Category: strategy

  • A new approach for future-planning: look out for aggressive polar bears

    A new approach for future-planning: look out for aggressive polar bears


    The start of the year sees a multitude of posts and papers which set out “2024’s expected workplace trends”. And after the upheavals of recent years, there’s plenty of interesting ideas about making the best use of Artificial Intelligence, the continued tensions over remote and hybrid working, the potential for political change and fears for international relations.

    One of the key ideas in forecasting and future-planning is the Black Swan. Introduced by Nassim Nicholas Taleb, these are highly rare and unpredictable events – but which have massive impacts. Most people won’t have prepared adequately for these uncommon catastrophic events – such as financial crises, pandemics, or paradigm-shifting innovations.

    Shortly after this, Michele Wucker introduced the idea of Gray Rhinos. These are not rare, and can be seen from afar. We roughly know their shape, size and how they might act. But because of this familiarity we don’t pay them enough attention – until they are charging towards us.

    But if recent years have taught us anything, it is that the trickiest situations are those generated by multiple interacting factors or chain reactions.

    Why polar bears you may ask, and specifically, why an ‘aggressive’ one?

    In recent years scientists have been reporting a rise of polar bears being aggressive towards humans.

    One of the reasons is that increased tourism means that polar bears are less scared of humans than before – so less likely to avoid settlements or be deterred by noise.

    And then there’s climate change, which impacts in two ways.

    Warmer oceans means fewer fish – affecting the entire food chain and meaning the apex predator – the polar bear – goes hungry.

    Shrinking ice floes mean polar bears have to spend more time on land.

    These interacting and cumulative factors lead to increased numbers of polar bears coming into contact with humans, with hunger-driven aggression.

    An aggressive polar bear event is one caused by the interaction of a number of factors, so they are difficult to identify. We recommend a number of structured questioning approaches:

    • Think about scenarios, not predictions. We’re looking at what might happen, and how you could react to it. By working with multiple scenarios, you can identify which actions have cross-cutting value.
    • Use Five What Ifs? You’ll probably be familiar with drilling down into root causes using Five Whys – so widen your thinking instead by asking Five What Ifs.
    • Think big picture. What are the global and regional trends, and how could they impact on your business model? For instance, wide-ranging economic, social and ecological factors could affect your customers, your suppliers and your stakeholders in ways that creates a chain reaction that affects you.

     

  • Are you ready for another ‘new normal’ ?

    Are you ready for another ‘new normal’ ?

    A few weeks ago, I heard a business leader referring to life at the moment as the ‘interim normal’ because he didn’t want to accept that this was ‘the new normal.’

    I’ve got some sympathy with this approach – the last year has seen deeper and wider changes in organisations, management and leadership than we’ve seen in any other twelve months. People have endured almost constant change, with plans made one week being totally revised the next.

    Labeling this as an ‘interim normal’ can help people cope – it won’t be like this forever.

    But the danger is going too far the other way – many people seem to think that we’ll all be back in our offices soon, and the ‘old normal’ will return. But it’s clear to me that home-working is here to stay – whether it is full-time, part-time or occasional activity. Organisations and employees are keen to maintain the advantages of home working such as less time commuting, a reduction in expensive office space and access to a wider recruitment pool.

    But let’s not forget that the shift to home working has come at a cost. I’ve seen companies taking a hit on productivity, teamwork, collaboration, morale and innovation. Many of these organisations, leaders and teams seem to be relying on temporary fixes, superhuman effort, adrenaline, desperation and a hope that they can keep treading water until the ‘old normal’ returns.

    But if the ‘old normal’ isn’t coming back, the big question is – how many of the supposedly ‘temporary’ fixes are fit for the long-run of hybrid office-home working?

