A Guide to business integrations

This is a Guide to business integrations. Every business integration is different, whether that is bringing together the Harbours and the Airport into a single company: Ports of Jersey, or if the integrations are part of an acquisition programme building presence and capability in Luxembourg, Canada, Jersey and Guernsey.

This therefore is a rough guide of things to consider rather than an exact plan or a precise order, which will inevitably be different according to circumstances. It is however based on real-life experience and successes in public sector, technology, retail and medical businesses.

If you are interested in projects, change or business integrations please contact me Tim@AdaptConsultingCompany.com or phone +44(0)7797762051

Step 1 - Assemble the Project Team

This is itself is the subject of another step-by-step guide and I won't elaborate here expect to say that it is important to have a team with the competence, capacity, drive and desire to deliver the project. It is also important to have in mind the process of integrating with, and have-over to, business-as-usual team(s) so that there is a clear delineation between the project which should come to an end having achieved its goals, and business-as-usual of running the now expanded business.

Step 2 - Understand the Strategy

Any business integration is part of a strategy and this need to be understood. If the aim is to expand the number of people, products, customers then the integration process may be very different from an aim which is to standardise, centralise, economise. With the former each acquisition may seek to increase the range of products and services [Company A 10 products + Company B 10 products = Company AB 20 products] whereas the latter the intention will be to rationalise and reduce [Company A 10 products + Company B 10 products = Company AB 10 products]

Moreover the business integration may be a long-term "hold" in which case there will probably be significant investment in people, process and technology and a drive for closer integration possibly under a common brand. Or the integration may be a short-term "positon" in which case the businesses are loosely joined possibly with separate products and practices for their "local" sector or market.

The level of integration and the length of ownership are important considerations for investors some of whom may be looking for a steady yield over a long period. Or they may look to flip very quickly to gain the upside of a bigger business (more customers and revenue) without the cost of integration and rationalisation (and associated investment and change).

Some businesses will join but still have 2 accounting systems, 2 sales and marketing teams, 2 compliance teams whereas others would invest to integrate and in the long term rationalise. The most extreme case I have come across is one firm that have 140 different accounting systems, such was the speed of their acquisitions and slowness of their integration.

Step 3 - Review the Products and Services

The above elements set the scene for the Review the Products and Services. Do the business continue all Products and Services or seek to standardise and streamline? A common approach is to consolidate the most profitable and depreciate the least profitable, giving due notice to customers and offering an upgrade or migration path which may also include a review of contracts, terms and conditions, service changes etc. This then later feeds into the Service and Support and Migrate the Customers workstreams discussed later.

Step 4 - Review the Support, Partners and Suppliers

Whether to have 2 accounting systems, 2 sales and marketing teams, 2 compliance teams will depend on a number of factors. It may be that the tax, language and regulations are sufficiently different to merit this. Or it may make common sense to bring everything together under one team and one system.

The same may apply to Partners and Suppliers. If you have an intangible product/service you may be able to service everyone globally from one place or with one supplier, but if there are tangible elements, or the need for face to face, or physical interaction (eg engineer or mechanic) then the choices will be different. For many businesses there is a combination of both strategies at play: centralise some elements and decentralise others.

Step 5 - Review the Organisation Structure

The above elements set the circumstances to Review the Organisation Structure. The roles and responsibilities may change according to what is to centralise or decentralise and what is to expand (more people, products, services) and what is to contract (rationalise services). This may be a once only change as two businesses become one, or more complex if part of an acquisition strategy of many integrations. There may be many functions to consider, some of which may be departments, teams, individuals or external-partnerships. All businesses are different but these themes will apply in some measure to most.

• Finance And Accounts
• Sales And Marketing
• Compliance And Legal
• Service And Support
• Training And Development
• Company Secretarial And Admin
• Human Resources
• Information Governance
• Information Security
• Properties and Facilities
• Culture and Communications

Each of the above departments, teams or individuals will have a plan for business-as-usual, keeping existing customers happy and maintaining current Products and Services, whilst also preparing for the future changes. Managing and coordinating the resources between "run the business" and "change the business" is critical.

For the bringing together the Harbours and the Airport into a single company: Ports of Jersey we had the additional legislative and political aspects to consider. It was necessary to write laws to set-up the Port Authority on a legal basis, transfer the assets and vest the responsibilities and all this was subject to political oversight and also political scrutiny, with necessary liaison with UK for Privy Council and Queens Assent. Furthermore it was necessary to reach accord on the balance of responsibilities to the Treasury (expecting a shareholder return) and to Government (expecting public service)

Step 6 - Review the Company Structure

This Review the Organisation Structure may have an impact on company structure, tax status, jurisdiction etc., for example whether there is one business or a conglomerate. Whether there is a holding top-co and where the assets of the entities are held and the income booked and the contracts held. This does require careful thought because internal and inter-company movement of assets, income and resources will have a material affect on the balance sheet and profit and loss of the company(ies) their approach to investment and the rules applying to staff (employment laws are different in some countries) and services (regulations are different in some countries).

Step 7 - Prepare the Service Teams

At the onset we talked about the project which should come to an end having achieved its goals, and transfer to the business-as-usual team who will run the now expanded business. All the thinking above now needs to be translated into preparation so that the new people, policies, processes, products are prepared and ahead of any client migration.

This may be a significant amount of work if it requires the transfer or consolidation of data into new systems or adapt and adoption of new ways of working. This is a project within itself.

Step 8 - Communications

Communications should be happening all the time. I have placed it at Step 9 not because it is the 9th thing to do, but to highlight all the things that need to be considered as part of a communications plan that starts before Step 1. The communications plan should start before integration, perhaps as a statement of strategy or intention. What gets said to whom, when, how and why is a project within itself. There may be issues of commercial confidentiality, insider-trading, staff and union participation. There is much to consider and many to include from shareholders to stakeholders, suppliers to staff.

Step 9 - Culture and Process Change

Culture and Process Change should be happening incrementally all the time, in parallel with planned communications to ensure what you say and what you do remain in step and people are engaged as well as informed. This "theme" may include a number of elements including human resources, training and development, process change and coaching.

Whereas the steps above will provide a map, a map is not a journey. Success is dependant upon execution and successful delivery will be dependant upon the competence, capacity, drive and desire of everyone, and possibly a reliance upon a change team to compliment the project team in helping the people aspects of change.

There may also be the need to consider "local" issues and customs where global approach does not exactly fit and an element of translation, interpretation or customisation is needed.

A Review the Products and Services (discussed above) is ostensibly about picking the winners and losers, those that will carry forward and those for which there will be a managed end-of-life. However at a more granular level there may be a need to review how these are delivered faster, cheaper, better possibly taking account of new capabilities emerging from the integration.

Step 10 - Review and Migrate the Customers, Products and Services

As noted in Communications, there is a need to talk to customers all the time, before, during and after the changes that effect them. The steps above will shape the conversation. In some cases there may be a emphasis to remove unprofitable or high maintenance clients and target resources towards more profitable homogenous clients.

Often small businesses offer a la carte bespoke services when they get started which are difficult and costly to maintain when the scale-up resulting in a switch to drop parochial services in favour of consolidated global services and reduce the variety and complexity of Products and Services to a few staple products.

If your strategy is to target different customers with different Products and Services you may have a challenging tasks of managing the transition, particularly if there are existing contracts and committments which will take a time to unwind, review and renew.

The review element should be a part of the hand-over to business-as-usual and the regular relationship management annual reviews. This is critical part of kaisan: continuous improvement beyond the integration project.

Conclusion

This has been a look at integration rather than the pre-integration task of acquisition. It is not a definitive guide, but hopefully useful to indicate themes and share experience.

If you are interested in projects, change or business integrations or would like checklists, templates, tools or training in any of the above elements or perhaps just a coaching conversation about how to customise and apply these ideas in your organisation please contact me Tim@AdaptConsultingCompany.com or phone +44(0)7797762051

Tim HJ Rogers MBA
CONSULTANT PROJECTS PROGRAMMES AND CHANGE
Mob 447797762051
Tim@AdaptConsultingCompany.com

ABOUT TIM: Tim's background includes BUSINESSS responsible for the incorporation of the Post Office and Ports of Jersey and Operations Change and Sales Support Manager for NatWest and RBS International his COMMUNITY INTERESTS include Jersey Policy Forum, hosting TEDx events and he is a Former Chair of Pharmaceutical Benefits Committee and member Public Accounts Committee, and SPORT INTERESTS Triathlon (Commonwealth Games 2006) & Ironman (2006-2016) and Rowing (World Champs 2009, 2010, 2016)

A Guide to strategy, projects and change

Every organisation is different and there are lots of models, guides and articles about strategies. For example Porter suggested 4 strategies "Cost Leadership" (no frills), "Differentiation" (creating uniquely desirable products and services) and "Focus" (offering a specialized service in a niche market). He then subdivided the Focus strategy into two parts: "Cost Focus" and "Differentiation Focus."

