Thought leadership

Crelos Change Mastery Series

The Crelos Change Mastery Series drives the debate on the latest theories, models, tools and techniques of change. The series provides new perpsectives on leading and dealing with change and is designed to share, learn and develop insights and change behaviour. If you have something to contribute to the Crelos Change Mastery Series by way of experiences you’d be prepared to share or topics you would like us to research, please call us on 01491 845535

• Lessons from elite rowers Katherine Grainger & Cath Bishop ‘I wasn’t very sporty at school.’ This immediately got me sitting up straighter in my chair. Not a surprising revelation, you might think. You might, except that the person I’m quoting is former Olympic rower Cath Bishop. She urges us not to be held back by our own or other people’s (pre)conceptions of us: we always have the possibility of reinventing ourselves. Cath, alongside fellow rower and national hero Katherine Grainger, recently inspired and entertained a captivated audience with a compelling, searingly honest and theatrical presentation. By Liz Gooster, Meyler Campbell Faculty.


• Think Change: Think Different Would you apply the same approach and model of change if you were trying to solve the Cooperative Bank’s leadership and governance issues or trying to change the way that the big six energy providers bill for their services? Do traditional change management models work or do we need to think differently? ‘Think Change, Think Different’ was the title of our recent Crelos Change Mastery Workshop. We heard from speakers from different industry sectors, with diverse change experience, speak about the change challenges they are facing, the approaches they have used and the lessons they learnt.


• Into the Ether? Social Media is becoming increasingly prevalent in business, not only as a networking tool, but for internal communication purposes. Our latest research in the Change Mastery series examines how social media can be used to engage employees in change and increase organisational collaboration. In this article we tackle topics such as 'how to get started', 'building momentum' and 'regulation and trust' as well as sharing experiences from organisations such as GlaxoSmithKline, Grant Thornton and the Financial Times.


• Change Fatigue: myth or reality? In this, the first article of the Crelos Change Mastery Series, Elizabeth Ferguson explores the concept of ‘change fatigue’. We live in a time when change has become a constant part of UK plc. If change is a constant to what extent is change fatigue evident too? The research demonstrates that the way that change is managed has a direct impact on the extent to which change fatigue takes a hold. With the pace of change set to continue, we examine what leaders, managers, HR and consultants should be doing to minimise the effects on their organisations.


• Change Fatigue: myth or reality? In this, the first article of the Crelos Change Mastery Series, Elizabeth Ferguson explores the concept of ‘change fatigue’. We live in a time when change has become a constant part of UK plc. If change is a constant to what extent is change fatigue evident too? The research demonstrates that the way that change is managed has a direct impact on the extent to which change fatigue takes a hold. With the pace of change set to continue, we examine what leaders, managers, HR and consultants should be doing to minimise the effects on their organisations.


• Keys to superior strategy. In this article we examine the role of strategic thinking in creating executable strategies for change. It highlights the paradox that many businesses express disappointment with their change strategy process in spite of all the management education. It identifies the critical requirements for effective strategic thinking and concludes that the cost-benefit of investment in this area is compelling.


• A Change Challenge. In this, the third article of the Change Mastery series, we explore how international regulation is driving changes within professional services. Research completed with senior business people working with and in law and accountancy firms highlights the diverse approaches that firms are taking to being successful in an increasing complex and ambiguous business environment.

Press

To read where we have been in the press, click here.

Thought leadership and research

To help build on your knowledge and expertise, we have compiled a number of thought leadership articles for change professionals.

• Seeing clearly towards Vision 20:20 - In a sport with such a successful track record as rowing, how do you get such a diverse community to input into and feel engaged in the vision for the future? We share our experiences of supporting British Rowing with their latest change challenge - the development of their strategic plan up to 2020.


• A Review of 'What Happened to Goldman Sachs' - Banks and other financial institutions have always provided a rich field of study and never has this been truer than in the years following the financial crisis of 2008. In this article, Ali Gill provides her review of ‘What happened to Goldman Sachs: An insider’s story of organisational drift and its unintended consequences’. The book offers a rich and objective analysis of the culture and cultural journey of one of the World’s most revered financial institutions from 1979 to the present day.


