In addition to my monthly newsletter, and of course the blog, I like to test my ideas in the public domain through articles published in leading business journals, so that I remain at the forefront of thinking on process innovation.
How To Maximise Change Management Success
International Institute of Directors & Managers | 15 April, 2015
Managing a change initiative through to a successful conclusion is fraught with pitfalls. Here are three key change management techniques that help make the road to your desired conclusion far easier to navigate. [more – subscription required]
The Reasons Projects Fail To Realise Benefits
International Institute of Directors & Managers | 7 October, 2014
How often have you rolled out a new project that failed to deliver the desired benefits? Most projects fail to deliver benefits because of poor change management. Little to no attention is paid to the people side of the change. [more – subscription required]
The best practices are the ones you already have
Process Excellence Network | 29 January, 2014
On one hand organisations must look outward to ensure they’re providing the right products and services. But on the other hand they must look to their internal best practices to ensure they’re delivering those products and services in the most effective and efficient way possible. How to resolve this conundrum asks contributor Dan Lock.
Alignment and coordination drive bottom line
Corporate Learning Network | 14 January, 2014
The reasons organizations are productive also makes them unstable. Alignment and coordination are critical to driving organizational performance.
Alignment of organizational goals is one of the buzzworthy phrases of the modern management lexicon. Speakers often use the phrase without really qualifying what they mean and why it’s important.
5 Steps to Drive Value from Training
Corporate Learning Network | 14 January, 2014
According to the ASTD’s 2013 State of the Industry Report, U.S. organizations spent $164.2 billion on employee learning and development in 2012. The report does a good job of categorizing and classifying expenditure. But what about ROI? How can managers structure training to ensure a positive ROI?
Two Factors for Change Management Success
Management Today | 14 January, 2014
Long term thinking is a vital element of effective change leadership. For change to pay off, a leader must have grit and a desire to see change through to the end. However, it can be tempting to focus your attention on the current quarter’s results, and put key change initiatives off.
People Don’t hate Change, They Hate Ambiguity
Management Today | 14 January, 2014
In this PEX Network interview, Daniel Lock, principal of Daniel Lock Consulting and author of a new e-book on change management, joins the program to discuss why some of the traditional change management approaches don’t lead to the best results and offer suggestions on how to handle change better.
The Reason Projects Fail to Realise Benefits
The Project Management Hut | 10 January, 2014
How often have you rolled out a new IT project that failed to deliver the desired benefits? Most projects fail to deliver benefits because of poor change management. Little to no attention is paid to the people side.
The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Change Leaders
Management Today | 9 December, 2013
What is does it mean to be a change leader? What behaviours must they engage in day in and day out to drive real and meaningful change? Daniel Lock investigates. Having worked in the change and process improvement for 15 years, and worked with dozens of clients since I launched my consulting business, I have identified seven behaviours and habits which help to identify whether a business leader is strategic.
In short, highly strategic leaders: ..[more]
Unravelling the IT productivity paradox
CIO.com.au | 25 November, 2013
“You can see the computer age everywhere but in the productivity statistics”, Nobel prize winning economist Robert Solow said way back in 1987. In the mid-1990s, there was a productivity boom, which lasted for about ten years. Some of this was attributed to IT, but since then nothing like the technological contributions of industrial revolution in the first half of the twentieth century.
If you aren’t failing you’re not trying
Process Excellence Network | 21 November, 2013
Ultimately, small scale experimentation pays off in big ways. Many businesses don’t grow unless they innovate, and innovation comes from developing and implementing new ideas. However, innovation usually carries a risk of some kind. For example, fundamental assumptions could be wrong, new products may not work sufficiently well, or customers may not accept your ideas
Microsoft’s New Opportunity: What Happens When the Leadership Baton is Passed On?
Human Resources IQ | 18 November, 2013
Steve Ballmer, Bill Gates’ successor, is stepping down after thirteen years as CEO of Microsoft. His strategy during his time as chairman was to move Microsoft to a “services and hardware” company, when its specialty had always been software. Is Ballmer’s decision to step down an admission that shareholders rejected this decision? What should the next leader of Microsoft do? Looking at a few examples of how other companies have fared when shifting leadership can offer some enlightening information.
Beware of “Best Practices”: The call to innovate, not emulate
Corporate Learning Network | 18 November, 2013
Leading is leading, but industries, companies, and markets create value through differentiation. J.C. Penney recently hired Ron Johnson to repeat the stellar success he’d had at Apple for them. With flagging revenues, J.C. Penney was looking for some fresh blood and new ideas.
