The war is real...

This time last year (May 2020) companies were downsizing, reducing pays, making employees take annual leave – in short, they were in survival mode. The result? Employees across the world were worried about the security of their jobs. 

But now, the whole dynamic has shifted. It's an employee market.
So why and what does this mean? 

The Why.

• Companies are recruiting 

• Lack of international talent working in Australia 

• Employers are focused on getting people back to the office 

• The economy is going strong 

• People are looking for flexibility and more money 

The What.

What does this shift mean for employers…

Companies 

• The recruitment market is hot and therefore companies need to position themselves to attract the right / best talent

• Companies need to build a talent plan to retain good people - it needs to be different, new and tailored

• Finding the right talent is critical for success of delivering the strategy for the organisations 

• Companies need to be clear on their point of difference for working for them 

• Staff / candidates want to understand what flexibility means - what are your policies and how it practically works 

• Companies might need to consider partnering to get the right capability if market tight 

• Building a positive culture has never been so important and critical to ensure you retain and attract amazing talent 

 
Employees / Candidates 

• People are looking for a sea change, reassessing their priorities and rethinking how much they are working and where they work

• People aren't looking for the normal perks as priorities have changed 

• It's an employee / candidate market - be clear on what you want from your job, position yourself right and look for the perfect company 

• Smile and enjoy the process and do your pros / cons to make a good decision about what company to you with 

People play an important role in the success of your business. In fact, without them you wouldn't have a business a business at all. So be proactive to really think about the changes you are making to responding to the shift. 

As a leader you need to lean in to ensure you understand where your team is up to and ensure you take a proactive approach.  

The war is real, are you ready to fight? 

Article by Jo Hands, Co-Founder Whiteark

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Looking to capitalise on these trends and plan your own people strategy? Let us help.

Whiteark is not your average consulting firm, we have first-hand experience in delivering transformation programs for private equity and other organisations with a focus on people just as much as financial outcomes. We understand that execution is the hardest part, and so we roll our sleeves up and work with you to ensure we can deliver the required outcomes for the business. Our co-founders have a combined experience of over 50 years’ working as Executives in organisations delivering outcomes for shareholders. Reach out for a no obligation conversation on how we can help you. Contact us on whiteark@whiteark.com.au

How to make change stick

Organisations talk a lot about change and transformation, but in general most aren’t very good at doing it. A recent SAP survey found that of the 84 per cent of organisations that started transformation initiatives in the past year, only 3 per cent had actually successfully completed one.

Thoughts from Colin D Ellis

One reason for this is that while senior managers get very excited about smarter, faster ways of doing things when they’re pulling their business plans together, they forget that to achieve them they have to stop doing some things and redefine the way they get others done.

Cultural evolution is frequently cited as the biggest enabler of successful change, yet very few organisations ever take it on, opting instead for quick-fix training solutions, restructures, operating model changes or (as is currently en vogue) promises of hybrid working.

It’s not that any of these things are wrong, it’s just that in order to deliver transformation and make change stick you need to establish a new foundation upon which to build them. Those foundations contain the following:

• A sound business case for change. This will answer the ‘why this and why now?’ questions from staff and stakeholders alike as it’s not good enough to simply say ‘we need to transform’, there has to be a sound and logical rationale for doing so

• A redefined culture. This is the activity that almost all teams or organisations forget to do and yet it’s the most important. Without redefining the vision, behaviours and collaboration principles expected of each other you have nothing to transform to

• Public accountability. There needs to be a senior executive within the business who is prepared to throw their reputation, energy, money and effort behind the activity to ensure it delivers what was promised in the case for change. This person will also encourage all the other executives do their bit to ensure that the change happens.

• Clear, unambiguous communication. This should focus not only on the activities required to complete the initiative, but also on the personal change required to achieve success. I don’t mean an email or poster, in Comic Sans font, pinned up on a noticeboard, but regular effort from those accountable for the transformation.

