HomeMy WebLinkAboutRESPONSE - RFP - 7642 JOB ANALYSIS, PERFORMANCE & LEARNING COMPETENCY ASSESSMENTRevolution Advisors LLC
7642 – City of Fort Collins Proposal for Job Analysis, Performance, and Learning
Competency Assessment
June 6, 2014
Brian Wilkerson
Revolution Advisors LLC
10170 Church Ranch Way, Suite 100
Westminster, CO 80021
(720) 409‐5301
bwilkerson@revolution‐advisors.com
Revolution Advisors Proposal for City of Fort Collins RFP #7642
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Table of Contents
Scope of Services................................................................................................................................................................. 7
Overview of Approach .................................................................................................................................................... 7
1) Discovery – Status Quo/Current State Assessment .............................................................................................. 10
2) Recommendation of Changes from Current State Assessment ............................................................................ 13
3) Ideal Future State .................................................................................................................................................. 14
4) Unique contribution based on expertise .............................................................................................................. 18
Deliverables ....................................................................................................................................................................... 19
Project Schedule ............................................................................................................................................................... 20
Consultant Information and Experience ........................................................................................................................... 21
1) Primary Contact Information ................................................................................................................................ 21
2) Firm Qualifications ................................................................................................................................................ 21
3) Availability ............................................................................................................................................................. 24
4) Project Experience ................................................................................................................................................ 24
5) References ............................................................................................................................................................ 26
Fees ...................................................................................................................................................................................
26
Sustainability Practices ................................................................................................................................................. 26
Additional Information ...................................................................................................................................................... 28
APPENDIX A ...................................................................................................................................................................... 29
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Executive Summary
Revolution Advisors is pleased to submit our proposal for the Job Analysis, Performance, and Learning Competency
Assessment. Human Capital management is one of our core areas of expertise and our principals have been innovators
in the field since the late 1990s. The field of Talent Management in particular has evolved quite a bit over the past few
years and we are excited at the potential of sharing some of those innovations with the City of Fort Collins. One of our
partners was involved in the early work in 2007 on Pay for Performance with the City of Fort Collins, which helps us
understand the background and context for this project. We hope that we have the opportunity to help design the next
evolution of Talent Management within the City.
As innovators in the field of Talent Management, we have the capability to assess the current state of the practices
across performance, compensation and learning and development from the viewpoint of over 14 years of pioneering
work in Integrated Talent Management. The benefits of this integrated approach is that we design programs that are
tailored to achieve the desired objectives from not only the organizational perspective but also that of the managers and
employees while not being overly burdensome to all involved in the process. Our proposed approach is designed to
assist the City in developing a career management structure which is integrated with the organization’s mission, vision,
values, and strategies, versus simply connecting current, disparate processes. To ensure that the career management
processes developed within the organization will achieve the expected returns and truly drive the performance of the
City to higher levels, we will leverage key learnings and best practices from our extensive experience and research to
develop a structure that is uniquely tailored to Fort Collins. Our research and experience provides us an uncommon
insight to assess the current situation and bring the latest thinking and proven practices in the space of Talent
Management.
The area of Talent Management is a significant focus for our firm. Our emphasis is not on off‐the‐shelf approaches or
selling technology, but rather on tailored solutions that support organizational objectives and large‐scale change. We
work with our clients through all aspects of the Compensation, and Performance Management lifecycle – from needs
assessment to benchmarking to implementation and evaluation. To this end, we can provide the desired performance
outcomes without creating a system that is overly burdensome. We have also helped a number of public and private
sector clients rethink their Performance Management strategies and approaches, and have helped them develop new
strategic plans for Talent Management. In addition, we have an added area of focus in Leadership Development, which
is a highly complementary area of expertise in a project such as this one. It provides an individualized, employee
perspective to the approach, linking competencies to everyday leadership by providing a platform for growing the
management skills and competencies of an organization’s leaders and employees. All of our approaches are focused on
innovative solutions that drive real performance improvement and behavior change.
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Project Objectives
Our approach is designed to gather the most relevant information, apply the best known practices and provide a vision
for the future state to meet the City’s stated objectives of having a Talent Management approach with following
characteristics:
An approach that reinforces and is integrated with the City of Fort Collins’ mission, vision, and values,
A career management framework including career paths that are consistent across City departments and
divisions with clearly defined progression criteria tied to competencies, pay ranges, rewards management,
bands, job titles with the flexibility to adapt to the uniqueness of the City’s diverse workforce,
An approach that leverages and maximizes the use of current technology,
Ensure the Talent Management structure continues to maintain the competitiveness of the City of Fort Collins as
an employer,
Results oriented, driving performance excellence, with an eye toward employee engagement,
Compensation approach that is consistent, fair and clearly tied to competencies and separated from the
performance assessment process,
A system that has the elements to appropriately measure and reward employee performance, provides clear
criteria for career progression but can be easily navigated by managers and employees.
Integrated Career Management Foundations
Our approach is one of partnership, which begins by coming from a place of respect and listening; taking the time to
truly understand your culture, practices, philosophies and successes. We believe that we cannot begin our work without
understanding the City of Fort Collins from a holistic perspective. We take the collective wisdom of your leadership and
employees and blend this with our experience, expertise, and innovation to develop tailored solutions that meet the
unique needs of each individual client. While we benefit from the perspective of having worked with dozens of
organizations on their human capital challenges, we do not simply try to replicate what we have done in other clients.
We are focused on developing strategies and solutions specific to your needs. We will certainly leverage key learnings,
best practices from published research (ours and others) and our firm and personal experiences and expertise to
develop an Integrated Career Management program that will include key foundations such as:
Development of appropriate organizational goals and target measures for the overall organization (foundation
for effective cascading),
Ensuring the appropriate reward structure is in place that can be linked to core competencies and the
Performance Management process (rewards that will drive behavior),
Strong ability on the part of management to execute the Performance Management process (appropriate
training and coaching),
Leverage existing information systems to support the Career Management processes (allowing managers and HR
to focus on value‐added aspects rather than administration),
Effective communication around goals, objectives, and results (emphasize the importance of the process and
keep the organization focused),
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Organization’s culture and norms must be reflected in the competencies, reinforced in the Performance
Management process and executed in the compensation system.
Many of these elements are in place currently in the City of Fort Collins as evidenced by the information contained in the
request for proposal as well as our understanding from the work that our partners were engaged in previously with the
City. Our experience with multiple organizations has demonstrated that programs and processes require periodic
refreshing (typically every 3‐4 years) to reflect new organization realities. In the public sector, for example, the financial
crisis of 2008 has significantly impacted the Talent Management strategies. Employees deferred retirements and
turnover has slowed resulting in promotion opportunity/mobility challenges and stress to Pay for Performance budgets,
just to name a few. Our focus in this project will be to help the City of Fort Collins assess the approaches in place and
ensure they are producing results, meeting the organizational objectives and minimizing unintended consequences. We
would anticipate a number of potential evolutions for these programs that will better align to the current organization
reality.
Our Approach
Our approach follows the three phases outlined in the request for proposal. Throughout the three phases, the activities
are anchored by our change management approach and a focus on innovation that will create solutions unique to your
needs. It is rooted in the philosophy that we start with the end in mind. From day one of the project, we lay groundwork
for the eventual implementation of the new program by ensuring that the stakeholders understand the vision of the
work, the goals and objectives and how we intend to reach them. By engaging the stakeholders from the beginning, they
become a part of the journey and develop ownership and anticipation for the new strategies, structures, programs and
processes.
Additionally, from the beginning we are continually looking toward the project deliverables and outcomes to ensure that
every activity and task is value added and supports the end goal. The following picture below summarizes the key
outcomes of each project phase.
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Again, we believe Revolution Advisors is uniquely qualified to assist the City in assessing current practices and
formulating an Integrated Talent Management strategy. We would be honored to assist the City in this important
initiative. The following sections provide the details of our approach and unique expertise. We look forward to the
opportunity to discuss this approach with you in more detail.
