There is more to training than training… Do we know why training does not work?The other evening while on the way home from some client work, I read the paper on the train. In this was an interesting article that suggested that public transport staff should be given “civility” training by one of the UKs top retailers for customer service – John Lewis.The article cited that London has high levels of “incivility” and blamed it on the time people travel to and from work. The recommendation … [Read more...] about Why training does not work – there is more to training than training
Innovation Index – Practical & Real?
Innovation Index - is it relevant to 99% of businesses? Innovation, we all are being asked to deliver it, but can we agree on what it is? Does it even matter?Politically, many countries and global firms are involved in some form of Global Innovation Index, but does this really tell us what is happening, or who the innovative organisations really are?Produced as a joint venture by The Boston Consulting Group (BCG), the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM), and The Manufacturing … [Read more...] about Innovation Index – Practical & Real?
Diagnosing organizational culture
Today I read a thread on Diagnosing Organizational Culture, where someone was asking for recommendations on tools to use to undertake this task.If you are only looking for isolated culture tools then the following should be considered (in no particular order):Diagnosing Organizational culture – Harrison Denison Organizational Culture Survey – Denison Corporate Culture Questionnaire – SHL The Creatrix – Byrd (http://www.creatrix.com/ ) looks at the culture for innovation and … [Read more...] about Diagnosing organizational culture
What is the IDEO Deep-Dive™ Brainstorming technique?
Deep-Dive™ is the name of a technique used to rapidly immerse a group or team into a situation for problem-solving or idea creation. This approach is often used for brainstorming product or process development. History of Deep Dive Originally developed by the IDEO group (a learning design company) for rapid product development, the Deep-Dive technique is now widely and increasingly used for innovation not only in product development but process improvement and customer service strategies. The … [Read more...] about What is the IDEO Deep-Dive™ Brainstorming technique?
33 Ways to develop an Innovative Culture in your org.
Ways to develop a Culture of Innovation Many organisations strive for a competitive edge, an advantage over their competitors to help ensure their sustainability. Innovation is one such way, but for too long many organisations have concentrated on developing product and ignored the possibilities of innovation as a culture. Having an innovative friendly culture can harness the innovative and creative capacities of the entire workforce (and your customers and suppliers) to your advantage. But it … [Read more...] about 33 Ways to develop an Innovative Culture in your org.
Bullying at work, recognising it & its impact on innovation
Bullying at work on the increase Or so the reports and surveys tell us. What we do know is that where bullying exists, trust does not. We also know that innovation requires openness and trust. So what do we really have in our organisations - innovation OR bullying?Are you being bullied at work – or are you a work place bully?As employers we have a responsibility to our employees, customers and suppliers for them to be respected and not bullied in any way. To deliver on that … [Read more...] about Bullying at work, recognising it & its impact on innovation
Innovation, the first step – dare, change, take a risk
Innovation is about the first step Innovation is the buzzword of the late naughties, but what does it mean?"Innovation is the act of introducing something new"Often we focus on the act of creating, indeed many training and development programmes look to developing creativity in order to create innovative cultures. Is this right?Innovation can mean two very different things, I suspect that often we confuse the two. many organizations take innovation to be something to do with product … [Read more...] about Innovation, the first step – dare, change, take a risk
The rising cost of learning… The E-Book – con or hero?
The rising cost of learning… First there was decimalisation, then the Euro, the litre and now the e-book. Isn’t it interesting that to many of us the actual increasing costs of things are not so obvious when there has been a change of culture or context? With the introduction of decimalisation in the early 70s and latterly the Euro across central Europe many products were rounded up in price. Even more recently the move from selling petrol from gallons to litres allowed the price to jump … [Read more...] about The rising cost of learning… The E-Book – con or hero?
