So this may well be the time to take stock and conduct that life audit...factors we were sure of are now becoming uncertain, be it our jobs, our pensions, our houses, our relationships...although I am certainly no expert on the latter three. It is perhaps a great time as the festive break is almost upon us to take time out to do a life audit. Some psychologists say we should do it every seven years as we go through major change in our life cycles-perhaps the seven year itch, others say upheavals in our lives create 'adultscenence.'
This is the best explanation I've found: http://ezinearticles.com/?Mapping-Midlife---Adultescence?&id=197686
It is acknowledged that the older we get, the less certain we are of everything... the days are over when you had one life, one career, one chance .....
But we can all turn upheaval, turmoil and even crisis into positive transition.
Reinvent yourself never before have we had so much opportunity, whatever age, in these challenging times to do just this. I have seen individuals down on their luck in the past find their silver lining and prosper as never before ....
But first and foremost establish....
*What do I need to fix?
Do not expect that light bulb moment..for most of my career I have given myself a career audit every 3 months..but on a more basic level, from the business emails I get on a Sunday afterrnoon or evening. Most of us now prepare for the week at this point. So use this time to plan your goals for the week ahead...
For your life audit reflect on ....
*What are you not being, doing or having that you now want to be, do or have in life?
What's important to you about your work and career?
e.g. stay in Interim Management, perhaps return to a permanent role, explore consultancy?
*What's the first step?
...Going forward once a month set your three top goals for that month
...Each year, write down your your general aims and where you would like to be heading for the next 12 months.
*Finally...
Think about those facets of your personality that seem to have withered away, and of the activities that used to make you feel passionate. Imagine how you would feel if you could express those aspects again and has anything taken their place?
Next journal I'm back to mainstream advice but for the moment I'll go and lay down on the psychiatry couch or should that be my casting coach? Meanwhile enjoy the journey....
For more career advice, listen the Harvey Nash podcasts
]]>For those that receive the hard copy of our Business Review you will see that the thrust was all about how to make a profit from the downturn. Read the online version.
For Interim Managers you should be seeing the glass overflowing! As well as thiving in the good times we see opportunity increase in the bad times...but it is all about re-positioning yourself to take advantage. I am constantly asked what the market is like by every Interim Manager I speak to...my reply is that we are seeing more opportunity than this time last year, there is no downward pressure on day rates, assignments for us are not getting shorter, there is no one sector that is overriding others in opportunity. In terms of function, as one would expect there is slight increased demand for Finance, HR and perhaps IT Programme Managers/Directors involved in streamlining and outsourcing. These roles could see an increase in day rates as demand increases, otherwise it is business as usual.
There is however more 'window shopping' or 'show casing' where clients are exploring the prospect of utilising an Interim Manager but then feel obliged in this climate to appoint internally..what we call 'the Internal Solution'...what Interim Managers are referring to as 'wild goose chases.' This must be expected so you need to be juggling more potential opportunities. As far as Interim Managers themselves are concerned, the good will prosper and thrive but inevitably there are a few bad eggs within the IM community who perhaps in desperation start behaving unethically in their relationship with the provider community and also clients...a word of caution, it is a very small world and all the top providers talk to one another.
Looking beyond this opportunity of downturn, what are the prospects like going forward...well a new report from KPMG this week, accessing previously unpublished data from the United Nations Population Division, shows that the UK and other developed countries such as the USA, those in Western Europe and Australia face a slow-down in the supply of both skilled and unskilled labour in the next few years if there is not a significant increase in the immigration intake.
KPMG believe the labour crunch will arrive as Baby Boomers (born 1946-1961) exit the workforce, and are not replaced in sufficient numbers by Generation Ys (born 1976-1991) and Millenniums (born 1991-2006), leading to a 'demographic faultline' which will impact negatively on the supply of labour and talent. As a result, there will need to be a much greater flow of labour (in the form of migrants and interim/temporary workers) between countries, and companies will need to adjust their resourcing and mobility strategies accordingly.
Given these factors, companies need to increase the flexibility and required mobility of their workforce, and to ensure that executives have the skills and international experience. All good news. The CBI is predicting big increases in the use of interim managers and flexible workers. In a survey in 2007, in 500 firms who between them employ 1.1 million staff at any time, 3% of employees were of an interim/temporary nature. This peaked to 7% in utilities and 5% in manufacturing.
So I hear you say great, so what can I do to maximise my own opportunity in this increased IM market of opportunity?
