Mark Bridges's Posts

2-Phase Strategy for Diversity and Inclusion Improvement

Posted by Mark Bridges on November 22, 2022 at 4:03

Editor's Note: If you are interested in becoming an expert on Human Resource Management (HRM), take a look at Flevy's Human Resource Management (HRM) Frameworks offering here. This is a curated collection of best practice frameworks based on the thought leadership of leading consulting firms, academics, and recognized subject matter experts. By learning and applying these concepts, you can stay ahead of the curve. Full details here.

Diversity refers to the representation of races, ethnicities, and other minority groups in an organization, or its composition. Inclusion, on the other hand, refers to the degree to which inputs, presence, and perspectives of distinct groups of individuals are valued and their level of integration within a setup.

McKinsey's analysis of the firms it has analyzed since 2014 supports a compelling Business Case for both gender and ethnic/cultural diversity in executive teams.

Despite evidence of a strong rationale for D&I, the majority of businesses fail, in some form, to properly implement D&I. This is irrespective of the type, be they Leaders, Fast Movers, Moderate Movers, Resting on Their Laurels, or Laggards.

Justification for Diversity is growing stronger and clearer, yet despite this, several organizations appear incapable of surmounting significant difficulties in their efforts to make steady and consistent growth.

Implementing a self-assured and structured approach to D&I and pursuing Inclusion with determination is the best way to overcome these barriers.

There are excellent performance opportunities for companies who are prepared to take the initiative and implement the necessary steps to achieve meaningful success on D&I.

Insights from study of Diversity leaders and profound understanding from research and practice on Diversity & Inclusion have helped to determine the successful measures and practices.

Effective D&I measures correspond to a 2-phase strategy comprising of 5 essential steps:

Phase 1: Systematic Business-led Approach to D&I

Guarantee representation of diverse talent.
Build up Leadership accountability and aptitude for D&I.
Facilitate fairness of opportunity.

Phase 2: Bold Steps to Strengthen Inclusion

Foster openness and confront discrimination.
Nurture belonging.

Let's go a bit more into a few of the steps.

1. Representation of Diverse Talent

Leaders not only make a business-driven case for D&I reform, but also outline representation goals for themselves. Particularly in executive, line-management, technical, and board positions, great emphasis is placed on recruiting a variety of diverse personnel. In addition to addressing Leadership selection, these measures also address gaps in the organizational hierarchy.

2. Leadership Accountability and Aptitude for D&I

Diversity leaders put their key business executives and managers at the heart of the D&I initiative, which is essential for the formation of an Inclusive culture. Crucial to the positioning of key executives are the organization's inclusive leadership and accountability skills. Both competencies must reach middle management, where D&I is typically relegated when more critical business goals arise. Leaders in Diversity must—and do—go beyond conventional, mechanical, bias training.

3. Fairness of Opportunity via Impartiality & Openness

Equality and fairness of opportunity are crucial factors that must be considered in order to develop Inclusion, hence retaining and expanding Diverse talent. Diversity leaders ensure Opportunity Equality and Fairness with regards to Leadership attitudes, behavior, and skills.

This is ensured through the neutrality of talent acquiring, selection, and retaining, process, particularly in the context of professional advancement and equitable compensation.

Interested in learning more about all the step for D&I Improvement and specific steps by types of D&I companies? You can download an editable PowerPoint presentation on Diversity & Inclusion (D&I) Improvement here on the Flevy documents marketplace.

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The purpose of Human Resources (HR) is to ensure our organization achieves success through our people. Without the right people in place—at all levels of the organization—we will never be able to execute our Strategy effectively.

This begs the question: Does your organization view HR as a support function or a strategic one? Research shows leading organizations leverage HR as a strategic function, one that both supports and drives the organization's Strategy. In fact, having strong HRM capabilities is a source of Competitive Advantage.

This has never been more true than right now in the Digital Age, as organizations must compete for specialized talent to drive forward their Digital Transformation Strategies. Beyond just hiring and selection, HR also plays the critical role in retaining talent—by keeping people engaged, motivated, and happy.

Learn about our Human Resource Management (HRM) Best Practice Frameworks here.

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3 Core Indicators of Inclusion

Posted by Mark Bridges on November 17, 2022 at 7:30

Editor's Note: If you are interested in becoming an expert on Human Resource Management (HRM), take a look at Flevy's Human Resource Management (HRM) Frameworks offering here. This is a curated collection of best practice frameworks based on the thought leadership of leading consulting firms, academics, and recognized subject matter experts. By learning and applying these concepts, you can stay ahead of the curve. Full details here.

When Diversity & Inclusion (D&I) is viewed in a cursory manner, at the overall organizational level, it may seem that organizations have abundance of Diversity representation. However, a closer look reveals Inclusion problems.

For example, there are several firms with female employees, but none or very few of them hold managerial positions. In many other instances, firms will have a significant number of workers of color, yet they may all work in the same department.

It might be claimed that these organizations have Diversity but lack Inclusion. Many businesses that have made significant efforts in the direction of Diversity continue to fall short when it comes to Inclusion.

Diversity refers to the representation of races, ethnicities, and other minority groups in an organization, or its composition. Inclusion, on the other hand, refers to the degree to which the contributions, presence, and perspectives of distinct groups of individuals are valued and their level of integration into an environment. Inherently, Inclusion is difficult to assess.

The rationality of concentrating on both Inclusion and Diversity is gaining more attention.

Despite this emphasis, the comprehensive dynamics and comparative relevance of the many aspects of Inclusion are not yet well understood.

Diverse settings may include several nationalities, ethnicities, genders, sexual orientations, and identities; yet, Inclusion requires the perspectives and input of all groups.

According to surveys and research, the experience of Inclusion in the workplace is of enormous importance to employees. However, employees' experiences may not always align with their company's or their managers' apparent commitments to Inclusion.

Inclusion and workplace culture are inherently difficult to quantify, posing a significant challenge for top executives.

McKinsey analyzed employee reviews (made through 2017–2019) of the companies for which they worked. They conducted extensive study on the following 3 Core Indicators of Inclusion:

Equality
Equality Openness
Belonging

McKinsey analyzed the sentiment—positive, negative, and neutral—of employee comments towards D&I, focusing on 10–30 companies in 3 categories, namely Financial services, Technology, and Healthcare.

Keywords linked with 2 indicators related to a systematic approach to D&I were used to investigate D&I-related literature reviews. Diverse representation and Leadership accountability for D&I were the indicators.

Consequently, research was conducted on 3 Core Indicators of Inclusion: Equality, Openness, and Belonging.

Let's delve a little more into the specifics of the 3 Core Indicators.

Equality

Employees demand fairness and candor in recruiting, compensation, and advancement. In addition, they desire impartial access to sponsorship possibilities, retention assistance, and other resources.

Companies across the 3 analyzed industries do poorly on this criterion, with Equality performing the worst of all aspects tested.

Unfavorable attitudes on Equality were exhibited in 63% to 80% of all industries.

Openness

Openness is an organizational culture that promotes employees to view one another with mutual respect and where bias, intimidation, discernment, and micro-aggressions are deliberately addressed.

According to employee feedback, the Openness of the workplace was also a key worry.

Respect and Trust were cited as 2 of the most important elements of the work environment in the majority of positive responses. There was a tendency for negative opinions to cluster around Bullying and Micro-aggression.

Belonging

Firms that demonstrate persistent support for the overall comfort and contributions of diverse workers can foster a sense of Belonging.

There were 110 total references to Belonging, of which 32% were negative. Bulk of the 68% of responses that were either neutral or favorable, leaned towards positive.

Interested in learning more about Core Indicators of Inclusion? You can download an editable PowerPoint presentation on Core Indicators of Inclusion here on the Flevy documents marketplace.

Want to Achieve Excellence in Human Resource Management (HRM)?

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The purpose of Human Resources (HR) is to ensure our organization achieves success through our people. Without the right people in place—at all levels of the organization—we will never be able to execute our Strategy effectively.

This begs the question: Does your organization view HR as a support function or a strategic one? Research shows leading organizations leverage HR as a strategic function, one that both supports and drives the organization's Strategy. In fact, having strong HRM capabilities is a source of Competitive Advantage.

This has never been truer than right now in the Digital Age, as organizations must compete for specialized talent to drive forward their Digital Transformation Strategies. Beyond just hiring and selection, HR also plays the critical role in retaining talent—by keeping people engaged, motivated, and happy.

Learn about our Human Resource Management (HRM) Best Practice Frameworks here.

Do You Find Value in This Framework?

You can download in-depth presentations on this and hundreds of similar business frameworks from the FlevyPro Library. FlevyPro is trusted and utilized by 1000s of management consultants and corporate executives.

