Services

William Theurer 2022Transform Your Organizational Dynamics

 

With over 20 years of experience in driving cross-functional program and project teams to success, I partner with Senior Leadership to support and execute complex projects and initiatives with precision and excellence. The preferred approach is people centric, minimalist and non-technical, focusing on project and organizational change management in a way that is easily adaptable to your existing team dynamics.

Through my career I have developed a somewhat unique ability to plug effortlessly into diverse environments, foster collaboration and effective communication at all organizational levels. I play well with your high performing team members and engage in thoughtful, cross-functional collaboration. This ensures every project minimizes risk and maximizes outcomes.

Character holding four rotating arrows that say solution, management, strategy, and planning

Partnering with me you are gaining a strategic partner who ensures that solutions are not only implemented but also drive tangible results, internal satisfaction, and the full realization of ROI after the implementation. My track record leading critical initiatives, transformative projects, and strategy and innovation POC and tests are the very same skills and experiences required to execute critical AI and ML projects.

Services are transitioning to include managing Generative Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning Task Automation projects, implementing innovative AI pilot programs, and developing and testing AI proof of concepts.

A staff augmentation assignment with me will help to ensure the complexity of large-scale initiatives don’t overwhelm your high performing teams.

Connect with me today.

Refine the Vision:

When we embark on a AI or ML organizational transformation, the ideal approach is holistic and collaborative. Here’s how we achieve success together:

  • Surface Core Concepts and Themes: We begin by delving deep into the heart of your project. This involves uncovering and understanding the fundamental ideas and themes that will guide our strategy. By identifying these core elements, we lay a solid foundation for all subsequent actions.
  • Solicit and Integrate Feedback: Your team’s insights are invaluable. We actively source feedback from all levels of your organization, ensuring that every voice is heard. This inclusive approach not only enriches our understanding but also fosters a sense of ownership and engagement across the board.
  • Conduct Thorough Research: Armed with initial insights, we dive into comprehensive research. This step is crucial for understanding the broader context, industry trends, and potential challenges. Our research is meticulous, ensuring we have a robust data-driven foundation for our hypotheses and strategies.
  • Test Hypotheses Rigorously: No stone is left unturned as we put our hypotheses to the test. This rigorous evaluation process helps us to refine our approach continually, ensuring that our strategies are not just innovative but also practical and effective.
  • Define Realistic Goals and Objectives: Setting clear, achievable goals is key to our mutual success. I work closely with you to outline realistic objectives that align with your vision, resources, and timeline, ensuring that our targets are both ambitious and attainable.
  • Generate Broad Support: Success is a team effort. We focus on building broad support from all impacted groups. By engaging and aligning different stakeholders, we create a unified front, ensuring smooth implementation and widespread adoption of our strategies.
  • Secure Sponsorship and Commitment of Resources: Essential to our strategy is gaining the commitment of key decision-makers. We work diligently to secure the necessary sponsorship and resources, presenting a compelling case that underscores the value and potential of our initiatives.

Our vision is collaborative, inclusive, research-driven, and strategically sound. By working together, we ensure that every step we take is thoughtful, impactful, and geared towards long-term success.

A Collaborative and Systematic Approach to Crafting the Business Case: 

In the dynamic landscape of project and business transformation with Generative AI Applications, the construction of a compelling business case is a pivotal part of the journey towards success. Here’s how we work together to create a robust foundation for your digital enablement project, AI Roadmap initiative, or human-centric AI transformation:

