Higher Ambition at #MelcrumSummit

  This afternoon is focusing on IC and change and we're starting wih Flemming Norrgren, author of Higher Ambition which had already been trailed by Anne-Lise Kjaer.

In Norrgren's view, the key silent killers for change, similar to those real killers for individuals (hyper-tension and high saturated fat) which are often undiscussed . undiscussable are ineffective leadership, management and communication (top, down, one-way) etc:

 

 

Key ones for the attendees here are leadership and co-ordination:

 

 

Anyway, it's not a single killer on their own that's important, it's when they act in tandem.  And the root causes are often the lack of rust and honest communication which requires a change in how leaders behave.

Norrgren recommends a rapid strategic change process - locking the leaders in a room and giving them a few hours to come up with three or four new strategic goals on one piece of paper that they're all signed up to.

It also needs to involve 8 to 10 of the most talented people in the organisation who them really trust in helping to implement the strategy.  [I can't say this process works for me - I think the top team will have lost the engagement of their people before they start.]

These task force members then each interview 8 to 10 people in different areas in the business and report back to the executive - which they do in a no-powerpoint fish bowl format.  [I like that.]

 

 

The next presentation was provided by two ex-Pfizer communicators about a project there.  Most of this what about damage limitation recovering from a top-down imposed change - exactly why, whilst I think there are some interesting ideas in Norrgren's approach, I still don't think it's fully there yet.

 

We've still got more inputs from Melcrum / Speakeasy and Kingfisher and I may come back and add more here if I get more new insight from these...

And I'm also back here again tomorrow.

 

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