Expertise transfer

Posted on February 25, 2015March 2, 2015 by PAshton

What is it? Expertise transfer (Secondment) is the placement of a change expert into a client organisation by CITI, on a time-limited basis, to assist them with planning, implementing or embedding change initiatives.

What it is not? Expertise transfer is not the placement of a ‘generalist’ resource to an organisation.

What’s different afterwards? The expertise and knowledge that the resource was placed in the organisation to provide is now part of the competence of the organisation.

Reflect-learn-apply

Posted on February 25, 2015March 2, 2015 by PAshton

What is it? Specialist programmes to build on the experiences and perspectives of specific project and change disciplines within the organisation. By means of conversations and challenges facilitated by an expert in the discipline, this activity embeds better and more consistent practices.

What it is not? Reflect – Learn – Apply is not training where what is already known by the participants is either ignored or undervalued. It is not a way of replacing current organisational practice and context and is a way of augmenting it.

What’s different afterwards? Reflect – Learn – Apply leaves a sense of community, with the members’ behaviours and performance evolving in a coherent and consistent way in response to new challenges that are faced and solved.

Strategy for change

Posted on February 25, 2015March 2, 2015 by PAshton

What is it? Having determined the strategic direction for the company and stated the future state in terms of the vision the next step is to develop and deliver the strategy for change. This articulates the approach to be adopted and what work to undertake to pursue and deliver the strategic vision.

What it is not? It is not about developing a corporate strategic direction. Nor is it the definition of the strategic change that the initiative is expected to deliver.

What’s different afterwards? A clear route, employing appropriate approaches, to sympathetically achieve the change outcomes that the organisation requires is established and shared.

Compelling Business Case

Posted on February 25, 2015March 2, 2015 by PAshton

What is it? A compelling business case is the keystone for effective sponsorship; articulating clearly the balance between ‘desirability’ (benefits) and ‘do-ability’ (cost and risk) to enable good decision making.

What it is not? A compelling business case is not a ‘sales’ document designed to mislead by misstating the comparative value of a candidate project.

What’s different afterwards? Governance decisions are made based on the impact they have on promoting the required outcomes of the project, and where there is a conflict of interest in terms of resources or timing between projects, a rational basis for choice is available.

Portfolio prioritisation

Posted on February 25, 2015March 2, 2015 by PAshton

What is it? Project portfolio prioritisation schemes are mechanisms to make rational choices in circumstances of limited knowledge and complexly interacting constraints.

What it is not? Portfolio prioritisation is not a way of ensuring that everything is done nor is it a way of getting done as much as possible.

What’s different afterwards? Management has confidence that money is being invested wisely and that the effort is correctly focussed on a body of work that is desirable and achievable.

Case study London Heathrow business case

Posted on February 24, 2015March 13, 2015 by PAshton

Value realised
Ensuring future income streams whilst, at the same time, exerting greater control on an increasingly safe investment portfolio were amongst the bigger wins that London Heathrow (LHR) were able to achieve through the deployment of CITI support in driving up business case management capability.

Structuring programmes

Posted on February 24, 2015March 2, 2015 by PAshton

What is it? Structuring programmes is a means to clearly articulate what needs to be done and by when in order to bring about measurable, valuable change that is truly embedded into an organisation. It results in the creation of tranches of work that must be delivered and these clearly highlight the full range of changes to working practices required.

What it is not? Programmes are not big projects, nor are they portfolios. Programme management is its own discipline – and while projects may be considered successful even if the benefits expected are not delivered, that is impossible for a programme.

What’s different afterwards? Programmes deliver a future state envisioned by the Board – decisions are made, driven by a benefits-led perspective in which stakeholders are not observers that dictate targets but are instead committed to the delivery of planned change.

Strategy to action

Posted on February 24, 2015March 2, 2015 by PAshton

What is it? ‘Translating strategy into action’ allows for the creation of a clear ‘line of sight’ between the strategic intent of the Board and the set of projects that need to be established to develop the necessary new or additional competences within the business to deliver the benefits of the strategy.

What it is not? It is not a way to establish an organisation’s strategy nor a way of proving it is the right strategy – it just shows how to implement the decided strategy.

What’s different afterwards? There are no silver bullets to reduce resource contention, but the value returned for the effort expended is maximised, with the portfolio selection process transparent and the sources of choices made open to rational challenge.

Proven target operating model consultant (TOM)

Posted on February 24, 2015August 14, 2015 by PAshton

What is it? A TOM is a high level view of the future state of the organisation at the operational level. It defines the relationships between people, processes, technology, products, customers, and markets which together differentiate the organisation from its competitors.

What it is not? A TOM is not a detailed operations plan that identifies specific job descriptions or roles and responsibilities.

What’s different afterwards? The organisation has clear sight of the new operating model, with benchmark values for performance, which allows the effective mobilisation of teams to implement a change programme.

Political collaboration

Posted on February 24, 2015March 4, 2015 by PAshton

What is it? When the power structures of an organisation act so as to facilitate, promote, and endorse change the impact is unstoppable. When key stakeholders form an alliance with a common vision of the future projects succeed, technical issues dissolve and benefits materialise with surprising ease.

What it is not? It’s not salesmanship, nor is it jollying people along by sending out occasional emails, or convening project board meetings to discuss project progress. Political collaboration is not Machiavellian manoeuvring for position or being diplomatic, it is partnering for mutual gain.

What’s different afterwards? Commitment to the delivery of value from the project, commitment to providing resources, and the political will to make the changes a reality. Practices are embedded with key opinion-leaders supporting the shift in values and culture that underpin every sustained change.