Mentorship Products
How to figure out what I want to do (for a job/career)
Description
A 19-year-old was struggling to figure out her career path. It dawned on me that the way she had been led to think about her future was overwhelming.
From my own past experience, I knew that “trying things,” and “challenging oneself” were difficult pieces of advice to consume. Learning about oneself? That’s both palatable and doable. This diagram made use of my process development background to visually communicate a way to get from point A to B.
Did it work?
This diagram was so helpful that I ended up providing it to many others in the years since.
Feedback I have received is that the message is simple as is its delivery. In some cases, this diagram has provided an “Aha! moment.”
Continuous Improvement Materials
Lessons Learned
Description
Amazon employed me in its DPD5 warehouse. Numerous, repeated errors were observed without an holistic purview of all contributing factors.
I introduced lessons learned materials, and demonstrated how they worked. After a few examples that showcased the power of openness and a full recounting from all stakeholders, they saw its value.
Did it work?
To a far lesser and less formal extent, introducing lessons learned prompted management to seek out repetitive problems to better understand why they were occurring.
Risk Management
Description
Amazon employed me in its DPD5 warehouse. With safety and other cultural and operational challenges always on the forefront of management’s attention, I provided them with an easily implementable risk management platform.
Did it work?
The warehouse operation as a whole did not adopt any kind of formalized risk management program. However, individual managers engaged challenges with risk in mind. This led to a more informal vigilance once risks were better identified.
Process Development Examples
Process Map
Description
The purchase order and expense approval process had changed for a small, but growing business. The CFO needed a way to more comprehensively communicate the change to management and staff members.
Why was This Process [map] IMportant?
The process map as a business artifact may be used for communicating standard operating procedures, and used as a reference to answer commonly held questions.
Process Map
Description
Amazon’s (former) Delivery Station, DPD5, was considered a “last mile” facility. Its output became the input for the familiar blue Amazon vans seen about town delivering packages.
Using the SIPOC model, this linear process depicts how the delivery station receiving product (packages), processing them, and relinquishing loads to delivery vans/drivers.
Why was This Process [map] IMportant?
Sometimes seeing a process on paper makes what we experience more sensical and practical.
Perhaps the biggest revelation of this process map is acknowledging that delivery drivers are the primary customer of the warehouse, while Amazon.com customers are the ultimate customer.
Process Map
Description
Ask many people “what they want to be when they grow up,” and many cannot answer. This is especially the case with young people.
From my own past experience, I knew that “trying things,” and “challenging oneself” were difficult pieces of advice to consume. The unknown is scary. Learning about oneself? That’s both palatable and doable. This diagram showed a way to get from point A to B.
Why was This Process [map] IMportant?
Many advisory tools and even words are difficult to mentally approach. Either emotions get in the way, or the psychological space required to comprehend the decision-making environment is too large for young and inexperienced minds.
An influence diagram was a right-sized tool for the job, particularly in the case of figuring out what one wants to do for his or her career.
Operational Analyses
Final Assessment REport
Description
Rehr Consulting, my independent strategy consultancy, offered to conduct a pro bono project with value to both the client and the consultancy.
The task was to identify operations- and culture-based challenges, explain them in terms of operative strategy for clarity, and make recommendations for addressing the issues.
What was the Result?
I received the coveted testimonial for my Rehr Consulting website:
Cross-Functional Coordination Breakdown REport
Description
Amazon employed me in its DPD5 warehouse. As a Corporate Trainer, Learning Center Adjunct, I invoked the ‘see something, say something’ protocol.
2 and possibly more departments were not communicating for the sake of new-hires, nor was there any recourse for individual new-hires who were left out of training (a safety and operational hazard).
What was the Result?
Management received the slide deck. Some weeks later, the West Coast territory or corporate logistics division corrected training programs to disallow this breakdown to occur going forward.
Organizational Misalignment Report
Description
Amazon employed me in its DPD5 warehouse. In speaking with various levels of the warehouse employee hierarchy, I realized. Different hierarchical levels had varied perspectives of how the organization operated and who was responsible for what – which meant no one was accountable for many ongoing operational challenges.
What was the Result?
The management team looked into the differing perspectives depicted in the report. Over time, the roles and responsibilities were better communicated in a top-down fashion.
Scorecard
Description
Amazon employed me in its DPD5 warehouse. An up-and-coming Supervisor sought to measure progress in the Receiving area to speak more intelligently with management.
We collaboratively built a scorecard for him to use as its rubric qualities ‘spoke the language’ of management.
What was the Result?
The management team (and with it, the Supervisor) received a mandate from the Regional office to conduct Receiving area operations in a certain way, negating the use of the scorecard.
For the Supervisor, though, the tool served as a learning experience as did the consult in developing it.
Dashboard
Description
Amazon employed me in its DPD5 warehouse. I devised a dashboard to keep track of progress of piloted efforts, e.g., risk management, lessons learned, resource development, and more.
What was the Result?
The highest-ranking manager saw the tool and realized the effect it had on executing various programming while operations continued. The impression made was that continuous improvement was possible. The piloted programming continued and more managers got involved.
