Category: General
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The landscape of professional services has shifted dramatically over the past two years. As a freelance consultant who’s been experimenting with artificial intelligence tools since their mainstream emergence, I can confidently say we’re witnessing a fundamental change in how we approach our daily work. The question isn’t whether AI will impact your consulting practice, it’s…
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A Quick Recap: Why So Many Firms Get ‘Stuck in the Middle’ In my previous article, Business Process Management: Why Most Professional Services Firms Are Still Stuck in the Middle, I discussed why many professional services firms become stranded between Levels 2 and 3 of the BPM maturity model. At this stage, organisations have repeatable…
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“Brilliant process management is our strategy. We get brilliant results from average people managing brilliant processes. We observe that our competitors often get average (or worse) results from brilliant people managing broken processes.” — Senior Toyota Executive In an era where artificial intelligence promises to revolutionise how we work, and digital transformation dominates boardroom conversations,…
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The “law of the instrument” also called “Maslow’s hammer” after Abraham Maslow’s famous quote: “If the only tool you have is a hammer, you treat everything as if it were a nail” This remains one of the most persistent challenges in modern business. This cognitive bias continues to shape how organisations approach problem-solving, particularly in…
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I was discussing the question of responsibility vs accountability with one of my clients recently and they were having difficulty distinguishing the two. This was one of the contributory factors why many of the strategies and projects they initiated failed to achieve the outcomes expected. So, what is the difference between being responsible for something…
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Assertive communication is always important in a business environment, but often falls short. Employees typically complain about not knowing what is going on and / or being given too much irrelevant information. Communication during transformational change programmes is even more important. It is essential that messages are always adapted to suit your audience. This can…
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In my recent articles about project overload, I discussed how businesses often find themselves drowning in multiple initiatives, forever fighting fires rather than making meaningful progress. This reactive approach isn’t just frustrating – it’s fundamentally flawed. It reminded me of a brilliant observation made by President Dwight D. Eisenhower in 1954: “I have two kinds…
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When it is a Programme or a Porfolio! The terms project, programme and portfolio are often used inconsistently with different organisations having contradictory interpretations of their meaning. This can lead to confusion both within the project management profession and with others in an organisation. Here I provide my view of these project management terms which…