There are also lots of models, guides and articles about projects and project management. The two main methodologies are agile (for example Scrum) and waterfall (for example PRINCE2). The main difference between agile and waterfall is that waterfall projects are completed sequentially whereas agile projects are completed iteratively in a cycle.

And finally there are (you've guessed it) lots of models, guides and articles about change, the most famous being the 'change curve' derived from the work of Kubler-Ross, which describes the journey that individuals typically experience when dealing with change and transition. This journey consists of a number of stages that people go through: shock and denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance.

This paper is about how these elements may be joined up into a programme. It is not therefore a deep exploration of each element (strategy, projects and change), but a rough guide of things to consider when bringing these elements together. This is not an exact plan or a precise order, which will inevitably be different according to circumstances. It is however based on real-life experience and successes in operatonalising strategy and delivering progress in public sector, technology, retail and medical businesses.

If you are interested in strategy, projects and change please contact me Tim@AdaptConsultingCompany.com or phone +44(0)7797762051

Step 1 - Translating the Strategy into Plans

Because this is an exploration of how the pieces fit together I will not talk about the process of strategy formulation but instead start from the point that a strategy exists and it is your job to see that it gets delivered. As a Consultant/Project manager this is often the case.

At this point it is important to understand [1] where are we now [2] where do we want to be [3] how to get there. The strategy will address these points in summary, but this now needs to be broken into sub-elements so that we can understand what needs to shift, change, progress, develop. For simplicity I will use the McKinsey 7S Model, but there are many other ways to do this.

It is important to create a "to do list" for each element

• Strategy: this is your organization's plan for building and maintaining a competitive advantage over its competitors.
• Structure: this how your company is organized (that is, how departments and teams are structured, including who reports to whom).
• Systems: the daily activities and procedures that staff use to get the job done.
• Shared values: these are the core values of the organization, as shown in its corporate culture and general work ethic. They were called "superordinate goals" when the model was first developed.
• Style: the style of leadership adopted.
• Staff: the employees and their general capabilities.
• Skills: the actual skills and competencies of the organization's employees.

From this you will have lengthy lists of major tasks, some of which are dependant upon each-other and need to performed in the correct order, whilst other elements can be done independently. Rather life following a recipe.

Step 2 - Translating Plans into a Programme of Projects

As stated above, this is not about projects and project management or how to do Agile or Waterfall. I will create a separate guide for each. This is about how strategy is linked to a programme of delivery and how that programme provides oversight and drive for the successful delivery of projects and in-so-doing the delivery of change and the goals of the strategy.

Too often I see organisations where it is really hard to link what is said (strategy - thinking) with what is done (projects - actions). Moreover it is often the case that organisations are unclear on focus and priority and over ambitious on delivery. This is typically the case where are more than 20 major projects and no consensus on their priority for scheduling, funding and resources.

I have often said you can do 100 things at 1% (and dissipate your efforts) or 1 thing ar 100% (and put all your eggs in one basket). In truth there is probably a sweet spot of 5 - 10 projects that can be properly delivered in one year depending on duration, funding and resources. Beyond that you increase complexity, confusion, challenges of communication, co-ordination and collaboration and overall increase risk.

Getting the Board, Executive or Senior Management Team to agree the definitions, deliverables and priorities of each project can be a major task. I have been in boardrooms where executives have completely differing views on the purpose, scope and outcome of a project and are unable to prioritise as a result. Left unaddressed this creates uncertainty with inevitable impact on the project delivery and the allocation of resources (time, money, effort).

From this you will have lengthy lists of projects, and some form of ranking and sequence. You'll also have an idea on Priority1 "must do projects" and Priority2 "would like to do projects" and Priority3 "coming soon projects".

What is critical at this stage is to ensure that recognition and reward systems, performance appraisals, departmental goals and personal development plans reconcile to these. I have seen projects (and organisations) fail because the people and processes are incentivised to incongruent goals. You cannot expect people to commit to Project X if their boss has made Task Y their key priority or indeed recognition and reward is aligned to Measure Z.

Step 3 - Assemble the Programme Office

In simple terms the Projects or Programme Management Office [PMO] will be the central hub for tools, templates, training, co-ordination and communication for all projects. There is no single correct truth of what is included in the scope of a PMO and the extent to which elements are centralised or decentralised. Some PMOs are very hands-on involved in strategy, resources, funding, budgets and discussions with managers, staff and delivery teams. Other PMOs are simply a central point to consolidate and distribute project progress reports.

One analogy I have used is Air Traffic Control ATC. ATC does not fly planes, but does ensure that they

1. Have a clear understanding of destination and route. - A project "idea" has a clear purpose, scope and benefits
2. Have a agreement on destination and desire. - A project has a business case, plan, budget etc.
3. Have a flight-plan and inventory of passengers, crew etc. - A project has an idea of roles, goals, controls, etc.
4. Have pre-flight checks and permission to take-off, avoiding other planes or obstacles. - A project which is ready (people, funding, schedule) is authorised to proceed avoiding crash into another or other critical activities like quarter-end reporting or major campaigns etc.
5. Have a safe flight with necessary updates on progress, weather or obstacles - A project submits progress reports on their journey and receives updates on possible issues, diversions etc.
6. Have a safe landing (at the right place, time, and avoiding issues) - A project reaches conclusion its arrival is scheduled and the resources to accept the outputs and outcomes are prepared.
7. Have process for disembarking and handling arrivals at the new destination - A project has a closure and hand-over to business as usual

This analogy has been useful in differentiating between what happens with in the project (the plane with its captain, crew, passengers, resources and destination) and the oversight and overall co-ordination that happens in the Air Traffic Control ATC tower. ATC does not tell the captain how to fly, nor does the captain take responsibility for what happens outside their aircraft. It is the same between PMO and Project Manager

To stretch this analogy a little further (and beyond the realities of what Air Traffic Control do at most airports), we might also imagine that ATC also runs a "flight school" to train pilots and understand their roles and responsibilities, with appropriate tools, templates, techniques etc.

At this point I will resist the temptation to go into the processes and artefacts of project managerment (perhaps another guide) and conclude by making the point that it is important to have the necessary eco-sphere of roles, goals, controls, checks and balances to ensure smooth operation of international air space, and delivery of projects alike.

Step 4 - Assemble the Talent Academy

This may or may not be an element in your approach, but I have long thought that the role of Project Leadership goes beyond delivering on-time, on-budget, to-specification with low-risk and high-communication and should additionally improve the competence, capacity, drive and desire of every participant.

Creating tools, templates and training via a Projects or Programme Management Office is useful, but at times it is akin to buying someone tools and then assuming that they are a plumber or electrician. As well as the process and artefacts there is a need to work with, support, engage and empower the people.

Without this essential step the strategy is a menu for people that do not want to eat. And a project plan is a recipe for people who do not want to cook.

The common refrain is "we need hearts and minds" with the emphasis on recruitment rather like that Lord Kitchener poster "Your Country Needs You" used to recruit people, ostensibly to the trenches for a heroic, tragic and fifthly death. This leads to the subjugation and demoralisation of people who are overworked and conflicted beween their day-job, the additional and ever changing demands of their bosses and the requests of the projects.

There are a divergence of views here which I should acknowledge, but mine is that it is often useful to differentiate between those that "run the business" and those that "change the business". I do believe that there are different skills and often different personalities in war or in peace, in projects or in business-as-usual, in change or in steady-as-we-go.

A Talent Academy goes beyond training and development of employees and seeks to find, support and develop people into their ideal roles. In this case, somewhat simplistically "run the business" (managers and supervisors) or "change the business" (innovators and change agents).

It is critical that these people co-operate, collaboration and communicate for projects outcomes and outputs to become part of every-day operation. In some organisations they rotate people so that they have experience of developing processes, products and services as well as real-life experience of using these. We must avoid installation without implementation: You have the "thing" but none of the benefits are realised. You may win the war (deliver the project), but you have no plan for peace (operationalise and capitalise).

There has been so much written about education, engagement and empowerment from training, through facilitation, mentoring, coaching that I will suggest that the reader spend some time looking at this vital aspect and what is necessary and useful for their people, projects, progress and performance.

Step 5 - Create The Change Team

The Change Team may be the cadre of "change the business" folks who under the stewardship of Project Managers and/or Scum Masters are the workforce for delivery. They may be the SAS who go in first, to be followed by the infantry and eventually the politicians.

In some business there may be a discrete mergers and acquisitions team, or a project delivery team. Whereas other organisations rely upon volunteers or the goodwill over overstretched employees to find some extra time on top of their daily cores.

The concepts of Programme Management Office (a person, team or function providing oversight and co-ordination) and Talent Academy (a person, team or function providing training, coaching, support) and a Change Team (a person, team or function supporting the delivery) may overlap somewhat, but I do believe consideration needs to be put to these elements. We say "people are our most important asset" yet this is often the least well maintained and cared-for asset, leading to overwork, breakdown and failure.

If you are going to rely upon business-as-usual team to deliver projects as an additional added element to their day-job then there will be a need to protect the people and their time. This can be achieved by dedicating a day or time for project work or a location at which they can be undisturbed by business-as-usual tasks.

