WillowTree Advisors is a business advisory firm that works with companies to rapidly identify and implement overhead cost reduction strategies, manage performance and process improvement initiatives, and optimize shared service delivery models.
WillowTree Advisors is unique among advisory firms — we facilitate and support client business objectives with highly experienced advisors and a cost-effective, light-touch approach that allows clients to quickly achieve both one-time and sustainable bottom line benefits.
"One of the most experienced advisors in the industry."
Cliff Justice, National Leader, Shared Services and Outsourcing, KPMG LLP
Our clients covers a broad range of private industry and state and local governments and agencies. Our clients include organizations that need to:
Our team has extensive experience in large manufacturing, health care, finance, global retail as well as Federal, State and Local governments. Our consulting experience is grounded in many years of advisory work for global consulting firms. Our expert advisors, supported by our FlexToolsTM and FlexPathTM processes create value by:
Are We There Yet? The Elusive Implementation Destination How many times have you reached the end of an IT implementation and moved on to the next project, only to get called back again and again (and again) to solve one-off problems with the new system? It’s a frustrating yet all too common way to complete a project, and it leaves behind bad feelings that lead to resistance on future projects. The good news is that it doesn’t have to end this way. Buckle Up for the Ride Together The goal is to... Read more
Starting the Lean Journey. When I speak with people about Lean programs, I am often asked, “Where should we start?” While this sounds like a very simple question, it actually requires a lot of thought. However, the simple answer is that you must first decide where you want to go before you know where you should start. Think of it like this: If you don’t know where you want to go, it really doesn’t matter if you have a map. I have a GPS for my car that is pretty high tech.... Read more
The Affordable Care Act has created angst among health care workers and administrators, not because big changes are coming, but because the impacts of those changes and their accompanying rules are not yet clear. For administrators, this level of uncertainty makes planning seem nearly impossible. Yet, healthcare organizations such as Mayo Clinic and Thedacare are currently developing robust plans for tomorrow, streamlining existing workflows, and delivering better outcomes in care—all while cutting costs, increasing cash flow, and growing the bottom line. How? Lean Six Sigma. A Transformational Approach Lean Six Sigma improves... Read more
Building a Lean Culture. What is the real objective of Lean Six Sigma? When I ask this question, I usually get responses such as increased quality, improved speed, reduced cost, reduced errors and many other tactical improvement measures. Those are all benefits to continuous improvement (CI). The real goal of CI is to build a culture or improve a culture. As Dr. Womack wrote in Lean Thinking, the fifth principle of lean is culture. So what does it mean to build a culture or to enhance the culture? How does a world-class culture... Read more
Building Brick Walls - Lean Resistance All successful and sustainable implementations of Lean start with an organization’s top management. Trying to implement Lean from the middle-out or the bottom-up may result in some improvements, but it will not result in your organization becoming a world-class company that is globally competitive. In the book Leading Change by John Kotter, the author notes the change implementation prerequisites (for a lean implementation) that management must accomplish as: n Creating a sense of change urgency n Developing a guiding coalition/alliance to steer the organization through the change n Developing a vision/picture of the company’s future... Read more
The September 30, 2011 edition of Manufacturing and Technology News magazine presented an article entitled, Lean and Six Sigma Are Not Leading To Breakthroughs In Corporate Performance. This article (the result of a survey of 100 business executives conducted by Alix Partners, a business consulting firm) highlighted some problems with Lean and Six Sigma implementations, including: n 70% of respondents reported a less than 5% improvement in manufacturing costs as a result of Lean. n 60% of respondents said their previous Lean improvements were not sustainable. n Only 17% of respondents reported seeking long-term culture... Read more
In the book, Leading Change, noted organizational change expert John Kotter notes that there are five prerequisites required to achieve any type of organizational change: n Establishing a Sense of Urgency - Individuals or organizations do not change without a sense of urgency to do so. n Creating the Guiding Coalition - Put together a group with enough power to lead and guide the organization through the change. This group should represent a cross-section of the organization. n Developing a Vision and Strategy n A vision is a broad description or picture of the future state of... Read more
WillowTree Advisors Announces New Services for Outsourcing Service Providers DENVER (November 28, 2012) – WillowTree Advisors (WTA), a woman-owned business transformation consulting firm, has announced a new service offering specifically designed for Outsourcing Service Providers. This service offering, 360 Sales Revitalization TM focuses on helping business development and sales organizations to enhance sales effectiveness and strategic focus. Through its proven methodology, WillowTree decomposes the sales cycle and associated processes to reveal opportunities for improvement. WTA collaborates with the sales team to assess and improve the key sales areas of Pipeline Management,... Read more