With an appropriate level of justification, definition, accountability and communication, culture change or transformation isn’t as hard as some would have you believe. If you’re not prepared to do these things, then your staff would like you to stop talking about transformation as if you mean it. However, if you are, then you can guarantee then they’ll be up for it too and that will make everything stick.

Colin D Ellis is an award-winning speaker, facilitator and best-selling author of Culture Fix: How to Create a Great Place to Work. You can find out more about him and the work that he does at www.colindellis.com

Key considerations for building connection across the organisation post Covid-19

Companies are finding themselves in unfamiliar territory as their employees return to the office post Covid 19 and are learning how to work together again.  Building connectedness is an important part of working together successfully and links closely to employee engagement and ultimately meeting business goals.

For this to happen, leaders need to lead! Behaviour needs to start at the top and it will flow, employees want and need to have purpose and great leadership will support this happening.  Spend the time with your team, have regular check ins, discuss and review/set their KPIs and goals, chat about how they are going, and generally be there for them.

Connection, growth and belonging are all key to a company’s success. Humans naturally enjoy each other’s company and being able to work collaboratively, so it’s often the corridor or kitchen conversation where you really get to understand what is going on.  It is about finding the right balance between flexible work from home and time together in the office.

Some initiatives and areas that impact connection building in the workplace are;

Connectedness Initiatives

Having fun at work has been missed by many, it might be the Friday night drinks, bring your pet to work day or the monthly birthday celebrations, people have missed the opportunity to connect.  Make sure this is a priority, put together a calendar of fun events, ask your team members what activities would make them feel more connected to each other and actively create an informal environment to reconnect.

Team lunches with employees from different departments are a way to get employees interacting with people from across the business and further promotes connection. Employees will benefit from having team activities like a volunteer day where the team can go and help at a charity. When implemented properly, these activities can be excellent for cultivating a sense of unity and belonging.

Promote the benefits of the office like being able to collaborate in person, informally bounce ideas off each other, the coffee machine and of course Friday night drinks! Set up wellbeing information sessions, often your employee assistance program provider can run these.  Organise fitness in the park or at a nearby gym for your employees. For some, the office offers a sense of calm and control over their day and fewer distractions than at home, these people will be key to connecting those that are feeling more anxious about being back in the office.   Schedule your team meetings on a day that everyone is in to promote face to face time.

To help employees focus and reengage with your strategy, run cross functional sessions on your strategy and 5-year plan, discuss what’s working well and get feedback on what you can be doing better. Sessions on behaviours and values could also be considered.  Consider joint departments leading regular town halls to; share what is going on, interview new starters, share good news like record sales or new business and also acknowledge specific achievements of team members.

Having the right Flexible Work Policy supports connectedness.  In developing your policy seek feedback to see what employees preferences are around flexible work. As with any successful change, seeking feedback and employee input will result in a more effective outcome. Employees are working from home in a variety of combinations from 1-5 days per week.   Finding overlap days where the majority of the team are in the office is important.  Having team meetings on these days and organising fun activities described above to connect people will help with this.   Ensure that you have the flexibility to review your policy as things change or if the current arrangement isn’t working.

Employee Engagement

Employee engagement represents the levels of enthusiasm and connection employees have with their organisation. It’s a measure of how motivated people are to put in the extra effort for their employer and is often a sign of how committed they are to staying.

Now would be a good time to run an employee engagement survey. Tailor your questions to get constructive feedback for your business and ask questions about what initiatives will help them in feeling more engaged and connected to your business and their colleagues. Then use this feedback to run cross functional focus groups, then develop an action plan and actually implement it. Too often employees take the time to fill in the survey and provide feedback and nothing is done, this can be demotivating. 

This article has described just some of the ways that you can build connectedness across your business post Covid 19. Please get in touch if Whiteark can help you with developing your business and people plans.

Will Covid-19 make or break you?

We have had a year of ambiguity and we will never go back to ‘normal’ for some industries and companies this has meant growth / opportunities and for others it has been meant something quite different.