The co-ordination and management of tasks and the development and support of people is the most critical element of strategy, projects and change. Creating the environment where success is inevitable (purpose, premises, processes, priority and participation) is key role of management and leadership.

Step 6 - Deliver the Programme, Operationalise the Strategy

With all these elements complete and properly integrated it should be possible to "switch-on" the machine and Deliver the Programme, Operationalise the Strategy. I use the machine metaphor not to undermine the importance of people it is, after all, the people who design, build and operate this machine. However I do feel that it is the processes that should work 24/7 and not the people.

The role of people is not to be a cog in the machine, constantly under pressure to perform, but to be the architect and operator to innovate and build new faster, cheaper, better processes leading to improvements for people, products, profits and the planet.

Conclusion

This has been a look at strategy, projects and change. It is not a definitive guide, nor a sequential check-list, but hopefully useful to indicate themes and share experience.

If you are interested in strategy, projects and change or would like checklists, templates, tools or training in any of the above elements or perhaps just a coaching conversation about how to customise and apply these ideas in your organisation please contact me Tim@AdaptConsultingCompany.com or phone +44(0)7797762051

Tim HJ Rogers MBA
CONSULTANT PROJECTS PROGRAMMES AND CHANGE
Mob 447797762051
Tim@AdaptConsultingCompany.com

ABOUT TIM: Tim's background includes BUSINESSS responsible for the incorporation of the Post Office and Ports of Jersey and Operations Change and Sales Support Manager for NatWest and RBS International his COMMUNITY INTERESTS include Jersey Policy Forum, hosting TEDx events and he is a Former Chair of Pharmaceutical Benefits Committee and member Public Accounts Committee, and SPORT INTERESTS Triathlon (Commonwealth Games 2006) & Ironman (2006-2016) and Rowing (World Champs 2009, 2010, 2016)

TEAMS, TRIBES, CULTURE AND ENEMIES

 

 

 

In a recent coaching session a client talked about teams, membership, motivation and managing the perception of people inside and outside the team.

It is interesting to think about who is your "Team". Is it your peer-group of equals? Is it the people for whom your are the leader, manager, boss? Is it the community, club, clique, company, or profession to which you belong or identify?  Is the team vertical (includes those above and below in the hierarchy). This may be a simple answer, or you may find you have several relationships with different teams with similar or dissimilar aims, objectives and expectations.

What unites a team (goal, values, location, education, profession culture) also divides or separate it from others. So whatever we do to unite against a foe, enemy, rival may create an unhealthy simplification, conflict and personalisation against the other team(s) even within the same organisation.

We need to be wary of the cult in culture and focus teams upon the process and object (which we can change) rather than the personality and belief (which present moral or ethical issues). This is often a challenge of the conscious (thinking data, facts) over the unconscious (mind, experience, bias) and demands critical conversations within ourselves as much as with others.   

An interesting question is: Are you changing "things" to suit the community or the community to suit "things"?

If you are interested in people, projects or change get in contact. We love what we do and will happily have a coffee and a Zoom call to talk about what might work for you or your organisation.



Tim HJ Rogers
MBA (Management Consultancy) & Change Practitioner
PRINCE2, Agile and Scrum
CONSULTANT MENTOR COACH
Mob 447797762051
Tim@AdaptConsultingCompany.com

ARE YOU RESPONDING OR REACTING TO COVID?

ARE YOU RESPONDING OR REACTING TO COVID?

At this time of covid and economic crisis it is useful to rethink our priorities, projects, processes and how we look after our people.

by Tim Rogers Adapt Consulting Company

I was amazed by one firm who said they have stopped all projects: those that save money; those that make money; those that meet regulation or underpin services. This type of paralysis can only create anxiety at a time of uncertainty which cannot be good for people, products or profits.

I accept that it should be a time of reappraisal, but that should be as much about the things you remain committed to, and your plans beyond covid as it is about the necessarily flexible and agile response to the ever-changing rules, direction and guidance.

It is perhaps useful to think about why projects (and the strategies they underpin) fail. This is not to say that businesses should stop projects because by definition a project should be delivering a benefit. The task should be to eliminate anything that undermine that benefit (which may be the lifeboat for your people, customers or business)

• Scope Creep
• Over allocated Resources
• Poor Communications
• Bad Stakeholder Management
• Unreliable Estimates
• No Risk Management
• Unsupported Project Culture
• The Accidental Project Manager
• Lack of Team Planning Sessions
• Monitoring and Controlling

My nearly 30 years of experience in projects and change has taught me to ask the following questions and where-ever the answer is NO I know that that is the missing ingredient that I have to deliver to help the people, process, and performance .

• I know what is expected of me at work
• I have the materials and equipment I need to do my job right
• I have the opportunity to do what I do best every-day
• In the last 7 days I have received recognition or praise for doing good work
• Someone at work encourages my development
• At work, my opinions count

As a consultant I often give advice, as a coach my role is to listen and support and be the sounding-board for people to create or innovate their own goals, paths and tasks. This however is always a little harder with teams because of the number of people and interests which need to align to be able to achieve the best outcomes. Peter Hawking suggests the key steps to team coaching (and performance) are

• Commission. Are we clear about what our stakeholders are requiring from us?
• Clarifying. A great team creates its own sense of collective endeavour- what are we here to achieve
• Co-creating. How do we work together in a way that is generative?
• Connecting. What we do when were not together as when we are together. How do I carry the sense of the whole team with me.
• Core learning. How does the whole team develop and learn, not just the individuals within it?

This requires a style which is different from project management or consultancy. Goleman notes the following leadership styles, and I think it is interesting to reflect on what new combinations work best in this time of covid and economic crisis with many people stressed-out, anxious, uncertain and in many cases either physically or emotionally remote.

• Visionary mobilize people toward a vision. Works best when a clear direction or change is needed. Most positive climate.
• Coaching develop people for the future. Works best when helping people and building long-term strength. Positive climate.
• Affiliative create emotional bonds and harmony. Works best to heal rifts in teams or motivate people in stressful times.Positive climate.
• Democratic build consensus through participation.Works best to create consensus or get input. Positive climate.
• Pacesetting expect excellence and self-direction.Works best to get quick results from a highly competent team. Negative climate.
• Commanding demand immediate compliance.Works best in crisis or with problematic people.Negative climate.

Remote working is an opportunity and an issue. The Allen Curve is an illustration of how, in an office setting, people who are stationed within 10 meters of one another have the highest probability of communication. Employees who sit more than 25 meters apart have a low probability of communication. This will inevitably effect relationship, engagement and commitment and demand new ways of working.

We perhaps need to re-think businesses as large employers and instead as composites of many smaller teams or tribes. Our brains can only handle this much information for a certain number of people, which seems to be about 150 (The Dunbar Number) Within a group of about 150 friends, there will be different levels of familiarity. We might have just a few very intimate friends, perhaps 15 people to whom we feel close, and 50 to whom we speak regularly.

In agile / scrum projects the ideal size for a development is between 3 and 9 people, not including the ScrumMaster and product owner. Any smaller and the team couldn't accomplish enough each sprint. Any larger and communication becomes complex and cumbersome, because of the complexity of Communications, Relationships and Channels. I think in terms of different tribes or teams whether that is Squad A, Squad B, or Client 1, and Client 2.

The number of potential communication channels is calculated with the following formula n x (n-1)/2 Team of 2 = 1 channel Team of 3 = 3 channels Team of 4 = 6 channels Team of 5 = 10 channels Team of 6 = 15 channels Team of 7 = 21 channels Team of 8 = 28 channels Team of 9 = 36 channels

My approach is to blend and flex between consulting and coaching to create the right environment and circumstances for reflecting, thinking, engagement and commitment. When coaching teams you are coaching individuals and the connections in between. You must understand the person, their aims and talents. How best to direct their energy. You must also understand the team goals and process: What makes the boat go faster You must understand the relationships between each individual and their relationship with the team, goals and objectives. How can these elements achieve (and enjoy) more together than they could ever do apart: progress and performance. In sport performance we often think of this as flow.

The key conditions for flow are...

• Knowing what to do
• Knowing how to do it
• Knowing how well you are doing
• Knowing where to go (if navigation is involved)
• High perceived challenges
• High perceived skills
• Freedom from distractions

What flow feels like...(which is surely what we want to create for our teams)

• I was challenged, but I believed my skills would allow me to meet the challenge.
• My attention was focused entirely on what I was doing.
• I really enjoyed the experience.
• It was no effort to keep my mind on what was happening.
• I felt I was competent enough to meet the high demands of the situation.
• I was not concerned with how I was presenting myself.
• The challenge and my skills were at an equally high level.
• I did things spontaneously and automatically without having to think.
• At times, it almost seemed like things were happening in slow motion.

The aim to the connect the people to the task,to their roles and to each-other. People > Process > Progress > Performance

In a time of uncertainty this offers some stability, reduces anxiety, and creates the foundations for future success.

Whatever your challenges there is always at least one step that you can do to move nearer your goal.

