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  • Don’t forget this when updating your strategic plans

    Strategic planning doesn’t have to be an overwhelming exercise in a fast-changing business environment. Consider these three tips when doing your strategic planning.

    As the mid-year approaches, you might be refreshing your strategic plan.

    Today I offer 3 tips for you to take into account as you conduct your planning.  I know this is a tricky exercise amidst a business environment that is fast changing, with significant digital disruption and uncertainty.

    If you’re feeling unprecedented levels of overwhelm and stress, know that you are not alone. 44% of the global workforce experience significant workplace stress on a daily basis (Gallup 2023 Global Workplace Report, survey conducted 2022).

    3 tips to consider in your strategic planning

    1. Consider AI: have you built AI into your strategy?  There are 3 parts to this:
    • an organizational approach to Generative AI tools for personal productivity of staff
    • building AI into your processes to improve productivity, and
    • introducing AI into your products and services, to reduce cost to serve and generate more revenue.In the coming months, I will write more about this as it seems as if some organizations are stuck in a pattern of overwhelm, and I know you can overcome this easily.
    1. Plan ahead for the capabilities that you’ll need. Skills are becoming obsolete faster than ever. The World Economic Forum in 2023 predicted that 44% of skills will be obsolete within 5 years.  Do some workforce planning.  Find easy ways to develop and future-proof your team.
    1. Plan ahead for Health and Safety (OSHA / WHS or whatever you call it in your business0.  There is new legislation in parts of Europe and Australia which makes managers are liable for the psychosocial safety of their workforce.  This can include excessive workload, and how change management is handled. I discuss this further in Getting Future Ready: 5 Trends in Change Management.

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    Quote of the week

    “Start strategy execution when you start developing strategy”.

    Lisa Carlin

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    Announcing upcoming global panel

    Strategy Mavericks: Disrupting Traditional Approaches to Business Strategy. July 25th, 2024

    Join us for a discussion that challenges the way strategy is developed.  For the first time, a panel of well-known global strategy experts dissect the traditional strategy approach. All panelists have different views and perspectives, so expect a lively, controversial and stimulating discussion. Click here to secure your spot.

    Strategy Mavericks global panel

    Panelists:

    Will Bachman, Founder of Umbrex and author of The Chief Strategy Officer Handbook. He will discuss how strategy executives increasingly expect consultants to integrate with internal teams, transfer skills, and drive implementation.

    Rob McLean – Author, PE investor, Philanthropist and Director Emeritus of McKinsey. Rob believes a new approach is needed for strategy under uncertainty.

    Alex MH Smith – Breakthrough Strategist and Author.  Alex believes that the world of strategy has a “serious BS problem”, and he has over 70k followers on LinkedIn who seem to love him and agree with him.

    Chaired by Lisa Carlin – Strategy Execution Specialist.  Lisa believes traditional strategy development alienates staff, which makes implementation harder.   She is known for chairing stimulating and lively conversations that encourage audience participation.

    Sponsored by Women on Boards

    This free Zoom is on Thursday, July 25, 2024, 10am GMT London, 5am EST in New York, 7pm AEST in Sydney.

    Click here to secure your spot.

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    Keep turbocharging with a culture-friendly approach 😊🌱📈

    PSS Not sure how to get your strategy unstuck, projects powering, and transformation turbocharged? I can help you.

    1. 🌱 For more ideas, playbooks, and to learn from others with similar challenges, join our Turbocharge community at the price of a coffee a day. Money back in 14 days if you’re not satisfied.
    2. 🌱🌱 Email me to book your 1on1 mentoring session to fast track your strategy execution.

    If you’re interested in

    #strategyexecution,

    #digitaltransformation,

    #changemanagement…

    * Don’t miss out. Subscribe to my personal weekly email to your inbox here.