The last Ipsos IMA Mori audit, based upon 28 members though slightly distorted by large one function, high volume-lower level providers indicates:
Whilst we are seeing assignments driven by growth and expansion, the opportunity will be in business process re-engineering (BPR), corporate restructuring, integration, consolidation, re-alignment, and streamlining.
One of our competitors and also the IMA Interim Manager 'induction day organisation' advise you should put a block of words at the bottom of your CV to be picked up in providers' database searches. Whilst we do not advise doing this, it is very important for you to seed your CV with the words that clients are likely to be seeking if you have the experience, thereby increasing the number of opportunities you are approached about - simple - but very few Interim Managers stand back and tweak their CV every few months in line with market needs.
Thanks for some inspiration from KPMG for this blog - The Global Skills Convergence - The Labour Crunch. The report finds that in contrast much of the developing world, including some Arab and Latino nations as well as India, continues to offer rising pools of talent. In China, however, the faultline will apply from the middle of the next decade, as the application of their one-child policy in the mid-1970s will impact labour markets precisely 40 years later. The report poses the question whether this could be the issue that knocks China off its current growth trajectory?
The report argues that in the 21st century labour and talent will increasingly be able to flow seamlessly across the globe. This concept of the free-flow of elements was first put forward by Thomas Friedman in his 2005 book The World is Flat. KPMG's report extends the concept from capital, technology and information to include labour and talent too.
Bernard Salt, a Partner with KPMG in Australia and primary author of the report, said, "Without a surge in the annual intake of working-age migrants there will be a slow-down, if not a contraction, in the pool from which the labour force is drawn at the end of this decade in the US and by the middle of the next decade in the UK and many other developed markets. This will have a number of implications for corporates. One of these will be that, over time, large multi-national corporations will increasingly expand their head offices out of the traditional western headquarters and into the new territories of the developing world. We are going to see a change in the landscape over the course of the next few decades."
]]>The last one that we published...
What makes Ego our greatest asset (or most expensive liability?)
In these challenging times your ego could be one of the tools you can use to help you power through or one that stops you.
In their book Egonomics - what makes ego our greatest asset (or most expensive liability) David Marcum and Steven Smith address the delicate and subjective nature of ego.
“Approximately 63% of business people say ego negatively impacts work performance on an hourly or daily basis while an additional approx. 31% say it happens weekly…”
Surprising as it may sound, many people do not have enough ego, and that leads to insecurity and apathy that paralyse cultures and leaders…”
“The crucial point is when ego is not balanced it doesn’t turn our strengths into polar opposites into close counterfeits. We might lose our lives when we lose control of ego but we can lose a lot: trust, respect, relationships, influence, talent, careers, clients, and market share and occasionally we might let ego weaken our talents despite our qualifications, expertise, charisma, track record or remarkable ability…”
Stephen R. Covey, author of the 7 Habits of Highly Effective People states “What a brilliant and vitally important book! So true and so pragmatically necessary”
Rosabeth Moss Kanter, PhD, Professor Harvard Business School: “How very interesting and unique approach to helping people learn to steer their behaviour more productively in the workplace. It is certain to be widely used…”
Read the full book review.
Read previous book reviews.
If you would like to receive them in the future, drop an email to:yagmur.hayta@impactexecutives.com
]]>A lot has changed since the last downturn, there are now very few organisations either in the private or public sector who have not seen the excellent value that Interim Managers can bring to the party in good, and of course, bad times. It is ironic, since recruitment is generally a very good barometer for the economy as a whole, that our parent company Harvey Nash plc is prospering globally across all recruitment streams, be it Executive Search, Contingent, Permanent and Contract and this very much includes our US operations. What organisations are recognising is the value of having the right calibre of manager/employee in place, there is movement/churn but this is a positive thing - in the City we have clear evidence that the Investment Banks might be exiting people out the front door, but there are interim managers and contractors being brought in through the back door. At Impact Executives we continue to trade above last year and as opposed to only certain sectors hiring, we are continuing to see widespread use of interim managers to good effect, across both the Private and Public Sectors. I find it particularly interesting that the Public Sector values interim managers so much that day rates, as evidenced by the IMA Mori research across approx 29 providers, shows parity in day rates with the Private Sector and in some cases, these are even higher in the Public Sector.