Discovery /
Assessement
Establishment of the partnership
between Revolution Advisors
and the City of Fort Collins
Comprehensive assessment of
current state
Define future state objectives
Evaluate organizational capacity
for change
Discovery Phase Summary
Report
Change
Recommendations
Benchmark to other
organizations, published research
and experience
Future state process analysis
Benchmark Report
Continued stakeholder
involvement and buy in with
recommendations for change
management impacts
Ideal Future State
Talent Management options
and analysis report
Key stakeholder feedback on
options
High level plan
Summary presentation to ELT
Final presentation
Key Project Outcomes
Compensation Philosophy, Performance Management, Learning Competencies
Integration Innovation Partnership Change Management
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Scope of Services
Overview of Approach
The City of Fort Collins is seeking to redesign a number of key elements of their Talent Management processes, including
career management / levels, job titles, compensation philosophy, and pay and performance models. Integrated Talent
Management, which we believe encompasses recruiting, succession planning, performance management,
compensation, career development, learning, and strategic workforce planning, enhances an organization’s ability to
attract and retain top talent and ultimately leads the organization to higher levels of performance. Revolution Advisors’
philosophy and approach to Talent Management is an integrated, holistic approach. Very simply, we look at the impact
of the Talent Management processes from the perspective of those most impacted – the manager and employee and
align that with what the organization needs to accomplish its mission. It is based on the foundational philosophy that
compensation, performance management, career development, and learning competencies are interdependent and
should be approached from an integrated perspective.
As innovators in the field of Talent Management, we have the capability to assess the current state of the practices
across performance, compensation, learning and development from the viewpoint of over 14 years of pioneering work
in Integrated Talent Management. The benefits of this integrated approach is that we design programs that are tailored
to achieve the desired objectives from not only the organizational perspective but also that of the managers and
employees while not being overly burdensome to all involved in the process. Our proposed approach is designed to
assist the City in developing a career management structure which is integrated with the organization’s mission, vision,
values, and strategies, versus simply connecting current, disparate processes. To ensure that the career management
processes developed within the organization will achieve the expected returns and truly drive the performance of the
City to higher levels, we will leverage key learnings and best practices from our extensive experience and research to
develop a structure that is uniquely tailored to Fort Collins. Our research and experience provides us an uncommon
insight to assess the current situation and bring the latest thinking and proven practices in the space of Talent
Management. In addition, our previous work with the City gives us perspective on the culture and values of the City as
well as the history and evolutions of some of these processes.
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Foundations of an Integrated Career Management Program
Development of appropriate organizational goals and target measures for the overall organization
(foundation for effective cascading),
Ensuring the appropriate reward structure is in place that can be linked to core competencies and the
Performance Management process (rewards that will drive behavior),
Strong ability on the part of management to execute the Performance Management process (appropriate
training and coaching),
Leverage existing information systems to support the Career Management processes (allowing managers
and HR to focus on value‐added aspects rather than administration),
Effective communication around goals, objectives, and results (emphasize the importance of the process
and keep the organization focused),
Organization’s culture and norms must be reflected in the competencies, reinforced in the Performance
Management process and executed in the compensation system.
Our approach is one of partnership, which begins with respect, listening, and diving into your culture, practices,
philosophies and successes in order to understand the City of Fort Collins from a holistic perspective. We take the
collective wisdom of your leadership and employees and blend this with our experience, expertise, and innovation to
develop tailored solutions that meet the unique needs of each individual client. While we benefit from the perspective
of having worked with dozens of organizations on their human capital challenges, we do not simply try to replicate what
we have done in other clients. It is through this strong focus on partnership that we can understand the culture and
focus of the City of Fort Collins and develop human capital processes that reflect your unique needs. We will certainly
leverage key learnings, best practices from published research (ours and others) and our firm and personal experiences
and expertise to develop an Integrated Career Management program that will include key foundations such as:
Many of these elements are in place currently in the City of Fort Collins as evidenced by the information contained in the
request for proposal as well as our understanding from the work that our partners were engaged in previously with the
City. But as we see repeatedly in organizations, programs and processes need to be refreshed periodically (typically
every 3‐4 years) to reflect new organization realities. For example, many of our public sector clients have found that the
financial crisis of 2008 has significantly impacted their Talent Management strategies. Leaders who perhaps might have
otherwise retired have continued working and in many cases turnover has reduced to a trickle. This causes challenges
from a promotion opportunity / mobility perspective, stretches Pay for Performance budgets, and causes a host of other
issues. In addition we find that many clients who initially implement Pay for Performance struggle over time with the
role of the team vs. the role of the individual in the Pay for Performance process, often requiring a shift in how the
process is structured and executed. These are just examples of common evolutions that must be addressed. Our focus
in this project will be to help the City of Fort Collins assess the approaches in place and ensure they are providing the
results that the organization desires and minimizes unintended consequences. We would anticipate a number of
potential evolutions for these programs that will better align to the current organization reality.
Finally, our approach is rooted in the philosophy of starting with the end in mind. From day one of the project, we lay
groundwork for the eventual implementation of the new program by engaging stakeholders and addressing their ideas,
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concerns and needs throughout the entire project. Aligning their needs with the vision of the work helps to ground the
goals and objectives of the initiatives and share how we intend to anchor them into their daily work. By engaging the
stakeholders from the beginning, they become a part of the journey and develop ownership and anticipation for the
new program.
Below is a graphic depicting the three phased approach and the high level outcomes for each phase:
The following sections provide a more detailed description of our proposed approach.
Discovery /
Assessement
Establishment of the partnership
between Revolution Advisors
and the City of Fort Collins
Comprehensive assessment of
current state
Define future state objectives
Evaluate organizational capacity
for change
Discovery Phase Summary
Report
Change
Recommendations
Benchmark to other
organizations, published research
and experience.
Future state process analysis
Benchmark Report
Continued stakeholder
involvement and buy in with
recommendations for change
management impacts
Ideal Future State
Talent management options
and analysis report
Key stakeholder feedback on
options
High level plan
Summary presentation to ELT
Final presentation
Key Project Outcomes
Compensation Philosophy, Performance Management, Learning Competencies
Integration Innovation Partnership Change Management
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1) Discovery – Status Quo/Current State Assessment
This phase consists of a review of current performance management, career management, and compensation
methodologies to understand the program currently in place, how they are performing and the gaps in the programs
based on the City of Fort Collins’ visions and goals. The objective of this phase is to clearly understand the evolution of
the programs, the elements that are working well, where there are opportunities to improve, and previously
experienced pitfalls. The activities will be conducted in an integrated fashion including questions and review of the
current compensation, performance management, and learning competency practices.
Our assessment will evaluate current City of Fort Collins processes, structures, and practices from a number of
perspectives, including:
The questions listed under each of these areas are just samples of the types of assessment criteria that we use to
evaluate these types of programs. As with all of our methods, we will tailor our assessment approach to the City of Fort
Collins. It should also be noted that when we conduct this type of assessment, we are looking not only at how the
processes and programs are designed, but also what results are they delivering – both positive and negative. By looking
at both design and execution, we can identify where changes truly need to be made. We find, for example, that many
organizations have processes that are designed well and fit their goals, but they have not made the requisite investment
to give their managers the skills to execute them.
Fit to Mission and
Values
•Do the programs
support the mission
and values?
•Do they enhance
mission achievement?
•Do they enhance the
ability of employees to
live the values?
•Are the right results
and behaviors being
rewarded?
Stakeholder Views
•Do stakeholders find
the programs valuable
and effective?
•Do the outputs get
used in decision‐
making?
•How efficient are they
to execute?
•Do they drive the right
behaviors and choices?
•Do they create the
right career
opportunities?
Administration and
Evolution
•Are there natural
evolutions to the
programs?
•Are the processes
aligned and do they
reinforce each other?
