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
Innovation – Individual or team effort – “Collective Leadership”
Today I read an interesting blog article on Innovation which starts with:"To generate creative business ideas, breakthrough innovators must be fiercely tested and wisely deployed (…) Truly innovative people are rare. Perhaps, 5% or 10% of the high potential managers within a company at any given time have the skills and attributes to become innovators.”Read Jeffrey Cohn, Jon Katzenbach, and Gus Vlack’s paper, “Finding and Grooming Breakthrough Innovators,” on HBR." The author … [Read more...] about Innovation – Individual or team effort – “Collective Leadership”
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
Evaluating the impact of training – another failure
Evaluating the impact of training is this as successful as we would like to believe?On one forum I regularly visit was the question:I am currently trying to answer a question for my course, but have hit a slight problem. The question I need to answer for my written project is:- Conduct an analysis to determine the effects that training has had on the success of your organisation. I was planning on writing about Customer Service training we have been running on going for the last 18 … [Read more...] about Evaluating the impact of training – another failure
Strategy and tools in business
Strategy and tools in businessOver the years a lot of good and bad stuff has been said about SWOT. Sure it is not the most robust of tools but when used in the way it was originally developed – it is a powerful tool. Some people have argued that it is time to move on from SWOT to other things – in this piece we explore SOAR an appreciative Inquiry tool.An interesting article on this topic was published in Ai Practitioner magazine (http://preview.tinyurl.com/2bvobg ) (it is available … [Read more...] about Strategy and tools in business
People Development Strategy – A business led approach to training and developing people
Do you have an effective people development strategy? An effective people development strategy is key for success and being able to react to changing business conditions. Training (or People Development) is a strange thing.Many firms think they are training their people. Unfortunatly many of their people do not think they get enough training. It’s a catch 22! “What’s worse than training your workers and losing them? Not training them and keeping them.” – Zig Ziglar There are some common … [Read more...] about People Development Strategy – A business led approach to training and developing people
Do you cover all your social media with all of your content?
Do you cover all your social media with all of your content?Many of us write blogs and articles on LinkedIn, on our own blogs or as a guest blogger on other peoples sites.The perceived wisdom of the SEO and marketing gurus is to push your piece everywhere. Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn status, all of your LinkedIn groups, StumbleUpon etc. In fact everywhere you can. But is this "push everywhere" a help or a hindrance? Certainly the wider you promote the content, the more people will see … [Read more...] about Do you cover all your social media with all of your content?
Training – the sustainable & cost effective enabling element for business success
Did you know…facts about training?The cost of training is expensive – but the cost of gaining a new customer is a lot more! A 2% increase in customer retention has the same effect as decreasing costs by 10% – Leading on the Edge of Chaos, Emmet Murphy & Mark Murphy A customer is 4 times more likely to defect to a competitor if the problem is service-related than price- or product-related – Bain & Company. The probability of selling to an existing customer is 60 – 70%. The … [Read more...] about Training – the sustainable & cost effective enabling element for business success
SWOT analysis
SWOT Analysis The SWOT analysis is an effective planning tool used to understand the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats involved in a project or in a business. It usually involves specifying the objective of the business or project and identifying the internal and external factors that are supportive or unfavourable to achieving that objective. A SWOT analysis is often used as part of a strategic planning process. SWOT is an acronym for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, … [Read more...] about SWOT analysis
How to write an internal communications plan and strategy
Internal Communications Plans Just how do we start to write an internal communications plan and communications strategy?Increasingly Human Resources (HR) or Organizational Development (OD) teams are being asked to drive and deliver internal communications, but what is an internal communications plan and how do you go about writing and applying one?Why have an internal communications plan? First we need to understand why it is important to have an internal communications plan. … [Read more...] about How to write an internal communications plan and strategy
Don’t let SEO burst your budget