    My challenge to you is to spend a few minutes thinking ahead, and wondering:

    • What short-term pains are you putting up with, that really can’t become long-term problems?
    • What temporary patch-up job was good enough for crisis management in 2020, but not suitable for steady state operations?
    • Where are you relying on unsustainable effort from individuals rather than well-balanced workloads, skills and expertise?
    • What are your plans for dealing with the problems of increased home-working, such as difficulties with on-boarding new staff, promoting morale and managing performance?​

    I’ve been helping staff from a variety of organisations to adapt to some of these remote leadership challenges, to work smarter and implement new ways of working. So often when we try to address problems we focus on the gaps, on what is missing or working badly. Whilst this is a natural reaction, I’ve seen a real opportunity for leaders, managers and organisations to benefit from a remote leadership and change management approach that focuses on strengths and builds on what is already working.

    The more I’ve heard about these issues with remote leadership, the more I thought about putting together some kind of program that would let me help others using the experience that I’ve had myself.

    So I’m currently developing a series of online workshops and coaching that will help managers and leaders overcome the challenges of remote leadership and put positive leadership in practice.

    To hear more, come along to my Remote Leadership Masterclass – a free 60-minute webinar on Monday 29th March at 1230 BST.

    You’ll learn:

    • A surefire technique for assessing your remote leadership to work out where you’re doing great, and where you could do better.
    • The new risks your organisation face when changing to hybrid working.
    • A different way of thinking about leadership that will help you build an integrated and successful team.
  • Appreciative Inquiry: Strength-based organisational influence

    Appreciative Inquiry: Strength-based organisational influence

    We’ve all been there. You are tasked with delivering a significant change to processes, products or ways of working. Before you even start you are told by colleagues or staff that this will never happen, it’s impossible to do and all you feel is push-back.

    Leading change can feel like pushing a boulder up a hill with the risk that it will roll right back down at any moment.

    I’m sure this sounds familiar, as it is derived from two commonplace issues – that people often fear change and resist it, and that most organisations introduce changes by focussing on existing problems and shortcomings, such as John Kotter’s famous ‘melting iceberg’.

    But what comes of this approach? A negative atmosphere as everyone tries to dodge responsibility, and you impose a top-down change that will hopefully fix the problem. And how many times do you fix one problem only to find that you’ve now created another? Or find that people resist adopting your solution at all?

    If you think about how we apply the idea of strengths for a person – that you can deliver better change and growth by harnessing strengths rather than focussing on weaknesses – then you can imagine there is a similar approach for teams and organisations.

    Appreciative Inquiry (AI) is that approach – it focuses on finding out what already works, and how to leverage those successes and strengths. It is a collaborative approach, because unless you have everyone involved, you can’t effectively incorporate the multiplicity of perspectives. By co-creating a vision as well as the approach together, you’ll reduce resistance to change and have a more effective and lasting solution.

    The theory and research underpinning Appreciative Inquiry (AI) is extensive, as is the track record of AI being used effectively in a whole host of settings across industries, countries and sectors.

    The Appreciative Inquiry process starts with a positively stated topic choice or inquiry question, such as: “How can we deliver maximum value for our customers within our existing resources?” or “Creating innovation through collaboration with other departments or organisations” or “Becoming a high performing and fun team.” Its power comes from the combination of focusing on what works and approaching changes with an open, enquiring mind.

    The AI process then uses a simple 4D model to address the topic – Discover – Dream – Design – Deliver

    This may not seem that different from a range of other such models, until you look at what happens in each phase.

    Traditionally managers would use root cause analysis to try and understand problems. In Appreciative Inquiry, this phase is about looking positively at what is already working, helping us identify the key ingredients of success for this team or organisation. It embraces the positive traditions and stories that they have about themselves.

    Looking at existing success helps engagement and creativity and generates confidence for the next stage. You may find those existing examples of collaboration or of innovation that can act as the template for wider improvements.

    Rather than the narrow focus on solving problems with the minimum effort in the minimum time, this visioning phase is about using the positivity so everyone feels safe in challenging the status quo, in thinking about the big picture, and creating a vision that reaches into the future.

    We ask questions like “How does our version of excellence on a budget look, and crucially why does it matter?”

    When you’re grounded in what’s worked, and because you’re involving everyone, you can build a compelling dream that generates commitment to action.

    The Appreciative Inquiry approach is to focus on bridging the gap to your dream, while making sure there is alignment with values, strategy, structures and processes.