•How efficient are they
to administer?
•Is the right supporting
technology in place?
•Do they cause undue
burdens for leaders or
HR?
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The following table outlines the planned activities in this phase.
Activities Objective Key Data Elements
Review of current
documentation
Gain a picture of the current state through
existing documentation related to
compensation, performance management
and learning competencies / career
management
Note: We will be looking at each area both
independently and as integrated processes
Information expected to be provided by the
City includes but is not limited to:
Existing job titles/descriptions,
occupational groups, pay ranges, pay
spread, pay philosophy, market position
and any current pay practice philosophy
documents (e.g. merit matrix,
performance range distribution and skill
based pay factors)
Job evaluation and point factor system for
non‐benchmarked jobs including use of
system, number of jobs and accuracy
Current policies and procedures
Performance management and appraisal
documentation
Any existing documented career
progression criteria
Learning and development program
documentation
Competency framework
360 surveys
Metrics on current process and program
outcomes
Current state process
review sessions with
stakeholders
Facilitate and document the end‐to‐end
career management processes taking care
to address areas of duplication, overlap and
alignment / misalignment to better
understand the current level of integration
between compensation, performance
management and learning competencies
processes to fully understand the
administration and evolution of the current
processes
Process steps, as gathered through
existing documentation and facilitated
stakeholder sessions, including roles (who
completes each step), handoffs between
individuals and departments and system
interactions
Reports and other data used to support
the processes
Conduct focus
groups, interviews,
and surveys to gather
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Note: we will also leverage any feedback
collected to‐date through annual employee
surveys, 360 reviews, etc.
Future State
Outcomes
Stakeholder
Alignment
Confirm the objectives and goals of the
future state program with key stakeholders
Review stated objectives from the RFP as
well as those collected during the current
state assessment activities
Confirm alignment to future state
outcomes and prioritize by importance
Collection of financial
and operational
metrics and
indicators
Obtain baseline information on the metrics
being tracked currently , observed trends,
and other available data
The metrics and indicators that we expect to
collect include but are not limited to:
Current scorecards and/or dashboards
Review the 79 pay ranges and 40% spread
to document pitfalls; understand how the
seven occupational groups tie into the
system
Current employee census
Performance appraisal metrics (e.g. on‐
time submission, spread of ratings,
number of employees with learning and
development plans, promotions)
Number of learning opportunities
provided and participation rates
Evaluation of
supporting
information
technology
Understand how the system is being used,
and areas of strengths and weaknesses
from a stakeholder perspective
As denoted in the Current State Process
review activity (near the top of this table),
the use of the system will be included and
documented in the end‐to‐end process
review sessions to understand how
technology enables the processes and/or is
a barrier
Data being managed in the system
Support functions using the system
Specific applications and modules being
utilized
Degree of integration between functions
and data related to compensation,
performance management and learning
competencies
Technology not being utilized
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they will not be accepting of the future state approach when it comes time to implement. Involving key stakeholders in
this phase is another critical strategy for enabling the future change.
The information collected during this stage will be compiled into a comprehensive summary including common themes
and trends from the various points of data collection. This will provide the basis for the next phases of work including
the recommended changes and ideal future state.
2) Recommendation of Changes from Current State Assessment
The next phase of the project is to identify areas of opportunity for improvement and efficiency to form
recommendations for changes. We will take the themes and trends identified in the Discovery / Current State
Assessment Phase and consider them in the context of key learnings and best practices from published research and our
firm’s experience and research to create a summary report. Revolution Advisors brings a number of resources to bear in
this task. For example, our founder led a Best Practices in Talent Management study that analyzed more than 200 Talent
Management initiatives in public and private sector organizations to determine what worked and what didn’t from both
an overall program structure perspective and an individual process perspective. Our firm has also done similar
benchmark analyses for public sector organizations in the Front Range and elsewhere. We can bring all of this to bear to
help increase both the effectiveness and the efficiency of this phase of the project. The key activities of this phase are
summarized in the following table.
Activities Objective Key Components
Analysis of
Benchmark
Organizations
Conduct a comparative analysis of
organizational practices in similar
organizations to identify areas that are
missing and opportunities for improvement
as well practices that should remain intact
Identify organizations with talent pools
and cultures similar to the City of Fort
Collins
Collect published research on trends
within Talent Management
Using the pool of other organizations,
published research and our own
experience, analyze the practices that may
work for the City of Fort Collins and
identify gaps between current state and
the benchmark practices
Review the use of process enabling
technology
Comparative Data
Analysis
Use the data elements captured to
compare against benchmark organizations
to provide a quantitative assessment of
how the City compares to similar
organizations
Comparison of current process, scorecard
and dashboard metrics to benchmark
organization metrics
Review and understand current market
position from a compensation perspective
by running a regression analysis to confirm
87% of employees are at or above the
current ranges
Estimate number of potential matched
positions in order to validate end state
system viability
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Future State
Visioning Session
with Key
Stakeholders
Work with key stakeholders to solidify and
finalize the vision for the future state
Talent Management processes with the
goal to confirm the alignment of the
approach to the City’s mission, vision and
values and other important characteristics
to provide the ranked objectives by which
to align the ideal future state against
Vision of how the Talent Management
process accomplishes the City’s objectives
(as confirmed in the Outcomes Alignment
Session in the first phase)
Confirm and flush out more details around
important components of the process
such as ease of use by employees and
managers, compensation consistency,
performance rewards that promote
employee engagement, and key
competencies that will drive and align
behaviors to create a culture of
performance excellence
Compare the alignment and integration of
current Talent Management processes –
with organizational strategies, other HR
processes and with each other
Review the benchmark organizational data
and recommendations for changes from
the previous phase to discuss the top
priority areas for inclusion in the ideal
future state
The future state visioning session is a key piece of change management during this phase of the project. Facilitating an
understanding and agreement of the high priority objectives that the City would like to see in the future program is
critical to ensuring that stakeholders are aligned to the change they desire. It also allows them the opportunity to
participate in creating their future state, which helps to generate buy‐in. Additionally the themes from the current state
assessment as well as the findings from the benchmark research will be reviewed with key members of the project team
to begin to create awareness of what is being found during the project. This form of partnership allows the City to be
informed of the project findings as we are discovering them allowing for feedback, adjustments and acceptance along
the way.
Upon completion of this phase, Revolution Advisors will deliver to the City a report containing recommendations based
on the information captured in the current state assessment as compared to the benchmark information. The
information will be organized in a way that ranks the recommendations to provide a greater understanding of the areas
with the most opportunities for improvement. We will provide further insight into the recommendations by analyzing
them from perspectives such as cost‐benefit, likelihood of success vs. organization impact, risk of not addressing vs.
effort to address, and others. These will give key stakeholders with the City a clear picture of how they might best
prioritize changes.
3) Ideal Future State
Based on assessment outcomes, the next phase of the process involves the development of the ideal future state
encompassing the desired objectives. Each option will provide a process overview, comparison of how the option will
support achieving the objectives and a general outline of the implementation approach. Currently the City desires a
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future state process for Talent Management that evaluates and addresses opportunities for improvement regarding the
framework for pay bands, pay ranges, job titles, job descriptions, job competencies, career progression and paths,
performance management, employee pay as well as achieves the following objectives:
A framework that is understandable in relation to the components of job descriptions/titles, competencies,
career paths and associated pay, with separate approaches for skill/competency based and performance pay
that are competitive, fair and relevant,
An approach to career progression that is clear and tied to competencies,
A system based on well‐defined competencies that are relevant and meaningful to the job function and support
the alignment of desired behaviors driving toward excellence,
A timely and relevant performance assessment process that is easy to use and understandable to both managers
and employees that encourages engagement and continuous improvement and allows for multi‐rater feedback.