This is a historical page, and remains for historical reference only - Jan 2020 SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) is a specialist activity, expensive and you need to know what you are doing... don't you? Right?... wrong!The current commercial and financial climate that we are operating in is causing most of us to tighten our belts and think twice about spending. This especially true for Training, HR and other small consultancies and entrepreneurs. SEO has always been seen as a "technical" … [Read more...] about Don’t let SEO burst your budget
Eight Orientations of #Innovation
What Is Your Creativity And Risk-Taking Orientation? Measuring the creative sense and risk-taking orientation of individuals in organisations helps to explain why one organisation (or team) stagnates and dies, another takes excessive risks and lands in bankruptcy, and yet others are moderately to extremely successful. Understanding the eight orientations of innovation can help improve performance and change.As the Creatrix model suggests, your creativity and risk-taking orientation can be … [Read more...] about Eight Orientations of #Innovation
History of the SWOT analysis
History of the SWOT Analysis In recent years I have become rather obsessed with the history and origins of the SWOT, along with PESTLE & SMART.As the months have gone on I have identified much of the history of SWOT analysis and found may sites which appear to have credible sources - however when one 'delves deeper' often the data is clouded, indeed whenever I read of a source I attempted to buy the original book - so have amassed a large collection of old management books.For example, … [Read more...] about History of the SWOT analysis
History of the SWOT Analysis (brief) [Originally SOFT Analysis]
A brief history of the SWOT Analysis Model. You may be surprised to learn that it started out being called a SOFT Analysis. Let's follow the journey.In recent years I have become rather obsessed with the origins and the history of the SWOT analysis model, along with PESTLE & SMART.As the months have gone on I have identified much of the History of the SWOT analysis and found may sites which appear to have credible sources – however when one ‘delves deeper’ often the data is clouded, … [Read more...] about History of the SWOT Analysis (brief) [Originally SOFT Analysis]
10 tips for engaging people
Managers engage, so do we as 'community' champions Having a community or network (intranet or social network) is one thing, growing it and building trust is quite another. Engagement of users, be they employees or customers is vital for the strategy to be sustainable and successful. Remember the 90:9:1 rule, our goal must be to beat this.As organizations become more geographically diverse, having the ability to share knowledge, communicate and network is a competitive advantage. Using … [Read more...] about 10 tips for engaging people
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
Five Ways to Engage the Unconscious Mind
Here are five of the more compelling ways to do engage people.Use them for web, course notes, marketing and other collateral. Use sex, food, or danger 1. Use sex, food, or danger. The unconscious mind pays attention to the possibility of sex, to food, and to danger. If you use any of these triggers at a web site then the unconscious pays attention. So show a picture of a good looking man and/or woman with a flirtatious look in their eyes, or a full colour picture of luscious food, or a … [Read more...] about Five Ways to Engage the Unconscious Mind
Innovation Aim-Assess-Activate-Apply model
4A Model for Innovation- Aim, Assess, Activate, Apply #Innovation and the Creatrix ModelThe Creatrix Model for developing innovation follows a simple four-step methodology: Aim, Assess, Activate, and Apply. This model is the foundation for unleashing innovative capacity for change within individuals, teams, and organisations.Aim: If I say to you, "I want you/your team/your organisation to be more innovative," what does that mean?The word innovation by itself has little value … [Read more...] about Innovation Aim-Assess-Activate-Apply model
5000 days down what of the next 5000?
The Web is now just over 5000 days old – yes that is all.. imagine what the next 5000 days will bring.Kevin Kelly in this TED presentation highlights some interesting thoughts, Including the fact that the net is the largest and most reliable machine we have ever made.The future will require more transparency, trust and openness.Watch this intriguing videoOpportunity of threat? what do you think? … [Read more...] about 5000 days down what of the next 5000?
UK training sector crash
With budgets being squeezed it is not surprising that training is taking a hit like many other business services. Traditionally external spend on training has been cut early on but internal training resources allowed to continue to develop.Today I received an advert from Gower – a well respected provider of books and paper based resources on management, HR and training. Usually the sort of spent that is so small – £20-£100 per item, that this is barely impacted, but what I saw today shocked … [Read more...] about UK training sector crash