When I attended the TMA (Turnaround Management Association Conference) at the tail end of of last year, the specialist Turnaround Interim Managers were anticipating the prospect of significant turnaround work and whilst this will come particularly from the Private Equity community, all this work has not yet materialised... Over 6 months in, we are not seeing evidence of this...positive realignment and restructuring yes, but we are also seeing much positive growth still, despite Mervyn King’s gloom and doom, coupled with the negative media, we are talking ourselves into something that is not as bad as it appears to be - UK plc is not as broke as the media make out. In my office which happens to be our global HQ, last week I did a representative poll across all our businesses and every consultant is working flat out on assignments and whilst there are a few extra hoops to go through with clients, and maybe the extra interview in the process, we remain very positive across the global piste...
So for Interim Managers within this negativity of the nation, there are opportunities - in the CBI/KPMG report published 19 June 'as much as 72% of employers complain that they are unable to fill certain skilled job vacancies. So on average, one in six Interim roles are backfill and compared to a couple of years ago, organisations now rarely use interim managers to just manage the status quo.
The good news is that the number of interim assignments continue to rise, approximately a staggering 8% per quarter with roughly seven out of ten assignments being in the Private Sector.
In the Private Sector Banking and Finance continue to have the largest number of assignments, with manufacturing following close behind.
In the Public Sector local government remains the largest user, followed by Central Government and Health.
Three out of Ten Interim Executives were hired to carry out special projects, followed by HR and Finance roles.
Programme and Project Management continue to be the most popular reason for hiring an interim manager, with over 2 in 5 being used in this capacity, then followed by Backfill or Gap Management, followed by Business Improvement and Change/Transition Management.
For IMA members the average length of assignment is running at approximately 130 billable days.
You may then say ‘evidence this boom in the use of Interim Managers’ - well, I interview and speak to many very talented interim managers on a monthly basis and if last month is anything to go by, they are all very busy and receiving a lot of calls about prospective roles. Whilst there might be a little more show casing by clients...it is pretty bouyant out there - so I am convinced that interim managers will be Kings and Queens (25% of IM's being placed are consistently female) over the next few years!
The views expressed in this blog are personal to Clive Sexton and are not necessarily representative of either Impact Executives Ltd or Harvey Nash plc ...with reference and thanks to the CBI/KPMG Survey 19 June 2008 and the IMA Mori Survey Results from approx 29 members.
]]>To listen or subscribe to this podcast click here. For a full transcript of the podcast click here.
]]>I discuss with Interim Managers many times a day the skills, experience and competencies required at this stage on the economic curve, but I have cherry picked the advice of some of our leading business people from a recent article, some of which might be useful whilst you are on assignment in 2008:
Sir Martin Sorrell-Group CEO, WPP
From an ad man's perspective..
Be as flexible as possible in terms of your costs, particularly headcount (he suggests greater use of freelance/Interim and consultancy);
Focus on growth markets globally and also on new areas of technology.
Dawn Gibbons, Chairman, Flowcrete (floor manufacturing)
From a Manufacturer's perspective
Diversify products and geography, go East. Keep innovation and marketing spend up. Put your lean and inspirational team together to determine new markets and engender pride in your brand;
Keep close to your teams, socially as well as for planning, keep a check on headcount and redeploy to new markets if you can.
Jon Moulton, Managing Partner, Alchemy Partners
From a Private Equity perspective
You need sensible funding structures and restructuring skills, gird up for the unexpected bad news, and don't panic, react as constructively as possible, even if it is a case of calmly calling for the undertaker - you need robust managers who won't panic;
Learn the ramifications of corporate insolvency and doing business in a downturn.
Julie Meyer, CEO Ariadne Capital
From a Seed Investment perspective
It helps to have an agile model: a company built in a downturn is forced to be a Fiat Punto, not a Mercedes S-Class - it establishes early financial disciplines. You can learn a lot about scale and efficiency by being online. Business models are being reworked to work for every party in the food chain -the eco system model. Bring in someone who is not going to see the same sacred cows (Interims?);
If you were to set up your business today what would it look like? Can you move from here to there, or is it too far? Diversity of people is a tremendous asset. If you're all one culture, you have to ask: where's our blind spot?
Adam Balon, Co-founder, Innocent Drinks
From a Food and Drink perspective
Don't panic and don't build bullish plans for the immediate future, don't slice investments in the business that will serve it well (once things pick up again);
Don't be too quick to throw out a strategy for expansion or growth, although you may want to take a look and adapt it.
Alex Connock , CEO, Ten Alps
From a Media perspective
Diversify. There's always a (profitable) client that can come out of left field. Consider buying in a recession. Present a strong plan to instituitional fund managers. Ask yourself how we can re-tool for a new reality. Have repeatable brands that make money whilst you're asleep. That Napoleon quote about 'bring me lucky generals' is so true.