Perhaps your next step is getting in touch.

Tim HJ Rogers
CONSULTANT MENTOR COACH
Mob 447797762051
TimHJRogers@AdaptConsultingCompany.com

References

Top 10 Reasons Why Projects Fail
https://project-management.com/top-10-reasons-why-projects-fail/

Key factors in team success
https://adaptconsultingcompany.blogspot.com/2018/12/six-questions-which-predict-team.html

Peter Hawkins Five Cs Model for High Performing Teams
https://adaptcoaching.blogspot.com/2020/09/peter-hawkins-five-cs-model-for-high.html

What is Flow in Psychology? Definition and 10+ Activities to Induce Flow
https://positivepsychology.com/what-is-flow/

Goleman Leadership Styles
https://www.toolshero.com/leadership/goleman-leadership-styles/

The Allen Curve and Why it Matters to Team-Builders
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/allen-curve-why-matters-team-builders-brian-mcelhaney-edd/?articleId=6642563104561594369


Dunbar's Number - How Large Can A Team Be?
https://www.teambuilding.co.uk/theory/dunbars_number.html

Idea size of scrum team
https://www.scrumalliance.org/about-scrum/team

Are we too focused on leadership?

There are a lot of good lists out there about the differences between management and leadership

For example...

9 Differences Between Being A Leader And A Manager

1. Leaders create a vision, managers create goals.

2. Leaders are change agents, managers maintain the status quo.

3. Leaders are unique, managers copy.

4. Leaders take risks, managers control risk .

5. Leaders are in it for the long haul, managers think short-term.

6. Leaders grow personally, managers rely on existing, proven skills.

7. Leaders build relationships, managers build systems and processes.

8. Leaders coach, managers direct.

9. Leaders create fans, managers have employees.

More details here https://www-forbes-com.cdn.ampproject.org/c/s/www.forbes.com/sites/williamarruda/2016/11/15/9-differences-between-being-a-leader-and-a-manager/amp/

However I wonder if we are too focused on leadership? Among my family and friends we do not feel the need to elect a leader. We do not feel we need to follow someone but instead we collaborate, communicate and cooperate. Indeed this is how tribes work, and the concept of a village working together for the benefit of all.

Leadership and management is an interesting concept that we accept in work and in politics, but it does not really serve us as well as just getting along together. We often get disappointed and elect a new one. Or in some cases find ourselves subjugated by them and the power (wages, work, reputation, training, housing, food etc.) that they command.

Them and Us is about this division, whereas without it there is only Us. It is not that I disagree with leadership qualities, I just think we should all have them, and share them.

As a result of the book Humankind [by Rutger Bregman] I have discovered Jos de Blok and his model anchored on the self-management capacity.

Useful link about Jos de Blok https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BeOrNjwHw58

FAVI, led by its former Director Jean-François Zobrist, developed in the 80’s a customer focused organization where the structure fades to assure full listening of the autonomous and responsible teams. An unusual management that promotes a constant search for customer love, trust in human being and innovation.

Useful link about Jean-François Zobrist https://www.enliveningedge.org/organizations/favi-part-1-zobrist-broke-favis-command-control-structures/

You may also have heard of Valve. Imagine a company where everyone is equal and managers don't exist. A place where employees sit where they want, choose what to work on and decide each other's pay. Then, once a year, everyone goes on holiday together. You have just imagined Valve.

Useful link about Valve: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-24205497

It is well known that money does not motivate and indeed may de-motivate if it makes noble effort or charitable support cheap and grubby.

Useful link about Valve: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u6XAPnuFjJc

For my own part I started as a waterfall PRINCE2 project guy commanding people, process and technology. I am now much more in favour of Scrum Agile approach which is more bottom-up collaborative and favour an ask better questions approach [Humble Inquiry: The Gentle Art of Asking Instead of Telling by Edgar H. Schein].

I would be interested to hear from anyone who has worked in these types of organisation.

TimHJRogers

Helping people and organisations get things done

Adapt Consulting Company

Consult CoCreate Deliver

@AdaptCCompany +447797762051

How Has Lockdown Changed Your Leadership Style?

I read this...

Overall, there is probably still a high sensitivity for some leaders who are looking for evidence or reasons to distrust, rather than trusting in the new ways of working. I have always focused on the analytical aspects of management and leadership, for example, working towards hitting a number, and focusing on growth... but... it is not all about focusing on the end results and forced me to change my style

https://www.forbes.com/sites/alisoncoleman/2020/07/11/how-has-lockdown-changed-your-leadership-style/#11abb3eff10e

I have been reading this...

Humankind: A Hopeful History Humankind: A Hopeful History Originally published: September 13, 2019 Author: Rutger Bregman

 

What is fascinating about Rutger Bregman's book is the idea that 'leadership' is both new (in the last 5% of human history) and a dysfunctional result of property, ownership, and civilisation that simply did not exist when Homo Sapiens were nomads and equal. The unfair society is actually a result of.... society! 

I cannot recommend the book enough and whether you agree with the statement above or not, the book is worth a read. If you are interested in teams, team performance and concepts like scrum which is about facilitation rather than control then you will find this book interesting.

If you have a different perspective or experience please comment below. If you are interested in teams, team performance and culture get in touch.

 

TimHJRogers

Helping people and organisations get things done

Adapt Consulting Company

Consult CoCreate Deliver

@AdaptCCompany +447797762051

A NEW SCORE CARD FOR PEOPLE AND PURPOSE

Apparently more tha 50% of people doubt they will stick with their current employer beyond 1 year. A number may have lost their job, but a fair few are probably re-thinking their role, purpose and satisfaction with life and perhaps their current employer.

For many a short break from work suggests that we will simply return to the old ways of working just as easily as we do after a holiday or the novelty of a New Year's Resolution wears off. But for some at 10 weeks many will be finding new routines become habit and some of them have benefits people will be reluctant to give up.

I doubt people miss congestion of a population driving to school or work like cattle being herded from one pen to another. There may be a sense of tribal community perhaps at 5pm on a Friday, but overall I suspect the freedom to arrange your day is quite appealing for many.

For businesses the loss of visibility on team activity will be interesting. How will bosses cope with not seeing the busy ants outside their office? Will they be content that out there, somewhere unseen, someone is doing something great without being distracted or micro-managed.

Will we switch from paying for people's attendance and attention to actually value their potential, production and contribution.

It is much easier said than done. It requires a new style of Coaching Leadership and a new style of "employment". Perhaps instead of measuring tasks, production and profit we encourage people, performance and outcome.

John Adair talked about the alignment of organisation, person and task. Perhaps now we need to think about the alignment of self, family, community and organisation? Perhaps Ikigai hints at what should be the SMART Goals of organisations

I read a lot and am currently reading In the Plex: How Google Thinks, Works, and Shapes Our Lives

I an impressed by the impact of Montessori education on the founders and wonder if we can take this an apply it in the work-place. Without doubt there are a lot of things that we can learn from Google, and perhaps a few we should avoid, but I do believe there is a need to better benefit from the talent of people.

In a previous article I wrote that I think we would benefit from our leaders becoming more like tribal elders, there to share knowledge and encourage others to collaborate rather than to guide or direct.

How we engage, encourage, reward and measure people is key. Maybe now is a good time to think about a new score-card for our people and purpose.

AUTHOR

TimHJRogers
Helping people and organisations get things done
https://www.linkedin.com/in/timhjrogers/
http://www.adaptconsultingcompany.com/

Adapt Consulting Company
Consult CoCreate Deliver
@AdaptCCompany +447797762051
#lean #projects #change #prince2 #processes #pmo

USEFUL LINKS

Coaching Leadership
https://intenseminimalism.com/2015/the-six-styles-of-leadership/

Humble Consulting: How to Provide Real Help Faster
https://www.amazon.com/Humble-Consulting-Provide-Real-Faster/dp/1626567204

Supercoach: 10th Anniversary Edition: 10 Secrets to Transform Anyone's Life
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/7879981-supercoach

Ikigai
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ikigai

Montessori education
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Montessori_education

Famous People Educated at Montessori schools
http://www.dailymontessori.com/montessori-questions-answers/famous-montessori-educated-people/

John Adair
https://www.businessballs.com/leadership-models/action-centred-leadership-john-adair/

In the Plex: How Google Thinks, Works, and Shapes Our Lives
https://books.google.je/books/about/In_the_Plex.html?id=V1u1f8sv3k8C&redir_esc=y

Leaders becoming more like tribal elders
http://timhjrogers.blogspot.com/2020/05/leaders-should-become-elders-to.html

LEADERS SHOULD BECOME ELDERS - TO FACILITATE RATHER THAN DIRECT

This is a great article... In A Post-COVID World The Manager Is The Weak Link
https://paulitaylor.com/2020/05/27/in-a-post-covid-world-the-manager-is-the-weak-link/

The key factors for me are when the number of remote workers climbs past 50% fundamental changes to the nature of work become necessary and I suspect (I hope) people will increasingly be paid for what they achieve rather than their attendance at an office.

