About Us

Philosophy Audits or Reviews are a powerful way
to examine your current corporate philosophy and chart a
course for renewal.

The usual way a Philosophy Audit is conducted is summarized here. However,
every Audit is designed with company needs and circumstances in mind.

1. Initial meeting with executive management:
Preliminary Audit (or Review) Step
Inaugurate the Audit (or Review) process
Set the stage and schedule
Learn the needs and goals of management
Get the lay of the land
Survey company politics
Review the steps and proposed schedule for the Audit (or Review)
Determine who will be involved at each step
Agree to the budget for the Audit (or Review)

2. Step One: Discovery
Aspect A: Individual personal philosophy of the executives
Interview each senior executive chosen to be involved
with the Philosophy Project in order to determine the scope of work
required to make explicit the personal philosophies of each.

Aspect B: The actual understanding of the employees
Interview a sampling of employees below the executive level to
determine awareness and commitment to supposed corporate
philosophy.

Aspect C: Stated philosophy of the group
Review copies of all previously written or oral statements of
    mission,
    purpose,
    vision,
    values,
    goals,
    objectives
    and other similar documents

Aspect D: Summary and report
Distill all findings into a single, coherent statement
in plain language
Assess how this connects to actual corporate life
Prepare a report for executive management

3. Interim Meeting with executive management team:
1st check-in
Present the report from the Discovery process
Hear feedback from executive leadership
If necessary, redraft statements in plainer terminology
or in other languages
Determine who will be involved in Step Two

4. Step Two: Listening
Set up one-on-one meetings with employees
either all of them - in a small company or division
or a representative sampling of them - in larger locations
Conduct an Audit (or Review) Interview with each
Repeat process with senior management
Repeat again with shareholders, if appropriate
Repeat again with the public, if appropriate
Create a report from this input

5. Interim Meeting with executive management team:
2nd check-in
Present report from Listening process
Compare to report from Discovery process
Hear recommendations from the Coach
on corporate philosophy,
    including ethics,
    aesthetics,
    values,
    mission,
    and corporate purpose.
Reconcile these into an actual statement or set of statements,
based on the recommendations of the Coach
In a Review, the process reaches closure at this point.

Note: At this point, a Philosophy Review is complete.
             The following steps apply
only when a full audit is being conducted.

6. Step Three: Planning
Persons designated by executive management do this work,
which may include senior managers,
outside consultants,
finance,
human resources
and others
Purpose: to apply the philosophy in the workplace
This may include elements of:
carefully orchestrated internal or external public relations work
    to share the statement of philosophy,
seminars for workers,
shareholder meeting presentations,
one-on-one sessions with leadership to ensure buy-in,
and other elements.

7. Interim Meeting with executive management team:
3rd check-in
Present outcomes from planning process
and hear the final report of the Auditor
Consider schedule for Implementation phase
Take a decision about the direction of the next step

8. Implementing
To be carried out by the company as agreed by management

9. Step Four: Evaluating
Gather notes from all steps in the Audit process
Present the final report to the executive management team
Bring closure to the Audit process