History just rolls on. All you have to do is survive. It doesn't matter how many times you fail, you only have to succeed once. It is an annoying aphorism, but it is true.
Richard Mason, Joint MD, Moneysupermarket.com
From an Online Price Comparison site perspective
Move your business online - high street darlings are falling out of favour; online sales are phenomenal, the internet is becoming a global market place for white goods and electrics. Every business needs to look at how it can maximise its online activity.
Nigel Rich, Chairman, Segro (Slough Estates Group)
From an Industrial Property perspective
Reassure employees. They will be reading the headlines and may be concerned. For directors this may not be the best time to take a huge risk. Retain a strong balance sheet and ensure you have available cash, both as a signal of strength and for post recession opportunities. Some sectors will have to batten down the hatches.
After a prolonged period of growth comes market change. Being prepared means not over-gearing the balance sheet; taking measures for the longer term; and in property, not embarking on developments without tenant commitment. It also helps to have cash in the right bank.
So, wishing you all a tremendous 2008 with challenging assignments. The one word that virtually all my clients are talking about is 're-alignments', making for some interesting times ahead. Make sure you keep us updated; the most effective way is to send CV updates to info@impactexecutives.com and new Interim Managers with previous Interim Management experience please register online - it is the most effective way of getting onto our radar quickly.
Inspiration and some quotes gratefully received from
the IOD Director Magazine
At Impact Executives we have found that there has been a recent re-awakening to the benefits of utilising Interim Management, particularly in the Netherlands (where it started), Germany, Switzerland, Sweden, Denmark and Finland. Further afield other hot spots for us have been parts of the Middle-East and Africa, and The Interim Managers in most cases are not natives of that particular country.
On the Permanent landscape a survey conducted by our parent company Harvey Nash in January revealed that over 40% of FTSE 100 CEO's hailed from outside the UK and there has been an increasing positive sentiment toward skilled migration at the senior executive level and within IT vertical sectors. Recruitment is becoming ever more globalised. Talent is international and more UK firms are casting the talent net wider to find the best people.
"If the best person for the role is foreign born or based outside the UK, looking beyond British shores can only serve to benefit companies." States Harvey Nash Group CEO, Albert Ellis, who himself is a foreign national.
The analysis revealed a large proportion of talent comes from North American, with 15% of CEO's from the U.S. A significant antipodean contribution was also witnessed, with 6% of CEO's hailing from South Africa and 4% from Australia. Closer to home, European chief executive figures for the FTSE100 stand at 11%, divided between France (3%), Ireland (3%), The Netherlands (3%), Spain (1%) and Sweden (1%).
Harvey Nash has over 30 offices across four continents and we are witnessing the same skilled migration trend first-hand with operations in several international markets. A perfect example of the value gained from a global talent pool are the Scandinavian countries that have embraced the move toward foreign recruitment in the last few years and enjoyed great economic growth as a result, global marketplaces are paving the way for a global workforce."
Despite becoming more cosmopolitan in global reach, the age and gender demographics of FTSE100 chief executives remain relatively unchanged and sway heavily toward a 45-55 year old male. 66% of chief executives fall into the 45-55 year old age bracket, with only 3% under the age of 40. A huge 98% of chief executives are male, with only two female FTSE100 CEOs.
So back in Davos as our esteemed Global business leaders and representatives of the new emergent world - notably the state-backed Asian and Middle Eastern sovereign wealth funds - who have helped recapitalise the Western banks, wind down and schmooze with the likes of Bono and other key international celebrities, at the annual party thrown by Internet 'darling' Google - we mere mortals can take heart that at long last, after many decades of promise, there are at last 'Careers without Frontiers'.
]]>Social networking is very much in fashion - three of the top ten sites on the internet fall into this category. It is sucking in hundreds of millions of users and it is a highly successful niche of this the professional networking sites have come a very long way from the fist site of its kind, the successful e-cademy site launched in the early dot com days. 'Linked In' has now passed the '1 Millionth Member' in the UK and has over 14 million members world-wide.
Managing your personal brand is critical and increasingly, if you are 'Googled' and information cannot be found about you, questions might be asked about your credibility.
Online Search Statistics:
The awareness-action disconnect: although 76% of senior executives expect to be Googled, 22% haven't done a baseline search on their own name. This is particularly odd given a related statistic: 11% of executives fear that their online identity could impact their viability as a job candidate. Worryingly, approximately 40% of information posted by users about themselves is allegedly false!
Proactively managing your online brand should be a critical action item, regardless of rank, technical expertise or search status. You would be a fool now to ignore the emerging power of these professional sites.