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4 Essential Elements to Assess a Company’s Potential to Become a Supercompetitor

Posted by Mark Bridges on November 10, 2022 at 16:33

Different tactics are used by organizations to gain competitive advantage and outperform rivals. Positions, assets, and economies of scale have historically been used by top multinational companies with a wide range of product or service offerings as sources of competitive advantage.

Today's top business players pursue competitive advantage in a totally different way. Critical competencies are being used by market leaders today to outbid their competitors. They place more of an emphasis on developing distinctive, long-lasting qualities rather than relying on possibilities for quick growth. Their strategy entails developing a single, potent value proposition based on a small number of essential talents. Throughout the process, they are essentially transforming their entire businesses.

These industry leaders are referred to as "Supercompetitors" due to their unique abilities, dominance, and capacity to alter the character of their industry. Supercompetitors build unique competences to provide results that are pertinent to the business by utilizing the best configuration of processes, systems, insights, and resources across diverse units. Some Supercompetitors employ Mergers and Acquisitions to stay on top of the game.

Supercompetitors are aware that the success of these deals depends on a capabilities fit; their products or services should complement those of the acquired business. They sell off businesses where their abilities don't complement each other well or where a new partner wouldn't gain from them.

Supercompetitors fall into one of three major categories:

Innovator—frequently releasing new offerings.
Value Player—offering low-cost products.
Aggregator—selling products developed by others.

Supercompetitors have the power to change the dynamics of the market. If other companies want to compete with Supercompetitors, they must rearrange their portfolios, analyze the market carefully, and focus on the value propositions in which they excel. Based on these four crucial considerations, a complete evaluation of a company's potential to become a Supercompetitor in a market should be made:

Analysis of the industry and its change potential
Analysis of upcoming Supercompetitors and their core competencies
Assessing the Future State
Devising a Strategic Plan

The evaluation enables the firms to comprehend where they and their competitors stand in the future race to become Supercompetitors.

Let's examine the key elements of the Supercompetitors evaluation in greater detail.

Industry Analysis

To determine whether a firm will be a Supercompetitor, a detailed assessment of the market must be performed. Leadership needs to identify the answers to a number of crucial questions in order to assess their industry and determine whether their business has the potential to become a Supercompetitor. For instance:

Have your leaders remained consistent over the past 10 years? Are newcomers taking on leadership positions within the business?
Are competitors focusing on unique value propositions, with just a small number of them successful overall?
Do top businesses compete using the same tactics as the forerunners of old?
Are multinational corporations breaking up into separate businesses?

Why Are competencies, rather than assets or product portfolios, the key to the success of the best businesses in a certain industry?

Do leaders in the industry possess scalable capabilities? Is it feasible to scale without costs increasing?
Do current capabilities contribute to the distinctiveness of products or services?

Supercompetition Analysis

The next phase in the evaluation process to identify which companies have the potential to become Supercompetitors is assessing the level of the competition. Leaders must be able to recognize potential Supercompetitors in their particular industries and discover more about the crucial abilities, talents, and structural characteristics that give them the upper hand. At least 3 to 5 Supercompetitors from the concerned industry should be picked in order to conduct a complete analysis.

Interested in learning more about the other critical elements of the Supercompetitors potential evaluation? You can download an editable PowerPoint presentation on Supercompetitors here on the Flevy documents marketplace.

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Key Strategic Business Models for IoT Products and Services

Posted by Mark Bridges on November 8, 2022 at 11:11

The Internet of Things (IoT) combines complexity, Innovation, and accessibility. IoT technology offers businesses countless possibilities despite the industry's unpredictability. It consists of various network-based devices. Extending internet connectivity to objects other than typical devices is part of the Internet of Things. These technologically advanced devices have the potential to connect and communicate online. They are manageable and controllable from a distance.

Network connections including Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, and NFC are used by IoT devices (NFC). Webcams, printers, routers, Apple Watches, Fitbits, refrigerators, security systems, and speakers are a few examples of IoT devices (including Amazon Echo and Google Home).

To capture a sizable market share and succeed in their respective industries, businesses that provide IoT products and services frequently choose one of the three Strategic IoT Business Models. The strategic models include:

Enablers
Engagers
Enhancers

Let's get into more information about the IoT Strategic Models.

Enablers

The IoT infrastructure needed for Engagers to create and market specialized linked services is developed and maintained by Enablers, who include innovation-focused companies like Cisco, Google, HP, IBM, and Intel.

Endpoints, Hubs, and Network and Cloud services—such as infrastructure, hardware, devices, computers, database systems, or software platforms—are among the IoT value propositions of enablers. Such IoT gadgets have a vast and rapidly growing market. Some enablers, like those who solely support endpoints, concentrate on specific business streams and models.

For instance, Estimote creates tiny "beacons" that may be fastened to objects and transmit Bluetooth signals to mobile devices. These beacons are used by Engagers to gather information about the items that customers pick up and how long it takes them to complete a transaction in places like retail stores. Similar to this, Intel creates full IoT solutions that feature platforms and chips vital to the creation of IoT services.

Engagers

The Engagers offer cutting-edge services by utilizing the IoT stack. This strategic model is used by insurance providers, vehicle and appliance manufacturers, and retail business owners. Through the use of endpoints, hubs, platforms, and other service offerings, engagers link the IoT to the market. They create services both for individuals and for businesses.

Businesses that use this strategic model compete in marketplaces that are oriented on people, such as e-commerce, intelligent homes, connected cars, digital retail, intelligent manufacturing, hospitals, and futuristic cities. Consumers receive vital location-based data from Engagers in addition to browsing, movement, purchase, and conversation data that is collected.

In order to promote their Integrating Hubs, Apple and Google, two market-leading Engagers, make use of their current ability to engage customers and provide engaging customer experiences. Engagers build enduring relationships with their clientele in this way.

Consumers of washing machines were previously only had to provide the most basic information to foreign appliance manufacturers like Haier and Whirlpool in order to handle warranties and advertise new product offerings. The manufacturers of today's washing machines are given the ability to gather vital information about machine operation, including frequency, temperature gauge, detergent kind, and fabric type. Additionally, these washing machines provide individualized value-added services, data on machine health, needed repairs, water and energy efficiency, and discount deals.

Enhancers

The Enhancers Strategic Model provides enhanced, integrated, value-added IoT services by revamping and repackaging Engagers' solutions. The Enhancers collaborate with other organizations to develop and provide customized product and service offerings, or even create new Business Models that can replace existing ones.

Interested in learning more about the offerings that constitute the IoT Technology Stack? You can download an editable PowerPoint presentation on Internet of Things (IoT) Strategic Models here on the Flevy documents marketplace.

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5 Technology Value Propositions Encompassing the Internet of Things Tech Stack

Posted by Mark Bridges on November 5, 2022 at 11:32

The Internet of Things warrants the delivery of cutting-edge digital services and compelling Customer Experiences. IoT consists of a collection of network-based devices that extend internet access beyond traditional devices. These devices can communicate and interact via the internet and can be remotely monitored and controlled.

IoT devices make use of network connections including Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, and NFC (NFC). Webcams, printers, routers, Apple Watches and Fitbits, refrigerators, security systems, and speakers are examples of IoT devices (including Amazon Echo and Google Home).

When paired with network connectivity, IoT offers endless alternatives and capabilities that will completely transform the technological environment. These prospects can be classified generally according to three basic strategic models:

Enablers – The developers and executers of the underlying technology.
Engagers – Those who shape, invent, incorporate, and offer delivery capabilities of IoT services to others.
Enhancers – Those who add value to what engagers offer by developing their own creative services.

Cloud computing, data analytics, and mobile communication technologies are included into IoT devices.

For businesses to create Internet of Things-related value propositions, a combination of five basic types of technology solutions is required. The "Internet of Things Technology Stack" comprises the following technologies:

Endpoints
Simple Hubs
Integrating Hubs
Network and Cloud Services
Enhanced Services

The IoT stack provides organizations wishing to develop IoT solutions with a choice of possibilities. Numerous businesses offer Network and Cloud Services, while others construct Endpoints prior to developing Simple Hubs and still others offer Hub Integration services.

Let's explore some of these topics in greater detail.

Endpoints

The Endpoints technology segment of the Internet of Things collects data and handles several devices.
Endpoints monitor changes and provide feedback in reaction to environment modifications.
Endpoints comprise of sensors and actuators with a single function that collect and analyze data from their surrounding environment and control items over the internet.

Simple Hubs

Endpoints are connected to Networks via Hub Devices.
Multiple internet-connected basic hubs are employed to control a building's single function (e.g. water, lighting, security, air conditioning etc.).
Heating and air conditioning systems, washing machines, and engines incorporate hubs. Using embedded intelligence and storage, hubs enable appliances to adapt to the user's behavior and maximize their efficiency.
For instance, lighting management hubs receive sunlight data from window sensors and change the luminance of a space accordingly.

