Blog

We enjoy sharing our experiences through blogs posts, as we continuously seek new ways to serve our clients.

5 Steps to Achieve Your New Year’s Resolution

In the business world, 70% of new initiatives fail, resulting in the frustration of going over budget, being late, and/or not delivering expected benefits. Unfortunately, we experience the same transitional heartburn in our personal lives. Over 70% of “resolvers” successfully change through the first week…

Saying More with Less

“I would have written a shorter letter, but I did not have the time.” – Mark Twain When it comes to good writing, less is more. But, tightening your writing is harder than it looks. Which words should you omit? How can you write more…

ACMP NorCal Change Symposium

A powerful energy flowed through the conference room in San Mateo, where approximately 100 change management professionals and 10 presenters gathered for the ACMP Northern California Chapter’s Change Symposium. It was a fun and eventful day, filled with engaging presentations and delightful conversations. We even…

Celebrating 15 Years!

This month we will celebrate our 15th anniversary as a management consulting firm. The word gratitude immediately comes to mind. Thank you to our clients for the opportunity to build lasting, trusted partnerships. This is a source of great pride for us. As we look…

How Many Balls Are You Juggling?

The Prosci ADKAR individual model of change (Awareness – Desire – Knowledge – Ability – Reinforcement) posits that people must first be aware of the need for a change before they can commit to it. Yet we all know situations where we firmly believe a change is…

The Six Core Concepts of Business Analysis

In my current role as an acquisition consultant, I am helping California agencies plan and procure new information technology solutions. Starting with a structured approach to business analysis has set the stage for success. The Business Analysis Core Concept Model (BACCM™), developed by the International Institute…

Organizational Change Management for a New Generation

For the past 12 years, I’ve been consulting and training in the growing field of Organizational Change Management (OCM). Recently I was asked to guest lecture for the McGeorge Law School, Master of Public Administration (MPA) and Master of Public Policy (MPP) programs.  While I…

Managing Change: The Quest for the Perfect Apartment

I am a tried and true “homebody” so when I am faced with finding a new home it can be a truly daunting experience! During my short time living in Sacramento, I have rented two drastically different apartments as a result of drastically different approaches,…

Gardening for a Cause

A group from Highlands Consulting, along with families and friends, recently donated our time to the Sacramento Ronald McDonald House. We spent a few hours on a warm Saturday morning raking leaves, pulling weeds, and trimming trees and shrubs. The Ronald McDonald House provides a home-away-from-home…

Getting from A to B

I have always been passionate about automobiles and traveling so it seems fortuitous that a lot of our recent consulting projects in 2015 and 2016 have been on these very topics. On the strategic and business planning front we recently facilitated executives at the California…