Unlike the author who feels we should be ‘Ending Our Obsession With Leadership’ I think leadership is still important, but it is a different kind of community leadership that brings diverse people (in remote locations) to a task rather than the employer-employee relationship that exists when you sit outside the bosses office.

This shift is already happening in Projects where instead of a Project Manager directing tasks for a project with clear time, budget, people and deliverables we have Scrum Managers supporting teams to identify and deliver products that add value in an environment of uncertainty and change.

I think we would benefit from our leaders becoming more like tribal elders, there to share knowledge and encourage others to collaborate rather than to guide or direct.

OTHER SIMILAR POSTS

Ending Our Obsession With Leadership
https://paulitaylor.com/2020/01/03/ending-our-obsession-with-leadership/

Does a successful tribe need management? Or is it better without?
https://projectspeoplechange.blogspot.com/2015/08/does-successful-tribe-need-management.html

6 Questions to determine successful leadership
https://adaptconsultingcompany.blogspot.com/2018/02/6-questions-to-determine-successful.html

If you are interested in facilitating change, get in touch.

TimHJRogers
AdaptConsultingCompany com
Mob 447797762051
Twitter @Timhjrogers

CASE STUDY: PROCESS MAPPING AND KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT

What we do… we can also do for you

CASE STUDY
We are working with a technology business to review, improve and document their key processes.

ACTIVITY
Taking a coach-facilitator approach we had a series of meetings to document process and the create an interactive tool which allowed them to ‘click’ on a process map and access further documentation including service and training records.

OUTCOME
The key outcomes included better coordination and understanding within the team and a clear, consistent and communicated approach for key processes.

BENEFITS
The key benefits include improved morale within the team (everyone knows what they are doing) and better appreciation of the procedure by customers/clients (confidence that the process will deliver the result).

CASE STUDY: SERVICE DELIVERY STRATEGY

What we do… we can also do for you

CASE STUDY
We are working with a commercial business to discuss, define, document and communicate their service delivery strategy. They are a large business providing standard (desktop) and specialist (bespoke App) services to different areas of the business.

ACTIVITY
Working with our Sponsor and identified stakeholders we noted all business activities and their critical systems, as well as service, support and training needs. We then facilitated a discussion on priority levels, service standards and knowledge management necessary to meet the needs of the business.

OUTCOME
The key outcomes include clarity on roles, goals, reporting and controls as well as a roadmap and budget for systems maintenance, support and renewal.

BENEFITS
The key benefits include improved service delivery through improved prioritisation and allocation of resources, as well as better supplier and contract management. The overall benefits for the organization include faster, cheaper or better products and services for customers.

CASE STUDY: BUSINESS DASHBOARD

What we do… we can also do for you

CASE STUDY
We are working with a commercial business to create a performance dashboard of their key activities.

ACTIVITY
Working with our Sponsor and identified stakeholders we have identified service expectations (needs) and key performance indicators (measures) and set-up the reporting tools (database) and habits (logging information) to be able to produce daily, weekly, monthly and quarterly reports for the team, department and business.

OUTCOME
The key outcomes include better alignment of resources to key priorities for the business and an improved understanding of workload and issues. Timely reporting accelerated action greatly helps the kaizen process of continuous improvement.

BENEFITS
The overall benefits include consensus on priorities and an improved collaborative focus on team outcomes rather than individual inputs.

CASE STUDY: CONSULTATION PROJECT

CASE STUDY: CONSULTATION  PROJECT

“The Farm Jersey consultation with the Jersey Royal Industry has really highlighted a number of challenging issues, but it has also identified a significant number of possibilities and opportunities, many of which cost nothing. We greatly welcome this initiative and look forward to contributing to more like this in 2020.”

Tim Ward, Sales & Distribution Director, Albert Bartlett

Working with a broad range of stakeholders, Tim Rogers of Solitaire Consulting worked with Farm Jersey and the Rural Economic Advisor to run a series of interviews and workshops. These brought together a diverse group with a common passion to secure a future for the Industry. The outputs included interview notes, a review, report and recommendations combining no-cost “quick-wins” and longer-term initiatives and programmes.

The work was well received by the industry who both embraced the opportunity and provided positive feedback about the process.

CASE STUDY: SET-UP OF PROGRAMME MANAGEMENT OFFICE FOR THE CHANNEL ISLANDS CO-OPERATIVE SOCIETY

CASE STUDY: SET-UP OF PROGRAMME MANAGEMENT OFFICE FOR THE CHANNEL ISLANDS CO-OPERATIVE SOCIETY

PROJECT
The Channel Islands Cooperative Society (CICS) operates grocery stores in Jersey and Guernsey as well as fuel forecourts, pharmacies, funeral services and travel agencies.  CICS engaged Adapt Consulting (Tim Rogers) to work with the Strategy Manager to design and deliver a new Programme Management Office function to support the delivery of change across the business.

OUTCOME
The new Programme Management Office provides support with strategy development, business planning, project delivery, training for project teams and improved project governance and reporting.  Tim Rogers also provided practical support to project managers, including guidance on tenders, procurement, contracts and supplier management to help them deliver their projects.

BENEFITS
The significant benefit for CICS has been the development of improved project management skills and enhanced project governance.

TESTIMONY
Tim's style, manner and pragmatic approach has been very valuable.  He has helped us to implement simple, yet robust project management processes and governance. His commercial knowledge combined with PRINCE2, Scrum, and Agile has been useful to create an approach which works for our business.  His contribution will have a positive and lasting effect on the way we work as a team.

CASE STUDY: STRATEGY AND BUSINESS PLANNING

TASK: Translate the strategy into defined projects and change with monitoring to ensure delivery on-time, on-budget, to-specification.

ROLE:Project Manager/Consultant

ISSUES:The organisation was going through significant and rapid change which was not always scheduled, prioritised or co-ordinated. This had implications for time, cost, quality and resources with consequential impact on culture and morale.

ACTION:Met with management and leadership to discuss the merits of project and programme management and the pros and cons of having a PMO (programme management office) to log, manage, control, and report on initiatives across the business so as to offer transparency and clarity and aid the leadership in planning strategy and execution through projects. Created a project management handbook, plus guide and templates. Created a programme management handbook, plus guide and templates. Created a technology solution for managing and reporting on projects.

OUTCOME:Technology solution was a simple table of projects, resources, budgets and progress that was reported monthly via an intranet thereby offering a dashboard of business activity. The project management handbook, plus guide and templates and programme management handbook were essential to ISO & SOC accreditation and an important part of gaining control over projects & change for internal (for the organisation) and external (for their clients) projects

CASE STUDY: BUSINESS TRANSFORMATION

TASK: To join Jersey Harbours and Jersey Airport into a combined organisation and incorporate so that it is an arm’s length business separate from the States of Jersey Government.ROLE:Project Manager/Consultant

ISSUES:Jersey Harbours and Jersey Airport were two separate organisations with obvious opportunities to combine and share resources. Furthermore as public sector organisations they lacked access to capital funding (alwaysa lower priority to schools, hospitals and police) and ability to realise commercial opportunities. It was recognised, but my no means wholly agreed, that there was merit in allowing the organisation to become commercial and ostensibly self-funding or indeed a net contributor to tax revenues.

ACTION:KEY ELEMENTS [1] Understand Strategy, Aims and Objectives, including past history, culture and States’ Report and Proposition [2] Set-up & manage project governance structure, Roles, Goals, Controls, Timetable and Budgets [3] Set-up & manage project reporting structure, Work-Stream Managers, Project Board, Incorporation Steering Group, Political Oversight Group [4] Set-up & manage Project Plan outlining Deliverables, Tasks, Owners, Funding [5] Set-up & manage work-streams: Property; Finance; IT Systems; People; Legislative and Regulatory Changes; Communications and Engagement [6] Set-up & manage Stakeholder and Communications Plan. List key people, issues and topics. Plan for timing, topics and methods of engagement.

OUTCOME:Delivery on time in 34 months against 36 month timetable. Delivery on budget in £1.67m against £1.78m budget. CEO Awarded IoD Director of the Year 2016 on the basis of this transformation project.

TESTIMONY:

Chief Officer, Economic Development to Scrutiny Panel Sept 2013

Those 9 work streams are working alongside each other, but it is being worked under a signal project management structure and the incorporation project board meets once a month at least to review how all of that progress is doing and how it is all knitting together because there are dependencies that flow through those projects. So this has been managed as close to a big project, project management discipline as I have ever seen here. It has been ... this is what I would call a proper job in terms of project management. I think it will set a standard for the management to do some of the more complex projects right across Government. There are people at the top of it that are doing it who have pure project management expertise. It does not matter for them whether they are project managing building an incinerator, the new hospital or whatever, it is discipline that we have brought to bear on this project, because it is so complicated.

Chief Officer, to Chief Minister and Political Oversight Group

Tim Rogers completed the Incorporation Programme post implementation review, and attached is the final report closing down the project. The report demonstrates the project complexity, delivered and under budget, and huge success in achieving Incorporation of the Ports, something that many felt was unachievable when we started this journey

CASE STUDY: SMALL BUSINESS AND GDPR

TASK: Support Small Businesses with guidance and tools for GDPR.