Regardless of how I have been impacted professionally; everyone has been impacted personally.  This experience could have been positive or not so much. 

However I believe we are in the fork in the road…which path are you going to take?

We are now in May 2021 and you need to be clear is Covid19 going to make or break you?

What we know:

• The world has changed

• Companies have changed

• Households have changed

• How we think about work/life has changed

• A lot has changed

• We are not going back to ‘normal’

• There is ambiguity

• Consumer/Customer expectations have changed

How we respond?

Our initial response is survival – what do we need to do to survive Covid19 – personally and professionally.  The focus was on being able to survive and working out how to work with teams remotely. 

The response then shifted to thrive – how do to create opportunity. Restaurants moved to delivery, takeaway and industries and businesses pivoted.  Looking for opportunities to capitalise/optimise the business.

We are now living with ambiguity but businesses need to start revisiting its strategy, priorities and operations to ensure it is maximising its results.  We don’t have all the answers, we don’t know what normal is but continuing to move forward, make decisions and pivoting on changes is critical.

Key things to ensure you consider:

1. Customer/consumer expectations & how this has changed. Use data to validate.

2. Do you need to rethink your supply chain, suppliers and how you source your key services/goods?

3. How can you make your operations more cost effective?

4. Do you need to rethink your talent strategy – what do you need to own, what can be outsource/partnering  

5. Measuring what matters and report regularly so changes can be made?

6. How do we maximise the cash flow of the business? Focus on short term and long-term initiatives to drive improvement in cashflow

7. Revisiting investments to ensure it supports new priorities reviewing investments to ensure it supports new priorities and ensure aligned return on investment.

As a leader in an organisation it’s imperative that you take decisive action to ensure you set up your business for success.  Running scenario analysis and understanding the ‘what if’ are important to understand how you will pivot if something changes.

It’s a chance to relook at priorities, operating model and how you measure success for your business.  It’s the chance to show strong leadership with your organisation and team and ensure it maximise it chance for success.

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Need support in your organisation? Reach out.

Whiteark is not your average consulting firm, we have first-hand experience in delivering transformation programs for private equity and other organisations with a focus on people just as much as financial outcomes.

We understand that execution is the hardest part, and so we roll our sleeves up and work with you to ensure we can deliver the required outcomes for the business. Our co-founders have a combined experience of over 50 years’ working as Executives in organisations delivering outcomes for shareholders. Reach out for a no obligation conversation on how we can help you. Contact us on whiteark@whiteark.com.au

Article by Jo Hands, Co-Founder Whiteark

The Importance of Connection

Connection is defined as a relationship in which a person or thing is linked or associated with something else. Connection is important. Did it have to take a global pandemic, border closures and state lockdowns for us to realise just how important connection really is?

If you’re feeling lonely, know that you’re not the only one. You don’t have to live in isolation. We live in a world with over seven billion people, and we all need connection.

The importance of human connection

What do you do from day to day to care for yourself? Most would say that to be healthy, you need nutritious food and exercise.

But what about your social connections?

Research shows us that loneliness is on the rise, and that a lack of human connection can be more harmful to your health than obesity, smoking and high blood pressure.

In today’s age, we live busy lives, trying to strike a balance between work, school, hobbies, self-care  and more. Often, our social connections fall by the wayside. But connecting with others is more important than you might think. Social connection can lower anxiety and depression, help us regulate our emotions, lead to higher self-esteem and empathy, and actually improve our immune systems. By neglecting our need to connect, we put our health at risk.

The reality is that we’re living in a time of true disconnection. While technology seems to connect us more than ever, the screens around us disconnect us from nature, from ourselves, and from others. Wi-Fi alone isn’t enough to fulfill our social needs – we need face-to-face interaction to thrive. Technology should be enhancing our connection to others, not replacing it.

Our inherent need for human connection doesn’t mean that every introvert must become a social butterfly.

Having human connection can look different for each person. If you’re not sure where to start in finding meaningful connection, that’s okay.