• The Subtleties of Changing Culture in Financial Services - The difficulties facing financial services organisations at the moment are potentially overwhelming. Changes to values and culture have been heralded by many as the solution. In this article Ali Gill explains why a focus solely on cultural change could have disproportionally wide repercussions and suggests other areas on which financial services organisations might work. Originally published on http://accelus.thomsonreuters.com/. Thomson Reuters © 2013.


• Leading change - why models matter? - How valuable is a strategy that no one buys in to? Or a new process that no one adopts? Change can create value but, when not delivered properly, it can easily erode value too. Ali has, for many years now, been firmly of the belief that when leading any organisational change, it is helped by using a change model as a frame of reference to guide approach, decision making and for monitoring progress; a model of individual change. A model of individual change is critical because successful organisational change only results when individuals are successful at change.


• Change without line authority - At this recent Henley Business School event, Liz Cotgreave, Director of Business Transformation at Pearson, spoke eloquently on the topic of Leading Change without Line Authority. Liz has been supporting Pearson to move in to the digital age and talked about the challenges of leading and influencing this change in a complex, global organisation with a matrix structure. During her presentation Liz talked through her “Nine Commandments” of leading change; what would your tenth commandment be?


• Network your way to your first Board role - The well-known saying “it’s not what you know but who you know” cannot be more true for a business woman trying to secure that first board position. In this article, Libby Ferguson shares her experience of attending the recent Financial Times Non-Executive Directors’ Club “Women on Boards” event, run in association with EY. The key theme that arose out of the event, targeted at women either looking for or just embarking on their first board position, was network, network, network. As well as providing an overview of the event, the article also contains some useful reminders and tips, essential for any business woman not just those seeking a board role.


• The Salz Review - The Salz Review of Barclays’ Business Practices has delivered its report to the Board of Barclays PLC. The Review was commissioned by the Board of Barclays as an independent external Review of Barclays’ business practices led by Anthony Salz. The Review’s mandate is to determine how Barclays can rebuild trust and develop business practices which make it a leader, not only among its business peers, but also among multinational corporates more generally. Ali Gill supported the Reviewers by providing advice on culture.


• Understanding and working on culture - In this article Ali Gill summarises recent research on culture and cultural change. It is written for leaders and consultants with a desire to learn more about organisational culture and its role in business performance. It is not meant to be exhaustive but rather to stimulate thought and to provide some practical guidance about the tools available for understanding culture, designing a desired culture or working to change culture.


• Beneath the boardroom gender agenda - In follow up to the latest event in the Crelos Change Mastery Series, Ali Gill, CEO, takes a look at the psychological reasons why women aren't on boards.


• Women Celebrating Women - International Women's Day - 8th March 2011 - On 8th March, Crelos, like many organisations across the UK and globally, will be running an event to commemorate the centenary year of International Women's Day. At our event we will hear from women who have achieved great things or who are trying to make a difference for women, either in business or in other aspects of life. How have they brought a uniquely female perspective to their change challenges? How have they achieved where other women have not? How have they been supported by and supported women throughout their journey?


• Action Research approach to introducing and maintaining change momentum - In order to combat apathy and ‘change fatigue’ organizations are having to think differently about implementing change - the days of the change ‘hero’ are numbered. The Action Research technique employed by Crelos seeks to harness the power of the people impacted by change. Action Research is carried out in real-world circumstances and involves close and open communication among the people involved.


• Overcome change fatigue by promoting resilience and resourcefulness - One of the primary challenges of organisational life today is the speed at which leaders persist in and need to reorganise and restructure to remain competitive. In such environments, if not handled well, change fatigue can take hold. Produced for the Crelos 'Dealing with Change Fatigue' event, January 2011.


• The Financial Crisis - are the Bankers to blame or was it the rules they were playing by? -

  The post financial crisis debate and theories as to how it happened and whether it can be prevented from happening again are moving away from media hype and gaining academic and regulatory credibility. At the 2010 ICAEW “PD Leake” lecture, Professor Greg Waymire posed the question of what can we learn from history and through robust financial reporting to prevent future crises?