    —

    About Lisa Carlin

    Lisa specialises in accelerating strategic projects.  She has pioneered a Culture-Friendly approach which she has used to deliver and guide executives through over 50 transformation programs. Her early career was with McKinsey and Accenture. In 1999, she started her own business (now part of FutureBuilders), working with prestigious global organizations and B2B Tech.  Lisa is Founder of the Turbocharge Hub, which provides frameworks, tools and training to business leaders who want to be future-ready and fast-track implementation of change initiatives.

  • CEO Guide: AI tools for Culture-Friendly Strategies

    AI tools will improve the way you develop strategies, conduct strategic planning, and also design, communicate and implement change initiatives.

    If you’re future-focused leader, and still not sure how AI can simplify your life, this is the right time to test the waters.

    You’ve probably realized that experimenting with Generative AI is not just a curiosity; it is essential for future-focused leaders to lift productivity in our fast changing market. Last year’s IBM survey found that already 43% of CEOs were using AI tools personally to inform their strategic decisions. And 92% of Fortune 500 companies are now using ChatGPT, according their Founder Sam Altman.

    CEO and Change Leaders’ interests have evolved significantly. Recently, CEOs are seeking practical insights on leveraging Generative AI tools for strategic initiatives. Therefore, I’ve created this Guide.

    With over 50 strategy implementation initiatives under my belt, I’ve championed a culture-friendly, human-centered approach, rejecting traditional top-down strategy announcements. Co-design methods have proven to enhance engagement and success rates. Through experimenting with AI tools, I’ve experienced a significant boost in productivity and creativity, facilitating quicker and better solutions for clients and my own business.

    This CEO Guide aims to share these insights with you, with 5 strategic examples.

    Please click the link below to download the CEO Guide:

    5 AI Tools for Culture-Friendly Strategies

    And I’d be grateful if you forward this article to others who will find this useful.

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    Quote of the week

    “The more I learn, the more I realize how much I don’t know.”

    Albert Einstein

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    Keep turbocharging with a culture-friendly approach 😊🌱📈

    PSS Not sure how to get your strategy unstuck, projects powering, and transformation turbocharged? I can help you.

    1. 🌱 For more ideas, playbooks, and to learn from others with similar challenges, join our Turbocharge community at the price of a coffee a day. Money back in 14 days if you’re not satisfied.
    2. 🌱🌱 Email me to book your 1on1 mentoring session to fast track your strategy execution.

    If you’re interested in

    #strategyexecution,

    #digitaltransformation,

    #changemanagement…

    * Don’t miss out. Subscribe to my personal weekly email to your inbox here.

    —

    About Lisa Carlin

    Lisa specialises in accelerating strategic projects.  She has pioneered a Culture-Friendly approach which she has used to deliver and guide executives through over 50 transformation programs. Her early career was with McKinsey and Accenture. In 1999, she started her own business (now part of FutureBuilders), working with prestigious global organizations and B2B Tech.  Lisa is Founder of the Turbocharge Hub, which provides frameworks, tools and training to business leaders who want to be future-ready and fast-track implementation of change initiatives.

  • Get Future Ready: Trends in Change Management

    Do you know what to do to get future-ready as a Change Leader?

    Whether you’re a business manager leading change, a change management professional, or involved in strategic projects, I’ve written a comprehensive paper describing all the trends you need to know in this article.

    I’m pleased to share with you the 5 Trends in Change Management that I presented at the Rethink Change conference in Sydney, Australia last week.

    The future of work is rapidly evolving.  In order to execute strategies in an increasingly complex environment, those involved in organizational change need to adapt the way they themselves practice change management.

    This paper reviews the 5 key trends in change management, and the implications for Change Leaders – both business managers leading change, and change management professionals.

    While some trends are fully established, others are just a hint at what is over the horizon.

    Peter Drucker said: “Trying to predict the future is like trying to drive down a country road at night with no lights while looking out the back window.” 

    Accepting that we cannot predict the future accurately, I highlight the trends that I believe are most important for Change Leaders to navigate an increasingly complex operating environment.

    I cover:

    • digitally enabled trends
    • flexible, leading edge approaches
    • applying a culture-lens to change, including psychosocial safety
    • and more.