  • Valuing Long-Term Opportunities – a Collaborative Approach: Collaborating closely with cross-functional department leadership and external advisors, we delve into assessing and valuing the long-term opportunities that our project will unlock. This collaborative effort ensures a multifaceted perspective, enriching our understanding of the potential impact and benefits.
  • Resource Identification and Allocation: Recognizing the right mix of internal and external resources is crucial. We meticulously identify the necessary talent, tools, and technologies required to bring our vision to fruition, ensuring a balanced and effective deployment of resources.
  • Risks and Timing Analysis: No strategy is without risks. We engage in an appropriately sized analysis to surface potential risks, concurrently defining the timing and milestones. This dual approach helps us in preemptively addressing challenges while keeping the project on a realistic timeline with predictable capital and expense allocations through the lifecycle of the project.
  • Financial Planning Methodology: Financial foresight is key. Through the Initiate, Plan, Execute, and Control (IPEC) phases, and for process improvement initiatives, the Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve, and Control (DMAIC) and (Agile / Scrum) development phases, we collaboratively estimate the required capital and expenses. This structured financial planning is crucial for maintaining fiscal discipline and ensuring project viability.
  • Kickoff Presentation Development and Leadership: As a facilitator and leader, I take pride in constructing and sharing in the delivery of the kickoff presentation. This initial step is crucial in setting the tone and direction for the project. My role extends beyond just presenting; I am committed to leading the daily activities, ensuring that each step aligns with our overarching goals.

By uniting cross-functional expertise with a structured, strategic approach, we build a business case that is not only compelling but also grounded in practicality and foresight. This comprehensive preparation paves the way for a transformation that is well-planned, financially sound, and primed for success.

Strategic Team Building for Optimal Project Execution

In the realm of strategy and innovation, the effectiveness of a project often hinges on the composition and capabilities of its team. In the modern era this includes leveraging Generative AI to enhance project team collaboration and decision making, and Machine Learning Task Automation tools to increase productivity. My approach to building these dynamic teams is both strategic and creative, ensuring that every gap is expertly filled for optimal project execution.

  • Leveraging Internal Expertise: We start by tapping into your organization’s rich pool of talent, identifying and assigning trusted internal resources as Department Project Leads. These core subject matter experts play a pivotal role, bringing in-depth knowledge and organizational familiarity to the forefront. It is typical for high-performing teams to already be working at max-capacity. We work with department leadership to create resource capacity. Where necessary we hire and train temporary third party resources (paid for by the project budget) to perform transferable daily tasks.
  • Recognizing the Need for External Support: Innovation often demands new perspectives and specialized skills that may not be available in-house. In scenarios where internal resources cannot completely address project needs, we step in to bridge the gaps with temporary expert third party resources. My role extends to sourcing, evaluating, and contracting external service providers, contractors, technical development talent, QA and testing resources both on and offshore. This process includes aligning and orienting external partners with the project’s objectives, company vision, values and culture.
  • Strategic Collaboration with Legal and Finance Support: Complex projects typically require tightly integrated financial controls, legal compliance and risk mitigation, I personally liaison with finance and legal department leadership and SME’s to ensure they are integral part of the team from the earliest stages.
  • Management and Supportive Leadership: Once these special teams are assembled, my role transitions to managing and supporting them. I ensure seamless integration of external expertise with our internal teams, fostering an environment of collaboration and mutual respect.
  • Continual Evaluation and Adaptation: The dynamic nature of critical projects and initiatives necessitates continual team evaluation and adaptation. I maintain an agile approach, ready to make adjustments as the project evolves, ensuring that the team composition always aligns with the changing needs of the project.

By combining internal expertise with carefully selected external talents, and underpinned by strong management, finance, and legal support, we create a powerhouse team capable of driving your project to success. This strategic and creative approach to team building thrives on collaboration, innovation, and excellence.

Accelerating Success:  Prototype Development and Market Testing

In today’s fast-paced business environment, the ability to move quickly from concept to market is a necessity. My experience in leading dynamic teams emphasizes a swift and strategic approach to prototype development and market testing, ensuring that we stay ahead in the competitive race.

