Lessard and Associates, LLC
Risk Management and
Communication Solutions
Is Lessard and Associates, LLC the right
consulting choice for your organization?





These questions relate to message content, morale, management
credibility from employee’s perspective, linking the strategic plan with
the operating plan, conveying consistent messages and written
business communication.

1.  Is there a gap between your regular staff meetings and production
results?

2.  Does your organization experience a high employee turnover?

3.  Do your employees take more than an average amount of sick
days?

4.  Is employee tardiness a problem?

5.  Do you consider your organization to be a learning organization?  
If not, are you aware of the benefits of becoming a learning
organization?

6.  Do your employees understand your business purpose and can
they articulate your organization’s strategic plan?

7.  Do you apply persuasion methodology in your business?

8.  Do you have intercultural and gender communication training as
well as written policies and procedures?

9.  Does your strategic plan integrate the overlap between internal
strategy and external variables (customer wants and competitor’s
value).  Visit Value Circle Page to learn more.  

10.  Differing opinions or actual conflicts can interfere with or impede
work and organizational progress.  Do you have a working and
practical method of managing dissonance?  


     Management and Business Communication Issues

These questions relate to your perspective of the specific
communication by middle management and senior management with
employees, strategic partners and clients/customers.

1.  Are you optimizing all leverage advantages with your strategic
partners?

2.  Do you hire outside of the company for middle and senior
management?  If so:
- Do the new hires take longer than six months to become acclimated
to your organization?
- Do the new hires leave the company or are downsized by the
company within their first two years?

3.  Would you categorize your senior management as predominately
left brain in their approach to their responsibilities?

4.  Are you able to answer the following questions?
- If your organization closed, to whom would it matter and why?
- Which of your customers would miss you the most and why?
- How long would it take for another firm to step into the void that you
created?

5.  Do you apply diffusion of innovation principles to the creation of
new products, services or technology?

6.  Does your product or service create value for your clients or other
end-user and distinguish your organization from competitors?

7.  Has your senior management received executive coaching?

8.  Has your senior management been evaluated on their
communication strengths and weaknesses.  If so, have individual
improvement plans been developed and executed?

9.  Would you characterize your annual retreats or annual
board/senior management meetings as substantive, “trendy”, or is the
event used as a relaxing “get-away”?

10.  Does your internal library include business strategy / business
risk management publications in addition to your industry-specific
journals?  

                                    Risk Management

These questions relate to healthcare, operating and strategic risk
management issues.

1.  Has your organization performed a risk management analysis on
the possible director and officer liability exposures or errors and
omissions exposures?

2.  Does your general counsel have risk management expertise?

3.  Are your internal policies and procedures specific enough to
provide direction and guidance while being broad enough to insulate
your organization if you end up in court?

4  Does your organization identify and define the risk specific to
departments or specific positions?  When an organization does this, it  
defines the appetite or tolerance for risk.  Visit Risk Profile Page to
learn more.

5. If you are a healthcare system or healthcare provider:  Have you
had both a healthcare risk management expert and an attorney review
your policies and procedures?  This review should be done for two
reasons.  An independent risk analysis will identify specific exposures
and then relate these exposures to your insurance coverage.  This
should include professional liability, director and officer and your error
and omission insurance.

6.  Has your company defined or developed key risk indicators that
can be presented alongside key performance indicators?

7.  Does your company engage in risk adjusted performance
management?  

8.  Does your company take control of their risk management in a
formal and purposeful way so that you can identify risk events faster,
respond to them quicker and prepare for them better?

9.  Does your company use the following activities and tools to
proactively manage risks and close performance gaps?
-   formalized risk identification that is institutionalized within the
organization’s responsibilities
-    routine management monitoring and reporting of risk factors
(dashboards, score cards)
-    historical comparison of key risk and performance indicators
-    specific risk thresholds
-    risk adjusted forecast and plan
-    predictive analytics or modeling to measure and monitor risk

10.  Have you had a risk management  review of your human resource
department that provided an emphasis on absence and productivity
management?
QUESTIONS TO ASK
                                  
Internal Communication