision making, developing consensus around planning and development issues, and enhancing organization effectiveness. Services include such approaches as: newsletters; public notices; internet strategies and web-site design; public meetings, workshops, focus and advisory groups, and task forces (coordination, management and facilitation); inter-agency coordination; electronic democracy; and preparation of fact sheets, meeting summaries, briefing materials and displays.

Leadership and Staff Development & Training

ECO has a proven track record when it comes to providing training and assistance to officials and staff at all levels of an organization. We work with you to identify specific areas that call for skill-building, then develop and conduct customized interactive training programs. We also work with clients to formulate strategies for staff development, create programs to develop high performance teams, conduct retreats and provide executive and team coaching to support your organization in becoming more effective. ECO can also assist you in developing Personal Improvement Plans™ utilizing benchmarks and performance measures. And, each year we offer a series of training opportunities to support our clients’ ongoing staff development needs. Among others, trainings include such topics as managing change, communicating for clarity, dialogue and collaboration, listening, facilitation, leadership development, conflict resolution and team building.

Executive Coaching

In order to be effective in today’s organizations, today’s leaders must replace yesterday’s management activities like supervising, monitoring and controlling with new behaviors such as collaborating, guiding, leading by example, empowering and communicating. Often, officials, managers and supervisors find themselves in positions requiring these competencies, yet with limited, if any, training or experience in them. Coaching has been reported to produce a return on investment in excess of 500%, in addition to significant intangible benefits. This highly successful approach to leadership development can be attributed in part, to the one on one relationship that develops between the individual and their coach as they work to develop specific leadership proficiencies. ECO provides experienced, certified coaches to meet your executive coaching needs. Team Coaching can also produce extraordinary results for your organization.

Conflict Resolution, Mediation and Consensus Building

Conflict is a natural occurrence in all aspects of life, and can be particularly difficult in situations that affect peoples’ livelihoods and beliefs. ECO uses a variety of techniques to bridge apparent and real differences, build common understanding and develop solutions that benefit all parties. ECO staff is specifically trained in alternative dispute resolution methodologies. ECO’s experience with organizational and staffing issues; scientific, technical and administrative policies; and planning and natural resource issues allows us to develop and implement effective strategies for creating conversations that lead to collaborative solutions.

Facilitation

ECO facilitates dialogue, discussion and debate over complex organizational, community and environmental issues. We use innovative yet proven techniques for enhancing effectiveness at meetings, workshops, and retreats, or anyplace people need to talk to get the job done. Our facilitation assistance has long been a hallmark of our ability to increase our clients’ effectiveness. As a third party and knowing how to ask the tough questions that need to be asked, ECO is able to provide you with the critical perspective seldom available through internal sources.

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