    Please click below to download the full article:

    5 Future Trends in Change Management

    Please forward this article to others who will find this useful.

    _____________

    Keep turbocharging with a culture-friendly approach 😊🌱📈

    PSS Not sure how to get your strategy unstuck, projects powering, and transformation turbocharged? I can help you.

    1. 🌱 For more ideas, playbooks, and to learn from others with similar challenges, join our Turbocharge community at the price of a coffee a day. Money back in 14 days if you’re not satisfied.
    2. 🌱🌱 Email me to book your 1on1 mentoring session to fast track your strategy execution.

    If you’re interested in

    #strategyexecution,

    #digitaltransformation,

    #changemanagement…

    * Don’t miss out. Subscribe to my personal weekly email to your inbox here.

    —

    About Lisa Carlin

    Lisa specialises in accelerating strategic projects.  She has pioneered a Culture-Friendly approach which she has used to deliver and guide executives through over 50 transformation programs. Her early career was with McKinsey and Accenture. In 1999, she started her own business (now part of FutureBuilders), working with prestigious global organizations and B2B Tech.  Lisa is Founder of the Turbocharge Hub, which provides frameworks, tools and training to business leaders who want to be future-ready and fast-track implementation of change initiatives.

  • Be more Strategic with Executive Frameworks

    Using frameworks strategically is the foundation of strategic excellence. You can use them to turbocharge your strategic thinking, for managing staff, planning, delegating, or presenting. But you can’t just “plug and play.”

    Today I’m encouraging you to lift your game in using McKinsey-style frameworks for your strategic projects. Use them to turbocharge your work when doing your own strategic thinking, managing staff, planning, delegating or presenting.

    Why frameworks are fabulous:

    • Executives and Board members appreciate one-pagers as they are usually big picture strategic thinkers, rather than detail-oriented.

    • Executives and board members love to see things in a graphical framework.

    • 90% of information processed by the brain is visual.

    • It is faster to populate frameworks when you’re working on strategic projects, rather than starting with a blank page. One of the first things I was taught when I worked for McKinsey was to turn my page sideways, use landscape mode and start drawing.

    3 tips to use frameworks:

    1. Collect your own frameworks – Whenever you find a framework you like, add it to your collection so you have them to hand. You can also join the Turbocharge Hub – every month you’ll get a brand new playbook full of editable frameworks for you to use. There are already 10 playbooks published in the Turbocharge Hub covering change management, culture, project management, stakeholder management, AI tools for strategic projects and more.
    2. Modify your blank frameworks – for example, change the template to suit the nature of your project, your industry, and the culture of your business. Make them your own.
    3. Populate your frameworks – I recently worked with an executive on their growth strategy, showing them how to use AI tools to expedite their implementation planning. If you aren’t yet using AI tools on a daily basis, start learning or you will be left in the dust.

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    Quote of the week

    “ You can steer yourself in any direction you choose.”

    Dr Seuss

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    Keep turbocharging with a culture-friendly approach 😊🌱📈

    PSS Not sure how to get your strategy unstuck, projects powering, and transformation turbocharged? I can help you.

    1. 🌱 For more ideas, playbooks, and to learn from others with similar challenges, join our Turbocharge community at the price of a coffee a day. Money back in 14 days if you’re not satisfied.
    2. 🌱🌱 Email me to book your 1on1 mentoring session to fast track your strategy execution.

    If you’re interested in

    #strategyexecution,

    #digitaltransformation,

    #changemanagement…

    * Don’t miss out. Subscribe to my personal weekly email to your inbox here.

    —

    About Lisa Carlin

    Lisa specialises in accelerating strategic projects.  She has pioneered a Culture-Friendly approach which she has used to deliver and guide executives through over 50 transformation programs. Her early career was with McKinsey and Accenture. In 1999, she started her own business (now part of FutureBuilders), working with prestigious global organizations and B2B Tech.  Lisa is Founder of the Turbocharge Hub, which provides frameworks, tools and training to business leaders who want to be future-ready and fast-track implementation of change initiatives.