    Co-creation means working with all involved, which ensures that you don’t ‘rob Peter to pay Paul,’ and generates crucial buy-in and joint-ownership of change.

    This stage is when you work together to translate the vision into action plans and share roles and responsibilities in making it happen.

    You’ll need to maintain the momentum – keep talking together, challenging each other, reaffirming commitment to change.

    Agree how you will hold each participant accountable for delivering their commitments, but don’t fall back into negativity and top-down power.

    Reflect back on what you’ve learned about the traditions and stories people tell about themselves, and use them to overcome any obstacles. Continue to celebrate successes.

    Appreciative Inquiry is effective

    As an external facilitator who has used an Appreciative Inquiry approach with many teams, I can tell you that it works. So many top-down change programmes fail because of the fear, resistance or lack of ownership. With AI, that initial focus on ‘what works already’ gives people security, helps them understand that their particular perspective is valued. This enables them to be creative, to see the big picture and to consider what they individually need to do for the team to reach their compelling vision.

    While Appreciative Inquiry works exceptionally well on large-scale change or organisational development programmes, it is not just about externally-driven change or solving specific challenges. Some of my best experiences have been using AI approaches in team away-days to help them reflect, define their own vision and agree how they will act differently in the future, all based on what they were already great at.

    Many of my clients use an external facilitator because it helps create a level playing field for all participants, and because we can more easily ask the big questions and identify the ‘we’ve always done it like that’ assumptions. But any manager can learn how to use an AI approach – there’s a wealth of accessible resources to help you – books, websites, videos, webinars.

    Eszter Molnar Mills is a strength-based leadership and organisation development specialist.

    She helps organisations and individuals reach enhanced performance by reflecting on what works, and by developing skills and strategies for improvement.

    Through Formium Development, Eszter supports organisations, teams and individuals through consultancy, executive and team coaching, and facilitation.

    If you’d like help or advice on implementing the Appreciative Inquiry approach, then please get in touch.

     

     

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  • Book Review: The Positive Organization by Robert E Quinn

    Book Review: The Positive Organization by Robert E Quinn

    So many business books leave you wondering “…but how does that work in reality?” That’s not a problem with The Positive Organization – this short book (less than 160 pages from cover to cover) is packed with ideas, examples, case studies and practical exercises, written in an engaging and straightforward style.

    Throughout, Quinn challenges us to consider a different way of thinking, and to think about how we can effectively participate in building a positive organisation. A key strength of the book is that it has actionable lessons for all, regardless of job role or responsibility, from board room to shop floor. Each chapter concludes with a tool to use with teams in self-assessment and development, as well as questions to encourage the reader to reflect and set aspirations, to deepen learning.

    The central premise of the book is that building a positive organisation requires accountability and authenticity, that for it to be successful it has to be emergent and self-generating. This approach is built on listening, consultation and empowerment at all levels.

    What marks this book apart from many others is both the effectiveness of Quinn’s model, as well as the Positive Organization Generator – over 100 real-life examples of how organisations have successfully increased their positivity.

    Mental Maps and bilingualism

    Quinn suggests that the culture of an organisation can be summarised in a mental map – an indication of what a company believes and assumes, covering domains such as Motivation, Status and Change. Most organisations, and most leaders, operate using what Quinn calls a Conventional Mental Map, a top-down, traditional hierarchy. He contrasts this with the more complex Positive Mental Map, focused more on networks and relationships, and a focus on the common good and authentic communication.

    However, this is not a binary state – Quinn suggests a successful leader needs to be ‘bilingual’ able to speak the language of both maps depending on the need of the people they are working with, to find the right tools for the right occasion.

    A question of balance

    Quinn provides us with a further analysis of organisational culture – the Framework of Organizational Tensions. Quinn groups organisational characteristics into two opposing lists, for example Individual Accountability and Cohesive Teamwork. If taken to extremes either of these positive characteristics could be negative – conflict on the one hand or group-think on the other. To illustrate the need to maintain balance between these positive forces, Quinn separates each pair on opposing sides of a disc, with an outer ring of negative forces that may arise if the positive force is over-developed.