Integrating Hubs

These complex hubs connect simple hubs to other connections in order to deliver a variety of relevant services.
In 2014, Apple introduced HomeKit, the first IoT integration hub similar to the iPhone and iPad that developers use. HomeKit combines multiple simple hubs from various manufacturers and shows them on a smartphone with a uniform user interface. HomeKit integrates several systems, including electric power, security, motion and video monitors, HVAC, smart refrigerators, entertainment, lighting, and window shades, with the touch of a smartphone button.
In 2013, Oracle's sponsored yacht won the America Cup thanks to its complex integrating hub. Over 300 sensors and cameras were installed aboard the yacht to monitor its coordinates, wind speed, direction, sail pressure, etc. Using Oracle servers and high-speed wireless connections, the crew collected and analyzed vast volumes of data daily during the competition, which significantly improved the yacht's run-time performance.

Interested in learning more about the offerings that constitute the IoT Technology Stack? You can download an editable PowerPoint presentation on Internet of Things (IoT) Technology Stack here on the Flevy documents marketplace.

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5 Types of Organizations in Terms of Diversity

Posted by Mark Bridges on November 3, 2022 at 11:29

Editor's Note: If you are interested in becoming an expert on Human Resource Management (HRM), take a look at Flevy's Human Resource Management (HRM) Frameworks offering here. This is a curated collection of best practice frameworks based on the thought leadership of leading consulting firms, academics, and recognized subject matter experts. By learning and applying these concepts, you can stay ahead of the curve. Full details here.

Diversity refers to the representation of races, ethnicities, and other minority groups in an organization, or its composition. Inclusion, on the other hand, refers to the degree to which the contributions, presence, and perspectives of distinct groups of individuals are valued and their level of integration into an environment.

According to a survey performed by McKinsey, a small number of organizations make a very compelling business case for D&I and are moving significantly more boldly on Diverse representation.

The study then sought to determine whether these few firms were also beginning to outpace their peers in terms of financial performance.

Firms in the top quartile for both Gender and Ethnic Diversity were predicted to outperform the rest of the companies in the data set by an extra 12%, as revealed by close examination.

Businesses in the 4th quartile of both Gender and Ethnic Diversity were predicted to underperform on profitability by 27% compared to all other businesses in the data set.

General progress on representation was discovered to be sluggish, which masked a widening chasm between leading D&I practitioners and firms that had yet to adopt Diversity. Rising disparity between the best and worst performers indicated an increased likelihood of a performance penalty.

In the 3^rd research, over 1000 significant enterprises from 15 countries and 5 continents were considered. The research measures both Ethnic and Cultural Diversity, as well as Diversity based on Gender.

Research of firms whose success throughout the years has been measured, identified the following 5 categories, to 1 of which a firm may belong:

Diversity Leaders
Fast Movers
Laggards
Moderate Movers
Resting on Laurels

Since the 1^st data set was studied in 2014-2015, the likelihood of Diverse enterprises outperforming their competitors in the same industry in terms of profitability has increased significantly.

Let's delve a bit more into a few of the categories.

Diversity Leaders

Diversity Leaders are corporations that are on the verge of achieving Diversity. These companies have done and are continuing to take meaningful initiatives towards Diversity and may achieve Gender parity.

Female Diversity Leaders made about 5% of the data set's representation. In 2019, they had an average of 40% female executives, up from 26% in 2014, which was already a good number.

In the 2014 data set for Ethnic Diversity, they comprised 17% of the data. In addition, Ethnic representation climbed from 17% in 2014 to 46% in 2016.

Typically, these businesses have implemented a systematic, business-led approach to D&I for at least 5 years.

Fast Movers

The category 'Fast Movers' is comprised of organizations that have made significant development during the time of investigation.

Women comprised an average of 27% of the workforce in 2019, compared to 7% in 2014. Regarding Ethnicity, the proportion of businesses in the corresponding category has increased from 1% in 2014 to 18% in 2019.

Laggards

On the opposite end of the spectrum are the Laggards. Their already weak Diversity performance has been shown to worsen much further.

Laggards constituted 28% of the Gender and Ethnic Diversity data set. They have decreased more during the past 5 years.

Interested in learning more about Diversity & Inclusion (D&I): Leaders vs. Laggards? You can download an editable PowerPoint presentation on Diversity & Inclusion (D&I): Leaders vs. Laggards here on the Flevy documents marketplace.

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The purpose of Human Resources (HR) is to ensure our organization achieves success through our people. Without the right people in place—at all levels of the organization—we will never be able to execute our Strategy effectively.

This begs the question: Does your organization view HR as a support function or a strategic one? Research shows leading organizations leverage HR as a strategic function, one that both supports and drives the organization's Strategy. In fact, having strong HRM capabilities is a source of Competitive Advantage.

This has never been more true than right now in the Digital Age, as organizations must compete for specialized talent to drive forward their Digital Transformation Strategies. Beyond just hiring and selection, HR also plays the critical role in retaining talent—by keeping people engaged, motivated, and happy.

Learn about our Human Resource Management (HRM) Best Practice Frameworks here.

Do You Find Value in This Framework?

You can download in-depth presentations on this and hundreds of similar business frameworks from the FlevyPro Library. FlevyPro is trusted and utilized by 1000s of management consultants and corporate executives.

For even more best practices available on Flevy, have a look at our top 100 lists:

4 Crucial Areas of Integrative Innovation Management

Posted by Mark Bridges on October 27, 2022 at 12:59

Editor's Note: If you are interested in becoming an expert on Innovation Management, take a look at Flevy's Innovation Management Frameworks offering here. This is a curated collection of best practice frameworks based on the thought leadership of leading consulting firms, academics, and recognized subject matter experts. By learning and applying these concepts, you can stay ahead of the curve. Full details here.

When new technology and rivals disrupt markets, many incumbent businesses struggle to maintain their competitiveness. Such circumstances motivate some firms to form partnerships with others.

Successful collaborations require the right people, procedures, and organizational support. This requires an Integrative approach to Innovation Management.

Various parts of the Innovation process must be integrated by means of a coherent Innovation Management Strategy that complements the separate plans of these aspects.

Integrative Innovation Management focuses on 4 essential areas in order to successfully manage Innovation within a business. The following are:

Integration of Directions of Impact
Integration of Stakeholders
Integration of Capabilities
Integration of People

Integrative Innovation Framework strives to provide a framework that facilitates addressing the comprehensive nature of Innovation.

As the number of interrelationships increases, care must be taken not to lose sight of the whole picture or place an undue emphasis on certain aspects.

Let us examine the identified areas in further depth.

Directions of Impact

It is essential for effective Innovation Management to maintain a balance between diverse objectives, strategies, and methods. Innovation Management requires a balance between strategies, objectives, and methodologies that are usually at odds with one another.

Although fundamentally diverse, these contrasting extremes are equally vital.

Integration of People

Depending on the Direction of Impact, it is essential for Innovation to have the proper blend of individuals with the necessary talents and attitudes. Diverse viewpoints and ideas are useful for discovering new opportunities that have the potential to fundamentally alter the current situations and existing Business Models.

Integration of Stakeholders

Businesses are realizing that addressing Innovation on their own is an increasingly unachievable challenge. Such circumstances motivate some firms to form partnerships, networks, and/or engage with communities and/or consumers. Such installations tend to be open configurations. Specifically, the resolution of systemic issues, such as energy, healthcare, and mobility, depends on good collaboration amongst relevant parties.

Integration of Capabilities

Capabilities must transcend functional boundaries in order to produce Integrative functional capabilities that foster innovation.

Interested in learning more about Integrative Innovation Management? You can download an editable PowerPoint presentation on Integrative Innovation Management here on the Flevy documents marketplace.

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To be competitive and sustain growth, we need to constantly develop new products, services, processes, technologies, and business models. In other words, we need to constantly innovate.

Ironically, the more we grow, the harder it becomes to innovate. Large organizations tend to be far better executors than they are innovators. To effectively manage the Innovation process, we need to master both the art and science of Innovation. Only then can we leverage Innovation as a Competitive Advantage, instead of viewing Innovation as a potential disruptive threat.

Learn about our Innovation Management Best Practice Frameworks here.

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6 Key Areas of Attention for Diversity and Inclusion

Posted by Mark Bridges on October 22, 2022 at 9:58

Editor's Note: If you are interested in becoming an expert on Human Resource Management (HRM), take a look at Flevy's Human Resource Management (HRM) Frameworks offering here. This is a curated collection of best practice frameworks based on the thought leadership of leading consulting firms, academics, and recognized subject matter experts. By learning and applying these concepts, you can stay ahead of the curve. Full details here.