  • Build Valuable Relationships: Lift Customer Retention

    Customer relationships are essential for every role within a business. They impact both external interactions and internal support dynamics. Read this article learn game-changing customer relationship tips.

    If you’re thinking customer relationships are not directly relevant to you, think again. They’re important for everyone in every role. If you aren’t servicing an external customer (or client or stakeholder), then you’re managing or supporting someone internally in your business who is. So today, imagine the impact on your business if you could improve your customer relationships.

    Repeat customers are really, really valuable.

    More valuable than new customers. Here are the facts:

    • Acquiring a new customer can cost five times more than retaining an existing customer. (Outbound Engine; Forbes Council; others)

    • Repeat customers spend more money. 67 percent more. (BIA Advisory)

    • Increasing customer retention rates by just 5% can increase profits by between 25% and 95%. (Bain and Company)

    • 89% of consumers are more likely to make another purchase after a positive customer service experience. (Salesforce Research)

    • 93% of customers are likely to make repeat purchases with companies who offer excellent customer service. (HubSpot Research)

    Below are 3 tips to improve your customer relationships, and therefore your retention. Think about how this applies to all your relationships.

    3 tips to improve customer relationships

    1. Delight them – what are they expecting from you? How can you exceed their expectations today and delight them? How can you delight them the moment you start the piece of work or project with them? How can you continue to deliver against the targets set? How can you build this into your culture?

    2. Surprise them – is there something they value that you can provide them that they don’t expect? Something easy for you that is hugely valuable for them? For example, can you use an AI tool to deliver earlier, better, more, or suggest an improvement to them that they will appreciate? Is this something that people will do in your culture naturally?

    3. Educate them – do they know what else you can do for them? Do you explain this at the right time in the journey of working with them, in the right way, to add real value to their goals? How helpful are people in your culture to others?

      Some of the organizations I know are over-delivering rather than under-delivering on customer service. This is also not a good thing and will kill your margins. It’s a Goldilocks problem (getting it “just right”). If you encourage me, I will write about that another day.

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    Quote of the week

    “The most meaningful way to succeed is to help others succeed.”

    Adam Grant

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    Clients, partners and friends

    On the topic of customer retention, read this: One of my clients, HowToo has launched an online platform for mid to large organizations that need to onboard customers at scale. This is unlike alternatives such as disjointed videos, clunky instruction manuals and costly manual training. HowToo makes it easy for you to create intuitive customer education, because it was designed by behavioural experts. For a demo, contact Lisa Rodgers and mention my name.

    _____________

    Keep turbocharging with a culture-friendly approach 😊🌱📈

    PSS Not sure how to get your strategy unstuck, projects powering, and transformation turbocharged? I can help you.

    1. 🌱 For more ideas, playbooks, and to learn from others with similar challenges, join our Turbocharge community at the price of a coffee a day. Money back in 14 days if you’re not satisfied.
    2. 🌱🌱 Email me to book your 1on1 mentoring session to fast track your strategy execution.

    If you’re interested in

    #strategyexecution,

    #digitaltransformation,

    #changemanagement…

    * Don’t miss out. Subscribe to my personal weekly email to your inbox here.

    —

    About Lisa Carlin

    Lisa specialises in accelerating strategic projects.  She has pioneered a Culture-Friendly approach which she has used to deliver and guide executives through over 50 transformation programs. Her early career was with McKinsey and Accenture. In 1999, she started her own business (now part of FutureBuilders), working with prestigious global organizations and B2B Tech.  Lisa is Founder of the Turbocharge Hub, which provides frameworks, tools and training to business leaders who want to be future-ready and fast-track implementation of change initiatives.

  • Culture-Friendly Strategy for Rapid Execution

    You can turbocharge your strategic projects with Human-Centered Strategy to fast track your progress or prevent any forms of resistance from happening.

    I find that most people leading or working on strategic projects are keen to expedite them, but are not sure how to do so. They are faced with resistance, inertia, disinterest, or politicking, and don’t know how to get around this.

