change

To remain competitive in the modern era, staying still and simply functioning is practically prehistoric. Businesses must be efficient and ahead of the curve, which can be done in a number of ways, one of which is through implementing a culture of Continuous Improvement (CI). Firms are competitive, not by their product/service, location or process, but by what it knows about how it behaves in various situations and understanding how to improve the efficiency of this behaviour. CI provides this knowledge and allows an organisation to constantly act on this knowledge.

Large corporates are, at best, 30% efficient in delivering change. From launching a loan product to landing a new bakery range on a supermarket shelf, big organisations are failing to deliver change at pace and realise value from it.

One leading credit card provider told us they’d last delivered a major new product eight years ago. ‘We were the leader in the market,' said the project manager. 'However, others have caught up and now we’re struggling to respond.’

'It takes us two years to do what our competitors can do in two months.' MD - FTSE100 organisation

We conducted a Q&A interview with Shea Heaver, Founder at OptimaWork, around employee engagement and business transformation.

Could you introduce yourself and what you do?

Choosing the right coach can be a minefield, following some simple steps can help to make sure you get it right.

Whether you are looking for a coach for your organisation or for you personally, there are a few things that you can do to make sure you hire the right coach. If the answer is 'no' to the following questions, read on:

You’ve probably heard it said that change is the one constant in business currently, and that’s true, it’s also true for our lives outside of work.

Many people will say they don’t like change, it makes them uncomfortable or it’s something they fear, but if you break things down a little, you’ll find that we all deal with change on a daily basis.

One of the key themes was the pace of technology changes. Specifically, how does it affect organisations & its people? It brought back vivid memories of my Digital Transformation experiences. On reflection, I can definitely share three gotchas & lessons. If you are leading a Digital Transformation or being a part of one, keep an eye on these three gotchas! 

Gotcha #1: Partial digitalisation and/or digitalising bad process are not good. 

In today’s complex, interconnected and rapidly changing environment, it is more important than ever that organisations can respond quickly whilst still achieving efficiencies of scale. A key enabler of this is having the right organisational design, and recognising that the design of yesterday (designed for efficiency and assuming predictable patterns) will no longer work in the digital age, where agility and speed of response is key.

Matrix working – please click to enlarge the image

Uber or Black Cab – Which is Your HR Function?

I’ve used Uber a few times, but have to say I’ve been a Black Cab kind of girl for years and there is something familiar about them that makes me stick with them.

Yesterday though I started to think differently.  My last few trips to London have involved a Cab ride, none of the drivers have known where to go and the cost, compared to what an Uber would have been almost double the cost and the card machines haven’t been working so cash has been paid, one driver even dropping me at a cash machine.