Diversity and Inclusion are 2 interdependent concepts. Nevertheless, they are not interchangeable. Managing Diversity and Inclusion (D&I) requires activities beyond policies, initiatives, and headcounts.

Diversity refers to the representation of races, ethnicities, and other minority groups in an organization, or its composition.

Inclusion is the degree to which inputs, presence, and perspectives of distinct groups of people are valued and the level to which they are integrated into an environment.

Diverse and Inclusive workplaces have several benefits, including improved revenue growth , more innovative capacity, expanded capacity for recruiting a diverse talent pool, and increased employee retention.

Maintaining an inclusive workplace culture not only benefits in attracting a broad talent pool, but also aids in retaining the diverse talent pool.

Diversity is important to today's overall business performance. Likewise, Inclusion of varied viewpoints is essential. According to the findings of a long-term research undertaken by the global consulting firm McKinsey, Inclusion appears to have a favorable influence on the bottom line.

Since 2014, the study has tracked the trajectories of dozens of major corporations. It measures both ethnic and cultural Diversity, as well as Diversity based on gender. The 3^rd analysis, by far the largest data set, contained over 1000 significant corporations from 15 nations. This data collection provided the basis for a report titled "Diversity Wins" (2019).

Recent evidence indicates to the following 6 important areas of attention that favorably or negatively affect performance:

Gender Diversity on Executive Teams leads to stronger performance.
Progress in Gender Diversity in Boards is slow.
Women representation low on executive teams all across the studied countries.
Executive teams with more women perform better.
Female executive representation across big industries is slow.
Business justification for Ethnic Diversity on executive teams is very strong.

According to the conclusions of the study, the link between Diversity on executive teams and the likelihood of unrivaled financial success is now clearer than ever before.

Let's go a bit more into a few of the findings.

1. Gender Diversity on Executive Teams leads to stronger Performance

Data has revealed that greater representation enhances the likelihood of improved performance. Companies with 30% or more women on their executive teams are significantly more likely to do well than those with 10% to 30% women. In turn, companies with 10-30% women on executive teams may outperform those with fewer or no women executives. As a result of Gender Diversity, there is a 48% performance disparity between the most and least Gender-Diverse organizations.

2. Progress in Gender Diversity in Boards is slow

In enterprises headquartered in the United States and the United Kingdom, the proportion of women on boards has increased from 21% in 2014 to 28% in 2019. Despite the fact that this is progress, it is sluggish. In the 2014 data set, a positive association between Board Diversity and financial underperformance was discovered, although it was not as strong as it has been in the current data set.

3. Women representation low on Executive Teams all across the studied countries

A 2019 data set comprising 15 nations on 5 continents demonstrates that progress in the Inclusion of women on executive teams is gradual in the majority of countries.

On one end of the spectrum of women's representation is Norway, with at least 1 woman on the executive teams of all enterprises evaluated, and on the other, nations such as Brazil and India, where 83% of businesses did not have a single woman.

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The purpose of Human Resources (HR) is to ensure our organization achieves success through our people. Without the right people in place—at all levels of the organization—we will never be able to execute our Strategy effectively.

This begs the question: Does your organization view HR as a support function or a strategic one? Research shows leading organizations leverage HR as a strategic function, one that both supports and drives the organization's Strategy. In fact, having strong HRM capabilities is a source of Competitive Advantage.

This has never been more true than right now in the Digital Age, as organizations must compete for specialized talent to drive forward their Digital Transformation Strategies. Beyond just hiring and selection, HR also plays the critical role in retaining talent—by keeping people engaged, motivated, and happy.

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3 Strategic Approaches to Scenario Planning in Crises

Posted by Mark Bridges on October 21, 2022 at 11:50

Conflicts, downturns, disasters, and pandemics place businesses in hazardous situations marked by low turnover, stagnant growth, unemployment, and even bankruptcy.

Frequently, these circumstances arise without knowledge. It is challenging to guide organizations through challenging circumstances and to predict the effects and severity of crises.

Financial planners and CFOs seek to address these situations, but they are frequently uncertain about what would work in the short term and what should represent their long-term Strategic Planning.

Uncertainties caused by recessions and natural calamities necessitate swift Business Strategy adjustments and measures. Financial planners should assess the impact of the crisis and reevaluate business objectives, but they frequently lack the expertise and data required to adequately model a crisis, propose strategies, and plan swift measures. In addition, altering their preparation in response to a disaster necessitates significant work, modifications, and approvals.

Generally, the initial reaction to an unpleasant circumstance is unexpected. Before jumping to conclusions and mindlessly executing tactics that could backfire, a crisis or distressing circumstance necessitates the answering of some crucial questions.

Is it possible to reduce stress during times of crisis?
Can our teams make use of makeshift Scenario Analysis tools?
Would correcting the assumptions and analysis be helpful?
Can uncertainty be quantitatively measured?
Should adequate evidence be available to measure uncertainty and generate hypotheses?
Do we have the foresight to predict future events and propose corrective measures?

In order to answer these questions and evaluate the likelihood of a crisis, its possible impact, and the viability of potential scenarios, senior executives frequently adopt three strategic options:

Do nothing.
Plan for the worst, hope for the best.
Consider all possibilities.

Prior to selecting a crisis planning and management strategy, senior leaders must evaluate the benefits and drawbacks of a variety of strategic alternatives. Let's examine these strategic options in greater detail.

Do Nothing

In times of uncertainty, economic downturns, and natural calamities, leaders frequently embrace the riskier tactic of doing nothing but monitoring the unfolding of events. This technique carries a high degree of risk, and the expected short-, medium-, and long-term consequences during a crisis are too catastrophic to be ignored immediately.

A strategy of inaction precludes possible, crucial liquidity operations and other near-term initiatives that could provide long-term advantages. A wait-and-see approach to crisis management may result in events that have a profound influence on an organization and its Transformation.

Plan for the worst, hope for the best.

The second strategic approach is anticipating a single unpleasant occurrence while ignoring all other potential outcomes. Multiple organizations plan for a single worst-case scenario in the belief that it will protect them from any unusual crisis situation. This approach could result in tragedies.

The majority of executives choose for the Worst-Case Scenario Planning strategy for risk management. However, this method is unsuccessful under normal circumstances or after the crisis has passed. In reality, if the market improves, such a strategy may render enterprises uncompetitive. The only response to a crisis should not be to develop a single worst-case scenario, review banks and asset portfolios to determine how they might behave in different situations, and evaluate strategic KPIs against many situations. In reality, ensuring preparedness for a single catastrophic catastrophe is a shortsighted strategy that can result in financial losses.

Consider all possibilities.

In order to cope with a crisis, executives must be able to predict all possible occurrences and evaluate their consequences, which is generally not fully understood until after the tragedy has occurred.

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Local Culture Influences on Global Agile Implementation

Posted by Mark Bridges on October 15, 2022 at 17:36

In the current era, which is driven by Technology and Innovation, companies can only thrive if they are quick, flexible, and capable of learning and adapting quickly.

Establishing approaches that offer flexibility and agility to a team or organization is essential for businesses to succeed in the current business climate.

Organizations are now aware of this and have included Agile methodology into their Operations in order to respond swiftly to environments that undergo rapid change. The following advantages and downsides of adopting Agile approach have been identified by organizations throughout the globe and in various industries:

Agile approach aids firms in launching products and services swiftly to the market and adapting deftly to Innovations in the technological landscape and consumer and market variations.
Agile methodologies, which originated in the United States (U.S.), are being utilized by enterprises across the globe.
Since the technique was founded in the United States, it carries with it U.S. cultural standards, which poses issues when Agile is implemented in cultures that differ from the U.S.
In U.S. culture, the free expression of views and opinions to authority is an example of the cultural difference. Such a culture is not prevalent in the majority of the world's cultures.
Cultures tend to have distinct words to express certain behaviors in their populace; this tendency has been dubbed "Cultural Script".

The challenge of culture has been effectively resolved in Agile deployments outside the United States by including cultural sensitivity into practices.

The crucial point in the Agile vs. Culture argument is: How do the Cultural Scripts prevalent in a specific culture complement or conflict with the Agile principles?

To answer this, 8 Agile-adopting software company employees from China, South Korea, and India were interviewed.

The cultural issues that study participants encountered in Agile projects and the atypical interplay of Agile approach with Cultural Scripts may be categorized into following 3 distinct challenge areas:

Maintain Flexibility & Speed.
Build an Agile Team.
Create Communication Channels.

Let's go a little more into the 3 major obstacles.