The activities outlined in the table below are structured in a way that the options for the future state career
management processes can be evaluated against these objectives. The first step will be to create the preliminary
assessment document consolidating the information collected throughout the course of the project including the initial
list of options that clearly identifies how each component supports the corresponding objective, the likelihood of
success, the risks involved, and the degree implementation difficulty. Options will range from more traditional to more
innovative approaches. Revolution Advisors will facilitate a review of the options analysis with key stakeholders
identified by the City to discuss the options and finalize the list that will be reviewed with the Executive Leadership Team
(ELT). Once the ELT has reviewed the options and summary report, the report will be finalized incorporating the
feedback received.
Activities Objective Key Components
Options
Development &
Preliminary
Assessment
Document
Create a list of Talent Management
options and analysis identifying how
each option supports the desired future
state objectives into a documented
preliminary assessment report
Overview of each process, objectives
analysis/ranking, and key considerations
Preparation of preliminary assessment report
document for review and input prior to ELT
review
Key Stakeholder
Options Review &
Recommendations
Finalization
To review and gain input from key
stakeholders on the findings related to
the ideal future state to finalize the
options to present to the ELT
Facilitated session(s) with key stakeholders to
review the ideal future state documentation
and narrow list of options to present to ELT
Analysis of narrowed list of options including
change impact analysis based on the
information collected in the current state
assessment and benchmark research
Presentation to the
ELT
Review findings and facilitate a
discussion to provide the necessary
information to the ELT to support a
decision on the final future state
approach
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This phase and project scope concludes with a final assessment document and recommendations presented to the City
of Fort Collins’ project managers and key stakeholders. It should be noted that these final recommendations will also
include implications of the new processes for other Talent Management processes that are outside of the scope of this
project. For example, how might the new performance management process link to future succession planning efforts?
As discussed in the previous sections, we value and intend to have a strong focus on change management throughout
this process. This focus will be evident in the final report as well. The information will be structured in a way that is clear,
with more showing through graphics and pictures than telling to allow it to be reviewed and used by a variety of
audiences. Below are some simple examples of graphics we have developed in the past to help illustrate future state
Talent Management processes and philosophies.
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In order for any change to be successful, those impacted by the change need to clearly understand the change, how it
impacts them and the steps they need to take moving forward. Revolution Advisors subscribes to the philosophy that it
is not enough to just provide reports and recommendations to our clients. We pride ourselves in working side‐by‐side
with our clients to enable them to make the change they desire.
We are often asked by our clients to support the recommendations we develop, which gives us the experience of
implementing our work versus just delivering a report and walking away. Through this involvement, we understand how
certain approaches work for organizations, the supporting materials needed and the most practical, easy to implement
tactics. For example, we have created comprehensive development guides to support changes to the career
management structures for other clients. These guides provided a step‐by‐step roadmap for both managers and
employees on how career paths are developed and executed. The result was that within six months of the
implementation, every in‐scope employee in the company had a real development plan. Revolution Advisors will bring
this tactical knowhow to this project to ensure the new career management processes are tailored, practical and easy to
use.
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4) Unique contribution based on expertise
Revolution Advisors is a leading‐edge management consulting firm in the field of Human Capital Management. With a
global reputation as a key innovator in the field, extensive experience with other public sector organizations and our
best practices research, we have the depth of experience to support the City of Fort Collins’ objectives and deliver the
type of results desired. Because of our extensive focus in this area, we continue to research both best practices and
cutting‐edge techniques in Talent Management giving us the flexibility to provide a process that has years of experience
and data supporting it and incorporating more leading edge, newer approaches. In addition, we intend to leverage our
experience with large‐scale human capital strategy and implementation projects for public sector clients such as the City
of Boulder, Denver Public Schools, the State of Colorado, the U. S. Department of Energy, the U. S. Army, and private
sector clients such as Yamaha, MGM MIRAGE, Johns Manville, Edison International (parent of Southern California
Edison), CableLabs, CH2M‐HILL, Baxter Healthcare, and a host of others. Our experience spans all aspects of Talent
Management from process and policy to supporting technology. We have spoken at organizations such as the
Conference Board and the Human Resource Planning Society about our successes with companies such as MGM MIRAGE
and Yamaha. We have been the drivers in the development of now multiple Talent Management systems for multiple
companies and have helped a number of organizations select the right technology for their needs. And most
importantly, we have helped clients make leading‐edge Talent Management a reality through our change management
and program management skills, even being called in to rescue struggling projects on a number of occasions. We
continue to write and speak in this area and provide resources to the HR community such as the Workforce Expert Blog
(http://workforceexpert.typepad.com/the‐workforce‐expert/) dedicated to helping practitioners in the field of
Workforce Planning advance their skills and techniques.
A critical component of how we do projects involves Capacity Building. We want the skills and capabilities of our clients
to be higher when we left than when we came, and we consequently partner closely with our clients to make this a
reality. That means day‐to‐day interaction and collaboration focused on helping HR and other stakeholders understand
not only what we are doing but why it is important. It also involves sharing tools and techniques that could be helpful to
the client organization going forward. Through the course of the project, we will identify related potential improvements
that the City can implement. Examples of these from previous projects include:
Potential structure changes to better align HR support with new Talent Management processes,
Changes to existing technology configuration to make current processes more efficient,
Training and certification programs to enhance the skills of the HR staff in order to better support the managers
in execution of human capital processes,
One‐on‐one coaching with project managers and other key leaders to build their knowledge and skills in Talent
Management.
Throughout, we are happy to share our knowledge, experience, and published thought leadership to further this
capacity building.
Part of this capacity building involves developing the capacity of leaders to take action and carry out the strategies and
processes that have been developed. Typically we conduct a Change Management Foundations course for leaders who
will be involved in implementing the change and would be happy to do that for the City within the scope of this
proposal. Our consultants have been designing and developing comprehensive integrated leadership development
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programs for over 14 years that drive leadership actions to organizational goals. The development and success of these
programs begins with the identification of clear competencies that will drive the design, facilitation and activities of the
program. We know that Talent Management programs are only effective if the leaders and employees within the
organization have the capability to carry out the vision. Our focus is on skill development, behavior change and
results. This can only happen if the systems and processes that support the career management structure is integrated
and anchored with your organizational culture, vision and values. Our expertise is rooted in having customized over 25
programs for a wide variety of organizations over the years. For your project we will be assessing and designing systems
and processes that support and align with your current leadership development programs and make recommendations
on how to enhance this leadership capability in the future.
Deliverables
The deliverables for the assessment, recommendations and ideal future state will be derived in partnership with the City
of Fort Collins. The intent is that the conclusions reflect the input from the stakeholders on their desired goals and
objectives and are supported by benchmark research. Revolution Advisors will work with the City of Fort Collins in each
phase of the project to ensure our work continues to meet expectations and incorporates feedback along the way. The
deliverables for each phase of the project, as requested in the RFP, are as follows:
Preliminary current state assessment with stakeholder feedback summarized/trends identified for review with
the City,
Final assessment, process option analysis, identification and recommendations for options that best meet the
City’s objectives,
Presentation to the ELT of assessment findings, recommendations and future state plan,
Final Report incorporating feedback from ELT review.
The details of each of these components are detailed in the Approach section above. In each component, we will go
above and beyond the desired deliverables by integrating implications for related processes that are outside of the
scope of the project, change management strategies, and capacity building approaches. Revolution Advisors will
complete and deliver each of the work products identified above to the City upon completion of each activity. At the
time of delivery, the work products will become the property of the City.
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Project Schedule
The following picture depicts the timeline to support the project activities. It assumes the receipt of requested
information in a reasonable timeframe and access to the resources needed to conduct focus groups and stakeholder
interviews.