Marketing Analyses
Marketing Planning ANalysis
Description
Rehr Consulting, my independent strategy consultancy, created a strategic marketing planning document to support a local ice cream shop.
What was the Result?
The shop owner was delighted by the creativity and fresh ideas to increase foot traffic and penetrate the market.
Final Assessment REport
Description
Rehr Consulting, my independent strategy consultancy, created a competitive analysis of a property management product given market data. The report included a comparative rent analysis, summary of market trends, proxy ratings, and more.
What was the Result?
The property management office had a much better understanding of how competitive it was and where it was postured in the local market.
Financial Analyses
DAta Analysis
Description
Rehr Consulting, my independent strategy consultancy, supported a residential property manager who was unfamiliar with financial analysis and any manner o budgeting.
The multi-property owner informed property managers that they would need to create operating budgets at the property level.
What was the Result?
Rehr Consulting detailed findings, an assessment, and recommendations culminating from a review of accounts payable data across 29 general ledger accounts.
The client learned how to establish a budget; additionally, the client became aware of systems to better communicate across departments, consider business systems improvements for data integrity, training for staff, and best-practices for responsible, top-down operative procedures.
Training Materials
Diagram / Visual Aid
Description
Amazon employed me in its DPD5 warehouse. There was a gap in training (and effectively, no standard procedure) for employees to efficiently stow packages in a 3-Dimensional tote bag.
Of my own initiative, I collaborated with a coworker (expert, Bryce Barclay) to develop a simple, yet comprehensive tool for all new-hires and existing staff.
Did it work?
The warehouse and all sister warehouses across the region hung numerous laminated copies of the graphic.
Leadership Development Samples
Results from Leadership Development Activities
Description
Rehr Consulting, my independent strategy consultancy, was tasked by a client to support the General Manager’s leadership development, and provide an overview of activities with results. This table made use of the STAR method (see column headers).
What was the Take Away?
Among other activities, Rehr Consulting assisted with communication training, holistic business management practices, and prospects for continuing education.
Leadership Development Model
Description
Rehr Consulting, my independent strategy consultancy, was tasked to develop a leadership plan. As part of that plan, I developed a multidimensional leadership development model.
What was the Take Away?
Leadership has both direct and indirect activities that are self-guided and led by others, respectively. These activities may be developed by the practitioner both internally in the organization and externally, say, in the community. All the while, 3 pragmatic fundamentals should be incorporated into everything the leader does.
Business Writing Samples
Project Charter
Description
Amazon employed me in its DPD5 warehouse. Upper management asked me to develop an employee (Amazon called employees “Associates”) engagement program with certain specifications. Ultimately, the how might DPD5 as an organization show appreciation to its coveted Associates while perpetually conditioning for increased
productivity and efficiency?
What was the result?
Unfortunately, the warehouse would not assign an owner to lead employee engagement programming. The information contained therein, including risks and desired programming were detailed to exacting measures.
Description
Amazon employed me in its DPD5 warehouse. In discussions with warehouse management, there was a ubiquitous desire to take part in professional develop opportunities, and to teach from experience.
This memorandum voiced those managers’ desires as well as communicated an opportune forum which I had arranged to dedicate time and resources.
What was the result?
Warehouse leadership received the memo, but declined allowance for its management team to publicly use Amazon’s name via individual representation.
Proposal Writing Samples
Description
The 1000-member Get Hired (Tech and Healthcare) community group, for which I was a Board Member, put forth a proposal that I wrote.
We sought to obtain support from a local web development and marketing analytics firm to develop a website for the group.
What was the Result?
The community group members listed in the proposal cover letter met with the recipient company’s CEO. Internal discussions began in that company about producing the website in addition to other collaborative activities.
Proposal
Description
The 1000-member Get Hired (Tech and Healthcare) community group, for which I was a Board Member, put forth a proposal that I wrote.
The initiative was to leverage the educational resources of Washington State University Vancouver in order to establish a training component for the community group.
What was the Result?
The recipient pitched the idea to university executives. Additionally, the community group was granted free use of the new downtown area office space created by the University.
Writing – Select Articles
Description
The Scale-Up of You: 10 Ways to Link Opportunities & Resources.
Originally published on August 15, 2019.
I gave a talk that evening called The Scale-Up of You. The number one question I was asked was “could I provide more examples. “What are some ways for an individual to scale-up their personal lives and/or professional careers?”
What was the Take Away?
How to think about and examples of combining current opportunities and resources to create new opportunities and resources.
Description
Originally published on February 20, 2019 as part of my Interviews of the Ambitious campaign, Scott Fish’s story was super impressive. I ended up forwarding my article to university business professors to pitch lifestyle business creation.
What was the Take Away?
“His business strategy and personal ambition were one in the same. An altruistic cooperative of transactions, Scott Fish’s positioning…I believed, [was a] self-regulated lifestyle business[man].”
Description
Published October 7, 2022 on Danny Rehr’s Blog.
[H]ow might we as customers treat our product and service providers with as much care as they do us? Come to think of it, what is a good customer beyond a perpetual, loyal transactor?
What was the Take Away?
“The choice to extend one’s engagement beyond the transaction, simply put, is an opportunity to both derive and generate more value..”
Danny Rehr, MBA 