Second Opinion
Second Opinion Services
– this old woodworking adage rings true when making important business decisions.
Sinnott Executive Consulting offers a unique service called “Second Opinion” that gives your organization the opportunity to run proposed plans by an experienced CEO who is not personally involved. Consider using this service when you are making serious strategic and operational changes; an outside opinion can save you from making a mistake or give you the affirmation you need to move forward.
Before you commit your resources to implementing any proposed plan, new strategy or major overhaul, it is time to enlist a second opinion. Consider these benefits:
1. Ask an expert, get a new perspective. Soliciting a second opinion from an independent expert will generate an unbiased critique in a concise time-frame. Broad experience, behind a fresh set of eyes, may see opportunity for improvement more clearly. This opinion should come from someone who understands firsthand what is required.
2. Turn things inside, out. Diversity of opinion is the key, and helps regulate the ‘consensus versus approval’ mindset. A specialist who is unencumbered by your organization’s existing reality, history, or culture provides a second opinion a capacity you don’t always have in-house. Internal reviews are often subjective. It’s difficult for the creators of an idea to remain impartial or spot flaws.
3. Revisit your original vision. A second look ensures congruence of outcome and goal, and guarantees the results are in line with your original vision. Stay focused. Keep your initial purpose in mind.
A second opinion, firmly grounded in professional and ethical integrity, is an essential leadership tool. It can save you time, money, and give you the peace of mind that comes from knowing you did everything possible to ensure the quality and success of your original vision.
This service can also be used to evaluate past decisions to determine if pre-decisions considerations are being met. This presents a learning opportunity for the organization in critiquing past decisions.
Remember – A fresh perspective is always an asset.
Bringing a seasoned executive who can understand the issues your business is facing without being personally tied to them may be priceless.
Case Study in Second Opinion
A Fresh Perspective…
Peter, a CEO of a financially challenged hospital, was struggling with developing a plan to turn the organization around. The current plan relied heavily upon cutting costs, including a widespread layoff. Implementation of the plan would mean great stress and hardship for the organization as a whole, given the strong culture of the workforce. Furthermore, the hospital was very lean judging by outside indicators.
Peter decided that an educated opinion from an outside source would help him gage how to move forward. He asked Sinnott Executive Consulting for a second opinion before proceeding.
Sinnott Executive Consulting thoroughly reviewed the existing plan, discussing its merits and its pitfalls with representatives of the organization and measuring it against the mission of the organization. They developed an alternate plan for consideration that focused on inpatient and outpatient growth.
After Peter presented the plan developed by Sinnott Executive Consulting to the Board of Trustees, it was unanimously approved. The plan was also well received among both the medical staff and employees.
Eighteen months later, the hospital is in a growth period and has manage to preserve many of the jobs the initial plan called to eliminate. Peter is very proud, saying, “Sometimes the smartest thing to do is get a fresh set of eyes. I was getting to a point where I felt that my hands were tied, and that I might have no choices. Dan Sinnott was able to see a path out that we hadn’t considered.”