Middle managers as Engines of Change
Management Today | 8 November, 2013
he captain may be in the bridge, but is the engine room operating on all cylinders? By Daniel Lock
Last month I wrote about the importance of leadership and change. Nothing happens until the top leadership says so. Leaders have this organisational power because they choose the incentives systems, the values and behaviours that create cultural norms.
From Little Things Big Things Grow
The Project Management Hut | 6 November, 2013
Sometimes small changes are better than big ones (think people, products, business models, and everything else).
Stories of breakthrough innovation like that of the iPod, iPhone, and 3M’s post-it notes gradually become part of management folk-lore. These tales of breakthrough innovations are either about organisations with deep pockets or the university dropouts who take on big business and win.
Are you a Change Leader?
Management Today| 1 October, 2013
The power is in the engine, but the wheel is in the bridge.
When Lou Gerstner took over as CEO of IBM in 1993, he took the reins of an old and prestigious institution with a rich history. Gerstner had no experience in the computer industry, but he did know about leadership. His resume included senior positions at American Express and McKinsey & Company, and a spot as CEO of RJR Nabisco.
Beware: Problem solving can be dangerous to your organizational health
Process Excellence Network | 5 September, 2013
Nothing is ever perfect. But, then again, nothing ever will be. We will always have just one more issue or series of issues to tackle.
But when change is upon us, and we feel like things are going wrong all over the place, we need to alter our focus. Instead of honing in on the problems, we need to look for the best practices and the little wins that
The importance of leadership when driving improvement and innovation
Corporate Learning Network | 2 September, 2013
What qualifies as “good leadership” is in constant flux. Sure, it’s always considered beneficial to be able to effectively manage your subordinates, motivate others, and turn a profit. But sometimes these keys elements of leadership seem vague and abstract. It can seem even more confusing when you combine leadership with the perhaps even more abstract concept of innovation. What is the process of innovation when it comes to corralling the troops, starting from the drawing board, and pushing an idea out that makes big bucks?
What Could It Mean to Microsoft When the Leadership Baton is Passed On?
ComproBizz | 27 August, 2013
Steve Ballmer is stepping down after thirteen years as CEO of Microsoft, having succeeded Bill Gates the now Chairman. Is this an admission his strategy of moving to a “services and hardware” company was rejected by shareholders and what should the next leader of Microsoft do?
Avoiding project ambiguity
CIO.com.au | 27 August, 2013
Want people to use your new system? Provide more clarity around objectives and goals. Historically, organisational and change management issues related to IT projects were often under-estimated or ignored entirely. In fact, people issues collectively accounted for the majority of project failures.
How can you make a habit out of innovation?
Process Excellence Network | 4 July, 2013
It’s easy to say you want to become an innovator in business yet it doesn’t take rocket science to figure out that you actually have to do something to make it happen. That could mean some pretty key changes in the way you do business.
How too much process is killing innovation
Process Excellence Network | 21 May, 2013
Does a focus on problem solving leave you at risk of missing major market changes?
Too much focus on process and their methodologies stifles innovation and creativity. Instead, stop fixing and restoring and instead focus on improving, writes contributor Daniel Lock.
In a study of U.S. and European companies, the Boston Consulting Group found that “over the past fifteen years, the amount of procedures, vertical layers, interface structures, coordination bodies, and decision approvals needed…has increased by anywhere from 50 percent to 350 percent.” In addition, “managers spend 40 percent of their time writing reports and 30 percent to 60 percent of it in coordination meetings.”
- Which Business Improvement Approach Is Best For You? (CEO Online, 10 April, 2012)
- Building Your Strategic Agility (CEO Online, 13 February, 2012)
- 5 Steps To A Lean And Agile Business Process Model (CEO Online, 13 December, 2011)
- 8 Steps To Re-Engineering Process Success (CEO Online, 17 August, 2011)
- 7 Steps To Streamlining Processes In Your Business (CEO Online, 10 May, 2011)
- The voice of the customer: Helping customer find theirs: (CEO Online, September 2009)
Seven Steps to streamline your business: published in My Business Magazine September 2009
- Business Process Innovation: Avoiding Equipment Focus at the Expense of Experience – Published in CEO Refresher (August 09)
- Strategising Your Business: A market dominating primer – published inCEO Online (August 09)
Why let planning kill strategy: published in In-Business magazine August 2009
Strategise Your Business: published in My Business Magazine June 2009
- 15 Tips to become a better leader – Published in Dynamic Business (June 2009)
- Getting Your Strategy Off The Shelf And Into Action – published in CEO Online (May 2009)