Here are some ideas to help you out:

•        Join a new club, or try out a group activity

•        Reach out to an old friend you’ve lost touch with

•        Volunteer for a cause you care about

•        Eat lunch in a communal space

•        Introduce yourself to your neighbours

•        Ask someone for help when you need it

•        Do a random act of kindness

Human beings are inherently social creatures. As far back as we can trace, humans have travelled, hunted, and thrived in social groups and for good reason. Humans who were separated from their tribe often suffered severe consequences.

Social groups provide us with an important part of our identity, and more than that, they teach us a set of skills that help us to live our lives. Feeling socially connected, especially in an increasingly isolated world, is more important than ever. The benefits of social connectedness shouldn’t be overlooked.

Social connections have four science / research backed benefits;

1.     Improve your quality of life:

If you’ve ever moved away from your social “home base” then you have a good idea of just how much social connections shape your everyday life and well-being. One study showed that social connection is a greater determinant to health than obesity, smoking, and high blood pressure. And social connection doesn’t necessarily mean physically being present with people in a literal sense, but someone’s subjective experience of feeling understood and connected to others. One scale that experts use to determine a person’s subjective level of loneliness is the UCLA Loneliness Scale.

2.     Boost your mental health:

Friendships offer a number of mental health benefits, such as increased feelings of belonging, purpose, increased levels of happiness, reduced levels of stress, improved self-worth and confidence. A study conducted at a free health clinic in Buffalo, New York found that respondents with insufficient perceived social support were the most likely to suffer from mental health disorders like anxiety and depression.

3.     Help you live longer:

Research has shown that social connections not only impact your mental health, but your physical health as well. A review of 148 studies (309K participants) indicated that the individuals with stronger social relationships had a 50% increased likelihood of survival. This remained true across a number of factors, including age, sex, initial health status, and cause of death.

4.     Decrease your risk of suicide:

There are a number of factors that put people at higher or lower risk for suicide. One of these factors is connectedness, which the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) defines as “The degree to which a person or group is socially close, interrelated or shares resources with other persons or groups.” Relationships can play a crucial role in protecting a person against suicidal thoughts and behaviors.

If you’re not sure how to begin forming social connections start by looking inward. What are your interests or hobbies? What kind of personalities are you naturally comfortable around?

Devote time to becoming active in your community, volunteering, or joining a club or social organisation and if you meet a potential friend, create an opportunity to spend time together.

Remember that social connections that impact your overall health and well-being may begin with lattes or a shared meal, but they require time and effort. Forming strong, healthy relationships with others means opening up, actively listening, and being open to sharing what you’re going through. These relationships can change the course of your life.

““Never underestimate the empowering effect of human connection.
All you need is that one person, who understands you completely, believes in you and makes you feel loved for what you are, to enable you - to unfold the miraculous YOU.””

— Drishti Bablani, Wordions

Retail Transformation in Disruptive Times

Article written by Matthew Webber

It is both confronting and somewhat depressing to turn the pages (physically or digitally) of a newspaper to see yet another retailer fall victim to the economic climate. There is nothing nice about an empty shop front, the loss of jobs or the withdrawal of an important community institution.

“Insights from Matthew Webber | Matthew Webber is a specialist in strategy, program delivery and training, focused on driving business performance by developing commercial, operational and innovation capability. With over twenty years international experience, Matthew has worked across the globe with organisations undergoing immense change and comprehensive transformations. Inspired to create a world championed by kindness, where equitable opportunity is available for all - Matthew shares his vision through best-selling books and his sought-after keynotes. ”

It is though happening at such a rate that we are almost becoming immune to the headline story and this creates an additional challenge for us all.

These fallen retailers are often iconic brands that people have relationships with,  sometimes these brands have become national treasures, and they are employers of thousands (sometimes tens of thousands) people.   

They are in fact serving an all important role in society whether that be supplying little Mary’s bike for Christmas, putting food on the tables for everyday people, or providing clothes for everyday wear or of course for a memorable event.