    This idea of tension and balance is crucial to Quinn – organisations are not static, they are dynamic, and to effect positive change we have to consider the whole system, that positives can turn into negatives.

    A call to action

    Having developed these models, Quinn turns to a number of key issues in developing a positive organisation, in chapters that focus on how to drive organisations forward by developing and promoting authenticity, creating a sense of purpose, fostering bottom-up change and collaborative development. He uses a range of interesting and relevant examples, referring back to the models at every stage.

    In these sections he is challenging and insightful on the role of the individual, on our willingness to work for the common good, our ability to leave our ego and control behind when trying to develop an organisation that thrives. He is also realistic about human nature, and how difficult meaningful change and personal authenticity may be, but makes clear the benefits of developing leadership capabilities and organisational positivity.

    Over to you

    Quinn concludes by sharing with the reader his Positive Organization Generator. Designed to confront sceptics and resistance, he provides 100 examples of where an organisation has made positive change (from a range of industries, and with links to further articles on each of them). This is an amazing resource that gives readers a real opportunity to understand “how it works in reality”. Rather than just adopting these ideas, his instruction to readers is to re-invent them – to be inspired by the examples, extract the principle and re-imagine it for your own context, moulding and adapting to fit.

    Robert E. Quinn’s website www.bob-quinn.com provides you with the resources from the book, including the Positive Organization Generator.

    Or you can buy the book from Amazon UK or Amazon USA.

    For more ideas you can also follow his daily blog: www.thepositiveorganization.wordpress.com

     

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    Formium Development helps individuals and organisations to harness their strengths and improve their performance and culture. We know change can be hard, so we can bring our expertise to help you with organisational development – such as implementing the ideas in The Positive Organization.

    Click here if you’d like more information on how we can help you and your team analyse, assess, challenge, innovate, communicate and develop.

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  • #Girlboss review

    #Girlboss review

    Sophia Amoruso is an interesting and inspiring millennial. She is the founder of one of the fastest-growing retailers on the planet, Nasty Gal and the author of #Girlboss, a book about her and the company’s story. The business began with selling off vintage clothing and accessories on eBay, currently she is the leader of internationally recognised brand and business.
    #Girlboss isn’t a typical self-help personal development handbook; it’s more like a good peptalk given by a person who transformed her hobby into an outstanding company and shares her real life experiences through the pages.

    “A #GIRLBOSS is someone who’s in charge of her own life. She gets what she wants because she works for it. As a #GIRLBOSS, you take control and accept responsibility.” – says Amoruso at the beginning of the publication.
    This book is far better as a story than as a business guide – which is probably why Netflix is turning it into a TV show.

    #Girlboss is a combination of a memoir, a manifesto and a business book. It won’t explain to the reader how to reach success but it can give a few ideas and it’s definitely a great reading experience. Amoruso’s book could inspire young people who are thinking about setting up a business.
    The book is available on amazon.co.uk and amazon.com.

  • Where does the courage come in?

    Where does the courage come in?

    I fairly recently went to an event on Women’s Leadership Careers organised by the Chartered Management Institute’s (CMI) Women in Management (WiM) Network. The keynoter was none other than CMI’s CEO Ann Francke, an remarkably dynamic and engaging speaker.

    Ann shared her wealth of knowledge and experience about progressing in the ranks of organisations as a female member of staff. Among the many things she referred to was the 3 C’s: Competence, Confidence and Connections – the important components in order to get noticed and to ensure your mark in your field. She recommends keeping a list of your competencies and your accomplishments. Have confidence in yourself – avoid the tiara syndrome, i.e. waiting for someone to notice you, and the sorry skirts, connoting apologising for yourself. And the ever important C – connections – reach out to people. Look for colleagues and managers who can guide you, advise you and “sponsor” you.

    As I was taking all this in, words of Sir Winston Churchill rang so true: “Courage is rightly esteemed the first of human qualities . . . because it is the quality which guarantees all others.” I add ‘courage’ as the 4th C to Ann’s list.