Discovery Current State Assessment – July 15 – August 29
Recommendations of Changes – August 29 – September 19
Ideal Future State– September 19 – December 19
Preliminary Assessment Report Document – September 15 – October 1
Review Preliminary Assessment Report Document with Stakeholders – October 1 – October 15
Report prep to ELT – October 15 – October 31
Presentation to ELT – November 5
Updates to Final Assessment Report based on ELT Feedback and Delivery – November 6 – December 19
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Consultant Information and Experience
1) Primary Contact Information
Mr. Brian Wilkerson
Managing Director
Revolution Advisors LLC
10170 Church Ranch Way, Suite 100
Westminster, Colorado 80021
(720) 409‐5301
bwilkerson@revolution‐advisors.com
2) Firm Qualifications
Revolution Advisors is a consulting firm dedicated to helping organizations drive dramatic performance improvements
and make lasting progress towards their missions. Our cross‐functional team of experts has helped clients achieve their
goals through innovative strategies and tactics, and creative problem solving focused on driving the kind of change that
makes a real difference. Our solutions are not the single‐threaded “magic bullet” solutions. Very different from most
consulting firms, our focus is on developing strategies and solutions specific to your needs, not just doing what we have
done for the last five clients.
Revolutions Advisors is known for our innovative approaches to Talent Management and we have the experience of
implementing these approaches in multiple organizations across several industries. Our consultants were some of the
pioneers in the field of Integrated Talent Management and developed some of the first real methodologies in the space,
as well as some of the first technology to be truly integrated. This expertise is recognized by the number of speaking
engagements and the amount of writing that we do. In the Appendix, we have included a sample of our publications and
we were honored in 2012 to be asked to write the lead chapter in the Encyclopedia of Human Resources. We were asked
to do so because of our innovative approach in this area.
We are confident that our approach will deliver a customized solution to fit the City of Fort Collins needs and one that is
designed in such a way that it can be maintained and improved upon internally as the process and your organization
matures. We also bring the process and change management expertise to ensure the implementation of a holistic and
sustainable solution aligned with the culture and vision of the City of Fort Collins in addition to the values that drive how
people in the organization make decisions and take action.
More information is available at www.revolution‐advisors.com.
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Key Personnel
The project team has been assembled to provide deep expertise across all of the areas associated with this project. The
City of Fort Collins will have a team of seasoned experts who have worked with a wide range of public and private sector
organizations across the globe. Backgrounds for each of these consultants appear below. Brian Wilkerson will serve as
the overall lead and a subject matter expert for the project. He will be the day‐to‐day point person for the project and
will ensure that the team delivers high quality results. Kelly Wyngarden and Brandi Buie will serve as subject matter
experts in the areas of learning / development and compensation respectively. The team will be supported by Angie
Ligon who has deep process improvement expertise. All have extensive change management experience and all have
worked on multiple projects in this field as noted below.
Brian E. Wilkerson Primary Contact Lead Consultant: Brian Wilkerson is the Managing Director of Revolution Advisors.
Brian is an innovator and thought leader in the field of Talent Management and has led efforts across a range of clients
in both domestic and international settings, with a particular emphasis on making strategy successful through the
combination of operational excellence and human capital management. Some of his key clients have included the U. S.
Army Vice Chief of Staff G‐1, the US Department of Energy, the U. S. General Services Administration, the U. S. Postal
Service, the City of Boulder, the City of Fort Collins, Douglas County, Jefferson County, Yamaha, Edison Mission Energy,
MGM MIRAGE, Johns Manville, CH2M‐HILL, and a host of other global enterprises and government agencies, where he
has worked with senior executive teams to help them develop new strategies and align their Human Capital
management strategies. Brian was one of the first innovators in the field of Talent Management, and created some of
the first methodologies and tools for integrating processes such as performance management, learning, succession
planning, recruiting, workforce planning and others. He is also an Adjunct Faculty member at the Daniels College of
Business at the University of Denver, where he teaches graduate level courses in Human Capital Management and
Strategic Human Resources. Brian is the author of the Workforce Expert Blog that focuses on advanced techniques for
Human Capital Planning. Brian was formerly the CEO and co‐founder of WisdomNet, a Strategy and Human Capital firm
focused on delivering cutting‐edge consulting and technology solution. WisdomNet was the developer of the leading I‐
TMS software for integrated Talent Management and the Workforce Impact tool for advanced workforce planning and
analytics. WisdomNet was acquired by Watson Wyatt in 2007 and Brian served as the Global Practice Director for Talent
Management at Watson Wyatt from 2007‐2009. In that role he led the development and rapid growth of a new global
practice combining his former firm with a number of groups from within Watson Wyatt. He managed a global team and
served as the global thought leader in this area. His educational background includes a Master’s Degree in Regional
Planning focused on International Development from University of Colorado and a Bachelor’s Degree in Criminal Justice
from the University of Cincinnati. He also holds a Certificate in Human Resource Strategy & Practice from the Human
Resource Planning Society. Brain also holds an active Top Secret Clearance.
Brandi Buie Lead Compensation Consultant: Brandi Buie is the founder and owner of Altitude HR – a key partner of
Revolution Advisors. Altitude HR provides creative, leading‐edge Talent Management solutions by aligning total reward
programs with an organization's strategic focus. Brandi has over 15 years’ experience designing and re‐engineering
compensation processes, systems and overseeing total rewards management for a wide range of organizations from
startups to large global corporations. She is a proven leader for corporate‐wide total reward optimization, change,
innovation, communication, and continuous improvement of business performance, effectiveness and efficiency. Her
past experience includes Human Resource and Total Reward consulting for companies such as Aegis Creative, Aurora
Loans, CableLabs, Capital One, Citrix, First Data Corporation, Ingersoll‐Rand, Level 3 Communications, Newmont Mining,
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MarkWest Energy Partners, McData, Qwest Communications, Teletech, Western Union, and WildBlue Communications.
She has partnered with her clients to create, design and implement innovative base pay compensation systems and
served as the Program Manager and Functional Lead for the global implementation and deployment of several new
compensation programs. Each of these programs included a clear understanding and analysis of current programs,
alignment to company goals, benchmarks to key competitors, best‐in‐class development, future state change
management analysis and deployment, executive communication and employee training. She has a strong focus on
business‐aligned optimization through understanding and developing ties between company goals, business line goals
and human resource goals, thus creating a cascade throughout organization down to individual employee goals.
Brandi’s educational background includes a Bachelor's degree in Human Resources from the University of Colorado and
a Master's Degree in Business Administration (MBA) from Regis University. She is a Senior Professional in Human
Resources (SPHR) certification and has served as President of the Rocky Mountain Compensation Association's board of
directors.
Kelly Coyle Wyngarden Consultant Performance Management and Learning Competencies: Kelly Coyle Wyngarden is
a consultant with Revolution Advisors and has been has been providing customized organizational development services
to organizations for the past 17 years. She works closely with leaders and organizations to strengthen their internal
capacity, navigate complex relationships, and manage change. Kelly has a strong collaborative approach and facilitation
style building strong relationships while maintaining a focus on results and impact. She designs and facilitates
customized and integrated one to two‐yearlong leadership academies within organizations aligning performance
management, training and leadership competencies. She was a senior facilitator in Mountain States Employers Council
Executive Leadership Program and their Organizational Development Certificate program for over six years. She has
worked with organizations to perform job analysis and learning competencies for leadership positions throughout all
levels of organizations. Kelly’s strength lies in aligning key competencies with organizational strategy and then building
leadership capability to carry out the vision. In addition to the work she does with groups, Kelly is also a certified Integral
Executive Coach. Kelly holds a M.S.W. from the University of Denver and a B.A. in Psychology and Kinesiology from the
University of Northern Colorado. She has been a speaker at numerous regional and national conferences on topics such
as leadership development, effective communication, change management, organizational culture, and succession
planning. She has been an Organizational Development Consultant in Colorado for nearly two decades providing
training, facilitation, mediation and consulting services. Some of her key clients have included Boulder County, Larimer
County, City and County of Broomfield, South Suburban Parks and Recreation District, the Credit Union of Colorado,
Yampa Valley Medical Center, National Jewish Health, CH2M‐HILL, RTD, the University of Wyoming and a host of other
organizations and governmental agencies.