ROLE: My role as consultant was to advise, guide and support necessary changes for the organisation to be ready for and compliant with the new GDPR regulations.

ISSUES:General Data Protection Regulation [GDPR)} affects all organisations holding personal data. is a need to develop the policies, procedures and guidelines to ensure that people, process and technology all work together to keep personal dataprivate, safe and secure.

ACTION:Set-up a series of meetings to understand the business and support necessary actions to achieve GDPR compliance. Key Elements [1] Education and Awareness  [2] Data Mapping  [3] A Records Management & Retention  Policy  [4] Risk Assessment  [5] Subject access request  [6] Data beaches and reporting  [7] A Data Protection Policy  [8] An Information Security Policy  [9] Processor/Controller Agreements  [10] A Privacy Notice

OUTCOME:A series of tools, templates, training and guidance to safeguard data and help ensure compliance with the law.

TESTIMONY:
I think yesterday went very well –in fact I think it is the best £70 we have spent for a while. The reason I say this is because you have given us some very practical pointers which we feel is relevant to our business –others have simply bamboozled us with high tech tools and tried to scare us into purchasing them Truusje Gamlin -Hollcameron

From the outset Tim's style, manner and pragmatic approach distinguished him from other consultants.For one, he was deeply knowledgeable and enthusiastic about the topic and we had a real sense of being supported by someone with a clear focus on achieving our objectives.Tim was happy to adopt our chosen preference for one to one engagement and desire to address the detail of the practical implications.He was able to distil complex matters into readily understandable actions.Our lasting impression of Tim's work with us is one of ease of communication, total commitment and a reassuring knowledge of the subject matter. Stephen Eldred CommunitySavings

CASE STUDY: SME GROWTH

TASK: Support growth of Tech Business (reviewing people, process, technology and product proposal) following significant investment.

ROLE:Project Director/Consultant

ISSUES:The organisation is a Jersey-based business selling medical billing software to GPs and Private Practices in the UK. Their challenge has been to scale-up the business from 100 clients to a target of 3000 within 36 months. This required a review of people,process and technology to maintain or reduce the cost base and significantly increase the productivity and pace, sufficient to meet growth and income targets.

ACTION:Working with team leaders we identified both the key processes and their ownership, andKPIs. This lead to some structural changes in reporting lines, roles and responsibilities. Through a series of workshops we standardised and streamlined key processes and improved procedures + documentation. Key areas of improvement included.. DEVELOPMENT–speed-up the development programme, rationalising the steps and brought clarity to the product road-map and priorities SALES –speed-up the sales process and improved the success rate by better use of data and scripts etc. TRAINING –reduced the training time and increased profitability by separating core from value-added services HELP/SUPPORT –rationalised the helpdesk and routed calls more effectively using better self-help, prioritisation and escalation DEPLOYMENT –improved the deployment time and improved the success rate by better use of version control and knowledge base FINANCE –improved cash flow and profitability by rationalising discounts and tightening contract terms and payment periods

OUTCOME:Ultimately it made sense not to sell from Jersey into UK but to licence the product. The product then called MediBooks [Link 1] is now called Egton Billing [Link 2] and is featured in Digital Jersey Case Studies [Link 3]Link1 http://www.tsgi.co/medibooks.html]Link2 https://www.egton.net/all-services/egton-billingLink3 https://www.digital.je/case-studies/total-billing-solutions

CASE STUDY: DATA PROTECTION IN CARE HOME

TASK: Support Care Home with guidance and tools for GDPR.

ROLE: My role as consultant was to advise, guide and support necessary changes for the organisation to be ready for and compliant with the new GDPR regulations.

ISSUES:General Data Protection Regulation [GDPR)} affects all organisations holding personal data. For a Care Home this includes staff, residents, family members, visitors and others including District Nurse, Curators etc. There is a need to develop the policies, procedures and guidelines to ensure that people, process and technology all work together to keep personal data (and especially medical/clinical data) private, safe and secure.

ACTION:Set-up a series of meetings to understand the business, the people, the processes and the data flows. Key steps [a] Meet the people and understand the business [b] Meet discuss, review and report on “Residents” [c] Meet discuss, review and report on “Finance and Admin” [d] Review and discuss the draft reports and agree a Final Report + Actions [e] Support the organisation with the necessary changes.

OUTCOME:A series of tools, templates, training and guidance to safeguard data and help ensure compliance with the law. Hopefully also learning, understanding and confidence in delivering great service and care to the Residents of the Care Home. This is essential to trust and support of staff, residents, family members etc.

TESTIMONY:Tim was good at spending time with the Care Home and being careful  to keep advice practical and simple and avoid over complicating the issues. He is passionate and really good at understanding all the issues and then being very careful about how these were presented back to the business. At each step he would check to make sure everyone was happy before moving on to the next step. He was also really encouraging to support rather than “take-over” which greatly helped. Richard Rolfe 2018

CASE STUDY: DATA PROTECTION

TASK: Support Association of Jersey Charities and Jersey Community Partnership with guidance and tools for GDPR.

ROLE:Business Analysis / Consultancy

ISSUES:In 2018 Charities are facing a number of challenges... [1.] A new Information Commissioner Office and GDPR [2.] e-Privacy and guidance is being updated [3.] A new Children’s Commissioner [4.] Changes to Jersey's regulation of Health and Social Care [5.] TheStates are encouraging organisations to Cyber Essentials, and it is probable that this will be a conditional precedent to doing business with the States or receiving funding. Working with Association of Jersey Charities and Jersey Community Partnership provided support and guidance on GDPR, in the context of the above. For example not just looking at the data protection issues, but providing a broader and integrated approach to governance, accountability, transparency and control.

ACTION:Key steps [ 1. ]Meetings with Association of Jersey Charities and Jersey Community Partnership to agree need, scope and approach [ 2. ] Workshops with representative charities to understand challenges, issues and requirements [ 3. ] Create basic tools, templates and guidance based on the feedback from representative charities and other work with Community Savings, Caring Cooks and Les Houmet Car Home. [ 4. ] Presentations to 110 members of Association of Jersey Charities to encourage and support collaborative and integrated approach to addressing common issues [ 5. ] Set-up social media campaign providing education and guidance via blogs, articles and twitter [ 6. ] Set-up Question and Answer service sharing answers and detailed guidanceon key issues

OUTCOME:A series of tools, templates, training and guidance for members of Association of Jersey Charities and Jersey Community Partnership. These useful to ensure compliance with GDPR, but more importantly (for a sector worth 80 million and serving some of the most needy in the community) strong governance and control resulting in data being private, safe and secure. This is essential to trust and support.

CASE STUDY: ACQUISITION PROGRAMME

TASK: Set-up and manage an acquisition programme and post-acquisition integration tasks for IT business

ROLE:Project Manager/Consultant

ISSUES:Following an investmentof USD 20 million the organisation was seeking to grow by acquisition and the requirement was to set-up and manage a series of work-stream for the post-acquisition tasks including integration of people, process and technology.

ACTION:Set-up the project role, goals, controls and then co-ordinated and managed project execution for the following. LEGAL & REGULATORY; All legal, contractual work relating to acquisition / transfer of people, clients, suppliers, agreements, contracts, services. This to include necessary local and foreign regulatory issues (e.g. JCRA, Regulators etc.) HR AND STAFF; All HR related work including, contracts, handbook, on-boarding staff, culture, training, skills development, skills matrix SERVICES; All service related work to align with organisation, upload of contracts, products, services, pricing, helpdesk data, billing data, necessary documentation, guidance and training of staff on processes and technology FINANCE; All finance and accounting work including nominal ledges, etc., integrationof accounts, set-up of reports (incl regulatory reporting ) COMPLIANCE; All matters relating to ISMS, QMS, SOC, ISO etc., necessary to maintain "their" and "our" standards and to plan the integration and harmonisation over agreed timetable. MARKETING; Allmarketing including necessary branding (of premises, property, kit) and communication (to customers, suppliers, markets etc.) CULTURE COMMUNICATIONS; All matters relating to culture and communication for "them" and "us" (both will have to make changes) and how the organisation integrate and work together

OUTCOME:Using a common-sense approach to project (tasks) and change (people & process) management, successfully completed acquisitions in Channel Islands, Luxembourg and North America, with a clear road-map of tasks and responsibilities and were making progress in the right direction.

REFERENCES:https://calligo.cloud/ams; https://calligo.cloud/3peaks; https://calligo.cloud/fusion

CASE STUDY: ORGANISATION CHANGE

TASK: Review of the Governance Arrangements (primary, secondary and third-sector voice) for Health and Social Care in Jersey

ROLE:Business Analysis / Consultancy

ISSUES:The Council of Ministers asked The Minister for Health and Social Services to review the governance arrangements for Health and Social Care, to ensure that Jersey has the best Health and Social Care system for the future. The review, which is part of the States of Jersey’s reform of the public sector, is looking at how different health and social care systems across the world are organised and will establish what can be learnt from other jurisdictions and enable the best solution to be found for Jersey.

