Our blog articles about strategy, people, performance, decision making, balanced scorecards and culture change
Here is a way into my blog articles, over 300 of them: It is structured into major topics areas linking to the most articles in each topic area. These cover:
- The Strategy Zone
- Communicating & socialising Strategy: An Executive’s guide
- The Decision Improvement Zone:
- The Culture & Behavioural Change Zone
- The Performance Management Zone: A guide to understanding the management of performance
- Modern Balanced Scorecard Zone
- The 4G Strategic Management Zone
- How we look at our organisations and how we manage: The Paradigm Shift Zone
- Thought provoking articles about how we manage our organisations
Simply scroll down through the various topic areas and articles…
1) Strategy choice, approach and implementation articles: Most recent first
What is strategy: Strategy as a hypothesis
What do people mean when they refer to strategy as a Hypothesis? Why should you treat strategy as a hypothesis? How does it help the strategy process? What are the different types of strategy hypotheses? This article explains the thinking behind strategy...
What is strategy: Strategy needs an argument (or two)
When developing a strategy I believe you need an argument. Actually good strategy needs two arguments. Strategy needs an argument that explains the underlying thinking behind the strategy. Argument as in explanation. Good Strategy needs an argument amongst the...
The language of strategy: A military perspective
This is part of a series of articles about the language of strategy. We cannot have a discussion about strategy, and the related subject of tactics, without a military element. As we know, our word strategy has its origins in Ancient Greek. It derives from the Greek...
The origins of the word Strategy and its variations (Good draft)
If we are to talk about strategy is it worth understanding the origins of the word strategy and some of its variations. The origins of the word strategy lies in Ancient Greece The origins of the word strategy and its use, comes from the ancient Greek. They used it in...
Strategy as ‘we thought about it’: Is that really a strategy?
Whilst watching a nature programme, the narrator described how "the film crew strategically placed the cameras to watch the wildlife". What did he mean? Is being strategic, simply Strategy as 'we thought about it'? Can we tell the difference between...
What is not a strategy? Beware over-simplified strategy statements
Over the years I have read many strategy documents. Some have over-simplified their strategy to the extent that it is hard to tell what to do. What they write down sounds impressive, but is not a strategy. What are the common strategy simplification...
2) Communicating & Socialising Strategy articles: Most recent first
Organisational metaphors: Think of your organisation as…
I was privileged to talk with a Chief Executive who had been changing the culture of their organisation and going back to its roots. One interesting piece was the organisational metaphor they created for their care organisation. The metaphor the used was a hanging...
The risks of getting strategy communication wrong
What are the risks of getting your strategy communication wrong? Here are my top three: We think have communicated the strategy when we have not. ... So, nothing happens. People do not understand ‘why’ things have to change. The thinking behind the strategy is not...
The “ten thousand and six words problem.”
Ever sat in an organisation wondering about the nicely framed values and mission statements on the walls. Welcome to "The ten thousand and six words problem". Just about every organisation has them, on their walls, in their corporate brochures and on their website....
Communication during acquisition
Having recently being involved in the due diligence phase of an acquisition process, it was interesting to think through the communication during acquisition, from the seller's perspective. Also from the perspective of the people employed in the plant that were were...
Blackberry outage – a great example of how not to communicate strategy
So it is now day three of the great blackberry outage, and what do we know? I know emails come to my desktop but not to my blackberry. Then suddenly, 4-8 hours later I get a burst onto my blackberry. Not good when I am out and about. Well if you go to the RIM...
Making mission, vision and strategy memorable
How do we make sure that our mission, vision and strategy are memorable and understood? How do we make them sticky, so they stay in peoples' minds? Making strategy memorable In the book, Made to stick, by Chip and Dan Heath, there is a lovely example of how to create...
3) Decision making and decision taking articles: Most recent first
How to avoid quick consensus leading to bad decisions
We like decisive decision making. However we often see that quick consensus leads to bad decisions. In a team situation, forcing quick consensus can easily lead to taking bad decisions. To avoid this, effective decision makers even organise dissent to improve the...
Test a Balanced Scorecard to see if it is useful
How do you test a balanced scorecard to see if it will be informative, useful and effective? With over 20 years experience designing and implementing balanced scorecards I have one key test that usually reveals how the balanced scorecard has been designed and is...
Decision making and diagnosis: A cautionary tale from a management team
In our six stage decision process the decision framing or situation diagnosis stage is one that is easily stepped through too quickly. A move that can be disastrous. A recent client experience highlighted for them, and me, the importance of this stage. Working on...