Maintain Flexibility & Speed

Agile emphasizes maintaining flexibility and speed; when converting such scripts to Agile methodology, problems occur when they become overly ambitious. This may result in humiliating or disastrous circumstances for the affected parties.

Some Cultural Scripts align with this method, but if not given an appropriate framework to function within, they may become excessive.

There are 2 strategies that have been identified through research for avoiding out-of-control situations in teams where members may adopt Cultural Scripts:

Streamline Problem Solving.
Leverage a Hybrid Model.

Build an Agile Team

Agile processes are centered on people, and Agile teams are expected to self-organize with individuals from a variety of roles.

Cultural Scripts may also emphasize communication habits that impede the free flow of information among team members.

Empirical research recommends 2 strategies for overcoming communication movement issues:

Add Pragmatic Structure.
Balance Competencies and Group Cohesion.

Create Communication Channels

Communication that is fluid and constant is essential and fundamental to Agile processes. Cultural Scripts have a huge impact on communication.

Different cultural settings may result in interpersonal communication gaps when Agile methodology is used in projects with individuals from outside the United States.

The following 2 strategies facilitate free communication without Cultural Scripts inhibiting the conversation, according to research:

Create an atmosphere conducive to open communication.
Create New Channels of Communication.

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3 Crucial Blocks for Performance-driven Culture

Posted by Mark Bridges on October 14, 2022 at 19:38

Editor's Note: If you are interested in becoming an expert on Performance Management, take a look at Flevy's Performance Management Frameworks offering here. This is a curated collection of best practice frameworks based on the thought leadership of leading consulting firms, academics, and recognized subject matter experts. By learning and applying these concepts, you can stay ahead of the curve. Full details here.

A robust, positive Organizational Culture promotes employee satisfaction with their work and the work environment.

Nurturing such a culture necessitates the vigilant management of essential behaviors, which entails searching for and continually reinforcing Bedrock Behaviors.

Bedrock Behaviors are a collection of actions that have the power to create a domino effect, therefore modifying other Behaviors as they pass through an organization. Organizations that recognize and appreciate such behaviors are in a position to develop cultures that go beyond employee engagement and directly boost performance.

Few leaders are aware of the enormous impact of these essential Behaviors, and their efforts to boost performance remain imprecise and dispersed.

Also, leaders find it difficult to resist the temptation of accumulating instructions one after the other.

Even when these directives are aligned with the same ultimate goals, they typically undermine one another.

Furthermore, when these acts are intended to bring about meaningful changes to the culture, they are almost always overly broad, methodical, abstract, and instantaneous.

The culture is deeply ingrained in the beliefs and behaviors of employees, a fact that most leaders are unwilling to recognize. Failure to recognize this fact makes it difficult to effect behavioral changes with enduring effects.

Rather than adopting an all-encompassing strategy to cultural transformation, firms that prioritize simplicity are more effective at inducing behavior change.

Organizations that successfully effect enduring change are those that prioritize the following 3 critical characteristics of culture that drive performance:

Critical Behaviors—are those procedures for completing jobs in the current operations that may be easily transmitted from one employee to the next.
Existing Cultural Traits—identify 3 or 4 distinctively well-defined, astutely profound, avidly insightful, and well known cultural characteristics.
Critical Informal Leaders—are those few employees that actually inspire others by their actions and demeanor.

These 3 important cultural characteristics are often known as the Critical Few behaviors. Clear focus on these 3 essential parts of culture reduces complexity and generates a more hopeful, pleasant, and long-lasting cultural influence on Performance.

Let's examine these components in further detail.

Critical Behaviors

Identifying, clarifying, and gaining widespread support for a Critical Few behaviors exemplifying the business's cultural values is the most important aspect of bringing about cultural change.

When focusing on important behaviors, the intricate and intertwined connections between the Critical Few's components will become immediately obvious.

While attempting to identify and prioritize the Critical Few Behaviors, the desire to eliminate other impediment-causing behaviors must be restrained.

Instead of addressing the major pain problems, such as lack of innovation and lack of teamwork, the focus should be on identifying and encouraging desired behaviors.

Existing Cultural Traits

Almost every organization possesses a modest number of good, important cultural qualities that are a fundamental component of the authentic cultural milieu.

Leaders are responsible for identifying the Existing Cultural Traits that the organization is expected to maintain and develop.

Among the countless admirable attributes, a business should focus on 3 or 4 that are exceptionally clear, astutely intelligent, emotionally formidable, and well known.

Looking for a huge number of characteristics not only makes even the most appealing characteristics look in some ways unconvincing, but also undermines the credibility of the entire process.

When properly discovered and utilized, these characteristics provide employees with a sense of pride and purpose.

Critical Informal Leaders

Since culture is a self-sustaining way of behaving, pondering, believing, and feeling in a specific community, it cannot be altered abruptly.

Focus and effort should be placed on a select few groups and persons within the company who can aid in implementing and sustaining this Transformation.

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Performance Management (also known as Strategic Performance Management, Performance Measurement, Business Performance Management, Enterprise Performance Management, or Corporate Performance Management) is a strategic management approach for monitoring how a business is performing. It describes the methodologies, metrics, processes, systems, and software that are used for monitoring and managing the business performance of an organization.

As Peter Drucker famously said, "If you can't measure it, you can't improve it."

Having a structured and robust Strategic Performance Management system (e.g. the Balanced Scorecard) is critical to the sustainable success of any organization; and affects all areas of our organization.

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3 Fundamental Drivers for Radical Innovation & Fostering an Innovation Culture

Posted by Mark Bridges on September 30, 2022 at 15:24

Obtaining the title of Most Innovative Company of the Year is the aspiration of the vast majority of businesses.

In addition to selecting the most innovative companies of 2014, Boston Consulting Group's (BCG) innovation-focused research in 2014—consisting of more than 750 businesses in 17 diverse markets—revealed a number of surprising findings.

Clearly, the organizations that led the Innovation ranking utilized a methodical approach to managing Innovation. The study indicated that culture is a major catalyst for innovative ideas. People, financial resources, the state, and even cultural norms and beliefs were assessed to have a lesser impact on innovation than Organizational Culture.

The organizational culture is a guiding framework that fosters a specific set of behaviors. Experimentation and persistent evolution characterize the Organizational Culture of the vast majority of creative firms (adaptation).

A culture that is adaptive incentivizes behaviors that are crucial to encouraging innovation, such as initiative and risk-taking, creativity, and swift and rational Decision-making.

When establishing a culture of Innovation, Exploration, and Experimentation, firms always face numerous challenges.

Many businesses prioritize the creation of high-quality goods, the enhancement of productivity, and the reduction of expenses. These organizations are prone to invest too little in exploration, which is crucial for managing uncertainty, gaining experience from mistakes, and innovation.
Certain beliefs and behaviors that constitute an organization's culture are fostered by the organization. They adhere to one of the two civilizations that are diametrically opposite to one another:
- A corporate culture of exploitation, efficiency, and predictability exemplified by job excellence, team loyalty, teams of reliable individuals, and perfection.
- Startups embrace a culture of exploration, diversity, and unpredictability defined by aspirations, rule-breaking, mistakes, and perseverance based on failure-based learning.
It is challenging to create and manage enterprises that employ the best of both cultures.

Transforming the business from Exploitation to Experimentation requires the adoption of distinct Business Models, trial and error, and iterations. Integrating an exploitative culture with an explorative culture requires the firm to take the following steps:

Permit individuals to spend additional time on experimental endeavors in order to generate original ideas.
Designate specific resources for the incubation of ideas and foster a conducive environment.
Share talent, expertise, and ideas to break down silos and generate value.

The development of an Innovation Culture is inhibited by "soft" or human nature-based constraints. For example:

Individuals are resistant to something they have never encountered or thought before.
Experts in a certain field reject ideas or procedures that challenge their current methods.
Individuals value the short term over the long term, as well as rapid solutions over reflection and investigation.
People dislike ambiguity and change.

BCG's 2014 research on the most innovative businesses revealed that disruptive innovators combine 3 fundamental drivers for radical innovation:

Management
Governance
Organization

Let's examine the first 2 Innovation drivers in greater detail.

Management

Senior Management is the primary impetus for Innovation. Innovation must be deeply established in an Organization's Culture through the steadfast commitment of its leadership.
A firm is able to achieve groundbreaking Innovation and growth as a result of its management's embrace and support of revolutionary Innovation activities.
The BCG study underlined the crucial importance of management in monitoring disruptive Innovation initiatives through strategic KPIs, building effective Performance Management, Rewards and Recognition systems, and integrating these systems to disruptive Innovation KPIs.

Governance

Leading innovators classify innovation initiatives according to their innovativeness, as discovered (low or high).
They were observed to employ distinctive management practices for both revolutionary and incremental Innovation projects.

