TABLE OF CONTENTS Clients are the internal consultant's nourishment You need them to survive and even more to be able to grow
Imagine that, as the site's internal consultant, you recognize that your organization needs an improved process to plan and execute outages of the major production lines within your plant. You have come to this conclusion by observing first hand the poor development of the work plan and execution of the work during the last outage. You recognize the severe problems that these deficiencies have caused such as failure to meet the scheduled completion date, overrunning the cost estimate, and completing the job without the expected level of quality. In response, you spend a great deal of time researching how others plan and execute the work, attending conferences, and talking with industry experts. You then develop a very comprehensive plan for conducting the work in a more effective and efficient manner. This process has proven to be a successful technique throughout industry; you are firmly convinced that it will do the same for your company.
At the presentation of your recommendations, you are surprised. Although the managers appear to be listening, they don't seem to have any real interest in implementing what you have developed. You leave the meeting discouraged; your presentation along with the improved work process ends up in your file. The next outage is as chaotic as those preceding it. Without a clear preplanned work process, the job is not completed on time...
