Exploring Strategy Development – the Organisational Evolution model
An interesting public workshop in Perth in the first week of October introducing a varied group to the Organisational Evolution model.
The Org-Ev is the model I developed for the start up of The Australian Strategic Planning Institute in conjunction with Steven Bowman.
Given the diversity of the group, there were a number of surprises for participants, the main one being the similarity of issues, even if scale of the issues was different depending on the size of the organisation. The two main themes were:
- Staff attraction and retention
- Staff Productivity
For the manager of the offshore oil and gas platforms, the drive for productivity in extreme conditions is a key challenge. High levels of stress and long working hours are common. For the Doctor and Practise owner from a regional location, the cause of stress was different, but working hours, and health and safety were as prevalent and as pressing inside his Practise as for the oil rigs Manager.
For the NFP attendees, staff attraction and retention was of high concern which interestingly matched to the Fire Services attendee.
Perhaps the biggest learning from the model was the separation of the ‘Operational’ aspects of a business, from the Execution aspects. The model is clear here – the thinking is and needs to be different. Operations identifies, prepares and manages the resources needed. The Execution part of the business USES those resources. Preparing for and Doing are NOT the same and different thinking must be applied.
The Four Phases, Ten steps model is just one way to develop strategic attention and enhance execution. Biased as I am toward futures thinking, I still come back to the first step in the first phase – Vision. Without a clearly defined Vision, decisions on what to pay attention to and how, seem moot.
If you’re interested in finding out more, feel free to contact me
Futurist Jack Uldrich has posted an item to his website looking at Ten Trends shaping Government today. Although each item is arguable and may be context specific depending on ‘which’ Government you’re looking at, it’s a good overall take suggesting things to do with data, the interenet, crowdsourcing and the like. However I think Jack…
Read More >Sir Paul Nurse has ‘weight’ when it comes to science. His position is the head of The Royal Society in the United Kingdom and in an address in Melbourne he suggested that we need to keep politicians away from scientists: “It also emphasises the need to keep the science as far as is possible from…
Read More >I’ve been thinking long and hard about what to call 2013. After saying 2011 would need to be the International Year of Resilience (much still needed) and 2012 the International Year of Problem Solving I’m thinking now that Crowdsourcing (the idea of seeking assistance beyond your own capabilities from the ‘crowd’ often through social media)…
Read More >There’s lots of talk about ‘next big things for 2013’ right now, just as there has been in past years. Rather than join the cadre of prognosticators, trend experts and (not so) disguised salespeople laying claim to knowing about what ‘will’ be for the coming 12 months, I offer an alternative approach – here’s five…
Read More >Here it comes, the 21st of December 2012 – the last known recorded date on the Mayan Calendar and for years people have wondered why the Mayans never got around to extending beyond 2012. What did the Mayans know that we didn’t and should we be thinking about opening our Christmas presents early this year?…
Read More >As a Strategic Futurist I love a good scenario like the rest of us in the futures community. And where I choose to diverge from many in my field is in the pragmatic applications of futures and foresight thinking. Scenarios left as ‘what ifs…?’ are at best, theoretical. All of my clients and most of…
Read More >Over at The Australian Strategic Planning Institute an observation has been made about the so called Top Ten Trends for 2013 and whether, with deeper consideration, the trends suggested deserve their place as new, or emerging or whether in fact, by relying upon them you might be chasing a ship that has long since sailed.…
Read More >Creative Commons is an approach that attempts to ensure that information in its various forms, can be shared by others for free. That is my take on it at least. And over time we’ve seen some major organisations shape the idea of ‘free’ to ‘free with conditions’ and ‘free for a fee’. The last one…
Read More >Some topics are too big to cover in a few minutes on radio. In this brief snapshot, the ABC Darwin’s Vicki Kerrigan and I chat about energy costs, causes and the future ahead for places like Darwin You can download the media file here: Marcus Barber Future of Energy
Read More >What does a City tell you of itself, by how it shows itself? There’s much to be learnt by noting the small yet ‘obvious’ signs of life in any city you visit, that reveal to a certain extent, it’s ‘true self’. I’ll mention a few cities here but will focus on my most recent visit…
Read More >