    Courage could be the stepping stone to acknowledging your competencies, to speak up to the person at the office, who you want to connect with. And the courage to leave when you know something is not working – it could be a job that does not nurture your capacities, a relationship that does not support you in achieving your targets. It takes courage to review a past project and to be honest with yourself about what went great and what could have been done better.

    It requires courage to lead a team, to disband a team and to implement change when it is needed. However, courage is not about being abrasive. It is very much about being gently assertive with yourself and taking that one extra step – making your competencies list or drawing on your confidence to connect with a colleague. After all, Churchill also purported that “courage is what it requires to stand up and speak; courage is also what it takes to sit down and listen.”

    Reetu Kansal

  • The Financial Times Essential Guide to Negotiations

    The Financial Times Essential Guide to Negotiations

    This book provides what it promises on the cover – how to achieve win-win outcomes in each of your business deals.  A straightforward, practical guide that lists what is required to achieve success.

    Geof Cox’s book comes with a great, logical and easy-to-follow structure:

    1.Planning it

    2.Doing it

    3.Reviewing it

    The writer recognises and comments older models for the negotiation process by Chester Karras, Roger Fisher & William Ury, Neil Rackham and others.

    The recommended resources concentrate on prep work and communication skills as well as the effective use of set-piece negotiation models. Novices are warned about tricks and dubious tactics and for advanced negotiators, the author suggests strategies for complex situations, such as negotiating across cultures or with several stakeholders.

    In line with the style of the FT Essential Guides series, Cox uses practical case studies and instances, along with easily adaptable tables and diagrams all throughout his book.

    The task and results-orientated publication’s style is simple, clear and easily interpretable.  Reading Cox’s book itself is not a guarantee of success but following the steps, taking his advice and learning from others’ mistakes will definitely help you to accomplish negotiation success in the long run.

    The book is available on amazon.co.uk and amazon.com.

  • Doing good, doing business

    Doing good, doing business

    Social enterprise is a dynamic and also motivating way to do business, it’s an interesting and fast growing sector, a movement not only in the UK but around the globe.

    Social enterprises are businesses trading to address social problems, improve communities, people’s quality of life or the environment. It seems the same as charity work but it is different. These organisations make and do things to make profits like every other business, but they are reinvesting their profits to make even more good. They do this in various ways: reinvesting in community projects, providing services for people who otherwise might not get them, or creating jobs for people who would otherwise be left out from work. That’s what Unseen Tours did, does and will do.

    Unseen Tours is a prize-winning, not-for-profit social enterprise in London. Presently, they offer 6 alternative sightseeing tours through the capital’s most vibrant and exciting neighbourhoods- Brick Lane, Brixton, Camden, Covent Garden, London Bridge and Shoreditch-, led by homeless and  previously homeless guides.

    “We never wanted to be a charity, we wanted to make profit and reinvest that money, that’s why we are a social enterprise.”– says Faye Shields, the director.
    Everything started in 2010 as a project by Sock Mob Events, an informal volunteer network– so called simply because through regular weekly walks these people offered socks, food and friendship for men and women living on the streets of London.

    Their guides earn a living through the tours. They directly get  60% of the ticket sales. And what about the other 40%? It’s also reinvested, out of that 40% the guides also receive their travel and mobile top-ups every month and the remainder is used for essential operational costs. Any profit Unseen Tours makes is directly reinvested into the enterprise to engage more guides and widen the scope of the tours.

    People are needed to run an organisation. The team that works behind the scenes of the successful social enterprise is formed of volunteers. They fit volunteering around their full-time job responsibilities to help making Unseen Tour a success.

    The enterprise works like a real organisation; they have a director, the different tours have coordinators, they even have a person to manage their social media.
    Unseen Tours offers a one-of-a-kind experience of London and unique insight into the capital’s life whilst giving visibility and voice to people who often feel unseen and unheard.

    Unseen Tours is a social enterprise with great purpose– to change perceptions of the homeless and to provide an income to individuals who might otherwise be excluded from work. They are doing good but also business. With their business strategy, so far they have helped 20 homeless or formerly homeless people back on their feet.

    To find out more about Unseen Tours and to book a tour visit their website here. Take part and win prizes in their newest campaign, share your unseen story with #MyUnseenStory on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram.