• Human Capital Handbook 2011, Accounting for People 2.0 Edition -

  In parallel with the launch of Accounting for People 2.0, Human Potential Accounting is launching its own publication. The Human Capital Handbook 2011 will be published in January 2011 as a multi-authored online book of a dozen or more short chapters. Four pieces, of particular relevance to Accounting for People 2.0 are in this special edition. HubCap Digital is a not-for-profit library, containing human capital accounting materials from internationally recognised bodies and centres of research.



• Can Coaching be used to accelerate organisational change? - Many organisations are today experiencing two key challenges of ‘change fatigue’ and the need to deliver ‘more for less’. In this challenging business environment where every plan or initiative needs to be able to demonstrate its value, can coaching stand up as a quantifiable vehicle for accelerating organisational change?


• Measuring What People Know: Human Capital Accounting for the Knowledge Economy -

  Is human capital accounting theoretically possible and practically feasible? Economists estimate human capital on the basis of years of schooling or formal educational attainment levels, regardless of actual productive capacity. Human capital accounting in a business context is an attempt to place a financial figure on the knowledge and skills of an organization's employees or human capital. To date, there is no legal requirement for firms to report on human capital. Furthermore, financial accounting and reporting ignore even these crude measures, leaving human capital off the balance sheet for want of rules or conventions.



• Are People an Asset or Cost -

  Last week I joined Crelos CEO, Ali Gill, for an evening event at the Soho Hotel, run by Human Potential Accounting. The aim of the evening was to build momentum behind the need for more rigorous measurement, management and reporting of human capital, with the ultimate goal being to raise this issue on to the government’s agenda and instigate legislation to govern how human capital is accounted for in organisational reporting.



• Leadership lessons From Chilean Miners -

  The successful rescue of the 33 Chilean Miners is perhaps the ‘emotional feel good’ story of the decade. The BBC summarised their fate as being trapped under over 700 metres of solid rock, in temperatures of 90 degrees plus, with no certainty of rescue having been abandoned by the owners of the mine. The successful outcome can be attributed to the technical prowess of the rescue effort (the previous deep drill rescue record was 74metres in the 2002 Quecreek mine rescue of 9 miners in Pennsylvania).
  
  However, leadership behaviour also played a huge part both above and below ground. So what can organisations learn from this extraordinary success story?



• What happens now? -

  With the General Election outcome decided, the big question was 'what happens now?'' What are the first priorities for the PM? Should we expect more cross-party cooperation? What impact will over 150 new MPs have on the way politics is conducted? And after all the promises about the scale and timing of tax rises and public spending cuts, what's really in store for business and the public sector? Crelos consultant Elizabeth Henshilwood attended the breakfast meeting and offers her reflections...



• How do I change how people do things at work? -

  A job for life doesn’t seem to be an aspiration for many these days; peoples career aspirations mean that they are out-growing roles and setting their sights at the top. But what if the job out-grows you? More and more people are finding that their jobs are evolving at a faster and faster rate, and this is particularly noticeable in technology sales roles



• How are boardroom behaviour and organisational performance linked? -

  This article investigates the likely impacts of Sir David Walker ’s Review of Corporate Governance in UK banks and other financial industry entities and the FRC’s proposed revisions to the Combined Code on the Utilities



• How do I prepare my people for change? -

  I have been spending the last week talking to clients about their key challenges. The resounding answer has been “change”. How do we make change happen? How do we manage it effectively? How do we get our employees to change without decreasing efficiency? What is the emotional journey that my people will go through when I make this change?



• Crelos' response to the Combined Code review - In March 2009 the FRC announced a review of the Combined Code, as a result of which it proposes to make a number of revisions to the Code. Read Crelos and partner Tavistock Institute’s response and recommendations on the development of executive and non-executive directors and on Board evaluation.


• The Walker review and the Dynamics of Risk - The Walker Review of Corporate Governance in UK banks and other financial industry entities is a recipe book, not the meal itself. It is a lot bolder and more innovative than first meets the eye. But, the real work still has to follow. It asks the pivotal question: how can we address risk more strategically and sustainably? What must our minds and senses be alert to, especially when we need to overcome our own resistance to confront the uncertain and unexpected?


