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Post corona virus world - predictions for business

So will the corona virus create a long term change in society? Making predictions about the future is difficult so I've probably got it wrong however that's not going to stop me. Humans are mostly driven by habit.  We have developed some pretty deep habits pre corona virus so it's not guaranteed anything will change long term.  Once the fear element is removed we may all revert to previous behaviours.  Equally on the flip-side -  if we are in lock-down long enough and the fear persists long after lock-down then we  may actually develop new habits replacing old habits. Maybe in 20 years we will all be still socially distancing.... Ignoring human behaviours - its pretty certain the state of business after corona virus will be different compared to before it and it will have a large economic effect on a global basis. Many businesses may have burnt through their cash reserves.  Some businesses will have benefited significantly and built up a mountain of cash.  Companies tha

The balancing act of leading change

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Leading change in an organisation can often feel like an elastic band.  You push hard to stretch it and when you stop pushing it goes back to it's original state. Why is that? People form habits - new employees quickly identify what are the social norms in a company  and adopt those habits.  Organisations have collective memories. If you want to fundamentally change the behaviour of an organisation you either need to start small or shock the organisation - bankruptcy, mass redundancies are the obvious shocks to a business that can trigger alternative behaviours. So let's look at the ying and the yang of change.  Change creates consequences - some intended - some unintended. Objectives, Goals, Targets and Measurement So you want to create some change.  Well a classic management technique to drive change is put it in people's objectives.  Well formed objectives follow the SMART acronym.  Specific, Measurable,  Achievable, Realistic and Time bound. So objective

Extending Eddie Obeng Change Model for Strategic Change

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Understanding how a piece of new technology relates to an organisation is extremely  useful.  If it's an evolutionary change, replacing something existing - it's pretty straight forward. However it's never been done before then it's inherently viewed as higher risk. In Professor Eddie Obeng’s book All Change!: The Project Leader’s Secret Handbook,he provides a model for classifying projects by type. Eddie introduced an incredibly simple map to allow you to figure it out. I love the idea so much that I’ve extended Eddie’s concept and overlaid project methodologies on top of it. Here is Eddie’s original map: Painting By Numbers are those childhood picture kits where you match the numbered paint colours to corresponding numbered areas on the pre-printed canvas. It’s a very simple, almost foolproof, way to create a painting. Fog is pretty self explanatory.  If you are unclear about What needs to be delivered and you’re unclear about How to deliver it, then you a