Levels of decision – potholes on the decision making road
One of the components of good decision-making is to recognise the level of decision you are dealing with, and particularly levels of sub-decisions, within a decision. In this article we are going to explore 'Level 2 decisions' that sit within a top-level decision. ...
Lessons for the annual strategy off-site: thinking fast and slow
Have you ever been at an annual strategy off-site, where you and the team developed some great plans, walked away.... and a year later very few of those ideas or plans were implemented? So often I hear of organisations, or rather their management teams, who have...
The Six Step Decision Process: How teams make effective decisions
Making good decisions and executing them well is fundamental to an organisation's strategy and its performance. How teams and organisations make and take decisions, and their whole decision process, is at the heart of this. Over the years we have helped teams make...
4) Performance management, various types and perspectives. Most recent articles first
Leading indicators: Ten different types for different situations
Leading and lagging indicators seem to create confusion for some people, yet with a clear understanding, it is easy to see explain how they work and help people think productively about how to create and use them. In this article I want to explain how different types...
Organisational structures do not exist – they are a myth!
OK, I can hear the squeals of anguish and dissent. "Of course organisational structures exist" I hear people say. We have organisations and we create structures and we do organisational design to place people within those structures. We spend time and effort and...
The Balanced Scorecard is not a technical tool: It is a social tool!
Most of what we see in "Balanced scorecards" are technical tools. Many of the questions we see and hear on balanced scorecard forums are technical questions. Many balanced scorecard projects are seen as, primarily, technical projects. This applies to of all...
You can’t sack people in the public sector. Really!
This is a phrase I keep coming across, "You can't sack people in the public sector". Here is the catch: When you want to bring about cultural and behavioural change there will be some people who cannot, or will not, change their behaviour. They retain the behaviours...
Insight 6: If you want proper leadership, draw your organisational chart upside down
Insight 6: If you want proper leadership, draw your organisational chart upside down This insight is part is a series of six insights into strategy, people and performance, derived from working with my clients in 2013. Creating the space for others to perform If you...
Rationale people: Econs, Workers and Human beings – encouraging behaviours.
There is a running joke between economists and psychologists: Economists, have a model of a rational decision maker. Psychologists are used to people being emotional and less rational and try to understand that irrationality. So Psychologists say that Economists...
5) How to achieve Cultural and Behavioural change. Most recent articles first
Upside down organisation charts: Using them effectively
Upside down organisation charts are re-drawn with a purpose: to invite executives to think differently about their organisation and their role. This article explains how to draw them upside down (it is not simply turned upside down) and how the changed perspective...
Forget your business model… What about your people model?
What is your people model? I hear lots of talk about an organisation's business model, or their operating model, or their service delivery model. It is a core part of what I do, understanding how the business, operation, or service is going to deliver and make...
Why do Balanced Scorecard projects fail? The bigger issue – tackling change
There are lots of stories about Balanced Scorecard projects failing. What is the real story behind these and why do they fail? In this article we look behind the headlines. There is a separate question: Who puts these stories about? When you look carefully, usually...
Organisational structures do not exist – they are a myth!
OK, I can hear the squeals of anguish and dissent. "Of course organisational structures exist" I hear people say. We have organisations and we create structures and we do organisational design to place people within those structures. We spend time and effort and...
Why reorganisations fail – they don’t address the underlying issue
Have you ever been though a "re-organisation"? You know the sort. They take about nine months and typically cost anything between £1 million and £10 million. (I am counting consultancy fees, disruption, effort spent in none operational activities and conversations...
The Balanced Scorecard is not a technical tool: It is a social tool!
Most of what we see in "Balanced scorecards" are technical tools. Many of the questions we see and hear on balanced scorecard forums are technical questions. Many balanced scorecard projects are seen as, primarily, technical projects. This applies to of all...
5) Modern Balanced Scorecards. Most recent articles first
Test a Balanced Scorecard to see if it is useful
How do you test a balanced scorecard to see if it will be informative, useful and effective? With over 20 years experience designing and implementing balanced scorecards I have one key test that usually reveals how the balanced scorecard has been designed and is...
Line of sight and the golden thread: Understanding the difference
Line of sight and The golden thread are often talked about but also often confused. For us, they are two different things and the distinction is important. These are both about how individuals and teams in the organisation relate to the organisation’s goals, but in...
Why use a KPI? Beware the KPI substitution heuristic
Why use a KPI? There is a lot of discussion about which particular measure, indicator or KPI to use. There is far less discussion about why use a KPI in the first place. Actually, the reason is often a heuristic. Let me explain.... To solve difficult questions, we...
