Over the past 2 years, ETR has changed in a big way
as an organization. We’ve restructured our operations,
adjusted our priorities, addressed new realities of
the business and service-delivery environment, and
reinvigorated the vision and determination of our staff.
after meeting, but to get prototypes up and tested. The
best decisions in today’s world are usually not singular but
iterative. We decide, learn, decide again, learn more, and
keep that process moving until we can make a well-in-
formed determination about the value of that idea. Is
there a need? Will it work? Can we carry it off? Will our
clients and partners respond?
Our traditional notion of prudent business manage-
ment was “one foot on the brake.” Sure, those in startups
might work fast and take risks, but established businesses
needed to move deliberately and with consideration to
protect the assets they’d built. Today, we all need to think
like startups. The established business that keeps a heavy
foot on the brake is more likely to roll to a complete stop
than move forward and build on its success. Instead, we
need to downshift and upshift in response to market
forces.
So join with us in finding our accelerators. Let’s pick
up the pace in making decisions and taking action. The
road is uncertain, true, but the need for measured speed
is a simple reality of our complex times. We must be vigi-
lant, adaptive and responsive if we are going to move for-
ward and do our best work. Get those ideas out there and
get them tested. If you’d like guidance about how to do
this, there’s a good chance the talented and visionary peo-
ple here at ETR can help.
ETR continues to actively seek new partnerships and
opportunities through which our combined capabilities
create more value for those we serve. Please keep us in
mind as you navigate the course of your own organiza-
tion’s future.
Sincerely,
Daniel McCormick, CEO
FROM OUR CEO
We’ve also watched the universe around us change
substantially. What clients want, what communities need,
where we find revenue, and how we can best deliver mean-
ingful services and products—these things are different
now. We’ve built new partnerships and revitalized existing
ones. We’re spending less time at our desks and more time
out in the community, building real-world solutions with
our clients and partners.
Of course, you’re probably doing many of these sorts of
things as well. In today’s world of “hyper change,” every-
one must discover newways to adapt and stay agile. One of
the processes that can support you and your organization
in this effort is something called
Decision Acceleration.
The old processes of organizational decision making
no longer serve us well. Time is short. The world changes
quickly. We need precise, critical thinking that leads us to
planned, effective action, and we need it now. Traditional
bureaucracies are simply unable to support this style
of fast, purposeful decision making. Consider the U.S.
Congress—a longstanding, highly traditional, carefully
codified bureaucracy that has preserved our nation’s
democratic process for more than two centuries, but has
become so ponderous and unwieldy that today it better
serves its own politicians than its citizens.
This model may work for government. It cannot work
for business. And all of us today, whatever our settings—
nonprofits, educational institutions, entrepreneurial
enterprises, government health services, private medical
groups andmore—are working in a business environment.
So how can we use Decision Acceleration? First,
understand that one of an effective organization’s respon-
sibilities is to get good ideas up to the forefront quickly
and support them wholeheartedly. Second, recognize that
the way to find the best ideas is not to convene meeting
Shifting Gears
Moving Into the New Paradigm
2
uarterly Review
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WINTER 2014