• Board behaviour has a direct impact on business performance - In both Sir David Walker's report on 'corporate governance in UK banks and other financial industry entities' and Sir Christopher Hogg's recent review of the Combined Code, they establish a clear link between board behaviour and business performance. They advocate that to enhance the board's performance and awareness of its strengths and weaknesses, board evaluation reviews should be externally facilitated and the chairman should hold regular development reviews with each director. However, they make it clear that behavioural change can't be enforced through regulations.


• Crelos and Tavistock Institute contribute to the Walker Report - Crelos and partner Tavistock Institute of Human Resources were one of the main contributors to the Walker report (chapter 4 and Annex 4) as expert psychologists, social scientists and organisational consultants working with and consulting to large firms across industries. Read our annexe on psychological and behavioural elements in board performance


• What can we learn about risk and risk taking? - Risk taking behaviours represent one of the most perplexing problems in the field of psychology. The need for safety in business is fundamental, yet many studies have found that people who take financial risks in the workplace generally tend to be more successful in their jobs. The recent events in the financial world would seem to prove this wrong. Are we now in danger of reverting to 19th Century mindset of treating people who take huge risks as if they are the mentally insane? What should organisations, and more specifically boards, do to encourage essential and positive risk-taking behaviours?


• Crelos' response to Sir David Walker's report - Sir David Walker's government-commissioned review of corporate governance in UK banks and other financial industry entities was published for consultation on 16 July 2009. Its publication prompted conflicting opinions about what measures can be put in place to prevent a future repeat of the near collapse of the banking sector. Ali Gill, CEO of Crelos, offers her view on why science-based due diligence of management teams is crucial.


• Managing and leading through the next phase of the recession - This new 'thinking aloud' article is part of a series of papers designed to prompt thought and engage conversation. It looks into the typical organisational behaviour issues that leaders will face as we enter the second phase of the recession.


• Employee engagement in a change environment - Change is inevitable for people and organisations and, even though managing change is a core skill for HR professionals, there are numerous academic studies that indicate that 70 per cent of change programs reportedly fail (Rune Todnem, 2005). Using construction business Costain's Project Management Academy as a case study, this paper discusses the dynamics of change within organisations, presents a rigorous approach to managing it that is based on a model of sustained behavioural development and illustrates how, in today's organisations, lasting and successful organisational change will best be achieved through engagement in behavioural change.


• Crelos analyse the personalities, motivations and behaviour of award-winning teachers - Crelos have recently teamed up with TES (Times Education Supplement) magazine to look into what makes a talented teacher. The 15 award-winning teachers were chosen because they represented a cross-section of the teaching population - from primary and secondary teachers to heads. We carried out a number of assessments, including psychometric tests and interviews and looked at their personalities, motivations and behaviours. The article written by TES as a result has generated a very lively debate amongst teachers.


• New best practice guidelines 'Due diligence' The assessment and development of management teams - The Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW) has joined forces with Crelos to produce a guide to assessing the current capabilities and future potential of management teams aimed at giving investors the advice and tools they need to assess the management potential of a company prior to investing.


• What are words worth? - This 'thinking aloud' article prompts debate concerning the importance of words and language in the workplace and how, when managed and used precisely you can communicate more effectively.


• Crelos 3T Report - Talent management is a term that is much talked about. However, for many its definition, not to mention the development of meaningful strategies, has proved elusive. We have set out with this report to provide a helpful and, we hope, thought-provoking guide to the talent management dilemmas companies are dealing with today. We also look at some of the challenges that lie ahead. Our aim is not just to give advice but to stimulate debate about what talent management really is and its link with business success.


• Understanding and working on culture - There is never a wrong time to focus on culture - like strategy - the work on culture is never finished. It needs to be embedded as an element of the organisations dialogue, systematically reviewed, openly discussed and supported by specific measures. In this article Ali Gill summarises recent research on culture and cultural change. It is written for leaders and consultants with a desire to learn more about organisational culture and its role in business performance.