Retail is indeed an institution, it is iconic, it is for many an emotional experience. It is little wonder we don’t want to see it change. The problem is though it is changing, and the ball of momentum is rolling down the hill and picking up pace.

Like any change process – whether that be for the retailers themselves, or for the customers that hold them dear we need to understand Why it needs to change in order for us to change. It is then important for us to look forward and see what the future holds, and then importantly how do we get from here to there.

Why Change?

Survival

Sometimes in life we have to make the message simple so not to dilute or cloud the message. In this instance there is no greater reason to change than for survival. It is that simple and clear.

This is, for all purposes a likened to being in a paddock being chased by a ferocious Lion – with the good fortune that you can find safety (and opportunity) though only available if you run towards it. If you stand still, your future is bleak, if you run in a direction other than the one that presents the opportunity you will also meet the same fate – albeit a little more puffed out!

Survival can mean so many things and have different meaning to different people – whether that be the ability to remain in business to fulfil a dream, having the opportunity to provide jobs, or even the in the pursuit of retail excellence to provide a great service to your customer.

What though is clear, is you must be first  concerned with basic needs, in this case survival to then meet our psychological and self-fulfilment needs as Maslow’s hierarchy of needs would suggest.

There can be no greater reason for change than survival.

What does the future look like?

The good news is that the future is up to you. You can create the future in any way that you like, and one in which fulfils your objectives. There are some guiding principles that you will need to consider though as you create the future. 

1.     Customer centricity

Having a healthy obsession with your customer is key. This is about understanding their needs, being empathetic to their problems and having the ability to design solutions that will create an experience that they can emotionally connect with.

2.     Option creator

Customers need choice to meet their changing needs. They need options that they can have their needs met.  Creating a rigid business model will almost certainly fail in a world where the consumer is craving personalised attention in a very busy world

3.     Fast (and furious)

With the onset of technological advancement, and an economic environment where the power balance has well and truly shifted to the customer – there is a need for speed. This relates to the entire experience – how they interact with you (in person or digitally), the fulfilment of orders or the creation of solutions. Your supply chain (physical, information and financial supply chains) will need to support this. Your customer needs what they want yesterday – it is the world we live in.

4.     Digital

Digital must dominate your business model – whether that be providing your customer with the ability to buy online, the way you structure your supply chain or the way that you collect insights and learnings about your customer, industry, market and opportunities. Your customer is digital, so must you.

5.     Trusted

Your customer needs to Trust that you will deliver in your promise, trust that you have their interests at heart, trust that you understand their problems and how to solve them and have trust in the information, data, and emotional insights that they share with you. The move to a faster, more digital world comes with a greater onus on the Retailer to deliver on Trust. Remember people are at the centre of Trust.

Steps you can take

Now we have a flavour for the reasons why Retailers must change and a view into the attributes that are required to establish the future vision, it is important we consider how to get from the current environment to the new world.

1.     Listen to your customer

As simple as this sounds, it is the most important thing that you can do. The trick is to listen in a way that seeks to understand (just as Stephen R Covey would suggest in 7 Habits of Highly Effective People). It is easy to listen in a way that just validates your views, but if you listen in a way that can identify their real problems and how they would like you to solve for them – value will be created.

You will need to immerse yourself in their world, understand the data (including from social media) and look to their behaviours and actions. Customers, particularly retail customers,  speak with their feet (or fingers in a digital world) so listening to your customers behaviours is one of the most powerful tools you can use.  

2.     Define the problems and Create the opportunities

Work with your customer on solutions, and trial and test concepts as quickly as you can. Set up an innovation hub, a centre of learning so that you can collaborate, learn and develop.

Scan the globe for clues in how other retailers have solved for the same problem, or in fact how other industries have solved for like type products. By all means be original but do not invent the wheel. A great deal of energy can be expended trying to be too clever. Keep it simple and relevant.

