Sharing our thinking in the open helps connect with others trying to advance the future of digital working. Our archive of articles and links is open and available below.
Innovation labs are failing. What comes next?
Innovation labs operating at the edge of a company, focusing solely on innovation and R&D were at the height of popularity just a year or so ago, but are now closing at an ever-increasing rate. These siloed, trendy workspaces, that have little contact with the...
The best data insights become useless if no-one trusts them
At truly data-driven companies, such as Google or Facebook, where the business model relies on customer data to function, there is no question of trusting data, it’s embedded in the DNA of the company. But unfortunately the same isn’t yet true for the wider business...
Measuring how trust manifests in organisations
Building a culture of trust between management and the workforce is a key factor in reducing resistance to organisational change, and it helps create stronger alignment and sharing of ideas and practices. But, typically, trust is only measured once a year, or once a...
Procurement as an interface
I had a very interesting session last week with procurement leads responsible for sourcing legal and consulting work for major organisations. I came to the session wanting to talk about service-oriented, not product- or project-oriented strategic sourcing, and to lay...
Creating a culture of continuous learning
The rapid pace of change in recent years has meant continuous learning has become an imperative for all organisations. But as technologies that did not exist five years ago become commonplace, companies are struggling to keep up. Peter Senge introduced us to the...
Company Culture: Can You Have Too Much Of A Good Thing?
This year has seen some high-profile examples of when company culture starts working against you. Travis Kalanick’s resignation as CEO of Uber in June was the crystallisation of Uber as the seminal cautionary tale for when celebrated start-ups go bad. Their exaltation...
Getting started as a digital guide
There is no role more central to organisational transformation than Change Agent or Digital Guide. There are roles that may be more strategic, but the change agent is woven into the fabric of transformation, they are the ones in the trenches, helping the organisation...
With so much focus on risk, why do companies still get blindsided?
In the predictable markets of the 20th century, risks could be forecast years into the future without much change. Revisiting and updating your identified risks on anything more than an annual basis seemed like overkill. Regulators and investors were satisfied as long...
Digital Leadership 101 (in defence of senior leaders)
Senior leaders can get a bad rap. They often get the blame for many of the failings of digital transformation programmes. I've had countless conversations with clients, friends and colleagues tearing their hair out as executives refuse to engage with new ways of...
How to create Safe Spaces for Radical Experiments
As both a product owner and an industry analyst, I am fascinated by how companies achieve breakthrough innovation. Startup methods like agile and lean have taught us to run experiments. And more of us are realising the importance of involving frontline employees in...
Avoiding the pitfalls of Robotic Process Automation
Organisations are poised for a revolution in the back office - emerging technologies like Robotic Process Automation (RPA) open up the potential for exponential gains. RPA is set to see processes carried out faster, with fewer errors, 24/7 - after all robots don’t...
Empathy and organisational change
In seeking to transform our organisations, one of the biggest challenges we face is changing human behaviours, and the organisational cultures that shape them. This post looks at the role empathy and empathic design can play in creating the systematic change required...