So one easy way of ensuring your online presence is to tap into the power of professional networks to enhance your brand and further your career. LinkedIn is the most prominent at present, but others like Xing or Viadeo continue to expand.
Looking into my crystal ball what does the future hold for networking sites? Allegedly we have Microsoft taking an interest in Facebook, can you imagine how powerful Facebook would be if it was integrated into a Vista SP update, Windows would become a default de facto networking platform, rendering all other networking sites redundant due to the user critical mass..wow!
The bottom line is do not get left behind. In addition to our register of competency based assessed, interviewed and referenced Interim Managers my colleagues and I increasingly use these sites to research, identify and make contact with prospective candidates for roles. Ensure you have clear and concise but informative data that enables you to be identified by us and then, that dream Interim Management role may just come your way!
Thank you to ExecuNet, Inc USA for the origination of some of the content /statistics quoted in this blog
]]>For me personally networking has been an activity that has paid real dividends and it is one of the few skills I have invested a significant amount of time in honing over the last 18 years.
So below are some thoughts about how to improve your networking skills. I'm sure they are not totally comprehensive, so if you have any tips and ideas about networking yourself I would be delighted to hear them.
And if getting your idea published on is not enough of an enticement how about a bottle of Champagne for the best one?
What is networking? Making lots of business acquaintances - for your personal or professional advantage.
Why network? Various surveys suggest that upwards of 50% of executives find their new jobs through networking.
In a recent Harvey Nash survey two-thirds of executives considered networking as a 'very important' method of job searching. More so than any other method of job hunting (e.g. responding to adverts, directly applying, working with head-hunters).
In short, if you don't network you are cutting out maybe half your job opportunities, or put it another way, you will have to try twice as hard!
How do I 'network'? Two ways of doing it.
1. go through your network of existing contacts and speak to each one asking for warm introductions to further colleagues. And then you do the same for those colleagues, and so on.
2. to use events, functions, conferences, seminars, leaving drinks, receptions, etc the list is endless!
Of course networking doesn't require a formal environment for it to occur in. One candidate I know actually found his new job sitting next to a fellow parent at a Nativity play! So keep an open mind as you push your Supermarket trolley round Waitrose in Marlow ” you never know who you may encounter at the fish counter" so to speak.
The single biggest obstacle to networking
There is only really one big obstacle to effective networking; fear of failure.
Those who effectively overcome this are streets ahead in the networking game, and potentially the career game. The way to overcome this obstacle is to get a good, firm grip of the rules!
My best tips for networking 'When speaking to people'
Making the approach
After the conversation
Finally, remember that 'Networking' is an art that can be mastered with practice. It takes time, it takes effort but it can be mastered.
]]>If Jack Welch (like for many of us, one of my business heroes) was not very much alive, you might forgive him for turning in his grave; but there are real rumblings from shareholders to break up General Electric, Ken Favaro asks the question does a move such as this make strategic sense?
The question that's really being asked here is whether GE's businesses are better off together or under alternative ownership. To address this question, Chairman and CEO Jeffrey Immelt needs to determine how GE adds value to the performance of its individual businesses. Is it from the corporate center's oversight, leadership, and direction? Is it from revenue or productivity enhancements from the other businesses across GE? To justify GE's unified state, the answer has to be yes to both of these questions.
But it's very difficult for a business unit (be it within GE or another larger company) to reap value from corporate headquarters as well as from its sister businesses. This is because the things companies do to achieve success in one of these relationships interferes with their ability to achieve the other. For example, many companies will centralize common activities (HR, logistics, legal) in order to gain scale economy; but this can often have the unintended side effect of constraining the business units' ability to perform such activities in the most competitive way for their particular markets, thus eroding their performance over time.
In the other direction, companies often tend to grant autonomy to their businesses when they want to sharpen their accountability, thus unwittingly encouraging the 'silo' behavior than can undermine the sharing and openness that is so necessary to achieving benefits from being part of a bigger whole.
This difficulty of adding value in both directions -- from the corporate HQ and across the businesses -- at the same time is why most companies (55%) are worth less than the sum of their parts.
Until Immelt cracks this challenge, his stock price will continue to lag and there will continue to be challenges to whether GE belongs together. I would not give up hope that GE can prove itself once again to investors that the company can add enough value to the performance of its businesses to justify keeping it together. However, I would guess that some businesses no longer belong in the GE portfolio and I would at least consider the alternative of creating two or three Ges rather than staying with the one GE.
