Last month I suggested that organisations should continue to draw on their existing planning, budgeting and strategy processes for insights. This is because these provide an array of data that is both valuable and actionable. For example, organisations with sales and marketing teams collect real time and forecast data from their customers that is helpful […]
I opened a scenario workshop recently by suggesting there were at least two ways to do strategic planning (and, of course, there are more). One approach extrapolates a line of regression beyond the current time period (this year for example) forward into the future. With this approach a steady trajectory of growth is forecast with […]
Anybody who has stopped to think about how they drive a car today will recognise that it’s a lot easier than it was when they first started out. In those early days, we really had to think about every little thing. About checking the mirror, using turning indicators, monitoring our speed relative to speed limits. […]
Imagine an organisation in which everyone works together, collaboratively and enthusiastically, to achieve a common and worthwhile goal. Ultimately that’s one key purpose, perhaps the key purpose, of organisations — to coordinate effort and expertise to achieve a common purpose. Imagine an organisation where the efforts of every person contribute to the same (or compatible) […]
In part one I asked the difficult question, ‘How do we determine success when investing in organisational change?’ I ask because this question does not seem to be at the fore of decisions about which change approach to take. Perhaps it should be. In this, the second in the series, I frame success by asking […]
A few years ago, I facilitated a conversation on the differences between Organisational Development and Change Management, two of the more prominent approaches to organisational change. The conversation took place in a LinkedIn group with almost 60,000 professionals registered. The point of the conversation was to understand if professionals involved in change were aware of […]
Harvard Professor Clayton Christensen wrote a worthwhile and readable article on the topic of management theory for the September 2003 Harvard Business Review. In it he offers a metaphor which is very relevant to the topic of diagnosis. The story goes like this. A patient walks into a doctor’s surgery with alarming symptoms. When she […]
Systems is an unfortunately ambiguous word that can mean many things. It can mean, for example, a software system such as excel, Oracle, SAP, or salesforce.com. It can also mean a group of interrelated processes such as in sales; lead generation, prospecting, opportunity and lead management, contracting and closing, as well as incentivisation. Of course, […]