A sense of shared responsibility is one that can help any organization present a compelling vision about itself. The USA’s moon landing mission was one such case of the whole team coming together for the one final shared goal. Building empathy is one of the crucial preliminary tasks before gets about setting this whole process up. To begin with, the company needs to draft its corporate strategy based around the problems one feels most passionate about for solving. The team members need to be practically demonstrated early on, how shared responsibility, actually drives an improved performance. Without this display, good words may merely remain theoretical. The shared responsibility needs to receive buy- in from the group.

Source:https://sloanreview.mit.edu/article/how-shared-responsibility-can-shape-a-compelling-vision/

Uploaded Date:16 August 2019

The word pivot has now become very popular across business cycles. The term seems to signify the desire to move to the next level of business for the firm. But before one pivots, finding a pillar is important, so that one may ground oneself within the company’s original philosophy. This has been described in the latest book titled Big Pivot,written by Andre Winston. There is a substantial stasis that is experienced in the stage just before a brand may take off to the next level. To ensure this happens, a brand needs to display consistent values in its outreach. The core principles need to be intact, and work almost like rules to the firm. A clear corporate strategy needs to be showcased to the general audience. None of this though may succeed, without a solid leadership from the very top. Emotional intelligence and clear communications will be traits the leader needs to possess for this.

Source:https://www.strategy-business.com/blog/Find-your-pillar-before-you-pivot?gko=1fa31

Uploaded Date:16 August 2019

A number of companies are now in the process of planning for the long- term. This is because they can see massive changes on the horizon. These changes may be due to technological or macro- economic factors. That is where consultants need to behave like futurists, and avoid drafting the strategy for too long a timeline. This is to avoid the trap newspapers fell in the early 2000s, as several newspapers shut down and the overall advertising revenue diminished significantly. Instead of using time lines, one could rather use time cones. This will have four categories. Those will be tactics, corporate strategy, vision and systems- level evolution. Each will have individual time lines, staring with just a year or two for the tactics to take shape, but more than ten years needed for the systems- level evolution.

Source:https://hbr.org/2019/07/how-to-do-strategic-planning-like-a-futurist?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=hbr

Uploaded Date:16 August 2019

The latest technological tools are impacting businesses in myriad ways, but especially in two of them. These technologies include Artificial Intelligence(AI), blockchain, social media, mobile marketing, cloud computing, business analytics and the Internet- of- Things (IoT). The two areas most impacted are in operational excellence and for rapid innovation. One major dilemma digital companies are facing, is in their talent management structures. Most firms continue to use the top- down hierarchical approach, suited to standardization, but which have a detrimental impact on digital companies, where a more agile structure will be better suited. For those who want to become digital as well as digitize, there are a few lessons that have been understood. One is that digitization as a whole, needs to be distinguished form one- off digital initiatives, or projects. Another is that the digital business leaders need to be accorded the space to devise new metrics and work norms. New leaders likewise need to be identified, and provided the right training to rise up.

Source:https://sloanreview.mit.edu/article/digital-success-requires-breaking-rules/

Uploaded Date:14 August 2019

The term ecosystem business is not new, nor are the business models. The likes of Lloyd’s, Toyota and Volkswagen have been in this line for decades and even centuries, as in the case of the first. But now, this model is gaining a lot of attention. Some of the fastest growing companies today, fall broadly under the category of ecosystem businesses. Prominent examples include the likes of Uber, Tencent, We Work, Alibaba, Google and Amazon. Not all of these may end up successful, as several have been known to lose money, as in the case of Spotify. This model is also challenging the thinking behind the twin strategies all businesses have adopted over the last few decades. Those have been a resource- based view and market positioning. Those in charge of such companies’ corporate strategy, need to take care of a few vital points, such as ensuring that customers keep flowing in. The company’s digital marketing strategy should also focus on ensuring customer loyalty, so that they stick around. One must never poach any associate’s business, as all are connected on the platform. The company needs to keep evolving with time. Several challenges will arise during this process.

Source:https://hbr.org/2019/08/ecosystem-businesses-are-changing-the-rules-of-strategy

Uploaded Date:14 August 2019

Almost every company these days desires creativity and business innovations to spark their work models. But not all are getting it right. This is down primarily to the organizational structure in place for all. This topic has been covered at length in the recent book titled Loonshots: How to Nurture the Crazy Ideas that Win Wars, Cure Diseases, and Transform Industries, written by Safi Bahcall, who is a biotech entrepreneur. One lesson the book has highlighted on is to separate and individually nurture both the artistes and well as the soldiers. The former are the creative types who will forge the idea, while the latter are ones who execute the operations. Any company must organize their creative process in to these two processes. Bahcall has curated what she calls the Innovation Equation. In true physicist style, she has defined its parameters in scientific terms. These are equity fraction, fitness ratio, management span and salary growth.