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What Are the 2 Fields of Innovation?

Posted by Mark Bridges on September 23, 2022 at 6:43

Editor's Note: If you are interested in becoming an expert on Innovation Management, take a look at Flevy's Innovation Management Frameworks offering here. This is a curated collection of best practice frameworks based on the thought leadership of leading consulting firms, academics, and recognized subject matter experts. By learning and applying these concepts, you can stay ahead of the curve. Full details here.

Conventional Innovation Management is incapable of meeting present requirements.

Dual Innovation has evolved into a need for organizations in today's fiercely competitive markets.

Dual Innovation refers to expanding current Business Models in new ways while simultaneously developing entirely new Business Models.

Innovation Management entails overseeing the entirety of an organization's Innovation process. The Innovation Management process consists of steps ranging from conception through effective implementation, including decision-making, action-taking, and the formulation and execution of an Innovation Strategy.

Organized and cutting-edge Innovation Management requires 2 core competencies:

Discovering new products.
Taking advantage of current possibilities.

For such ambidexterity, firms need an Innovation Management Model to help them Innovate more efficiently and successfully.

Effective Dual Innovation Management Systems in enterprises are predicated on 4 fundamental premise, all of which are seen as necessary conditions:

Balanced Portfolio Approach.
Equal importance to Exploitation and Exploration.
Separation of Exploitation and Exploration initiatives.
Support by a proper Idea Management System.

Since effective Innovation Management also rely on additional factors, these 4 prerequisites are not exhaustive.

Let's examine some of these circumstances in further detail.

Balanced Portfolio Approach

Innovation Management employs a balanced portfolio strategy. The whole Innovation portfolio may be subdivided into Exploration- and Exploration-focused Innovation projects.

Exploitation-focused initiatives relate to operating the main business by applying and enhancing existing Business Models or technology competencies.

Exploration-focused ventures apply to evolution of potential businesses by exploring for new, usually disruptive Business Models or technology competencies.

Equal importance to Exploitation and Exploration

Exploration and Exploitation projects are equally crucial to a company's long-term viability, thus top executives must be on board with giving them the same degree of attention.

Exploration endeavors cannot thrive without the unwavering support of the company's senior management, notably the CEO.

It is essential for the success of Innovation ventures that the senior management has a comprehensive grasp before to devoting time and resources to really exploratory projects.

Receiving permanent support and appropriate funding for Exploration efforts is a specific implication of onboarding senior leaders.

Allocating the appropriate proportion of a business's resources between Exploration and Exploitation is dependent on the enterprise's Business Strategy and circumstances, among other factors. This should be the CEO's responsibility.

Separation of Exploitation and Exploration initiatives

Exploration-focused enterprises are distinguished from Exploitation-focused ventures based on organizational anchoring, governance, and finance views.

The operational business units are intertwined with businesses centered on Exploitation.

Exploitation-focused initiatives include core Transformations, i.e., radically redefining how present business is conducted.

Innovation Governance is the responsibility of a business unit's decision-makers, accompanied by a specialized Innovation Board.

Exploration-focused ventures are conducted by a dedicated unit. The organization is overseen by a "chief explorer" who reports directly to the CEO.

Exploration-focused endeavors relate to Strategic Transformations, i.e. modifying the way business is conducted.

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To be competitive and sustain growth, we need to constantly develop new products, services, processes, technologies, and business models. In other words, we need to constantly innovate.

Ironically, the more we grow, the harder it becomes to innovate. Large organizations tend to be far better executors than they are innovators. To effectively manage the Innovation process, we need to master both the art and science of Innovation. Only then can we leverage Innovation as a Competitive Advantage, instead of viewing Innovation as a potential disruptive threat.

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Using Machine Learning to Facilitate in Strategic Decision making

Posted by Mark Bridges on September 22, 2022 at 9:38

Automation has a substantial influence on improving Operational Excellence and Decision Making. Executives' strategic decision-making abilities are being enhanced by Machine Learning (ML) in an increasing number of firms nowadays.

Global research done by MIT Sloan Management Review in collaboration with Google, involving 4,700 CEOs and a number of Key Informant Interviews, indicates that ML is increasingly transforming how firms generate and analyze value. This is largely due to the capacity of Machine Learning to make Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) more rigorous and analytical. When KPIs are more demanding, executives can improve corporate operations by applying strategic indicators to guide machine learning (ML) algorithms.

Companies who invest in and employ ML to improve customer service are fundamentally distinct from those that do not. They have a comprehensive picture of their clientele and examine KPI data and reports frequently. It enables firms to liberate people from menial tasks so they may concentrate on essential goals.

Companies with a focus on Machine Learning regard data as one of their most valuable assets and adopt ML and other technology tools of the current period to develop a Competitive Advantage. Significant findings of the MIT SMR study indicate that:

Approximately 75% of research participants stated that investing in Machine Learning and Automation enables them to meet their functional KPIs more effectively.
Organizations with the most innovative and remarkable ML projects demonstrated a strong commitment to managing data as a valuable asset.
Data-driven enterprises have a significant competitive advantage over those that adopt data or machine learning capabilities slowly.

Typically, the Marketing department is the first in a business to implement Machine Learning. Advertising, customer intelligence, and segmentation are the most common applications of machine learning.

Technology executives employ 3 crucial Machine Learning best practices to support Strategic Decision making:

Employ KPIs to Enable an Integrated, Single View of Customers.
Analyze and Interpret Factors Driving KPIs.
Evaluate KPI Reports Carefully and Regularly.

Let's delve deeper into the complexities of the best practices.

Employ KPIs to Enable an Integrated, Single View of Customers

A comprehensive, data-driven view of the client is essential for company executives today. Companies that incentivize their staff to implement Machine Learning with relevant, quantifiable KPIs have a comprehensive, broad perspective of their customers.

The development of a single customer view is facilitated by rewarding the use of machine learning and establishing meaningful, practical, and attainable KPIs to measure its efficacy. This enables businesses to generate precise consumer segmentation and plan effective client interactions.

Analyze and Interpret Factors Driving KPIs

The subsequent best practice for enabling Strategic Decision Making using Machine Learning is to interpret the underlying factors that impact their performance indicators. Companies that are compensated for utilizing machine learning are more likely to agree that they can assess the factors and data that comprise their key performance indicators. The capacity to evaluate and analyze the elements of business KPIs contributes to the improvement of Operational Excellence.

This ability promotes a better understanding of company data and consumer demands, thereby influencing decision-making based on data. Leading companies utilize data, analytics, and ML to run software and apps essential for predicting client desires, manage systems required to comprehend business requirements, and make these systems smarter.

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Six Steps to Devise a Pragmatic Data Governance Strategy

Posted by Mark Bridges on September 14, 2022 at 19:09

Data Governance is essential for establishing a data-centric, insight-driven organization. Governance is currently a major issue for senior management as a result of public outrage over data privacy, the reputational harm caused by data leaks, and strict legislation.

In the absence of a thorough Data Governance Strategy, the everyday accumulation of huge volumes of data can result in regulatory or professional challenges. A Data Governance Strategy is the first step toward better data capabilities, the development of data professionals, and a collaborative enterprise.

To develop a pragmatic Data Governance Strategy, businesses should concentrate on the following six phases:

Document existing governance structure and roles
Gain senior leadership sponsorship for the program
Improve data awareness and education
Redefine data structures and establish a team
Create measurement metrics to identify success
Choose data tools that match your strategy

This six-step Data Governance Strategy enhances enterprise management by recognizing and appreciating data as a significant business asset. The approach simplifies the generation of accurate and consistent data, enhances its utility, and enables more lucid Decision making.

Phase 1 — Document Existing Governance Structure and Roles

The initial step recognizes the organization's present data management procedures, which are often controlled by database administrators (access permissions) and IT workers (who back up and store data) (who ensure the availability of licensed business intelligence applications). Data Governance is practiced by every organization, however it is rarely documented.

After identifying the existing governance structure and roles, it is essential to undertake a formal inventory of data assets, identify the personnel responsible for data management, and identify any gaps in data assets, responsibilities of relevant individuals, and processes.

Phase 2 — Gain Senior Leadership’s Sponsorship for the Program

The next step emphasizes the importance of executive sponsorship to the success of a Data Governance program. Engineers, developers, and network administrators that operate in departmental silos typically carry out Data Governance Strategy obligations. A cross-departmental Governance Strategy cannot be designed and implemented successfully without the backing of top leadership.

To garner executive support for Data Governance programs, executive leadership typically promotes uncertainty and fear, such as by imposing fines for violations of data privacy and protection rules. This method, however, promotes antagonism and unhappiness among stakeholders and is detrimental to data governance. Data Governance should be made interesting to executives by demonstrating how it can improve the enterprise's efficiency and responsiveness.

