Preparing for the Upswing & a Change in Direction
From an organisational perspective it is pretty common for senior managers to spend significant energy considering when to upgrade plant and equipment, be it machinery, vehicles or IT infrastructure. The upgrades can occur on the run (in response to a surge in demand for instance), as a result of necessity (say as a result of a breakdown or unexpected damage) or as a planned development. The farming sector are very good at upgrading equipment in response to expected demand whilst also having a great handle on plant servicing and repairs. The current manufacturing sector is more cautious and most will upgrade as needed, holding off for as long as possible until confident a surge in demand is emerging. But what about your people? How many organisations ‘upgrade’ their people talent in time?
The interesting thing for me is that whilst new machinery can be up and running quickly or new IT can roll out with an incumbent system in place, the people elements can take a little longer. Which poses the question, at what point do you prepare your people for a change or an upswing?
Training and people development ought to be an ongoing thing. Sadly, it’s not. Formal and informal training elements can be developed and programmed. In much the same way as you maintain plant and equipment, maintenance and upgrading of the capabilities of your staff ought to occur consistently. There are THREE core areas that you can focus on: Strategic capability; Operational capability; and Execution capability. You’ll note that for most organisations, the belief is that ‘execution’ is the role of ‘Operation’. NOTHING can be further from the truth. The Organisational Evolution Model highlights the flaws in thinking that ‘Ops’ is where things get executed.
So the time to prepare for the upswing and changes in direction, is NOW. And tomorrow, and the day after that. Training is not a cost centre, its a development centre. If you put it off you’ll constantly be playing catch up to competitors who are already ‘ready’. Significantly, by the time an opportunity is spotted it’ll have likely sailed by before you can respond effectively. So be smart – Strategic, Operational, and Execution training ought to be a constant area of development.
In a recent article in The Age, Clive Williams of Macquarie University’s Centre for Policing, Intelligence and Counter Terrorism suggested that athletes booked in to attend the Commonwealth games in India need to consider a terrorist attack as a potential wildcard. Whilst an interesting perspective, I’d like to suggest that a potential terrorist attack at…
Read More >If my information is correct, the 14th of February is the start of the New Year and instead of the usual flowers and chocolates, you might be wise to invest in another gift for your heart’s desire Because Feb 14 is the start of the Chinese New Year – the year of the Tiger. So…
Read More >Had any thoughts yet? I have – plenty and judging from the number of media inquiries it appears lots of other people are also curious to know what might lie ahead in the next year or next decade. I’m putting my thinking hat on so that we can consider what 2010-2019 might hold, the second…
Read More >I’m tipping that Consensus will be reached at Copenhagen this week. Alas it will be a consensus for more talking, thinking and commitments to agree to a proposal to set a time for a discussion around more concrete targets. In otherwords, a commitment to not commit. The politicians waver whilst our planet is being poisoned.…
Read More >The cycle of consumption rears its head as it has done for quite some time. Consumption is neither good, nor bad, it ‘just is’ and right now the majority of media exposed potential consumers are being lured, enticed and occasionally conned into parting with their hard earned money to satisfy needs and whims. Some consumers…
Read More >Our son has just celebrated his fifth birthday and although we don’t make a huge fuss about milestones (the kids get a party every second year), there’s no doubt that he is learning about desired future outcomes and goals. I doubt he is different from most kids in his ability to spot something and declare…
Read More >Here’s a little something I’d like you to think about. Are you really who you say you are? And, how do I know that I can trust you? Identity Theft is one of the most debilitating crimes a person can suffer for it strips away the very core of your own belief system and that…
Read More >‘World – we have a problem’ (apologies to astronaut James Lovell). We are killing ourselves with food and it’s happening at both ends of the continuum – millions starve each day whilst a gluttony caused obesity epidemic is killing others off in different ways. We have a growing global population requiring sustenance, whilst Climate Change…
Read More >Anyone looking at the final rainfall figures for Melbourne’s rainfall might be heartened by the news that the final result was about 10mm above the September average. Compared to last year’s disastrous result where we had about 12mm, it was over 50mm better. But I wonder if the final result, and the current ‘average’ isn’t…
Read More >Strategic Futurist Marcus Barber discussed the future of travel at the ANTOR session at The American Club in Sydney, NSW on the 24th of September. Along with Angela Smith from Roy Morgan Research, Martin Kelly from Travel Trends and Gail Rehbein from the Australian Centre for Corporate Social Responsibility Marcus proposed some of the emerging…
Read More >