Another SWOT in the Bank

I have been in Dallas with three other HTG members doing a SWOT for Networking Results this week. Jeff Howard and his team have hosted Zack Schuler, Jeff Wood, Jonathan Warrey and myself for the last couple days. The NetRes team has been a fantastic host. We arrived Wednesday evening and started our time here with dinner at Trail Dust - a local restaurant where they cut your tie off if you wear one. Not an issue for me though - I surprisingly wasn't wearing a tie. (If you believe that let me know - I have some stuff to sell you). We started bright and early on Thursday morning and spent the entire morning with the executive team going over the 3-5 year vision and business plan, and then walking through the SWOT process with the management team. We had lunch with the entire staff except the management team and verified the information we had collected in the morning. The afternoon was filled with individual interviews and some team time reviewing our findings. Last evening we went to Salt Grass for dinner - Jeff treated us to a great steak and fun evening with the management team.

Day two involved some more time with the executive team, personal interviews and lunch at Pappasito's for some fajitas. The afternoon was busy with the creation of our recommendations for the NetRes team. The focus on this SWOT was to prepare the company for growth. They have been doing great the past few years, but want to accelerate growth and move much more quickly to becoming a larger company in the Dallas Metro. We shared our recommendations and findings with the executive team and determined buyin for the main recommendations we had for them. We put timelines and measurable objectives in place. Late this afternoon, we presented our findings to the entire NetRes team and helped create the expectations for change. That is the purpose of a SWOT visit - to bring rapid and structured change to the company we visit. Zach, Jeff, Jonathan and myself shared the findings, vision and proposed changes to the team. The group is excited and expectant. That is the normal result of a SWOT - people expect action so the SWOT team stays engaged for a while to watch the process and make sure things happen as planned. There are some major things on the plate to help move NetRes forward. Jeff, Doyle, Steve and the folks there are going to have a bright future as they execute the things that we put in place this week. It is SWOT visit #10 for me, and each time the experience is different but always impactful and fulfilling. I learn so much as we turn over rocks and examine how a business and its team ticks.

HTG is committed to helping our members in a number of ways. The SWOT process is just one of the many that we use to make a difference for our members.