Archives
Consulting 2.0
What would our sector look like if we gave our value proposition a little twist? What would the results be like? The difference a subscription makes over a contract … “When you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change”
What about Chris Argyris?
A few weeks ago at work Danny pointed out that after more than two years of posting articles on this blog I have never mentioned Chris Argyris. Well … what can I say? Shame on me!
Smart Consultants? (Part 2)
Another research on the critical factors that determine our performance. Although not as scientifically significant as the research of professor Gardner that I mentioned last week; Organizational Change Practitioner Jim Markowsky decided to ask his colleagues how they would define success.
Smart Consultants?
In a recent working paper of Harvard Business School, Heidi Gardner suggests that staffing your project with high level performers is necessary but not sufficient to get the job done.
Pareto would have been a good project manager
If things seem under control, you’re just not going fast enough. – Mario Andretti Vilfredo Pareto is the father of the Pareto Principle, also known as the 80/20 rule. Pareto noticed that 80% of Italy’s wealth was owned by 20% of the population. He then carried out surveys on a variety of other countries and […]
Do I need to paint a picture? SAP and Learning!
When it comes to implementing SAP, there is a large gap between what users need and what consultants think they need.
Music and Management Consulting
A leader is best when people barely know he exists, when his work is done, his aim fulfilled, they will say: we did it ourselves. Lao Tzu It pays to observe excellent artists at work in order to rediscover what excellence in business could be like. Excellence, as it turns out, is all about setting […]
The Nespresso Strategy
Whenever you kick-off a large scale organizational change initiative you are going to need people to sponsor it, to lead it and to execute it. In plain English: you will need to staff a project team with skilled people and you will be asking of them a more than average commitment and a considerable effort. […]
Sometimes it’s Not Resistance
This is the title of a paragraph in Peter Block’s book ‘Flawless Consulting’. He warns against the paranoid habit of some consultants interpreting every line manager’s objections as resistance. Resistance is often a label used by consultants who want to be right – in spite of the customer relationship. Here’s a quote of that paragraph: […]
Execution: Organizational Change Management in Practice
In order to be successful, organizational change efforts are not exercises in democracy but rather military deployments. This article builds further on that military metaphor to clarify my point.