    Or better yet, prevent different forms of resistance from happening in the first place. Creating a PULL effect, where the people around you are leaning in towards the change and wanting to be involved.

    This is where our Culture-Friendly Strategy approach excels, as shown in the framework below. I’ve used and refined this approach for the last 25 years in my work with the FutureBuilders team. It is based on Human-Centered Design principles where employees, customers, and stakeholders are at the centre of strategic planning. Importantly, it includes a holistic, strategic perspective including:

    • Business strategy – to give you precision in where you’re headed

    • Project management – to give you traction

    • Change management – to give you momentum

      and

    • Culture – to navigate workplace culture successfully.

    Without the 4 ingredients above, strategy cannot be successfully executed. I’ve seen this on over 50 improvement programs I’ve worked on, and it is true every time. With this in mind, below are 3 tips to get started with a Culture-Friendly approach.

    3 tips to get started

    1. Get out of the dark room – this means identifying your stakeholders and involving them in your strategy process early, rather than doing this behind closed doors. More here.

    2. Co-design your solutions – ask your stakeholders for their ideas when you’re developing your strategy, you will be surprised. There are ways to do this without losing control over the process. See strategy is not democratic here.

    3. Understand your culture to navigate it, not just change it – See some of my YouTubes on this, such as this 60 second clip. Please forward this to others you think will find this useful.

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    Quote of the week

    “Learning is how you evolve.”

    Adam Grant

    _____________

    Keep turbocharging with a culture-friendly approach 😊🌱📈

    PSS Not sure how to get your strategy unstuck, projects powering, and transformation turbocharged? I can help you.

    1. 🌱 For more ideas, playbooks, and to learn from others with similar challenges, join our Turbocharge community at the price of a coffee a day. Money back in 14 days if you’re not satisfied.
    2. 🌱🌱 Email me to book your 1on1 mentoring session to fast track your strategy execution.

    If you’re interested in

    #strategyexecution,

    #digitaltransformation,

    #changemanagement…

    * Don’t miss out. Subscribe to my personal weekly email to your inbox here.

    —

    About Lisa Carlin

    Lisa specialises in accelerating strategic projects.  She has pioneered a Culture-Friendly approach which she has used to deliver and guide executives through over 50 transformation programs. Her early career was with McKinsey and Accenture. In 1999, she started her own business (now part of FutureBuilders), working with prestigious global organizations and B2B Tech.  Lisa is Founder of the Turbocharge Hub, which provides frameworks, tools and training to business leaders who want to be future-ready and fast-track implementation of change initiatives.

  • Top AI Tools for Project Success

    Over 25% of CEOs are using generative AI to make operational decisions.

    Want to change the world? Start using AI tools to save time and inspire people with these 3 simple tips that I’m sharing with you in today’s article.

    Are you using AI regularly to save you time in your management work and strategic projects? If not, you will fall behind your peers in your personal productivity.

    Usage is high

    25% of CEOS already using AI in their personal work. The Superusers are mostly under age 35. Around half the population of advanced English-speaking countries are using Generative AI (Gen AI), and 61% of employees are using or planning to use Gen AI in their roles (Salesforce; McKinsey). This means those not using Gen AI will need to work even harder to stay on top of their workload.

    Gen AI is quick and easy to learn

    When I show professionals, executives and board members how to use AI, they are surprised and delighted at what they find they could do with these new tools. One wrote on my LI=inkedIn recently “Lisa blew us away!”. They learn how to write “prompts” (queries) easily. They particularly like to hear which are the best tools I’ve tried to accelerate their work such as strategic planning, writing emails, and influencing techniques.

    So today I’d like to share 3 tips on Gen AI. They will save you time, help you inspire people and get better results on your strategic projects.

    By the way, if you haven’t yet, please take 5-10 minutes to assess your own capability in strategy execution and transformation. Some fascinating early patterns are emerging, and I promise to share the research insights with everyone who participates.  Question 17 is about AI.

