In a constantly evolving world, arguably the only kind of tradition that matters is the tradition of flexibility. Monopolies, specialist expertise and economies of scale aside, sources of net value may be fleeting. But flexibility is there for the long haul. So why not make your business strategy and entity goals about not just buildingContinue Reading Investment Gains from Leveraging Business Flexibility
How fast should your organisation modernise? Four ways to view this are (1) through the eyes of your key customers – ideally modernise faster than their changing needs (2) relative to your competitors (3) relative to peers in your sector who aren’t your competitors and (4) fast enough to stay compliant with the regulator ofContinue Reading Business Modernisation Rate
‘What if’, scenario planning can foster useful discussion on the kind of future can you expect. Such planning helps a organisation decide whether it should take actions now, in anticipation of various potential futures. Those actions might involve considering; innovation, efficiency and resource focus for greater impact. Unfortunately, in the not for profit sector, manyContinue Reading Scenario Planning, BCP, Risk Registers and Real Options Portfolios
The media frequently report on extreme weather events battering coastlines and causing flooding, whether storms in the UK, hurricanes in the Caribbean, typhoons in South East Asia or cyclones in the South Pacific. Such events cause huge problems for emergency services teams, insurance companies, government environmental agencies, tourism operators, utility companies, boat-run businesses andContinue Reading Business Flexibility, Resilience and Extreme Weather Threats
Workforce resilience arguably includes three aspects; protection, durability and healing. This article examines the middle one, durability (wear and tear) in more detail. Emergency services teams and the military are great HR examples of team resiliency under a range of unexpected, or unplanned operating conditions. The team is tested, sometimes to breaking point. They relyContinue Reading Workplace Resiliency – Durability
Workforce resilience arguably includes three aspects; protection, durability and healing. This article examines the final one, healing in more detail. Health workers are experts in helping people heal after illness or accident. They may even have multiple healing options at their disposal. They adapt the treatments as needed. In the A&E/ER environment, medics handle multipleContinue Reading Workplace Resilience – Healing Rates
McKinsey & Co, World renown strategic consultants, in their article ‘Resilience for sustainable, inclusive growth’, publishing online in June 2022 state that ‘resilience should be seen as the ability to deal with adversity, withstand shocks and continuously adapt and accelerate as disruptions and crises arise over time.’ Meanwhile, sleicest-consulting.org.uk has developed a slightly different definition:Continue Reading Resilience defined
Firstly, private sector organisations could usefully reframe their missions from maximizing returns to equity holders, to instead be the reform of something – housing reform, education reform, health reform, transportation reform, transaction reform, distribution reform, FMCG reform, risk reform, entertainment reform etc. A few examples are as follows: The mission for a construction company, buildingContinue Reading Plan and Options Flexibility
‘There is no sickness worse for me than words that to be kind must lie.’ Aeschylus ‘People never lie so much as after a hunt, during a war or before an election.’ Otto von Bismarck ‘People can choose between the sweet lie or the bitter truth. I say the bitter truth, but many people don’tContinue Reading Fake News and Personal Flexibility
‘A good director makes a playground and allows you to play.’ Martin Landau ‘People think that the director’s direct actors. No. Really, what the director’s doing is directing the audience’s eye through the film.’ Julianne Moore ‘Directing is very close to choreography; you deal with space, time, emotions, lighting, making beautiful images.’ Benjamin Millepied ‘IContinue Reading Design, Control, Film Directing and Personal Flexibility