Did you hear that? I am sure you are aware of the philosophical problem about a tree falling in a forest; if there is no one there to hear it, does it make a sound? Which amounts to the issue of if we don’t experience something then how do we know if it has happened. …
Tag archives: strategy
Strategic change journey
Internal strategic change for fast growth I have written in the past about the need for change in an organisation being driven by strategic change outside. A recent article in the Harvard Business Review on Transient Advantage by Rita Gunther McGrath (one of my favourite management authors) shows that there are internal drivers for change …
Mid-Level Managers: the new superhero
Mid Level Managers as Superhero In a recent blog post on the Harvard Business Review web site Behnam Tabrizi reported on some research he had undertaken on why change and innovation (a pre-curser to change) didn’t work. The article is focused on Leadership but I found some powerful snippets about doing change.
Change is THE strategic capability
Making change a strategic capability I have been working on a capability model for change recently and then preparing to teach a course on strategy as part of a management qualification. Putting the two together brings me to a conclusion that the one thing an organisation has to be able to do to survive is …
Using a capability model for organisation change
Change Capability Model We have developed a simple capability model for organisation change. The purpose is to better understand the nature of organisation change and how people go about it. The model allows us to explain what sort of training is useful given the organisation’s capability maturity (i.e. the level they are at). It also …
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Its the activities that count
Strategic Change The key to a successful strategic change is to change the things that matter to an organisation’s survival; and leave the things that don’t matter to operations. In his seminal paper ‘What is strategy?‘ Michael Porter argues that effective operations is necessary for survival, but not sufficient. Strategy is always needed. So I …
WRAP up your change
Have you discovered the Heath Brothers? I hadn’t until I read an article in the McKinsey Quarterly Journal for April this year called ‘Making Great Decisions‘. The brothers have written 3 books and their latest is on decision making. This is a particular interest of mine as it relates to inherent team performance. The Heath …
Rate of change increases
If the rate of change on the outside exceeds the rate of change on the inside; the end is in sight. Jack Welch In a recent comment column in the Economist, Schumpeter notes that in 1980 (just 30 years ago) a company in the top fifth of its industry had a 10% chance of falling …