Well time will tell what road Jeffrey Immelt takes, meanwhile Jack keep writing the books and performing on the lecture circuit-we love you, you built a great business!
Thank you to Ken for the inspiration behind this posting. Ken Favaro is cochairman of consultancy Marakon Associates, a Trinsum Group company, and the coauthor of the Harvard Business Review article "Managing and the Right Tension" as well as the book The Three Tensions: Winning the Struggle to Perform Without Compromise
]]>"Even though companies are taking the talent management (TM) more seriously than ever before, many do not have a clear strategy for recruiting, nurturing and - most crucially - retaining the best people.
After studying the TM practices of leading organisations, Ashridge Consulting has developed a framework of 13 dimensions of talent management, aimed at helping organisations better understand their current approaches and assess whether they need to change them to improve their competitive advantage in the future.
According to the report, there has been a dramatic shift away from a psychological contract that provided job security and a mutual employment relationship, towards one where individuals manage their own "employability" through development and career progression. This has "undoubtedly shifted the balance of power towards talented professionals".
It notes that research by Hewitt Associates found that 85% of the top 20 performing businesses in a group of 373 held their leaders accountable for developing top talent, compared to 46% of leaders from the other organisations.
The report challenges companies to consider their existing TM strategies by asking themselves three questions: 1) Do we know if our current TM practices are working well? 2) Can we afford to maintain the status quo? 3) Is there scope to improve TM and is the prize worth pursuing?
The 13 dimensions of talent management identified by Ashridge Consulting are: risk, transparency, culture, decision process, permanency of definition, size of talent pool, ease of entry, ownership of talent, connected conversations, development path, development focus, support and performance management.
Ina Smith, managing director of Ashridge Consulting, says: "Our research demonstrates that there is no 'one size fits all' approach to talent management and practices must be kept continually under review. There are choices to be made, trade-offs to be taken into account and many strategic conversations to be held in devising a talent management strategy that will be appropriate to the culture of the organisation and enable the achievement of business objectives in the future."
I thank World Business Management and Ashridge for the inspiration behind this posting.
Source: Ashridge Consulting ]]>Bain & Company's has released the Results of Bain & Company's Management Tools & Trends 2007 study which they conduct annually.
Over the past 14 years, we have completed 11 surveys, assembling a database that now includes 8,504 respondents from more than 70 countries in North America, Europe, Asia, Africa, the Middle East and Latin America.
This year, we received 1,221 completed surveys from a broad range of international executives. We also conducted personal follow-up interviews to further probe the circumstances under which tools are most likely to produce desired results.
Executives are recognizing the impact of soft issues - Executives are looking beyond cost cutting to be successful. Nine of ten executives agree 'Culture is a important as strategy for business success' and seven of ten feel 'Environmentally-friendly products and practices are an important part of our mission'. The concern with environmental issues is especially true among executives in China and other emerging market countries with 77% of them agreeing versus 59% of executives in established markets.
Companies are looking outside to grow - Companies are acknowledging the impact of globalization as five of ten feel 'Working with China and India will be vital to our success over the next 5 years' and four of ten agree 'Cross-border acquisitions will be critical to achieving our growth objectives in the next 5 years'.
While executives overall are bullish on the economy, those in China express the most concern - Companies looking to China and India for growth may be in for a challenge as more executives in China (45%) are planning for an economic slowdown than executives in any other region (27% North America, 18% other Asia-Pacific, 15% Europe, 10% Latin America).
Innovation remains a priority - While an issue with fewer firms than in 2004, companies continue to struggle with innovation. Eight of ten respondents believe that 'Innovation is more important than cost reduction for long-term success'. Yet, as we saw in 2004, the majority of executives confess that 'We could dramatically boost innovation by collaborating with outsiders, even competitors'.
IT continues to be seen as beneficial - Nine of ten executives believe that 'Information technology can create significant competitive advantages'. The majority of executives feel their company is investing wisely in IT as only 3 of 10 feel 'We rarely achieve expected paybacks from our IT investments'.
The top twelve management trend as described in the report are:
Agree |
Disagree |
|
Culture is as important as strategy for business success |
91% |
3% |
Information technology can create significant competitive advantages |
87% |
4% |
Innovation is more important than cost reduction for long-term success |
79% |
10% |
Consolidating and sharing back office operations improves both cost and quality |
73% |
9% |
Environmentally-friendly products and practices are an important part of our mission |
66% |
12% |
We could dramatically boost innovation by collaborating with outsiders, even competitors |
65% |
17% |
A growing percentage of our products and services behave like commodities |
59% |
23% |
Unclear decision making authority is hurting our performance |
53% |
31% |
Working with China and India will be vital to our success over the next 5 years |
53% |
23% |
Insufficient consumer insight is hurting our performance |
51% |
31% |
We wait too long before divesting businesses that hinder our performance |
50% |
23% |
Our core business is running out of steam, and needs new capabilities |
47% |
38% |
To qualify for inclusion, a tool had to be:
The ten most used management tools included:
I thank Bain & Company for giving me the inspiration for this posting.
