New competitors. Staffing shortages. Access to capital. Demanding consumers. They're all critical strategic challenges that are likely to only intensify over time. And they are challenges that are unlikely to surrender to quick fixes. Most of our clients know us for the work we do related to organization-wide strategic planning. And that's what the preponderance of our work is. But we don't always do a very good job of letting folks know about our experience in other areas.

●  We help clients develop new organizational structures to meet their strategic challenges. There's a growing sense that only through fundamental reorganization of their structures can hospitals and health systems meet these growing challenges. As Peter Drucker observed, "Structure follows strategy." One area where we bring particular strength is in the design of structures and processes that involve physicians within the hospital enterprise. We're very proud of our ability to engage physicians and involve them in a sustainable relationship predicated on trust. Often this work involves restructuring existing structures and organizations.

●  We help build strategic plans for subsidiaries and service lines. Strategic plans can be built at various levels of an organization's structure. The important thing is for all strategic plans to be aligned with the overall strategic plan. An effective strategic planning process can build ownership, trust and aligned direction at the level of individual service lines like oncology or cardiology. And strategic plans can be built for physician organizations and for the "medical staff."

●  We frequently design retreats, education programs and workshops to help bring executives and physicians to higher levels of performance, particularly when it comes to strategic thinking and marketing. Dan is an adjunct faculty member at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee School of Business and helps build the strategic thinking capabilities of physician executives.

●  We often get involved in "follow on" efforts related to updating and implementing the strategic plans we have helped clients develop. It's usually difficult to fully anticipate the challenges that might arise in the client's strategic situation or the challenges that they will encounter in implementation. On an ad hoc basis and in a wide variety of circumstances, we often return to help the client design more powerful deployment of their plan.