ACTION:As HSSD Governance Review Project Director oversaw the initial establishment of the Project: Including set-up, initiation and management, including successful funding bid and ran the day-to-day management. The project included procurement of external advisors and management of the Project’s Steering Group meetings and papers, outputs and actions. The project also included significant consultation and engagement exercise with a number of health and social care stakeholders.

OUTCOME:Identified a number of different health and care systems from around the world which have been considered by a broad range of health and social care stakeholders in a significant consultation and engagement exercise to evaluate the best models for Health and Social Care and their suitability for Jersey.

TESTIMONY:I worked with Tim Rogers on the review of the governance arrangements for Health and Social Services in Jersey. Tim was the Project Manager from January –August 2017 and was responsible for the co-ordination of the review, administration of all external contracts with suppliers including KPMG and the day-today programme management. The review involved a broad consultation and engagement with a number of stakeholders in health and social care. Tim was an excellentproject manager with meticulous attention to detail, in-depth knowledge of the systems and processes of the States of Jersey and an understanding of the stakeholders with an interest in the review. Claire Austin (2016)

CASE STUDY: BUSINESS PROCESS IMPROVEMENT

TASK: Review of staff on-Boarding and Training to improve the experience and provide support for them to grow personally and professionally.

ROLE:Project Manager/Consultant

ISSUES:The organisation was going trough rapid growth. In the past people would arrive one-at-a-time and their documents and induction could be managed with a spreadsheet and a check-list. The more rapid recruitment, plus growth by acquisition meant that the oldprocesses where not scalable.

ACTION:Working with the organisation I looked at the step-by-step process and identified the key documents and actions on a time-line from interview, through vetting and contract to appointment and then at 1 week, 1 month, 3 months, and end-of-probation. We discussed the pros and cons of building a bespoke HR system to meet our needs. We also reviewed the option of buying a standard off-the-shelf HR system that could be quickly configured to suit our needs. The former meant directing internet resources to ostensibly reinvent-the-wheel whereas the latter presented a cost and the need to align our processes to fit the HR standards.

OUTCOME:The work done to establish the steps, documents, and reporting needs established the business requirements which ostensibly became the specification for delivery. The problem was seen as a process/technology issue and the solution was managed by developing bespoke in-house document automation for contracts and paperwork. The HR elements thatfall outside recruitment (e.g. appraisal, training, pay and rewards, records, GDPR & data protection ) have been identified and will be addressed in the future.

CASE STUDY: OFFICE MOVE

TASK: Relocation Of Visit Jersey [Tourism Information Centre]

ROLE:Project Manager

ISSUES:PREMISES MOVE COMPRISING [1] Office furniture [office and retail furniture and fittings] [2] Office systems [IT, telephones, email] [3] Office infrastructure [power, internet, plumbing, carpentry, lighting] [4] Office literature and branding and signage [5] Recruitment and training of new people [6] Communications, branding and publicity [7] Move logistics [8]

ACTION:PROJECT MANAGEMENT COMPRISING [1] Meetings [2] Planning [3] Coordination [4] Budgets [5] Stakeholders Management [6] Supplier Management

OUTCOME:Delivered on-time, on-budget and to-specification

TESTIMONY:Tim Rogers was appointed project leader for the relocation of the old Tourist Information Centre in February 2016.The project Tim had undertaken involved the three-way partnership between Visit Jersey, Jersey Heritage & Ports of Jersey in relocating the TIC within Jersey Museum. Tim was responsible for the relocation which had a strict deadline. During this project Tim always showed total attention to detail and accuracy in all aspects ofhis role.In conclusion, I have no hesitation in recommending Tim Rodgers a project manager and would wish him every success Oliver Archbold Head of Information Services (2016)

CASE STUDY: LEAN PROCESS / BUSINESS IMPROVEMENT

TASK:Rationalise IT helpdesk to make it more efficient and effective, providing faster and better solutions at less cost.

ROLE:Project Manager/Consultant

ISSUES:There was a misalignment between customer expectations, what the contracts say, the services provided, and what the helpdesk could actually provide. The helpdesk was often being used to provide on-demand training or advice which was beyond contract. Moreover the lack of a standard-product and standard-deployment, and supporting documentation and training meant that providing technical support was very difficult and frustrating. Often fixing one problem would create another. Customers were unclear of their role and responsibilities with the result that there was a lack of co-ordination and control over changes that would impact service delivery.

ACTION:My first step was to examine the helpdesk calls and understand the types of problems and impacted customers. My next step was to review contracts and prices to understand the services, standards, supplier and customer obligations. Next I looked at the IT system and helpdesk process to see if this flowed, so as to make it easy to support the client, product, service, issue and resolution. Then I looked at how the organisation deployed documentation and training to clients, which is essential to their proper use of the product and self-help. This culminated in a series of observations and recommendations, notably around the need to revise and update and standardise products, contracts, documentation and the approach to deployment, training and support.

OUTCOME:A more efficient helpdesk, with focus (streamlined products, less variety and confusion) better answers (better documentation & knowledge base) and less cost (avoid wasted time). A by-product was also the review of contracts and changes to deployed documentation and training for clients.

TESTIMONY:“Tim’s passion and commitment has helped drive through anumber of process improvements. He regularly seeks to challenge the norm, is innovative in his thinking and actively seeks to help others identify solutions to issues and problems across all business functions. Tim is a pleasure to work with and someone Itrust to deliver."

CASE STUDY: LEAN PROCESS / BUSINESS IMPROVEMENT

TASK:Project manage review of infrastructure operations, identify areas for improvement and manage implementation of improvements

ROLE:Project Manager/Consultant

ISSUES:Infrastructure operations was under resourced with a few technical experts and insufficient staff. Managing day-to-day maintenance, upgrades, patching was difficult. However the additional work required to understand and achieve standards like ISO27001, ISO9000, SOC2-type1 and SOC2-type2 was unachievable with current resource. Additionally the lack of technical expertise elsewhere in the business meant that they often called upon the Infrastructure operations team for support, further undermining the ability to support Infrastructure.

ACTION:Looked at how to reduce demands upon Infrastructure operations, for example improve the other teams abilities so that they didn't call-upon Infrastructure operations. Looked at the variety of products and services and made recommendations to standardise and streamline a smaller product set with a view to being expert and in-control rather than always trouble-shooting and researching endless possibilities. Then sought to review the staffing and the approach to education.The key challenge being whether the organisation should be CLIENT FOCUSSED (understanding banking, trust, commerce, retail) or SERVICE APPROACH (the business will research, report, recommend and support what-ever you choose) or PRODUCT APPROACH (the business is expert at ABC and doesn't do XYZ) Once the decision is made all our staff, training, documentation should align. Also looked at impact of marketing strategy: whether to go for retail high-maintenance and low-profit customers or wholesale, low-maintenance and high-profit customers. The choice impacts the approach to Infrastructure operations and the balance of responsibility between supplier and customer.

OUTCOME:Following some role changes, progressed towards reviewing the contracts and the new definitions of which products and services are supported. Also looked to increase use of technology to allow customers to self-service. A significant decision was to become an infrastructure re-seller, greatly reducing the demands upon the in-house Infrastructure operations team. By the end of my engagement the business had greater clarity of issues and resolutions although not all the recommendations had yet been implemented.

CASE STUDY: BUSINESS ANALYSIS

TASK: Energy Saving Review of systems and behaviours to reduce electricity bill of £2million and boost environmental credentials.

ROLE:Business Analysis / Consultancy

ISSUES:The organisation has an electricity bill of £2million. However because everybody uses electricity and nobody owns electricity there was no responsibility or accountability for the bill or drive to reduce costs or create efficiencies.

ACTION:Key steps: [1] Took a top-level look at electricity usage across the business from big infrastructure to small office consumption and worked with people passionate about environment and ecology to create a series of big projects and small initiatives. [2] Big projects substantially looked at solar, grey-water and CHP technologies [3] Big small initiatives substantially looked at LED lighting, and education to get people to switch-off items when not in use. [4] Worked to gain controls over electricity usage by reviewingthe metering systems for the organisation in an attempt to understand consumption zone-by-zone and department-by-department [5] Also reviewed electricity usage of customers who use business services and who ostensibly should be paying for heat, light, electricity but frequently are not because of errors of admin, finance or metering systems. [6] Progressed a major capital project replacing floodlighting systems, which saved a lot of money. [7] Progressed a review, report and recommendations on metering systems to establish a better method for re-charging and revenue protection.

OUTCOME:Better awareness of environment and ecology issues and reduction in electricity usage across the business. Better awareness of re-charging and revenue protection.