    3 Gen AI tips for Project Success

    1. Perplexity – you can use this tool instead of Google to search for information. You will get synthesized research rather than a list of sources based on key words. This is literally the future of search. Use it when you’re next planning a complex project.

    2. Claude – when preparing for a presentation or critical meeting, you can pre-empt likely objections and questions you may be asked. You can then proactively address these objections. I find that the free version of Claude (called Opus) is even better than ChatGPT at answering in plain English (several recent trials agree).

    3. Descript – improve your communications by providing an alternative to emails – record brief videos to share quick snippets of information regularly with your team or business or other stakeholders. You, your EA or VA can edit this as easily as editing a document in Descript. Think of this for a CEO weekly update to staff, a product launch, a project monthly stakeholder update.

      Please forward this to others you think will find this useful.

      _____________

    Quote of the week

    “You need to integrate AI into your workflow. Because the past was about delegation. And the future is about automation.”

    Alex Garcia, Author of Marketing Examined.

    _____________

    Keep turbocharging with a culture-friendly approach 😊🌱📈

    PSS Not sure how to get your strategy unstuck, projects powering, and transformation turbocharged? I can help you.

    1. 🌱 For more ideas, playbooks, and to learn from others with similar challenges, join our Turbocharge community at the price of a coffee a day. Money back in 14 days if you’re not satisfied.
    2. 🌱🌱 Email me to book your 1on1 mentoring session to fast track your strategy execution.

    If you’re interested in

    #strategyexecution,

    #digitaltransformation,

    #changemanagement…

    * Don’t miss out. Subscribe to my personal weekly email to your inbox here.

    —

    About Lisa Carlin

    Lisa specialises in accelerating strategic projects.  She has pioneered a Culture-Friendly approach which she has used to deliver and guide executives through over 50 transformation programs. Her early career was with McKinsey and Accenture. In 1999, she started her own business (now part of FutureBuilders), working with prestigious global organizations and B2B Tech.  Lisa is Founder of the Turbocharge Hub, which provides frameworks, tools and training to business leaders who want to be future-ready and fast-track implementation of change initiatives.

  • Solving strategic project overload

    As a CEO or executive, time always seems to slip away with so many tasks at hand. But too much work can lead to burnout for you and your team. Learn how to manage burnout with these three tips.

    A CEO of a mid-sized business recently spoke to me about a problem they are having.  The executive team and staff have far too much work on.  She told me they have too many projects underway, and new projects keep creeping onto their agenda.

    They have tried to re-prioritze several times but still land up with too many new projects. The CEO is frustrated and concerned her team will burn out.

    I know this is an issue for many executives right now. Too much to do. Not enough time in the day. Below I share 3 tips that I have recommended.

    3 tips to right-size your strategic project load

    1. Approach it holistically with multidisciplinary skills – with a strong project and change management skills, or a working group to resolve this (I often mentor these groups and we replace patchwork solutions with a holistic cross-functional approach).

    2. Keep changes simple and right – suited to the workplace culture, size and cadence of the business (often they are too complex, overly process-oriented, have no buy-in, and don’t stick).
    3. Address prioritisation of current projects, AND root-cause issues/behaviours to ensure it is sustainable. Spend a little extra time now to save wasted effort, misery and burnout later.

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    Quote of the week

    “Someone’s sitting in the shade because someone planted a tree a long time ago.” Warren Buffet.

    _____________

    Discussion on habits of transformation leaders

    On Tuesday 23 April 2024 8-9am AEDT Sydney (Monday, April 22nd in the afternoon if you’re in the US), join us to discuss some of the 7 Habits of Highly Successful Transformation Leaders, including navigating successfully through culture. Register here at no cost if you haven’t attended a Turbocharge session before.

    Keep turbocharging with Human-Centred Strategy 😊🌱📈

    PSS Not sure how to get your strategy unstuck, projects powering, and transformation turbocharged? I can help you.

    1. 🌱 For more ideas, playbooks, and to learn from others with similar challenges, join our Turbocharge community at the price of a coffee a day. Money back in 14 days if you’re not satisfied.
    2. 🌱🌱 Email me to book your 1on1 mentoring session to fast track your strategy execution.