Source:https://www.innovationexcellence.com/blog/2019/07/30/is-organizational-structure-the-secret-to-innovation/

Uploaded Date:10 August 2019

Corporate Knights has come up with the list of the hundred most sustainable corporations for the year 2019. This Canada- based organization has released its fifteenth such list. Several factors have been considered, such as the increased recycling, use of renewable energy and minimizing waste. Little known Danish food company Hansen finds itself on top. Kering SA from France and Neste from Finland are the next two. The top ten is dominated by companies from Europe. Some key lessons emerge from the experiences of these toppers. One is that such companies tend to live longer. They have better governance standards than their counterparts. Definitely, they have greener initiatives. Their talent recruitment system is geared towards employing more women on average than the industry norm. Their revenue streams also originate from cleaner sources. Investors too seem contented.

Source:https://www.theceomagazine.com/business/innovation-technology/worlds-sustainable-companies-2019/?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=Technology&utm_content=Green+leaders

Uploaded Date:30 July 2019

ING has fixed its talent management structure specifically to cater to the present business needs. Instead of the traditional command- and- control hierarchical style, the company has introduced an agile system, with no fixed structures. The team is headed by a Tribe Lead. A tribe typically includes here around one- hundred and fifty people. There are agile coaches taking care of the mentoring and corporate training part here. Within a tribe, are squads which generally have about nine people, headed by a product owner. For specific projects, chapters are created, to execute group tasks. The chapter lead is temporarily appointed under it.

Source:https://www.mckinsey.com/industries/financial-services/our-insights/ings-agile-transformation?cid=other-eml-ttn-mkq-mck-oth-1712

Uploaded Date:30 July 2019

Decision making is oft a time consuming and messy affair. At the root of this problem, lies the categorization on decision to be made. To ease this process, an ABCD of decision making has been designed. A is for Ad hoc decisions. These arise suddenly and their impact on the broader organization depends upon the frequency. Such occurrences are infrequent and unfamiliar. B stands for the Big- bet decisions. These are the ones that alter the corporate strategy from the very top. There is a broad scope and impact in them while also being an unfamiliar happening. The third category is the C which goes with Cross- cutting decisions. Their scope is broad, are frequent in occurrence, while the stakeholders concerned are fairly familiar with such. Lastly with D are the Delegated decisions. While their impact remains narrow, their occurrence is also frequent.

Source:https://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/organization/our-insights/decision-making-in-your-organization-cutting-through-the-clutter?cid=other-eml-nsl-mkq-mck-oth-1802&hlkid=ebcf0c6f1dd945d491e83409d078b701&hctky=2657824&hdpid=cf69bc13-2f25-43e6-8c6d-793294bbe44e

Uploaded Date:30 July 2019

It has now been well established that in order to ace the marketing curve, companies need to build a robust customer experience. For this, an organization story goes a long way in establishing the myths and legends surrounding the brand. Apple and Starbucks for instance have garnered attention by creating this story around their brands. Now, they are leveraging this established company story to further up their digital marketing game. There is always a starting point that companies need to work from. The top team needs to be passionate about the brand to be endorsed, as only then will some origin story emerge. Coca- Cola is another example of a company, that has even created a museum commemorating its secret formula.

Source:https://www.strategy-business.com/blog/How-to-discover-your-organizations-story?gko=2a4be

Uploaded Date:29 July 2019

In the ongoing digital age, there is a certain playbook that all the winning teams abide by. They follow the principle of learn, engage and then share. While learning takes place quarterly or weekly, sharing takes place usually monthly. Engagement here refers to engaging with the enormous data warehousing done, so that meaningful insights may get extracted. This is done monthly to weekly. The company also needs to follow an adapt and deploy strategy. The first stage here is to reallocate the internal talent. An agility needs to be brought in to action. The right execution of talent management, will lead to the creation of cross- functional squads. Real- time digital learning is now possible. The pace of sharing insights needs also to be similar to the digital. An overall culture shift too needs to accompany these changes.

Source:https://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/digital-mckinsey/our-insights/the-drumbeat-of-digital-how-winning-teams-play

Uploaded Date:29 July 2019