Angie Ligon Consultant Process Design and Change Management: Angie Ligon is a consultant with Revolution
Advisors, a strategy and human capital consulting firm that focuses on comprehensive approaches to implementing
organizational development initiatives. She brings over 15 years’ of experience in applying process improvement, change
and program management approaches to organizational development initiatives in small to large sized companies. She
has led initiatives to improve processes and approaches a multitude of operational business processes. Angie is well
versed in listening and understanding a client’s ultimate objective, developing a customized approach and bringing
teams from diverse backgrounds and reporting relationships to consensus to achieve the desired outcome. One of her
strengths is the ability to take high level, strategic initiatives and break them down into a tactical plan that is executable
and understandable to all levels of staff within an organization. In this capacity, she facilitated the implementation of
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new performance objectives within a department by working with a subset of staff to map the organizational
performance behaviors to specific examples of work and situations for the department. The result was a clear roadmap
for department personnel to understand how their work fit into the organizational performance structure as well as
provided the managers clear criteria by which to evaluate department employees. Angie also has extensive experience
developing plans and approaches to successfully manage change from an organizational development perspective, and
has specific experience in a Colorado municipality developing and supporting the execution of a change strategy around
an organizational restructuring. Angie holds Masters of Health Services Administration and a B. S. in Biopsychology, both
from the University of Michigan. She is also certified in Lean Process Improvement (Black Belt) and Strategic Workforce
Planning. She served as an Internal Senior Consultant for Trinity Health over nine years providing management and
oversight to a multi‐state/facility role out of a large scale systems deployment that impacted the jobs of 85 percent of
the staff in each organization. Angie has worked with several clients as an external consultant including the State of
Michigan, City of Boulder, Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, BP Exploration Alaska, Outdoor Action Company, as well as clients
in upstream oil and gas and global mining supporting process improvement initiatives, overall change and program
management.
3) Availability
Consultants at Revolution Advisors are available to commence work July 15, 2014, and can dedicate the appropriate
time and focus to the fulfillment of this project. The advanced notice associated with this project allows us to ensure
that our consultants have the requisite time available to complete the project effectively. We have the ability to
leverage the extensive experience of our other Human Capital consultants on staff at key points throughout the project
in order to help ensure that the City of Fort Collins receives the very best thinking and the broadest perspective possible
when developing its Human Talent Process. We can also leverage this team should additional capacity be required for
some unanticipated reason. All consultants who would work on this project for the City of Fort Collins are based in our
headquarters in Westminster, Colorado, making it easy for us to come on site for meetings and other project activities.
4) Project Experience
Below is a small sample of our work in this area over the past five years. As you can see, they span the spectrum of
organizations and related issues and are illustrative of the diversity of our experience and perspective.
CableLabs
CableLabs is a non‐profit research organization for the cable industry. CableLabs engaged Revolution Advisors to assess
and re‐engineer its Performance Management approach to better provide for effective assessment of employee
performance and development. We developed multiple options for the process and chose an innovative approach that
shifted from an annual form to more of an ongoing dialogue. We supported the organization in the development of the
process, training of managers, and selection of technology. We also identified linkages and associated changes to related
processes such as compensation, career paths and others.
MGM‐MIRAGE
MGM‐MIRAGE is a global entertainment and hospitality organization with 15 properties in Las Vegas and multiple
locations around the world with more than 70,000 employees. Our consultants led the re‐design of a number of Talent
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Management processes across the enterprise, including performance management. We also led the implementation of a
new Talent Management technology tool. The success of the project led to it being featured as a keynote in a
Conference Board Talent Management conference.
First Data Corporation
Around the world, every second of every day, First Data makes payment transactions secure, fast and easy for
merchants, financial institutions and their customers. Altitude HR managed a corporate function to create a Human
Resource shared services organization to foster alignment amongst multiple regions within a global environment.
Implementation included branding and communication of shared services, deep dive into core Human Resource
processes and programs to determine best practices, and change management impact analysis to properly align the
shared services organization to the newly created programs. In addition, they managed the creation, design, and
implementation of an innovative base pay compensation system as a replacement to an existing graded structure.
Deployment tactics included formal presentations to management, change management impact analysis and planning,
and development of an interactive website to assist management to market price and benchmark various positions.
Orica Mining
Orica is a global specialty mining company with its North American headquarters in Colorado. Revolution Advisors
conducted an assessment of Orica’s Talent Management practices for their top talent pool and recommended changes
to their practices to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of their processes. This included the implementation of
new processes such as performance and development planning and career management as well as new programs to
accelerate learning and development of their key talent.
Yamaha
Yamaha is a global leader in the music and electronics industry. For its U. S. operations, Revolution Advisors has
conducted a series of strategy and human capital projects over time. As part of our overall work with Yamaha, our
consultants led the re‐design of the performance management process. The initial focus of the re‐design was integrating
the shift to a Process Enterprise (Lean principles) into the performance management process but expanded to
encompass a number of elements such as better management of both high performers and poor performers, increased
focus on development, and more timely performance feedback. The rollout has been in phases, with the Process
Enterprise elements going first. These elements have led to a number of positive changes and for strong support for the
process enterprise initiative. The final elements of the process (including systems support) have just recently been
implemented and it is now being managed by the internal HR team.
Eating Recovery Center
The Eating Recovery Center (ERC) has been in a high growth stage since its inception four years ago. With the goal to be
a National Center of Excellence they needed to build a strong leadership team that could carry out their vision and
mission. This meant increasing the leadership skills of individuals who have been trained as clinical practitioners,
strengthen cross‐departmental communication and collaboration and continue to build a world‐class culture aligning
leadership behaviors to this culture. Consultants at Revolution Advisors have partnered with ERC to create a customized
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comprehensive integrated leadership development program. Anchored to key leadership competencies, the program
included 360 degree assessments, mentoring, training, year‐long projects and application assignments. Creating
innovative solutions to meet the needs of an ever‐changing system has been a critical aspect to our work with ERC. The
program was an integral part in supporting the career management structure for ERC and the organization has seen a
key group of leaders step up into their new roles with skill and confidence and successfully lead the organization through
tremendous growth. The program strengthened the lines of communication on all levels of leadership and provided a
basis for collaborative decision‐making.
5) References
Karen Metz
Vice President of Human Resources
CableLabs
303‐661‐3773
k.metz@cablelabs.com
Cathy Arrendale
VP, Compensation & HRIS Centura Health
(First Data Project)
303‐718‐9076
Hilary McClain
Former Director of Talent Management
MGM‐MIRAGE
702‐300‐0959
hilary@mcclainresources.com
Mr. Scott Fisher
Chief Human Resource Officer
Eating Recovery Center
720‐258‐4033
sfisher@eatingrecoverycenter.com
Fees
Sustainability Practices
At Revolution Advisors, our number one priority is to provide our clients with the most value for the money spent. We
want our clients to be enabled and more capable when we leave and a part of doing that is to look at every interaction
and ensuring that it is providing the most value. We discussed this Capacity Building approach above and this directly
leads to more sustainable solutions for our clients and more capability for them to sustain the changes after our work
has completed. Part of this process is spending the right amount of time on site to ensure that our assessments are
thorough and that our change management approaches have taken hold. But given that we service a global client base,
we are also very adept at virtual collaboration. Our offices include complete video conference and virtual collaboration
capabilities, all implemented with high security given some of the sensitive work that we do with government agencies.
Throughout the project, we seek to strike the right balance between onsite and virtual work with our priority on doing
whatever it takes to get the right results for our clients. Sustainability is also built into the way we design processes. One
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of the most significant evolutions in human capital management over the past few years has been the focus on making
processes more nimble and we are at the forefront of that shift. This means rather than conducting large‐scale redesigns
every few years, we build in opportunities for continuous evolution into the processes themselves, so the evolution is
more natural and less disruptive to the organization. Part of our capacity building approach is to help our clients
understand how to use these evolutions.
