Tales from the transformation script #2

Tales from the transformation script #2

Big change lesson – Wayward targets and metrics Many a transformational target is informed by hope, not science.  Executives pluck numbers out of the air or backwards engineer ‘gap closure’ targets uninformed by reality.  Assumptions are made, left...
Tales from the transformation script #1

Tales from the transformation script #1

Big change lesson – Poorly chosen or ill-defined scope Setting the scope for change is a critical choice that leaders exercise early in any project.  It invariably involves competing considerations of investments, returns, time and risk.  In other...
Big change gone wrong

Big change gone wrong

Tales from the transformation crypt It is commonly reported that the vast majority of organisational change efforts either fail outright or materially fall short of their objectives.  While this has long been evident in the context of business mergers, systems...
Untangling the corporate (dys)function

Untangling the corporate (dys)function

Corporate functions often mimic Asian telco networks – it seems easier to add another circuit than problem-solve what you’ve got  Untangling the corporate (dys)function  “It’s useful to go out of this world and see it from the perspective of...
Who is your Coral?

Who is your Coral?

Without intending it, by appealing to rules and incentives, we are engaging in a war on wisdom Barry Schwartz, TED February 2009 Coral was the manager of a retail branch of a steel distribution business, one of over one hundred such businesses in our...