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Common Approach, UnCommon Results.....How adoption gives you results you deserve
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Tackle the biggest barrier to performance – adoption of your improvement initiatives. By everyone in the company. The easy way. Today.  

What people are saying...

 

“The book addresses the question that all business managers have been struggling with over the past years: how are all these initiatives and projects going to work together.  The answer is offered in a simple and practical way.  As a reader you truly get the feeling that you can do something with the tips and solutions that are suggested.  COP - possibly the missing link to finally get the return on these big bang projects."

Nick Dieltiens - Manager Strategic Projects Group - Toyota Motor Marketing Europe


“We very recently handed over our entire IT processes to a large outsourcer. I wish I would have read Ian’s book before we started as it would have made our life considerably easier.”

Robert F. Walters, former CIO, J. Hancock, USA

 

"You can actually measure the success of a strategy by looking at what the whole company is focused on (or not). The approach Ian suggests makes this simple concept accessible by involving everyone in the building of a common understanding, with impressive results.  The most refreshing business book I’ve read in a long time.”

Jeremy Locke, Marketing Director, Capita, UK

 

“This book is different - it describes how you can develop a reality check for your strategy, and provides basic but up-to-date insight in the steps a strategy implementation can follow to deliver its promise.”

Flemming Norklit, Managing Director, BSI - Management Systems

“Only by tying working practice (processes) change to IT can organisations get the best out of IT. This book gets your organisation talking a common language and taking a common approach to business improvement.  Therefore it will prove to be an invaluable investment."

Hussam Otaibi, VP International Operations, Ventana Research

“I have been involved in many business improvement initiatives over the last 20 years.  All of them would have benefited from the principles, methodologies and tools that are so skilfully explained in this book.  It provides a comprehensive business management template for dealing with our ever-changing requirements and challenges."

Daniel L. Murphy, Engineering and Production Director, Intrepid Energy North Sea Ltd

Synopsis of the book...

 

How do you really deliver results on all the initiatives and projects in your company? The answer is Adoption.  Through Adoption, everyone in your company ensures that your strategy gets implemented and you obtain visible results from your initiative.

 

We put this succinctly: R=IA2   (Results = Initiatives x Adoption2)

 

Maximising Results by successful Adoption of the transformational changes driven out of  the Initiatives.  In other words, it does not matter how many initiatives (projects, exercises, and programmes, whatever) you throw at people if no one adopts the results of them. Typical initiatives include Six Sigma, software implementation (SAP, Siebel etc), Cost Reduction, Sarbanes Oxley and outsourcing programmes.

 

While this may sound obvious, the corporate landscape is rife with these initiatives in progress, where little or no thought has been put into how to make sure that the rest of the organisation actually adopt and own whatever improvement is advocated. Little surprise then that the adoption rate (and hence the success rate) of initiatives is pitifully low in many companies.

 

Gaining adoption is a challenge, not least because it involves changes in behaviour and attitudes. Inspirational leadership helps kick-start adoption throughout the company, but it cannot sustain the necessary continuous improvement required for companies to stay competitive. Adoption has measurable results, as the dramatic benefits obtained by the success stories reveal.

 

Adoption means communicating the changes required of people – and getting people to make the changes. The approach we are suggesting is applicable to virtually every initiative and it is achievable as it makes change as painless as possible.  This is where a common language is required – an operational language which can describe the changes in activities, behaviour and results that are expected.    

 

This language describes activities, roles and measures, and is managed through the use of a Common Operational Platform.  It manages processes, documents, resources and metrics – and the relationships between them.  This is made possible by current IT infrastructure and software.   Use of this Common Operational Platform enhances accountability and serves to further adoption.  And once the COP is in place it can be applied to other initiatives and therefore increases their return on investment.

 

Whilst this may seem interesting in practice, most companies already have a range of initiative s at different stages. Therefore the book takes 5 typical initiatives (outsourcing, compliance, Six Sigma, software package implementation, and rapid growth) and considers the most effective way of implementing the COP alongside them depending on the phase of the initiative.

 

From the experience of countless client engagements we have identified 7 simple steps to develop and manage the Common Operational Platform.  These steps build on on the principles of Adoption, but sets them out in a practical blueprint for action.

Common Approach, Uncommon Results

To read a short summary of the book click here

In this short video clip Ian answers some questions about the book "Common Approach, Uncommon results", and reveals a rather strange, but vital use for the book.....

Click the start button to watch the video


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