]]>'People who laugh together, work well together'. This may seem obvious, but evidence shows that this vital behaviour is both beneficial and in short supply in today's high-pressure existence. Recently, across the world, companies have been noticing this and have started to invest in laughter training. They have been finding, for example, that it boosts sales. A Danish company, Four Systems, raised its sales by a massive 40%. After a recent programme we ran, a participant reported 100% results from his sales calls that day. Companies also find that it boosts communication and teamworking. It is hard to be in conflict with someone you laugh with. Laughter has big EQ connotations: to laugh means to drop your barriers, to let go of a bad mood, to shift anxiety, to change a perspective, to feel less stressed. As it is a right-brained function, the brain is able to tap into enhanced creativity and innovation.
We might think this is obvious, but many do not realise how little laughter actually goes on. Most people can probably remember times when having a good laugh can lift your spirits, shake off the blues and make you feel a whole lot better. It can also change the atmosphere in a room and with groups of people. So we probably instinctively know it is good for us. The harsh fact is though, as German psychologist Dr Michael Titze has found, in the 1950s people used to laugh on average 18 minutes a day, but today we laugh no more than 6 minutes a day despite the huge rise in the standard of living. Small children can laugh up to 300 to 400 times a day, but when we grow up to be adults this frequency comes down to less than 15 times a day, if at all. People, it seems are less happy and it shows in the decline in laughter. The reasons are not hard to find and most people's list would probably include old favourites like the high pressure nature of modern living, the decline of the family, increased divorce rates, more people living on their own, the emphasis on the pursuit of material goals, the availability through mass communication of instant bad news, crowded transport, insecure employment, high debt levels, and so on. Last year the BBC ran a series on the decline of happiness and you can still read about it at happiness formula.
Laughter training has been showing, along with a recent interest in Positive Psychology, that it is perfectly possible to change this situation. One factor is our perception. Laughter is usually seen as dependent on a 'sense of humour': we believe we must have a reason to laugh, that laughter is about laughing 'at' something or somebody else, that it only happens on certain occasions and that it depends on 'one's sense of humour' i.e. it is dependent on external stimuli or a belief you have about your personality.
The recent explosion of interest in Indian techniques of laughter training however, has put a different light on the issue. Dr Madan Kataria, a Indian physician, discovered that through the use of laughter exercises that tap into one's childlike playfulness, it was very easy to help a whole group of people to dissolve into peels of laughter that had lasting benefits. Madan showed, in his 'Laughter Yoga' (see www.laughteryoga.org) that one can laugh for no good reason, that laughter was something that can be spontaneously generated from within oneself. One just needed to discover it and this could be done through simple laughter exercises, done in groups because laughter is infectious. It was supported by breathing exercises - hence the Yoga bit. As a result of Kataria's work, laughter clubs have been springing up around the world - there are now over 5,000.
This
activity is supported by scientific research, which has noted that
laughter has immense physiological and psychological benefits. Even if
you pretend to laugh or act happy, your body produces 'happiness'
chemicals. Our bodies do not know the difference between thinking about
doing something and actually doing it. Whatever the source of laughter,
it leads to the same set of physiological changes in the body.
Laughter generates the release of positive chemicals, which:
· Enrich the blood with plentiful supplies of oxygen
· Boost the immune system and bring relaxation
· Counteract harmful stress chemicals
· Release endorphins, the body's pain-killer hormone, and give a sense of wellbeing
· Counteract depression, anxiety and psychosomatic problems
· Ensure good sleep
· Bring a happy glow to your face and make your eyes shine.
In the 1970s, Norman Cousins, author of The Anatomy of an Illness,
found that a large part of what cured him of a potentially fatal
illness was watching funny films. This sparked serious scientific
interest. Subsequently Dr William Fry of
This has been
mirrored by the psychological benefits that underpin the benefits that
business has been seeing. If you feel good in your body, you are likely
to start feeling good in yourself. As we saw at the start of this
article, the transforming power of laughter really shows itself in
people's ability to build their EQ, to shift their state, to feel less
stressed, to feel better in themselves and to feel more connected to
others. Hence laughter fosters our relationships and helps us bond. It
enhances our capacity to feel we can achieve more. Laughter enhances
our creative potential. We let go of our egos! Business people often
say that they want fun in the workplace. Now it is possible to create
that. Laughter training is fundamentally about us getting in touch with
our fun side, accessing part of our hidden potential. Hence it is truly
transformative.