Phase 3 — Improve Data Awareness and Education

Enhancing the enterprise's data literacy is the objective of this portion of the Data Governance Strategy. Employee support is equally essential to the success of the Data Governance Strategy and its implementation as is leadership support. It is crucial for folks to realize the need of protecting information resources that they comprehend the value of data.

Even in data-centric organizations, the lack of awareness, discovery, and reuse of (previously created) data assets is pervasive. The key reason for redoing work is to recreate entire databases and dashboards that already exist but are unknown to company personnel. Designing and delivering employee training programs on data literacy and data science competencies enhances the Data Governance Strategy and its implementation.

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5 Dimensions of Data Governance Strategy

Posted by Mark Bridges on September 9, 2022 at 10:20

Data Governance is a set of practices that outline the roles and accountabilities related to data and support the organization’s Business Model by generating and consuming data. It’s all about overseeing the accessibility, practicality, reliability and safety of enterprise data.

Data Governance is guided by in-house data standards and guidelines to monitor data usage. The process safeguards data uniformity, dependability, and fair use. The success of a Data Governance initiative should be measured by its expected business benefits or organizational growth—not just data security and usability.

With increasingly stringent data confidentiality laws, the need for implementation and adoption of Data Analytics to improve decisions and enterprise operations is further amplified.

With huge data lakes and Big Data comes greater responsibility to manage risks associated with data collection, processing, and storage. Data Governance aids in evading any untoward issues arising during the data collection, storage, retrieval, and utilization process. In data-driven organizations, the importance of Data Governance is supreme to generate value. For instance, Data Governance assist in:

Busting inconsistent data silos.
Standardizing data definitions and developing a common data understanding.
Improving quality of data.
Providing executives reliable insights to make decisions.
Ensuring compliance with data regulations.
Reducing data handling costs.
Creating competitive advantage for organizations.

To gather across-the-board support from the stakeholders and reducing conflict against the Data Governance initiative, research suggests the following best practices:

Involving business people—alongside data owners and governance committee—to decide on standards and policies of the governance program.
Consistently reporting the governance program’s status through workshops, newsletters, emails, or reports.
Setting up and updating security protocols for all organizational technology systems and units.
Defining a customized Data Governance methodology to guide individual business processes.
Keeping the emphasis on creating results and business value for the enterprise.
Encouraging all stakeholders to agree on the roles and responsibilities.
Regularly training all stakeholders on Data Governance, data usage rules, confidentiality, and data consistency.

The execution of Data Governance programs commence by preparing a Data Governance plan. The Plan entails:

A document delineating rules and procedures governing data generation, gathering, and utilization.
These rules and procedures focus more on security policies.
Most employees know that the plan exists somewhere, but majority do not bother to read it.
The plan is often quite bureaucratic and vague, specifically due to the plurality of data, which makes it tough to present all potential scenarios in one place.

Dimensions of Data Governance

Most large enterprises comprises multiple business units where each produces and uses data of varied degrees of sensitivity. A uniform approach to Data Governance based on the data with highest degree of sensitivity would not work for all categories of data.

The discrete business units need an agile and flexible Data Governance methodology; one that inspires Digital Innovation. Such an approach to Data Governance is grounded on 5 dimensions that cover different spheres of executive Decision-making:

Principles
Quality
Metadata
Accessibility
Life cycle

Let’s talk about the dimensions of Data Governance in detail.

Principles

Principles are at the foothold of the Data Governance approach. Executives need to first define the key principles which act as the foundation for the data to function as a valuable resource for the corporation.

Quality

The Quality dimension demarcates the prerequisites for usability of data and the methods to evaluate that those prerequisites are fulfilled.

Metadata

Metadata expresses the meanings to clarify and use data—e.g. Metadata in a data catalog is employed by data scientists to use large data sets available in a data lake.

Accessibility

Accessibility defines data access, security and risk mitigation needs, privileges, and procedures.

Life Cycle

This dimension deals with the creation, retention, and disposal of data.

Interested in learning more about the dimensions of the approach to Data Governance? You can download an editable PowerPoint on the Data Governance Primer here on the Flevy documents marketplace.

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3 Roles Integral for Data Governance Initiatives

Posted by Mark Bridges on September 3, 2022 at 12:54

Data Governance is a set of practices that outline the roles and accountabilities related to data and support the organization’s Business Model by generating and consuming data. It’s all about overseeing the accessibility, practicality, reliability and safety of enterprise data.

Data Governance is guided by in-house data standards and guidelines to monitor data usage. The process safeguards data uniformity, dependability, and fair use. The success of a Data Governance initiative should be measured by its expected business benefits or organizational growth—not just data security and usability.

Incoherent data creates hurdles in Data Analytics and business operations. Data protection initiatives should be managed by structured Data Governance roles. An organized team is critical for success of a Data Governance program.

Data standardization, precision, security and governance isn’t the sole dominion of IT people; it’s a team effort. These tasks involve participation of a number of stakeholders from across the organization. Data Governance program includes people from the business side, data management personnel, and IT recruiters. The convergence of IT and business people in a Data Governance program allows for a bigger picture perspective on governing the organizational data.

The functions of the IT and business users in the Data Governance initiative can be demarcated as:

IT People

The IT resources responsible for the Data Governance program focus on data safekeeping, modeling and standardization. They are responsible for taking care of the fundamental infrastructure, applications, Automation, compatibility with all tools and apps, and execution of Data Governance policies.

Business People

The business people in the Data Governance team, on the other hand, focus on ensuring data access, excellence, and responsiveness. Business users oversee the value assigned to the data, its utilization in fulfilling organizational objectives, and solving complex problems. Business users come up with common data definitions, key performance indicators to measure the quality of data, and support in administering governance policies and procedures.

The key roles that are mandatory for Data Governance initiatives include:

Leadership
Data Governance Council
Data Stewards

Let's now delve deeper into the details of some of these key roles.

Leadership

Data Governance programs commence with assigning an executive Data Governance sponsor. The executive sponsor ensures availability of critical investments and expert Human Resources and clearly laying out the overall understanding and objectives of the initiative.

The Executive Data Governance Sponsor role, at several large organizations, is assigned to a Chief Data Officer (CDO) or a Data Governance Manager, at other enterprises. The CDO, or Data Governance Manager, is responsible for:

Aligning the Data Governance policy with the overall goals of the Business Strategy.
The CDO should possess the technical knowledge required to manage the Data Governance process and policies in addition to having management competencies.
Managing all correspondence and internal messaging related to the Data Governance initiative.
Analyzing progress of the Data Governance program and ensuring its schedule and budget targets.
Coordinating the tasks to be carried out by the Data Governance Council.

Data Governance Council

The Data Governance Council (DGC) acts as a steering committee to strategically direct the design and implementation of the Data Governance Program. The Data Governance Council comprises:

Technical, business and legal experts.
Data stewards from the various departments.
A C-suite executive to direct the strategic constituent of the program.
Data analysts to analyze trends.

DGC is responsible for:

Rendering strategic direction and planning to manage the organizational data.
Establishing objectives for the initiative.
Ascertaining the requirements for Data Governance.
Developing and authorizing data standards, policies, business rules and program procurement.
Resolving issues escalated by the Data Stewards.
Sharing the results of the program.

Interested in learning more about the roles and responsibilities pertaining to a Data Governance initiative? You can download an editable PowerPoint on Data Governance: Roles & Responsibilities here on the Flevy documents marketplace.

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– Roderick Cameron, Founding Partner at SGFE Ltd

4 Strategies for Technology Commoditization

Posted by Mark Bridges on September 2, 2022 at 19:20

Companies, particularly those in the technology sector, used to invest a substantial amount of time, effort, and cash to innovate and establish a Competitive Advantage based on their design and engineering.

Integration of design and technical expertise via the development of high-tech manufacturing and design tools has simplified the Innovation and Production processes. Consequently, new entrants may now exploit readily and affordably accessible technical knowledge and resources to expedite the creation of their own technology-intensive goods with much greater ease. This phenomenon is known as Technology Commoditization.

This increase in Technology Commoditization has 3 key causes:

Open infringement of Intellectual Property (IP).
Governments requiring companies to exchange technology in order to obtain permits for conducting business.
Regular knowledge transfer as a result of multinational staff transferring to local businesses.

Due to Technology Commoditization, there are some situations where new, unknown firms are catching up to long-established companies and becoming highly formidable competitors.

There are additional, less recognized elements at play that are driving commoditization and making it more difficult to maintain product distinctiveness.

On the plus side, Technology Commoditization has spawned new global rivals and provided customers with more options. In addition, it has created serious and maybe existential issues for existing industry leaders.