    If you’re interested in

    #strategyexecution,

    #digitaltransformation,

    #changemanagement…

    * Don’t miss out. Subscribe to my personal weekly email to your inbox here.

    —

    About Lisa Carlin

    Lisa specialises in accelerating strategic projects.  She has pioneered a Culture-Friendly approach which she has used to deliver and guide executives through over 50 transformation programs. Her early career was with McKinsey and Accenture. In 1999, she started her own business (now part of FutureBuilders), working with prestigious global organizations and B2B Tech.  Lisa is Founder of the Turbocharge Hub, which provides frameworks, tools and training to business leaders who want to be future-ready and fast-track implementation of change initiatives.

  • Strong culture can destroy a business

    Strong cultures can be a blessing or a curse.  Workplace culture can either be constructive: both healthy for people and high performance-oriented; or they can  be destructive to business performance and toxic for people.  This article outlines some of the upsides and downsides of a strong culture.

    I keep hearing people say they’re proud of their “strong culture”. However, strong cultures can either support or destroy business performance. A strong culture just means behaviours are consistent.

    It does not mean that the culture is effective.

    It does not mean it is helpful for your strategy.

    It does not mean that this is something to aim for in itself.

    Strong cultures can be constructive or destructive. Let me describe 2 different examples, then you can decide for yourself.

    First let’s look at McKinsey. I can easily describe their culture as I used to work for the firm in the Atlanta office. Although many years ago, I still have strong links and the culture has not changed. It is easy to describe because the culture is so consistent. Every office in the world recruits similar people. They are all highly motivated and achievement-oriented. People who don’t fit this profile simply aren’t hired, or don’t last long. The firm is successful, and the culture helps deliver their success. A constructive culture aligned with their client-focused strategy. Top marks.

    Now let’s look at a large bureacratic organization I know, where the behaviours of their staff are also highly consistent. Their strong culture is extremely risk averse with low levels of innovation. People get ahead by pointing out the flaws in everyone else’s work, and making themselves look good at the expense of others. (“Oppositional” style if you are familiar with Human Synergistics definitions). This drives a ruthless, competitive environment. Sadly this is a root cause of their business under-performance and bad press.

    Which business would you rather work in? Both have strong cultures.

    So this leads me to 3 tips below.

    3 tips on strong culture

    1. Don’t aim for a strong culture unless your culture is highly constructive (there are some other criteria which I’ll write about in the future)

    2. Be aware strong culture can hinder execution (the Turbocharge Hub has a unique framework on how to navigate different types culture when you’re implementing strategy/change – talk to me if you’d like to know more)
    3. Note that it takes longer to change behaviours in a strong culture, as behaviors are more embedded

    Research on strategy execution, culture and transformation

    Participate in research and get confidential insight into your own capabilities including culture – complete the diagnostic in 5 minutes. You’ll receive the full research insights when available. Please forward this to your work colleagues who may also want to participate in the transformation capabilities research.

    _____________

    Quote of the week

    “Culture is as important as strategy for business success.” Bain study published in HBR back in 2008 – 91% of 1200 global executives agreed with this.

    _____________

    Discussion on habits of transformation leaders

    On Tuesday 23 April 2024 8-9am AEDT Sydney (Monday, April 22nd in the afternoon if you’re in the US), join us to discuss some of the 7 Habits of Highly Successful Transformation Leaders, including navigating successfully through culture. Register here at no cost if you haven’t attended a Turbocharge session before.

    Keep turbocharging with human-centred strategy 😊🌱📈

    PSS Not sure how to get your strategy unstuck, projects powering, and transformation turbocharged? I can help you.

    1. 🌱 For more ideas, playbooks, and to learn from others with similar challenges, join our Turbocharge community at the price of a coffee a day. Money back in 14 days if you’re not satisfied.
    2. 🌱🌱 Email me to book your 1on1 mentoring session to fast track your strategy execution.