From a broader sustainability perspective, we pride ourselves on being good corporate citizens. From the extensive
community service that our consultants undertake to the work that we do as a firm in indigenous communities helping
them with resource management, economic development, and creating entrepreneurs, our firm is concerned about
leaving the world we live in a better place. As another example, our firm underwrote workshops for municipalities
impacted by the massive floods in Colorado to help them work with DOLA and FEMA to get the support they needed for
rebuilding. We have also provided pro‐bono consulting to entities that couldn’t afford our services to help with their
recovery planning. This further plays out in practices such as when traveling to the client site, we take care to carpool as
possible and limit the number of individuals traveling to meetings separately. We use recycled paper and all of our
printers are set to dual‐sided printing by default. Because of our collaboration infrastructure, we encourage our
consultants to print only what is necessary and we also try to work with our clients to be able to present electronically,
rather than using reams of paper for presentations. We also focus on using vendors who have similar track records in
terms of sustainability and corporate responsibility.
All of our consultants are local and therefore do not expect to incur travel expenses.
The total cost for the sections (compensation, performance, and learning) is $97,500. Based on the proposed integrated
approach of looking at compensation, learning and performance as interrelated pieces, our fees represent this holistic
view and are separated out by phase of work. We would be happy to discuss breakout of the fees based on each section
(compensation, performance, and learning) at the City’s request. There are inherent synergies in our approach that
results in overall lower hours and fees versus breaking them out by section. We can discuss and show the cost of
addressing each of these separately if the City desires, but we would not recommend a separated section pricing
approach. The following table summarizes our fixed fee bid for our project by phase.
Activities Hours Costs
Discovery/Assessment 275 – 315 $45,500
Change Recommendations 160 – 180 $26,000
Ideal Future State 160 – 180 $26,000
Total 595 ‐ 675 $97,500
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Additional Information
Per Exhibit B Sample Professional Services Agreement ‐ Revolution Advisors will meet all the specified
qualifications listed in the Sample Professional Services Agreement and will be prepared to sign upon award of
the project.
Per Exhibit Insurance Requirements ‐ Revolution Advisors will meet all the specified qualifications listed in
Exhibit Insurance Requirements and will supply any information upon request.
Per Exhibit Confidentiality ‐ Revolution Advisors will maintain complete confidentiality regarding City
information and data and will sign a confidentiality agreement upon request.
Per Addendum No. 1 – Revolution Advisors acknowledges receipt of Exhibit 1 ‐ Questions and Answers.
Per Appendix A: Attached is a sample of our approach to Talent Management and integrating it into day‐to‐day
management practice. We were honored to be selected as the lead chapter in 2012 Encyclopedia of Human
Resources Management. Full reference is:
Robert K. Prescott, Ph. D., SPHR (Volume Editor) and William J. Rothwell (Series Editor): Encyclopedia of Human
Resource Management, Volume 1, Key Topics and Issues. John Wiley & Sons / Pfeiffer, Sam Francisco, CA. 2012.
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APPENDIX A
1
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ARTICLE 1
THE EVOLVING PRACTICE OF
TALENT MANAGEMENT
Brian E. Wilkerson
Companies that rely on traditional talent management approaches will fi nd
themselves at an increasing disadvantage in the years ahead. The winners
will be those that replace traditional talent management tactics with an integrated
strategy owned by line management and focused on the elements that will truly
give them an advantage.
Integrated talent management, which encompasses recruiting, succession
planning, performance management, compensation, career development, learning,
and strategic workforce planning, enhances an enterprise’s ability to attract and
retain top talent. Bringing all these disciplines together into a cohesive strategy
requires a signifi cant investment of resources. The payback, however, in terms
of lower turnover, higher engagement, and greater fi nancial success, makes the
investment worthwhile.
Organizations are struggling with how to reframe their attraction and
retention strategies to adapt to the shortage of skilled workers, a changing economy,
and the new technologies required to keep pace. Today’s businesses are struggling
to manage a complex workforce that encompasses three generations of work-
ers with differing needs and motivations and an increasingly global employee
and customer base. Fragmented and disjointed talent management programs are
making this process diffi cult.
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2 The Encyclopedia of Human Resource Management: Volume One
Recruiting, succession planning, performance management, compensation,
career development, learning, and strategic workforce planning are often handled
as separate functions—sometimes by separate groups that often don’t effectively
collaborate or coordinate their efforts. Compounding their efforts are a highly
uncertain economy where companies are often experiencing simultaneous surplus
and scarcity when it comes to talent and increasingly limited funds to invest in the
practice of talent management.
Integrating talent management programs and other related initiatives allows
a company to view workforce decisions in a strategic way and positions it for
greater fi nancial success.
Integrated Talent Management
Integrated talent management addresses managing human capital with the same
clarity, discipline, and objectivity as managing other critical business assets. Research
conducted while I was at Watson Wyatt Worldwide shows the elements that com-
prise a comprehensive, integrated strategy (Wilkerson, 2009). But just as important
as connecting these elements together is connecting them to the business.
In 2007, we examined more than 150 talent management projects to deter-
mine what made companies successful at deploying integrated strategies. The
major fi nding was that, while successful talent management is facilitated by the
HR staff, it is owned by line managers and executives. It is part of each manager’s
responsibilities and receives continual attention. This can happen, however, only
when talent management processes align with the culture and values that drive
how people in the organization make decisions and take action.
For example, no matter how thorough a succession planning process is, it will
fail if managers pick up the phone and call an executive search fi rm as soon as
a key player resigns. The point of succession planning is to have options already
in place. Often succession plans are solely focused on compliance. Managers and
HR staff respond to a CEO mandate by “fi lling in the boxes” to show a successor
for all key positions. Little, if any, analysis or discussion occurs regarding the ripple
effect of moving a particular person into a new position or the development needs
of that individual, and often many people are identifi ed as successors for more
than one position. Such plans do not address the organization’s strengths and
gaps, nor do they refl ect a disciplined understanding of future needs. Integrated
talent management aligns with the way the business works. Rather than forcing
compliance from managers, it is embraced by managers because they see it as
valuable to achieving their business results. This study showed that achieving this
requires simple but powerful processes, where the effort put in is clearly aligned
with the value received.
The Evolving Practice of Talent Management 3
A truly integrated talent management process integrates talent decisions with
business decisions. The distinction between connected processes and integrated
processes is an important one here. In most organizations, talent management
processes have varying degrees of connection to the business. That doesn’t mean
they are integrated. Returning to the succession planning example, many orga-
nizations have talent review processes that call for discussing high-potential lead-
ers and potential replacements and generally include a business context. Yet the
talent planning discussion is disconnected from the business planning discussion.
In companies in which talent management is truly integrated, the succession
discussion is part of the business discussion and talent reviews are part of business
reviews. Discussion of future talent requirements is a natural outgrowth of a discus-
sion about business direction, products, markets, and other issues. Throughout this
book, you will fi nd numerous defi nitions of key human resources concepts and infor-
mation on practices employed by various companies. It is key to blend the elements
that fi t your culture and organization strategy into an integrated set of processes and
practices that matches your needs. Rather than simply adopting what someone else
terms as best practices, you have to create a synthesis of these concepts that speaks
to your organization and can become part of how your management team manages.
Preparing Managers for a New Role
The current workforce challenges demand new thinking about talent management.
This new thinking requires managers to develop new skills, including spotting
good talent, coaching and growing their people, and connecting business planning
skills with talent planning. Successful companies help their managers develop
these skills to handle the people component of their jobs more effectively.
Managers play a critical role in integrated talent management, balancing the
needs of the employer with those of the employee while representing the interests
of both sides. To succeed, managers need a clear understanding of employee
goals and expectations. Moreover, they need HR policies, processes, and tools to
help them meet employees’ widely varying needs.