Milestones and activities are not measures: but they are still useful
I was listening to my colleague and friend, Stacey Barr this week. In her seminar, she was making it very clear that many make the mistake of using things that are really milestones or activities, when they are talking about measures. She is right. However, people...
Leading indicators: Ten different types for different situations
Leading and lagging indicators seem to create confusion for some people, yet with a clear understanding, it is easy to see explain how they work and help people think productively about how to create and use them. In this article I want to explain how different types...
The Strategic Balanced Scorecard is based on praxis, not dogma
On a LinkedIn forum I was being told that I did not know what was in a manual and therefore did not understand the Palladium Balanced Scorecard approach which gets called the Execution Premium. I am told I used 'incorrect' language. Also that there was only one way...
6) Fourth Generation Strategic Balanced Scorecards and modern methods of management. Most recent articles first
Test a Balanced Scorecard to see if it is useful
How do you test a balanced scorecard to see if it will be informative, useful and effective? With over 20 years experience designing and implementing balanced scorecards I have one key test that usually reveals how the balanced scorecard has been designed and is...
Read moreSymbolic strategy maps present the strategy as a simpler picture than the full, detailed strategy map.
Symbolic strategy maps: variations, uses and abuses
Quite often a client will want to present their strategy as a simpler picture than the full, detailed one page strategy map. This articles explores the pros and cons of doing such symbolic strategy maps. Sometimes this is for a simple introduction from which the...
Strategy maps need a clear and explicit Business Model
Working with a client last year I placed a draft strategy map on the wall. Actually I placed their business model so that they could start to develop their strategy over the top of their business model, once we had the business model correct. The reaction from the...
Mind the gap: The perils of strategy mapping
Strategy maps are a very visual tool. So sometimes small details catch someone's eye. However, the picture of the strategy map might be saying more than a thousand words if you are not careful. Is that small gap important? Earlier this year I was training...
The Chief Executive and the Lightbulb: How we think about performance management
As I talked, I noticed that the Chief Executive was no longer listening. She had gone into that state of deep thought, staring up and away into the distance; thinking intensely: thinking about something - I had no idea what. I decided not to disturb those thoughts...
Strategic Balanced Scorecards for Hospices: Some advice from experience
This article will help you in the design, implementation and use of a Hospice balanced scorecard: You can apply this advice on a Hospice strategic balanced scorecard approach in any similar charity. I was delighted to find that the Hospice Sector's umbrella body 'Help...
7) Paradigm shifts that affect our organisations and how we manage.
Most recent articles first
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7) Thought provokers, designed to make you consider thinking differently about how we manage and our organisations:
Most recent articles first
Excitant Thought Provoker: Being an agile strategy organisation means… (2019/03)
Do you have an agile strategy and an agile organisation? Recently a client asked me how to be more agile in the implementation of their strategy. In response, here are eight short thoughts on the underlying thinking necessary to becoming a more agile, learning...
Excitant Thought Provoker: Does your strategy frame future decisions? (Newsletter 2019/02)
Continuing my theme of testing and explaining your strategy, a short article with a simple idea… Strategy needs an argument (in both senses) In the last article I explained that strategy needs an argument, a logical structure that explain it, using a strategy tablet...
Excitant Thought Provoker: Testing the argument in your strategy (Newsletter 2019/01)
This time: Two, deceptively simple ways to look at your strategy, to ensure you are explaining it effectively…. and two tests you can easily apply to your strategy document. (for a very quick read, skip down to the “deceptively simple tests 1 and 2) Examining...
On meaning, and meaningful work, in our organisations
This article explores the idea of meaningful work and having meaning in our organisations and for our people. It contrasts meaningful work with the idea of purpose in our organisations, which is quite different to many people. On purpose, as opposed to meaning Almost...
Excitant Thought Provoker: A seasonal reflection on purpose and meaning at work. (Newsletter 2018/12)
As we enter the season of reflection, new year resolutions and occasionally some strategic thinking and planning, I wanted to share an insight I received from working with a charity a couple of years ago. An insight into the importance of both Purpose, and of...
Excitant Thought Provoker: Learning from failure? Or why it has not yet succeeded? (Newsletter 2018/11)
This article should provoke your thoughts about learning from your projects and to get improve how you implement those “Lessons learnt”. It includes a checklist that a client found really useful; a checklist that you can apply during any project or...
Of course the best way to find out what we think is to Contact us