It all starts with identifying and defining the problem well. This will help you move with speed when you test and trial solutions with your customers. Having your customer provide the insight and engagement in the problem definition will almost certainly ensure that they are engaged with you on the solution

3.     Design an adaptable, and commercial,  Business Model

Design a business model that supports the future and delivers on the value proposition and build in a way that allows the business model to adapt to changes in the environment. It is also critical that you create a business model that is commercial.

Many great retailers have fallen foul of moving their business into the digital world only to realise that the cost to service and fulfil orders in e-commerce can be expensive and slow. It is important to design your business model that  is customer centric and which can actually fulfil the promises you make to your customers and people.

4.     Effect the change

You need to be able to effect the change. To effect change you need to be able to lead the vision, build confidence, empower your people, communicate effectively and build really solid teams.

This will be your internal ability to adapt, transform and execute to deliver sustained business performance. Ideas are only ideas until they are executed. Even the best laid plans amount to nothing unless they are done. For ideas to be done you need people to engage with and embrace change as opposed to fighting it. You will need to be change ready.

Being change ready will enable your organisation  to act with speed and agility. It means you can do more with less and importantly ensure that you are not only a retail leader, but a profitable one

5.     Do the right thing

We highlighted that Trust is an important attribute for the design of future retail models, and with good reason. As you transform you need to ensure that you transform in a way that makes customer and commercial sense, but also in a way that ensures you do the right thing by the people and communities that you operate in from Source to Customer. 

This could be how you (or your manufacturers)  treat the workers in a factory in Bangladesh, through to creating safe work environments for the people fulfilling your orders or transitioning your labour force from bricks and mortar retail to a digital one. It may even be how you use and safely store data.

There are short cuts that can be taken in any transformation, quite often at the expense of people that are most vulnerable. 

Your customers in the new world expect you to do the right thing from source to customer. You as a retail leader should expect nothing less. 

There are significant opportunities for Retailers to reinvent themselves, build relevance and create significant advantage by following some very basic principles. The future is able to be created and reimagined.

The cost of inaction is just too high.

It just requires a rethink.

LOOKING TO rethink retail? Adjust your approach and G2M strategy? REACH OUT.

Our leadership team at Whiteark  have decades of experience in leading Retail Transformations from Factory through to Customer, developing Market and Customer strategies that ensure relevance and desirability . We design the business model to deliver commercial feasibility and  to ensure that your Retail business is ready to not only deal with disruption, but to thrive in it. From strategy to design and execution. Contact us on whiteark@whiteark.com.au or explore our retail transformation services here.

Article written by Matthew Webber

Rethinking your Global Supply Chain

Article written by Matthew Webber

It is time to rethink our Global Supply Chains. The world as we know it has changed. The speed, the relationships, the priorities, the tastes. We can access information, goods and services quicker than ever – and our environments politically, environmentally and structurally seem more volatile than ever before. And this is before we even get to the great awakener in COVID -19.

“Insights from Matthew Webber | Matthew Webber is a specialist in strategy, program delivery and training, focused on driving business performance by developing commercial, operational and innovation capability. With over twenty years international experience, Matthew has worked across the globe with organisations undergoing immense change and comprehensive transformations. Inspired to create a world championed by kindness, where equitable opportunity is available for all - Matthew shares his vision through best-selling books and his sought-after keynotes. ”

The problem is of course, many of our global supply chains have been designed for an era that was perhaps more predictable, more stable and perhaps in an era where global supply chains were considered to be an enabler of business strategy as opposed to being at the very core of value creation, and business model design.

The focus of global supply chains has arguably been historically to leverage efficiency, optimisation and cost advantage to create value. The current economic, political, environmental and now global health climate  now not only requires but forces us to rethink our Global Supply Chains beyond efficiency and cost advantage.

This begs the question – what then a Global Supply Chain must look like in order to thrive in such uncertain times. They must be;  

1.    Adaptable

Adaptability is the ability to be flexible to new situations, handle change and be able to balance multiple demands and stimulants. It is about being ‘comfortable with the uncomfortable’ and if nothing else it is having the right cultural mindset.  