Thank you to John Gloster-Smith for the inspiration behind this posting:
You can learn more about the work of John Gloster-Smith and his wife Akasha Lonsdale at www.thelaughterschool.com.
]]>"One of the most difficult transitions that new leaders have to make is to devote more time to developing wide-ranging internal and external networks to provide critical feedback, resources, insight and information.
The study observed a number of leaders going through this transition and discovered that many of them preferred to focus on the task of getting their new job done, without realising that the information and resources gained through three key networks (operational, personal and strategic) had become a fundamental part of their new role.
In fact, failing to do so could result in serious mistakes being made. For example, one accounting manager made a crucial decision based only on a 'hint' from the company founder that his firm might go public. He decided to reorganise the accounts department to make it better able to withstand outside scrutiny. His failure to tap into a wider operational network meant that he did not realise that there was significant opposition to the move until the board made the decision not to go public.
It's important to build large networks. An over-reliance on the most obvious operational networks including key outsiders such as suppliers and distributors runs the danger that the manager will focus on getting the task done rather than asking the question, what should we be doing?
By building personal networks of kindred spirits from all walks of life (e.g. professional associations, alumni networks, personal interest communities), business managers gain important new perspectives that help them advance in their career. Such networks can provide a safe environment for people to develop their personal skills and make interesting and sometimes useful connections.
Effective leaders have to learn the art of strategic networking in which they leverage their connections to support wider business goals. In fact, the study shows that what differentiates a leader from a manager is 'the ability to figure out where to go and to enlist the people and groups necessary to get there'. The art of strategic networking is to 'marshal' the information, support and resources of one network to achieve results in another.
New leaders take some persuading that this kind of networking is worth so much of their time. But they are more likely to be convinced if they see a role model operating in this way. Once they are convinced, however, they will need to build in a great deal of time to carry out the work well.
Some inexperienced networkers think that all they need to do is get the people lined up, and ring them up when they need something. In fact, it only works if they respond to their networks generously and also help to link people up, whether it is of immediate use or not."
Thank you to World Business for the inspiration behind this posting
Source: How leaders create and use networks
By Herminia Ibarra and Mark Hunter
Harvard Business Review, January 2007
Review by Morice Mendoza
The top six are:
1
2
3
4
5
6
Rank Country Score* The World Business/INSEAD Global Innovation Index 2007 in association with BT.
When
all economies are interdependent and interconnected, the "waves of
creative destruction" described by economist Joseph Schumpeter show no
respect for national boundaries, rolling with impunity over the whole
planet. And technological change is accelerating -
Simply doing the same as before - only more intensively - is a losing strategy; there is nowhere left to hide. Instead of trying to wring diminishing returns from today's array of goods, services and processes, prosperity urgently demands that companies quickly shift to creating fresh value from new ones.
A recent report from the
The emerging economies are racing towards the same goal. Since the late 1990s,
Innovation is about much more than generating new ideas. Translating these ideas into value- adding products and services requires flexibility of attitude and willingness to adapt to, and welcome, unprecedented levels of change on the part of individuals, organisations and society as a whole. So who is doing it best? What are the conditions for doing so? Can we pin down the catch-all notion of innovation in ways that can be quantified and normalised to generate meaningful comparisons?
The results are revealing - and in some cases surprising. For example, while the presence of the
Nevertheless, for those wanting to know where the future lies, the direction is clear: look east. While Japan comes in at a highly creditable fourth overall - a rebirth of the Asian powerhouse after the doldrums of the 1990s - followed by Singapore (7th), Hong Kong (10th) and South Korea (19th), perhaps even more significant is the appearance of India and China at 23rd and 29th respectively. With the burgeoning and
technology-hungry middle classes of these two countries adding to existing strengths,
Another sign of the shifting tectonic plates of the world economy is the appearance of the
On the other hand, another group of countries, with the Nordics to the fore, currently do relatively better on inputs than outputs, suggesting that they have the potential to move up the overall table as the results of their investments feed through.
Another example is
Thank you to 'World Business' for the inspiration behind this posting: The World's Top Innovators
Source: Soumitra Dutta, INSEAD, and Simon Caulkin, World Business
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