  • Business approaches for tackling poverty

    Business approaches for tackling poverty

    The authors suggest that few of the most sustainable and scalable solutions to poverty and deprivation are those based on business – instead of charitable – methods. This chimes with Melinda Gates’ TED talk about adaptable strategies from Coca Cola that could make non-profit organisations more effective.

    The practical guide, Scaling Up includes a wide variety of case studies of both the families this kind of approach has helped, and the organisations and social entrepreneurs who have successfully applied it. The book comes across as an extremely well researched while written with the practitioner in mind. Examples from around the world including India, Latin America and Africa range from the more familiar cases of microfinance and housing to community savings and utilities.

    The authors recommend a range of strategic and market-driven approaches which can help people at the bottom of the economic pyramid, effectively challenging many assumption of the traditional charitable / donor-reliant approach to NGO-led development. The opportunity to achieve scale is explored both as the traditional scaling of the organisation itself, and as increasing its influence on the ecosystem.

    The contents are practical, addressing core management problems just like finance and marketing in a new context. The book is very well structured, the only tougher aspect to its presentation is the excessive amount usage of acronyms, which grates in spite of a glossary at the front of the book.

    Reading the book is more than likely to be of instant benefit to managers already working in social enterprises or the third sector, but Scaling Up is a remarkable read for any leader curious about the economics of social justice.

    The book is available on amazon.co.uk and amazon.com.

  • Big Data by Bernard Marr

    Big Data by Bernard Marr

    Big Data is an expression that we hear often but not everybody understands what it is and how to use it beneficially. Bernard Marr’s book is a guidebook for all businesses on harnessing the potential of data. He argues that data by itself is valueless, data only has value if it is converted to insight– what he terms Smart Big Data.
    Marr explains why “Big Data is the heart of the smart revolution” – and details how every facet of our life and world has become smart: health, parenting, homes, sport as well as love. Really successful companies realise who are their customers, what are they doing, what do they like, what are their needs now and in the future. Those businesses have that knowledge because they have collected their customers’ digital trace and know how to use that data.
    Marr’s award-winning book is a practical guide, loaded with tips for business owners, leaders, managers or anyone working within this field. It’s a reader-friendly book about what could have been a dry topic. For all those who aren’t convinced in the importance of Big Data, Marr makes a convincing case that it is a phenomenon and sensible use can lead to success.
    The book is available at amazon.co.uk and amazon.com.

    Agi Galgoczi

  • The business starter pack

    The business starter pack

    The First Mile by Scott D. Anthony

    Many people think about starting their own business. Lots of us started a business in childhood – do you remember the cliché of the Lemonade Stand from American movies? Yes, some people stop right there, but some try again and run their businesses for years.

    But how to start? The first mile of an innovation is that critical stretch when your idea moves from concept to the real world. Hidden traps, risks and challenges are everywhere. Scott D. Anthony’s book will come and give you a hand. The First Mile is a practical and easy-to-follow guide to starting a business.

    The book has two parts. The chapters of the first part build the First Mile Toolkit – a 4-step process for managing strategic uncertainty. You will learn how documenting an idea helps surface hidden assumptions; how to evaluate that idea from multiple angles; focus on the most critical strategic uncertainties; then test rigorously and adapt quickly. DEFT, the easy-to-note acronym is a reminder that you need to be adroit at handling the twists and turns of the first mile.

    Part two describes four common challenges, signs that you may have not followed the ‘yellow brick road’ and tips for getting back on track and get to your ‘Emerald City’.

    The challenges:

    • Making a wrong turn
    • Running out of fuel
    • Picking the wrong driver
    • Spinning out

    Anthony explains why each challenge happens and what the questions are that need to be discussed. He summarises this in a table, on a single page but I highly recommend reading the detailed versions. He speaks about interesting examples and in a very reader friendly way, highlighting the key messages of every chapter.

    Scott D. Anthony shares real-life experiences in his easy-to read and follow guide. The First Mile is a great a starter pack with a toolkit, tips and tricks to starting a business.