Defining Prelaunch and How It Works

Prelaunch refers to the process of gathering information about the sponsor and the client. It is the step that precedes all efforts to implement change. It includes

• initial data gathering,
• proposal preparation and presentation,
• contracting and contract negotiations,
• assessment and feedback of information about the problem or issue,
• selecting solutions and interventions,
• planning for action and change, and
• clarifying change objectives and metrics.

Initial data gathering means collecting information from the sponsor and other stakeholders—before a proposal is prepared—about the problem or issue that led to the consultant being contacted. For instance, if the sponsor is complaining about morale problems, then initial data gathering usually involves emails, phone conversations, video sessions, or on-site meetings in which the consultant collects information about the problem. The goal of initial data gathering is to collect enough information to write a consulting proposal.

Typical questions posed in initial data gathering include the following:

• What seems to be the problem? What has already been done about it? What would success look like, and how much is the problem costing in money, customer goodwill, or other consequences/impacts of the problem?
• What does the sponsor think an appropriate solution should be?
• What are the sponsor's preferences in implementing a solution?
• What is the timeline for action? Does the sponsor have legitimate reasons to need a solution by a specific date?
• What might be the sponsor’s sensitivity to costs? Is there a budget for the intervention/change effort?
• How will (or should) success be measured?
• Who should be involved in the change effort/solution/intervention and why?

If answers to these and similar questions are gathered by consultants during the initial data gathering, then enough information should exist to write a proposal.

Proposal

A subsequent lesson will describe proposals in greater depth, but suffice it to say that any good proposal should answer the following questions:

• What is the problem or issue that is to be the focus of change? (Problem statement)
• What is the solution to the problem or issue, and what is the justification for it? (Solution statement)
• What are the action steps in a project to implement the solution/change intervention? (Project steps)
• What is the timeline for implementing the action steps? (Gantt chart showing the time and the action steps)
• What is the budget? (The budget is calculated separately, and costs and benefits are both shown. Separate budgets are usually prepared for actual consulting work and the expenses involved in doing the work, such as travel and photocopying fees.)
• Who will work on the project? (Staffing descriptions)

Good proposals match the requirements of those receiving them. Typically, senior leaders prefer short proposals (one or two pages); middle managers prefer longer, more detailed proposals (up to 15 pages). Consultants should always clarify with sponsors how long the proposal should be, when it should be submitted, and how it should be submitted.

OD proposals do not assume, as management or performance consulting proposals do, that the consultant will do all the analysis and make all recommendations. Instead, OD is all about participative change and is based on the assumption that the best experts about an organization are the people inside the organization and not external consultants. It is not unusual for OD consultants to offer two proposals. The first focuses on assessing information about the problem from stakeholders and then feeding back information about the problem or issue to the stakeholders to get agreement on the problem, the solutions, the action steps, and the metrics.

The second proposal focuses on implementing the OD intervention/change effort. It is done like this because it is not wise to assume that everyone knows at the outset what the problems are, how important they are, what is causing them, how they should be solved, how success should be measured, and similar issues that must be the focus of consensus-building within the organization's stakeholder groups.

Data about the problems or issues may be gathered by consultants or even by clients under consultant guidance. They are then fed back to key stakeholders. When agreement is reached on the problem, then consultants (or clients under consultant guidance) gather information about how best to solve the problems, implement the solutions, and measure success.

Action planning is the process of guiding agreement among stakeholders on how to implement the solutions and measure success. It is important to establish change objectives, which are measurable indicators (metrics) for success. Without change objectives, it will not be possible to focus stakeholders on the same goals for change and how to evaluate success.