Category: analytics

Flat Army

by gingergrant, posted in analytics, art of leadership, competitive intelligence, corporate anthropology, storytelling, trends

At our last meeting of the Council on Customer Experience at the Conference Board of Canada, I got to add to my book collection – always a happy experience! Dan Ponterfract is the Head of Learning and Collaboration at Telus and has driven a philosophical and cultural shift in the way TELUS views and experiences learning. His book, Flat Army, documents how he drove change in TELUS corporate culture. He maintains that there is no easy way to undo what years and even decades of bad management practice have done to leaders. His emphasis? Command and control is rampant, evil and unnecessary. I love anyone who is willing to kill the elephant in our boardrooms! As you can tell, Dan doesn’t pull any punches in his book. To me it is a great story of the power of employee engagement  – what it takes and how long it takes to drive cultural change. Drucker was right when he made the comment that culture eats strategy for lunch. To work in this environment of change management means you need the qualitative skill to understand quantitative results. To permanently engage your employees, you need insight, not just data. And without your employees, your most recent strategic plan will remain in a binder on a shelf collecting dust. Doomed to failure with no means of execution.

If you need a quick qualitative skill update, check out my QRCA webinar on aspects of changing corporate cultures on April 24th.  Registration is free if you are working in this area. And who wouldn’t want to? Just my opinion, yes, but to me the only way to maintain competitive advantage in an increasingly complex world.

Flat Army: Creating a Connected and Engaged Organization

Strategy Execution

by gingergrant, posted in analytics, competitive intelligence, market research, trends

I’m starting to plan my return to Copenhagen Business School for the summer and came upon little gem. It was written by CBS Professors  Sven Junghaven and Fleming Poulfelt, Per V. Jenster from the China Europe International Business School in Shanghai and Michael Jessen Holm, a marketing professional.  Strategy Execution provides a unique and focused perspective on how strategy is conceptualized, and more importantly, implemented.  I have seen many strategic plans on the bookshelves of senior executives – few are executed. Why? Some interesting answers are provided by the authors.  Their focus is on small and medium size enterprise – a little examined segment of the market.  Although centred in Denmark, this book would be useful for any SME organization or consultants who specialize in the area.  Getting a different perspective from the standard North American festish with short-term profitability may give a competitive advantage in your strategic planning cycle.  A worthwhile read.

Strategy Execution: Passion & Profit

Change the Culture, Change the Game

by gingergrant, posted in analytics, archetypal psychology, art of leadership, corporate anthropology, Creativity, market research, storytelling, trends

More often than not, corporate culture is appearing on the agenda of organizations. How to capture it, revise it, use it, expand it, change it.  Corporate culture of the past emphasized convenience for the organization – treating people as widgets in a factory.  Harsh words, perhaps. But the truth of the matter is that most organizations treat creative capital badly. But now that the economy is a concern, attention is being paid to maximizing creative capital. And that means paying attention to your people. Not as lip service. Certainly not as a branding exercise – a sound bite promoting ‘our greatest assets are our people.’ There is no faster way to disengage employees than to make marketing claims that have no basis in reality! The problem with corporate culture is that in order to shift it – it is also likely that your business model will also need an overhaul.

Being at the Copenhagen Business School over the summer was a transformational experience for me. The Danes are serious about corporate culture and I will be designing a course in corporate anthropology for next year. I am back in the classroom at Sheridan starting next week and also gearing up for a tedx talk on corporate culture mid-September. Corporate culture is definitely on the top of my “shift list”. I sometimes define creativity as an act of liberation from habit that brings something new into being.  We all are well aware that the old models don’t work – they just don’t provide competitive advantage in tough economic times.  So we agree that the shift is necessary – but how? That is always the question.

I’m a big believer in ROWE – results-oriented work environments. Digging through my library for potential sources of inspiration led me to “Change the Culture, Change the Game.” The authors have devised a model of accountability that can be used as a starting point for implementing organizational change.  Changing an organization’s culture is both a top-down and a bottom-up process. It involves all the leaders in your organization and should never be left up only to a Human Resources Department. Certainly not in a weekend retreat. How long did it take you to build the culture that no longer works? Its an ‘all hands on deck’ type of effort. Whether you are looking at a slight shift or a corporate overhaul, a need for improved performance or a change in business model – there is some solid information here for use.  Too busy to pay attention to corporate culture?  Well … survival is optional.

Change the Culture, Change the Game: The Breakthrough Strategy for Energizing Your Organization and Creating Accountability for Results

Keeping Up With The Quants

by gingergrant, posted in analytics, competitive intelligence, corporate anthropology, Creativity, market research, storytelling, trends

I’m sitting in my little apartment here in Copenhagen, Denmark getting prepared for next week’s classes in advanced market research and competitive intelligence.  Teaching at the Copenhagen Business School as a Visiting Professor is a wonderfully enriching experience – meeting faculty and students from around the world.  Lots of  fresh ideas, interesting discussions and lots of danish pastry and coffee at the faculty table. Hanging out in Copenhagen isn’t all that bad either!

Of course, I also had to visit the university bookstore.  Bookstores are one of my favourite places to hang out and the bookstore at CBS didn’t disappoint.  A new book by Thomas Davenport was filling the shelves – and since it directly ties in with the courses I am teaching, I had to grab it.  “Keeping Up with the Quants” is a great followup to his first book – “Competing on Analytics.”  Davenport and Jinho Kim have done a great job building a beginner’s guide to understanding and using analytics.  From formulating a hypothesis, digging for data, interpreting the data into actionable insights and then communicating your results – the authors provide a roadmap that is both comprehensive and easy to follow.

Critical thinking and analytical skills are now a must in any business that wants to remain competitive.  I gladly added this book to my recommended reading for the students and passed it along as well to other faculty.  Adding to my book collection is always a joy – even if it means I need to buy another suitcase for the journey home.

Keeping Up with the Quants: Your Guide to Understanding and Using Analytics