  • Rapid Prototyping from Concept to Reality: My leadership journey includes leading projects that transformed nascent ideas into tangible prototypes with remarkable speed. This process involves a meticulous orchestration of design, development, and execution phases, ensuring that each step is optimized for efficiency without compromising on quality.
  • Streamlined Construction and Launch Processes: A notable achievement in my career was leading a team that rolled out a new prototype retail concept from its initial concept to the grand opening in just 8 months. This feat was achieved through a combination of strategic planning, efficient resource allocation, and robust project management.
  • Aggressive Expansion and Market Penetration: Following the successful launch, we rapidly scaled up the operation, opening 25 more stores across 7 test markets in the subsequent year. This aggressive expansion strategy was was a calculated move to capture market share and gather valuable consumer insights.
  • Focused on Speed and Market Responsiveness: At the core of my approach is a focus on speed and market responsiveness. Understanding the importance of timing, we prioritize rapid development cycles and quick market entry, ensuring that we stay relevant and responsive to consumer needs and market trends.
  • Leveraging Data and Feedback for Iterative Improvement: Post-launch, the focus shifts to gathering and analyzing market feedback. This data is crucial in refining our prototypes and strategies, allowing us to make iterative improvements that resonate with our target audience and meet market demands.

By combining rapid prototyping with aggressive market testing strategies, we achieve speed to market and ensure that products and concepts are continually refined and aligned with market expectations. This approach has been instrumental in my career, driving success in various innovative and competitive environments. No longer optional, rapid prototyping and testing is an imperative now. The gap in growth rate and profitability, productivity, and capability between companies that adopt and integrate Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning into the very core of their business model and those that do not, may threaten the very existence of late adopters toward the end of this decade.

Modernizing Operations:  Harnessing Best Practices for Peak Productivity and Efficiency

The new frontier of AI in the workplace is redefining the future of work, where human ingenuity is augmented by machine intelligence. The interplay between AI, the workforce, productivity, capability, creativity, innovation, profits, and growth is already rapidly remaking the competitive landscape. The true power of AI lies in its ability to augment human intelligence with Machine Learning potential to automate human tasks and processes. Even in this nascent stage of Narrow Generative AI (NAI) the technologies available to improve peak productivity and efficiency are immense. My approach is rooted in responsibly and rapidly adapting to change, actively driving it to achieve heightened efficiency and productivity.

  • Revitalizing Technology Infrastructure: Recognizing the pivotal role of technology in modern business, I have successfully led complete overhauls of technology infrastructure and enterprise reporting systems within remarkably short timeframes, such as six months. This typically involves upgrading hardware, software applications and upgrades, cloud migrations and a variety of data integrations, transformations, and new API connections, exploring new technologies like AI and ML while also ensuring that these technological advancements align seamlessly with business objectives.
  • Process Improvement and Efficiency Enhancement: As businesses grow, the need to streamline processes becomes critical. My methodology involves identifying areas where efficiency can be enhanced, processes can be optimized, and new technologies can be integrated. This is a continuous process ensuring the company technology roadmap is agile and competitive.
  • Adoption of Cutting-Edge Technologies: Staying current with emerging technologies is vital. I prioritize the adoption of the latest tools and solutions that can drive operational excellence through demonstrable ROI. This proactive stance ensures that the organization remains at the forefront of innovation.
  • Deployment of Consulting Expertise into Specialized Areas: In situations where specific expertise is required, I leverage my network to deploy highly skilled professionals. This includes 6 Sigma/Lean Business Process Reengineering experts and Project Management Professionals, and offshore technical resources.
  • Balanced Approach Between Innovation and Practicality: My strategy balances innovative thinking with practical execution. While embracing new technologies and processes, I ensure that these changes are sustainable, user-friendly, and contribute positively to the bottom line by engaging the functional experts in each department early in the process.

By integrating modern best practices and harnessing the power of technology and process optimization, I lead organizations to adapt and excel in an ever-evolving business landscape. This approach will consistently result in increased productivity, efficiency, and ultimately, a stronger competitive edge in the marketplace.

Seamless Integration for Long-Term Success

Recognizing transitions are an ongoing process, I adopt a phased approach to winding down involvement while simultaneously measuring post implementation ROI and monitoring behavioral changes necessary to ensure success. This gradual reduction in direct engagement is carefully managed to ensure stability and sustainability, allowing your team to seamlessly take the reins. During this phase, I remain vigilant and ready to make necessary adjustments, ensuring that the implementation stays aligned with your goals and adapts to any evolving needs.

After the transition is complete, I am then available as a scalable ‘plug-and-play’ resource – someone you trust and rely on for future projects that must be executed with precision and excellence.