Establishing Talent Management Processes
Effective talent management processes integrate readily into the natural processes
that drive the business. They take into account the managers’ work styles and busy
work schedules. They ensure a high degree of communication from senior leaders
down to individual employees. Clear communication establishes a clear line of
sight and helps shape behavior.
4 The Encyclopedia of Human Resource Management: Volume One
For example, in most organizations, performance management really means
performance appraisal. In contrast, integrated talent management closely
links performance management with business management. One large service
company has integrated its performance management process with its business
reviews. Each business unit reviews its results and the contributions of its staff
monthly, including the capabilities, skills, work processes, tools, and motivation
that staff members need to improve their results. These reviews enable manag-
ers to provide real-time guidance to employees about improving performance,
as well as real-time recognition for their contributions. Managers hold a brief
conversation with each employee immediately following business reviews to give
more specifi c feedback on performance. Generally, managers use notes from
these conversations to make a more formal performance appraisal at year end.
Both employees and managers see the process as easier, more valuable, and more
closely connected to driving business results.
In the current business environment, integration also requires focus. Gone
are the days of trying to establish “best in class” practices across all areas of talent
management. Companies need to focus on the areas of talent management that
will have the most impact on their business and where investments will bring the
most return. In my own work, I have seen companies returning to a much more
pragmatic approach to talent management and to integrating these processes with
business strategy.
Achieving Integration
Companies that successfully integrate all their talent management processes
and integrate talent management with the business strategy have a number of
elements in common. First, they can clearly articulate how people contribute
to the business strategy in terms that managers understand and can act on.
Organizations with effective talent management also identify a clear set of objec-
tives that are agreed to at the most senior levels and communicated throughout
the organization.
Increasingly, companies are using brand as the link between people and strat-
egy. Efforts around aligning internal (employment) with external (customer) brand
go well beyond simply making the links between employee experience and cus-
tomer experience. With brand alignment, companies are explicitly linking their
employment brand and resultant employee value proposition to their customer
brand and recognizing that employees are critical to delivering the brand promise
to customers. To ensure that employees deliver on the external brand promise,
employers must deliver on their employment brand promise. Managers are once
The Evolving Practice of Talent Management 5
again the critical link in this chain. Managers need to drive the right behaviors
and have the right tools and processes to manage their people.
As a next step in the integration process, successful organizations defi ne
the decisions they are able to make to meet the talent management objectives,
focusing on those that are most important and clearly tied to the business
strategy. For example, in a consumer products company focused on new prod-
ucts, the key decisions focused on rewarding innovation, identifying the best
innovators, and ensuring they were committed and engaged. These were then
translated into data required to make the best decisions, and processes and
tools were designed to effectively gather the data and translate it into action-
able information.
A final element to success was driving accountability for talent man-
agement throughout the organization. Accountability takes different forms
depending on the company, but includes holding leaders accountable for exe-
cuting agreed-on processes and using them to make talent decisions. It also
includes holding leaders to standards such as leadership competency mod-
els and ensuring that leaders either demonstrate those competencies or have
plans for developing them.
While the integration process poses signifi cant challenges, all successful com-
panies fi nd that integration is key to gaining manager and employee acceptance
and to unlocking measurable results. Integration allows managers to see how to
make talent management work in their day-to-day jobs instead of viewing it as
some annual HR program. Once enough managers have adopted the processes,
the programs, as measured by the key metrics the companies have chosen, begin
to show improvement.
Conclusion
Research shows that companies with integrated talent management strategies do
a better job of attracting and retaining top talent and, as a result, benefi t from
lower turnover and higher engagement levels than their peers. As talent manage-
ment evolves in a changing economy, these companies are positioned to capture
and maintain a leadership role in their respective industries. Most importantly,
however, talent management strategies and processes must be aligned with the
business strategy and owned by line managers and executives. In successful com-
panies, HR is the facilitator and the business is the driver of successful talent
management.
These companies will continue to distinguish themselves by creating a
strong employment brand that clearly defi nes and communicates expectations,
6 The Encyclopedia of Human Resource Management: Volume One
outcomes, and rewards. They will create a partnership between HR and business
managers, leveraging the skills and expertise of each to make integrated talent
management a reality. Through this partnership, they will strengthen employee
engagement and encourage behaviors that drive business success.
Reference
Wilkerson, B.E. (2009). Five rules for talent management in the new economy. www.towerswatson
.com/research-and-ideas.
EXHIBIT A
PROPOSAL ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
Consultant hereby acknowledges receipt of the City of Fort Collins Request for Proposal
and acknowledges that it has read and agrees to be fully bound by all of the terms,
conditions and other provisions set forth in the RFP. Additionally, the Consultant hereby
makes the following representations:
a. All of the statements and representations made in this proposal are true to the
best of the Consultant’s knowledge and belief.
b. The Consultant has obtained all necessary authorizations and approvals that will
enable the Consultant to commit to the terms provided in this proposal.
c. This proposal is a firm and binding offer, for a period of 60days from the date
hereof.
d. I further agree that the method of award is acceptable to my company.
e. I also agree to complete the proposed Agreements with the City of Fort Collins
within 30 days of notice of award.
f. If contract is not completed and signed within 30 days, City reserves the right to
cancel and award to the next highest rated firm.
g. I acknowledge receipt of one (1) addenda.
Consultant Firm Name: Revolution Advisors LLC
Physical Address: 10170 Church Ranch Way, Suite 100, Westminster, CO 80021
Remit to Address: 10170 Church Ranch Way, Suite 100, Westminster, CO 80021
Phone: 720.409.5301
Authorized Agent of Firm Name: Brian Wilkerson
Signature of Authorized Agent: ______________________________________________
Primary Contact for Project: Brian Wilkerson
Title: Managing Director Email Address: bwilkerson@revolution-advisors.com
Phone: 720.409.5301 Cell Phone: 720.515.7357
PLEASE GO TO www.fcgov.com/purchasing TO REGISTER IN OUR E-PROCUREMENT SYSTEM FOR
FUTURE BID OPPORTUNITIES! BE SURE TO SELECT ALL APPROPRIATE COMMODITY CODES.
COPYRIGHTED MATERIAL
From: Encyclopedia of Human Resource Management, Volume
1, Key Topics and Issues, Robert K. Prescott, Ph. D., SPHR
(Volume Editor), William J. Rothwell (Series Editor), April 2012,
Pfeiffer
Summary presentation of the current state
assessment findings, the recommended path
forward, and ideal future state with high level
plan
Final Assessment
Document
Integrate feedback from the ELT session
into the final report
Final presentation of the assessment
document and recommendations presented
to key stakeholders and project chair
Fit to the processes being supported
Potential evolutions and limitations in
supporting new processes
The activities described in the table above as well as the activities in the following phases will be supported through our
change management approach. These concepts are interwoven into the project activities to ensure each task we
perform is successful and the stakeholders we interact with are at ease with what we are doing and why we are there.
Specifically for Phase 1, the change management activities will consist of working with internal City resources to develop
and provide messaging around the project, information around the specific project activities such as the stakeholder
interviews and end‐to‐end process sessions, and equipping managers to address questions from staff through frequently
asked questions and leader guides. In order for the future state process to be successful, the groundwork for adoption
must be laid early on in the project versus waiting until it is time to implement. If employees and managers do not feel
that they were brought along for the journey during the entire course of project activities, there is a high likelihood that
stakeholder feedback
Gather first hand feedback from key
stakeholders, including front line staff, to
understand the strengths and weaknesses
of the current program as well as ideas and
desired outcomes for the future program
Sample areas we may address in the
interviews and surveys views include:
Current understanding of career
progression with associated strengths and
areas for development
Current perception of performance
evaluation and compensation
Current access, success and challenges
with learning development opportunities
Lessons Learned from
Other Organizations
•Are there practices
from other
organizations that
would fit?
•Are there pitfalls from
other organizations to
avoid?
•Are there innovative
approaches that can
be brought to bear?