    If you’re interested in

    #strategyexecution,

    #digitaltransformation,

    #changemanagement…

    * Don’t miss out. Subscribe to my personal weekly email to your inbox here.

    —

    About Lisa Carlin

    As a strategy execution specialist and scaleup mentor, Lisa works with ambitious digital leaders to turbocharge their transformation and business planning. Lisa’s clients have an independent sounding board and expert advice so they have absolute confidence they WILL ACHIEVE THEIR GOALS. Lisa is Co-Founder and Director of FutureBuilders Group of organisational development specialists, and volunteers as Chair of the University of Cape Town Australia Trust. Her early career was with Accenture (South Africa) and McKinsey (USA).

  • Win Support for Your Unpopular Strategic Recommendations

    Facing rejection from stakeholders can be disheartening. It is particularly frustrating when you put forward a strong proposal. But,
    mastering Human-Centered Strategies is the key to get past the rejection.

     

    An executive I know was worried she’d lose her job.  Here’s what happened:

    • Her major recommendation was ignored
    • The CEO was losing confidence in her
    • Her projects were stuck

    She and her team had prepared a logical business case.  It should have been approved as there was strong upside for the whole business in comparison with the relatively low investment required.

    Here are some factors that may have impacted their decision:

    • Their margins down
    • Budgetary pressure on spend
    • Concerns about customer confidence

    But when I spoke with her, we both realized that it was not external factors that drove the decision.

    Her recommendations were unpopular.

    She was convinced they were right for the business, but her peers, CEO and the Board were not listening. In our discussions, we realized that no matter how technically sound the business case was, her stakeholders were not interested in recommendations made by HER.

    So instead, I guided her to take a more holistic, influential approach, using Human-Centered Strategy.  Now they are paying attention to her. And her recommendations are getting a 2nd look.

    Want to learn the approach that is making people sit up and listen to her?

    Want to learn how to navigate your culture to get traction and momentum on projects?

    I cover this and other topics that will accelerate your projects in the Turbocharge membership, or in 1on1 mentoring. My live masterclasses are one hour express on Zoom each month, designed for busy people. Or catch the recordings in the membership hub.

    For now, here are the top 3 tips that I shared with her….

    3 tips to Handle Unpopular Recommendations

    1. Navigate the culture – does your style and project/change approach work in your culture?
    2. Read the room – does your style and project/change approach work with your stakeholders?
    3. Create a pull effect, so you don’t need to push so hard – how are you encouraging them to say “YES”?

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    Recent podcast on Business Transformation

    In a recent podcast, host Erica D’Eramo from Two Piers in Boston MA, has a discussion with me to unravel the intricacies of successful business transformation. The discussion spans topics from change management to the pitfalls organizations often encounter and strategies for overcoming them. Listen here to the episode on Spotify or watch brief clips on my new YouTube channel.

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    Quote of the week

    “We must identify culture to navigate it, not just to change it.” Lisa Carlin

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    Please forward this article to others who will benefit.

    Keep turbocharging with human-centred strategy 😊🌱📈

    PSS Not sure how to get your strategy unstuck, projects powering, and transformation turbocharged? I can help you.

    1. 🌱 For more ideas, playbooks, and to learn from others with similar challenges, join our Turbocharge community at the price of a coffee a day. Money back in 14 days if you’re not satisfied.
    2. 🌱🌱 Email me to book your 1on1 mentoring session to fast track your strategy execution.

    If you’re interested in

    #strategyexecution,

    #digitaltransformation,

    #changemanagement…

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    —

    About Lisa Carlin

    As a strategy execution specialist and scaleup mentor, Lisa works with ambitious digital leaders to turbocharge their transformation and business planning. Lisa’s clients have an independent sounding board and expert advice so they have absolute confidence they WILL ACHIEVE THEIR GOALS. Lisa is Co-Founder and Director of FutureBuilders Group of organisational development specialists, and volunteers as Chair of the University of Cape Town Australia Trust. Her early career was with Accenture (South Africa) and McKinsey (USA).