It’s no secret that succeeding in the business world today is tougher than ever. Some of the challenges that most businesses face include global competition, margin squeeze, energy price fluctuations, government regulations, volatility in raw material prices, and uncertain economic conditions. Therefore, today’s environment demands we do business differently than in the past.

To maintain and build revenues and profitability in the current conditions, businesses need to expand their focus from just cost reduction to improving their strategic and organizational effectiveness. Thriving in this environment requires a new level of performance.

SOAR to Strategic Excellence™ provides the tools to allow businesses to truly SOAR—and become high-performing or world-class performers. SOAR is a highly effective self-evaluative process that quickly directs companies toward significant improvement opportunities.

SOAR is a suite of tools that can dramatically improve a company’s performance and value. Based on its revolutionary approach, SOAR helps organizations achieve their vision for success. Each tool was developed by discarding traditional approaches used to measure a company’s health. Instead, SOAR creates a faster paced, team-based system that translates into immediate results. The Corporate Body Scan™ is a key part of the SOAR program.

The Corporate Body Scan is a one-day process that provides a comprehensive, quantified assessment of a company’s overall effectiveness and opportunities for improvement. Knowing their own company better than anyone else, a team comprised of senior and middle management along with other employees initially performs an assessment, aided by a specially trained SOAR facilitator. They then develop a detailed action plan for making specific profit and performance improvements, benchmarking their company against high-performing, world-class businesses.

At the end of the day, participants receive an overall assessment of the business, their SOAR scores (that compare the company against world-class businesses) and an overview of the business improvement opportunities available to the company. Within a week after the event, the company will receive a detailed report containing suggestions for improvement, which can then form the basis for an improvement action plan.

The unique aspects of the Corporate Body Scan are as follows:

•  One-day event

•  Self-evaluation, not a consultant’s assessment

•  No advance preparation for the company

•  Provides an in-depth, quantified evaluation of the business

•  Identifies opportunities to make significant improvements in performance and profitability

•  Provides results on the spot so improvements can begin immediately

•  Serves as an early warning system for potential business ailments

•  Extremely cost effective

The Corporate Body Scan helps you:

• Move from diagnosis to improvement faster

• Compare your business to world-class performance

• Build strong buy-in and ownership

• Generate dialogue, energy and consensus

• Stimulate action

• Provide a significant learning experience

• Improve performance and profitability

Customized SOAR programs are applicable to many industries including manufacturing, distribution, service, retail, construction and not-for-profit.

The Corporate Body Scan is ideal for a middle market business that meets the following criteria: revenues ranging from $5 million to $250 million and number of employees ranging from 30 to 1,000. Many elements of the Corporate Body Scan can be equally effective in smaller businesses or divisions of larger companies. The Corporate Body Scan can help you make improvements in your business regardless of your current financial performance.

In just one day your company could start making changes that would markedly improve its profits. Let 2011 be the year your company SOARs to strategic excellence.

		Gary A. Climes, CPA is a partner with Andrews Hooper Pavlik PLC. He is a Certified SOAR Consultant and specializes in business and IT consulting, serving businesses throughout the state of Michigan.