TESTIMONY:Tim Rogers led a number of energy saving initiatives as part of a drive to reduce costs. This included some analysis and review of electrical and utility metering, costs and charges. As part of this we undertook a review to rationalise the various metering systems for the harbours and airport both on land (buildings) and water (berths).The project identified a number of cost saving and commercial opportunities which we hope to take advantage of. In addition to this, Tim co-ordinated the delivery of a complex and detailed requirements document for the replacement of the current system. The combination of these works has equipped us to move forwards with confidence to deliver enhancements to our energy use, monitoring and charging systems SLeL (2016)

CASE STUDY: PROJECT COMMUNICATIONS FOR AQUISITION PROGRAMME

TASK: Delivery of key business tools through definition of requirements options analysis, communication, co-ordination and collaboration.

ROLE:Project Manager/Consultant

ISSUES:The organisation was going through unprecedented change and growth and whereas in the past vision, mission, communication, projects, and business performance could easily be discussed around a large table the rapid recruitment, plus growth by acquisition meant that the old processes where not scalable.

ACTION:Reviewed what key mission, communication, projects, and business performance information needed to be shared and the best tools for achieving this. Set-up the roles, goals, controls for the project.Worked with leadership to agree the information the organisation wanted to share. Used a series of workshops to build a coalition of contributors. Worked through the steps, requirements, solution design, options evaluation and product selection. Managed project delivery, including design, build, deploy, test and training. Used a series of workshops to build a coalition of contributors.

OUTCOME:The result was as an integrated tool for intranet communications, project and programme reporting and support for acquisition programme. The project was delivered on-time, on-budget, to-specification and was used as one of the case studies for the ISO audit of best practice in project delivery

CASE STUDY: BUSINESS ANALYSIS

TASK: Business Analysis and Procurement for the replace for business operations database (controlling processes, customer, suppliers, information and billing)

ROLE:Business Analysis / Consultancy

ISSUES:The Ports Operational Database is used for sharing critical information both internally (such as slot times , baggage belt, stand information), and externally (passenger gate information ). It is also used for billing and flight information purposes, as well as CAA Reporting. It is intended that the replacement Operational Database is extended to serve Harbours and replace their spreadsheets and Charts System which are used for billing and shipping information purposes

ACTION:As Project Manager / Consultant [ 1. ] Advised on Project Set-Up, including composition, initiation and governance [ 2. ] Guided consultation and engagement to inform User Requirements [ 3. ] Provided Project Oversight and Updates [ 4. ] Advised on procurement and contract risk [ 5. ] Advised on project risk

OUTCOME:The Ports Operational Database is ostensibly an infrastructure project. However through the guided consultation and engagement Ports were able to identify opportunities to streamline processes (saving costs) and create income opportunities by taking advantage of new opportunities to use data in a more commercial way.

TESTIMONY:Tim Rogers is the project manager for the replacement of Ports Operational Database. This is a key component of Jersey Ports, responsible for the management and co-ordination of boats, plans and passengers as well as information for the public, key partners and regulators. Tim’s role has been to lead the project supporting the user requirements and procurement phase. The project is on-going and due for completion in 2017. AM (2016)

CASE STUDY: SET-UP OF PROGRAMME MANAGEMENT OFFICE FOR THE CHANNEL ISLANDS CO-OPERATIVE SOCIETY

PROJECT
The Channel Islands Cooperative Society (CICS) operates grocery stores in Jersey and Guernsey as well as fuel forecourts, pharmacies, funeral services and travel agencies. CICS engaged Adapt Consulting (Tim Rogers) to work with the Strategy Manager to design and deliver a new Programme Management Office function to support the delivery of change across the business.

OUTCOME
The new Programme Management Office provides support with strategy development, business planning, project delivery, training for project teams and improved project governance and reporting. Tim Rogers also provided practical support to project managers, including guidance on tenders, procurement, contracts and supplier management to help them deliver their projects.

BENEFITS
The significant benefit for CICS has been the development of improved project management skills and enhanced project governance.

TESTIMONY
Tim's style, manner and pragmatic approach has been very valuable. He has helped us to implement simple, yet robust project management processes and governance. His commercial knowledge combined with PRINCE2, Scrum, and Agile has been useful to create an approach which works for our business. His contribution will have a positive and lasting effect on the way we work as a team.


If you want help with projects, programmes and strategy implementation get in touch.

TimHJRogers
AdaptConsultingCompany com
Mob 447797762051
Twitter @timhjrogers
people projects change leadership lean scrum agile

MAKE THE NEW NORMAL = HAPPINESS

At a time when so many people appear to be stressed-out and anxious aside from the benefits of routine and habit to gaining control over your day, yourself, you mind and your wellbeing here are 10 Best Ways to Increase Dopamine (happiness ) Levels Naturally

Dopamine is one of the “feel good” chemicals in our brain. Interacting with the pleasure and reward center of our brain, dopamine — along with other chemicals like serotonin, oxytocin, and endorphins — plays a vital role in how happy we feel. In addition to our mood, dopamine also affects movement, memory, and focus.

1. Eat Lots of Protein
2. Eat Less Saturated Fat
3. Consume Probiotics
4. Eat Velvet Beans
5. Exercise Often
6. Get Enough Sleep
7. Listen to Music
8. Meditate
9. Get Enough Sunlight
10. Consider Supplements

REFERENCE
https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/how-to-increase-dopamine

COACHING GREATER EXPECTATIONS AND HIGHER PERFORMANCE

COACHING GREATER EXPECTATIONS AND HIGHER PERFORMANCE

A coach, manager or leaders expectations can affect the performance of their teams.

The first psychologist to systematically study this was a Harvard professor named Robert Rosenthal, who in 1964 did a wonderful experiment at an elementary school south of San Francisco.

The idea was to figure out what would happen if teachers were told that certain kids in their class were destined to succeed, so Rosenthal took a normal IQ test and dressed it up as a different test.

It was a standardized IQ test, Flanagan's Test of General Ability, he says. But the cover we put on it, we had printed on every test booklet, said 'Harvard Test of Inflected Acquisition.'

Rosenthal told the teachers that this very special test from Harvard had the very special ability to predict which kids were about to be very special that is, which kids were about to experience a dramatic growth in their IQ.

After the kids took the test, he then chose from every class several children totally at random. There was nothing at all to distinguish these kids from the other kids, but he told their teachers that the test predicted the kids were on the verge of an intense intellectual bloom.

As he followed the children over the next two years, Rosenthal discovered that the teachers' expectations of these kids really did affect the students. If teachers had been led to expect greater gains in IQ, then increasingly, those kids gained more IQ, he says.

But just how do expectations influence IQ?

As Rosenthal did more research, he found that expectations affect teachers' moment-to-moment interactions with the children they teach in a thousand almost invisible ways. Teachers give the students that they expect to succeed more time to answer questions, more specific feedback, and more approval: They consistently touch, nod and smile at those kids more.

It's not magic, it's not mental telepathy, Rosenthal says. It's very likely these thousands of different ways of treating people in small ways every day.

APPLYING SCHOOL PSYCHOLOGY TO THE WORPLACE

People respond to praise or criticism whatever their age and a shift from command and control telling (which is often met with defence or resistance) toward a more coaching and collaborative style (which encourages the team-member to come up with ideas and take responsibility for the problem) can and does work in the workplace.

It can be very hard to control your own thinking, values, beliefs and assumptions and the inevitable impact that they have on other people. This is why coaches, leaders and managers need coaching. Even psychotherapists need psychotherapy before they can practice so as to be able to manage their own thinking and remain objective when working with clients.

If you want to more towards a coaching approach a good first step would be to find a coach, mentor or buddy who can give you honest feedback. If you are able to record or video meetings and reflect on the play-back that can be really helpful. Ideally if you have an open dialogue with the team you can use 360 feedback to help everyone improve.

One of the significant elements of scrum is the use of self-coordinated teams and the emphasis on retrospective meetings at the end of each delivery phase to both look at improvements in product or service delivery, but more importantly about how the team worked and what processes or behaviours will improve team working in the future.

The great strength of this approach is that the proposed processes or behaviours can be employed in the next (2 weekly?) delivery phase allowing for rapid feedback, review and improvement providing constant learning and growth.

7 WAYS COACHES AND LEADERS CAN CHANGE EXPECTATIONS

Watch how each team member interacts. How do they prefer to engage? What do they seem to like to do? Observe so you can understand all they are capable of.

Listen. Try to understand what motivates them, what their goals are and how they view you, their classmates and the activities you assign them.

Engage. Talk with team members about their individual interests. Don't offer advice or opinions just listen.

Experiment: Change how you react to challenging behaviours. Rather than responding quickly in the moment, take a breath. Realize that their behaviour might just be a way of reaching out to you.

Reach out: Know what your team members like to do outside of work. Find both individual and group time for them to share this with you. Watch and listen to how skilled, motivated and interested they can be. This type of activity is really important for team members with whom you often feel in conflict or who you avoid.

Reflect: Think back on your own best and worst coaches, bosses or supervisors. List five words for each that describe how you felt in your interactions with them. How did the best and the worst make you feel? What specifically did they do or say that made you feel that way? Now think about how your team members would describe you. Jot down how they might describe you and why. How do your expectations or beliefs shape how they look at you? Are there parallels in your beliefs and their responses to you?