Creating and maintaining a high performance culture
A High Performance Culture is something many organizations strive to achieve. Many have achieved it in their own unique and distinctive ways. However, certain fundamental common factors need to exist without which a "High Performance Culture" will not be created.In difficult economic time this can be difficult to justify - however now is the time to prepare the organization for the future. Organizational development strategies take time to formulate, develop and deploy - and that is before … [Read more...] about Creating and maintaining a high performance culture
Innovation creating an organizational wide culture of executive innovation
Executive innovation – creating the culture Ever heard your people say…“What we need in this organization is innovation” or “Creativity will give us the edge”.Executives and leaders often utter these words with little realisation of the difficulties of bringing about a fundamental shift in the behaviour necessary to create an innovation culture across the organization. “We can empower people to bring new ideas, we’ll run some workshops on creativity” if only it were that simple. But … [Read more...] about Innovation creating an organizational wide culture of executive innovation
Executive Innovation the key to success
Is Executive Innovation the key to success?The world economy is changing… are we reacting fast enough? For many executives innovation is just not happening fast enough according to recent articles and research from Boston Consulting Group’s annual study on innovation. Many organisations know that first in order to survive and then to grow they need to innovate. In recent years the focus of innovation has been on creativity and the innovative process, but the lack of results show that this … [Read more...] about Executive Innovation the key to success
Not What Why
When situations are difficult it is easy to remain task focused (what), but does this help us maintain a future resistant approach?Schein in “Organizational Culture and Leadership” says “what happens in organizations is fairly easy to observe, but in the effort to understand why such things happen, culture as a concept comes into its own”If leadership is the key to the future success of our organisation then culture is the lock. In a world where we are very short term-ist (just look … [Read more...] about Not What Why
Why change initiatives fail to deliver
Why do change initiatives fail to deliver the expected results?It does not matter how many books you have read or how many change management projects you have been involved in. Some are successful. Some change initiatives fail. The real question is, can we identify failure early before any damage is done? And what can we do to reduce our change initiative from failing? What does research say about change initiatives failing? The HBR claims that 70% of change initiatives fail, Gallup claim … [Read more...] about Why change initiatives fail to deliver
What is the difference between community managers and sports referees? #cmgr
What is the difference between community managers and sports referees?.....About $200,000....Some of the readers of my blog know that I also moderate and manage a small number of communities. This week has culminated in me reluctantly removing some members from one group. This action, along with the run-up of events has caused me to reflect on the role, and how group members perceive it. What makes a "community"? There are several definitions, including: the condition of sharing or having … [Read more...] about What is the difference between community managers and sports referees? #cmgr
Aligning HR to the Organization
We have a perception problem in HR the world over. We are often seen as the function internally that is used to “outsource” the hiring and firing of people from the operations side of the business. Some would say doing the dirty work of managers. Human Resources is supposed to add value to an organization. Sure undertaking tasks that one manager may not do very often can help improve consistency, but it's about much more than that. If a manager hires their own people, they have a vested … [Read more...] about Aligning HR to the Organization
Innovation Drivers for change
Innovation Drivers Innovation is that buzz phrase that many, many firms aspire to. The look at processes, and hiring innovative and bright people. But are we missing the point? Learning from history - the drivers of innovation Almost every point in history, when there have been problems that needed solving, especially when resources were sparse we have seen wonderful innovation. Whilst we may not like the context, the second world war gives some brilliant examples - Wallis's bouncing bomb, … [Read more...] about Innovation Drivers for change
Innovation – new or coming of time?
Innovation the missed management element? While looking at some references for a post on objectives and objective setting, I discovered an interesting entry by Drucker in his seminal work "The Practice Of Management".In my version (p53 1963 Mercury books ) Drucker identifies eight areas for an organisation to have strategic objectives (in this order):Market standing Innovation Productivity Physical & financial resources Profitability Manager performance & … [Read more...] about Innovation – new or coming of time?
Creating an organisational wide innovation culture
Creating an organisational wide innovation culture Ever heard people say...“What we need in this organisation is innovation”, “Creativity will give us the edge”.Leaders often utter these words with little realisation of the difficulties of bringing about a fundamental shift in the behaviour necessary to create an innovation culture across the enterprise. “We can empower people to bring new ideas, we’ll run some workshops on creativity” if only it were that simple. But alas this … [Read more...] about Creating an organisational wide innovation culture
Managing Change Successfully – a case study #cipd11
Managing Change Successfully One of the sessions at this year’s #cipd11 annual conference was led by GSK, looking at the approach they took to transforming their organisation.As many people know, the pharmaceutical industry (like many others) has over the last few years had to radically change some of their working practices and approaches. GSK was no exception.Like many industries the culture and business climate that GSK is/ was operating within was changing. Customers and purchasers … [Read more...] about Managing Change Successfully – a case study #cipd11
Excellence in Organizational Development and Diagnostics
Delivering an excellent solution be it for business improvement or organizational development is not just about having an excellent intervention. It is about having an intervention or change plan which is:Linked to the business goal and plan Linked to the current and desired culture of the organizationOften interventions and improvement projects fail due to:Activities not linked to organizational objectives No overall strategy for corporate development Time pressures on … [Read more...] about Excellence in Organizational Development and Diagnostics