Market leaders must now consider countermeasure strategies to this grave threat. These pressures can be countered by incumbent firms by employing the following 4 strategies:

Instead of focusing on the commoditized portions of the Value Chain, emphasis should be on complex systems design and defendable areas.
Differentiation should be based on pushing the design envelope and scaling rapidly in areas where embedded knowledge in tools is high.
Noticeable IP should be the point of differentiation and should be uncompromisingly safeguarded.
Process knowledge should be guarded in indiscernible areas.

Let's examine some of the strategies in further detail.

Instead of focusing on the commoditized portions of the Value Chain, emphasis should be on complex systems design and defendable areas.

Numerous businesses have used this strategy, especially in sectors where the product may be divided into commodity and proprietary components.

GE is an example of a company that purchases a lot of its components, such as easily replicable parts for its commercial jet engines, from lower-cost geographic regions.

GE manufactures what it considers to be essential components itself, such as ceramic matrix composite blades and combustors, and carries out final assembly in its own plants.

Differentiation should be based on pushing the design envelope and scaling rapidly in areas where embedded knowledge in tools is high.

To keep competitors at bay while relying only on high-tech tools, it appears reasonable to exceed the limits of the equipment.

Leading chip manufacturers, for instance, employ this method by aiming to stay on the cutting edge of tool capabilities by driving advancements that draw on interdisciplinary knowledge and skills.

Noticeable IP should be the point of differentiation and should be uncompromisingly safeguarded.

Such a method is only rational when dealing with Innovations where the fundamental innovation is evident.

Companies can produce difficult-to-manufacture unique items and then vigorously protect their patents.

Interested in learning more about Technology Commoditization? You can download an editable PowerPoint on Technology Commoditization here on the Flevy documents marketplace.

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6-Steps to Adaptive Innovation Ecosystem Strategy

Posted by Mark Bridges on September 1, 2022 at 9:00

Editor's Note: If you are interested in becoming an expert on Innovation Management, take a look at Flevy's Innovation Management Frameworks offering here. This is a curated collection of best practice frameworks based on the thought leadership of leading consulting firms, academics, and recognized subject matter experts. By learning and applying these concepts, you can stay ahead of the curve. Full details here.

When new technologies and rivals disrupt markets, numerous firms employ antiquated Business Models, strategies, technologies, and procedures to keep up but struggle to do so. They are, most likely, unsatisfactorily prepared to produce new goods and services in an unpredictable environment.

Such circumstances motivate some firms to form partnerships with others. Successful partnerships need presence of necessary individuals, procedures, and organizational support, or to put it another way, an entire ecosystem.

Partnering with complementary businesses to develop an Innovation Ecosystem significantly increases a company's technological or competitive ability.

Establishing the proper sort of Innovation Ecosystem is essential for ensuring success and identifying and resolving areas of friction.

Globally, the Centralized Innovation Ecosystem is the most utilized system. Key elements of this Innovation Ecosystem include the company's role as a Broker or Hub, the creation of unique connections with each participant, and the participants' indirect engagement with one another i.e., through the Broker.

The success of a Centralized Ecosystem Strategy is contingent on its having specific, identifiable challenges as well as answers. It is effective in mature markets.

In many instances, the usual method for developing an Innovation Ecosystem Strategy is ineffective.

The Adaptive Innovation Ecosystem is better suited for environments with unclear criteria or industries that are still emerging and require cooperation. The firm acts as an Orchestrator in the Adaptive Innovation Ecosystem, linking companies, which collaborate directly.

Adaptive Ecosystem Strategies are applicable when both the problem and the solution are undetermined or currently being classified.

More than 15 years have been devoted to the study of how businesses derive value through partnerships and Innovation Ecosystems. This ground-breaking research suggests that the implementation of an Adaptive Ecosystem Strategy demands a 6-step approach.

Define the area of exploration.
Find and attract the right partners.
Connect uncommon partners.
Connect the partners into an ecosystem.
Leverage opportunities to transform.
Allow partnerships to be flexible.

Let's go into a little more detail of the first 3 steps of this approach.

Define the Area of Exploration

Adaptive Innovation Ecosystems are utilized in unclear environments. Consequently, it is natural that the 1st phase of an Adaptive Ecosystem Strategy should be to determine the exploration area.

After establishing the area to be investigated, the problem may be explored in depth and refined as understanding of the opportunity grows.

Find and Attract the Right Partners

To create an Adaptive Innovation Ecosystem, it may be required for the Orchestrator to seek collaborators outside of its industry. It may need to employ unorthodox methods to attract them.

Partnering with unusual entities has produced some of the most effective Adaptive Innovation Ecosystems strategies, according to past experience.

Partnering entities are occasionally on the industry's periphery or even outside of the industry in which the firm works. The difficulty in this phase is identifying the required competencies for innovation.

Connect Uncommon Partners

In Centralized Innovation Ecosystems, partners are frequently kept apart from one another. The efficacy of Adaptive Innovation Ecosystems is reliance on direct cooperation between partners. Orchestrators are responsible for bringing together these unique partners. Bringing together unconventional partners might be challenging because many of the participants have never collaborated before. Additionally, there are rare precedence of such teamwork.

Companies that have operated in Adaptive Ecosystems have concluded that collaborative effort does not follow a predetermined pattern.

Interested in learning more about all the phases of Adaptive Innovation Ecosystem Strategy development? You can download an editable PowerPoint on Adaptive Innovation Ecosystem Strategy here on the Flevy documents marketplace.

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To be competitive and sustain growth, we need to constantly develop new products, services, processes, technologies, and business models. In other words, we need to constantly innovate.

Ironically, the more we grow, the harder it becomes to innovate. Large organizations tend to be far better executors than they are innovators. To effectively manage the Innovation process, we need to master both the art and science of Innovation. Only then can we leverage Innovation as a Competitive Advantage, instead of viewing Innovation as a potential disruptive threat.

Learn about our Innovation Management Best Practice Frameworks here.

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– Roderick Cameron, Founding Partner at SGFE Ltd

University Partnership Canvas (UPC): Industry-University Collaboration Tool

Posted by Mark Bridges on August 19, 2022 at 21:15

Partnerships between companies and universities are vital Innovation economy drivers.

Numerous businesses are shifting their attention in university and Innovation ecosystem interactions from incremental problem-solving to long-term improvement and careful engagement with emerging entrepreneurs.

This aids in preparing businesses and universities for more effective relationships and productive participation in the Innovation Ecosystem.

Considering the answers to 6 key questions aids the organizations in developing a strategic outlook on their partnerships. To facilitate the process of answering these 6 questions, a tool called the University Partnership Canvas (UPC) has been designed, which enables managers to display the 6 questions visually.

These questions are very closely connected—when the answers to these questions align, they provide a cause for collaboration that has strategic depth and a greater likelihood of being successful.

The UPC offers a tool to assist managers in achieving their company objectives by reviewing their present strategic partnership techniques and systematically identifying differences. The UPC may aid managers in outlining probable answers to any disagreements or problems.

Managers may also use the UPC to analyze the impact of shifting corporate objectives on their existing University Partnerships and, in light of this information, make adjustments as necessary.

UPC should not be used just as an internal evaluation and development tool for University Partnership. It should be leveraged, additionally, in ongoing conversations with universities.

Corporations and universities may utilize UPC, in collaboration, to increase openness regarding the objectives, formats, KPIs, and organizational structures of a partnership being explored for development potential.

The UPC, which consists of the following 6 questions, is the product of a 4-year research effort on developing, maintaining, and enhancing the intrinsically complex university-industry collaborations.

What business goals drive your University Partnerships?
What are the key focus areas of your University Partnerships, and how are they selected to ensure alignment with your business goals?
Who are your primary university partners, and by what criteria are they chosen?
What collaboration formats match your focus areas and business goals?
What people, processes, and organizational structures support your University Partnerships?
What key performance indicators are most useful for evaluating your University Partnerships?

These 6 crucial questions, the responses to which assist in assessing the partnership's viability and potential for progress, can be divided into 3 groups:

The initial 2 questions deal with business objectives, i.e., the strategic objectives that University Partnerships should provide for the business.

The following 2 questions focus on the collaborators and cooperation structures, the "who" and "how." of the process.

Collectively, the initial 4 questions make the core of a methodical approach to University Partnerships.

The last 2 questions pertain to ensuring that the necessary individuals, procedures, organizational structures, and assessment tools are assigned for the collaboration to provide value for both the university and the company.

Interested in learning more about University Partnership Canvas (UPC)? You can download an editable PowerPoint on University Partnership Canvas (UPC) here on the Flevy documents marketplace.

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– Roderick Cameron, Founding Partner at SGFE Ltd

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