It is of course more than culture – although that is where it will start. This will be having your business model design curated in a way that every layer of your organisation, internal and external can operate in a manner that provides speed, certainty and agility in environments that are changing.

This may require a rethink, and acceleration of the technology you use, the processes you deploy and operating rhythms you maintain. This also requires a disciplined focus on what you are not going to do, as much as what it is you are going to do.

2.    Sovereign

A sovereign supply chain is one that can be self-governed and controlled, and that mitigates your exposure to external influences whether they be political, environmental or other.

When using the word sovereign, it does imply the concept is at a national level – and this is of course true – we must have a national supply chain that secures our food and medical supplies for instance.

However, the concept also applies to our organisations – there are some products and services that you simply cannot afford to have disrupted by external events, and at the very least if they were to be disrupted you will have sufficient cover to not interrupt your delivery of value.

It will of course be unreasonable to control every element of your global supply chain. It is reasonable though, and important, that  you can control the elements that are critical to the value proposition.

To place in practical terms, a supermarket for instance could ill afford to be out of bread, milk and toilet paper – and their supply chains will reflect this. On the other hand, they may be able to manage through a period of disruption to supply of Mexican taco sauce!

What is a certainty is that global supply chains will remain – Global. That much is certain. We will not shift all production back on shore, that would be unreasonable, and impractical.

What will become though is far more strategic on what needs to be off shore, near shore and on shore to maintain a sense of sovereignty over your supply chain.

3.    Connected

It is easy to conceptualise a global supply chain in a linear fashion of connecting link with link, to take a product or service from concept to consumption. This is true, however in today’s world the level of connection your global supply chain requires is so much more.

Your global supply chain an eco-system of people, partners, process and systems, and they all need to be connected in a way that allows value to flow – not just linearly but in any direction as your organisation adapts to changing environments and new opportunities.

Connection is more than system and process alignment. It is also a way of being for your organisation, it is the philosophies, culture and behaviours that are demonstrated in all points of your global supply chain whether that be the internal culture of the organisation, the alignment of values with your suppliers or integration with the communities that you operate in.

It is about all in the global supply chain being connected into the purpose, the strategic direction and the objectives you are collectively trying to achieve. Only when you have achieved this values connection can you really turn your hand to connection from a system, process and business model design perspective.

Together is always better than alone. To be together though requires you to be connected.

4.    Digital

Robust connectivity is needed to enable faster, more frequent interactions across globally distributed supply chain networks. The seamless flow of information is critical not just simply for the efficient operation of your global supply chain, but to gain valuable commercial insights that create value.

It is the ‘now’ economy and we are all dependent upon information and technology to function.

Digital and data allows for greater connectivity and the ability to manage enormous amounts of data. It enables more opportunities for collaboration with your global supply chain and reducing duplication of effort.

Organisations that can use digital and data to create meaningful insights can create closer relationships with their customers and understand their needs greater. It allows the ability to develop global supply chains that are adaptable and configurable to the changing needs of the market. It also allows for the ability to develop greater efficiencies in operations and drive better service and financial performance

The insights gleaned from digitisation of your supply chain can then inform the technology and innovation that you require to deliver value.

5.    Commercial

Your global supply chain needs to remain commercial. This needs to be reflected in the arrangements, operational and financial structures, performance measurements  governance, financial controls and strategies you deploy.

As we transition quickly to the new world order, nothing will support you more in that effort than having complete commercial control of your global supply chain. Think of it like a formula one car that is designed to go fast through the engineering of controls into the operation of the car.  

Whether it be your customer, your operators, service providers and suppliers or your stakeholders  - they need visibility and assurance of the performance of your global supply chain.

They also need you to succeed so that they can succeed. The way you rethink your global supply chain needs to create value, and if you are not creating and distributing that value you will have limited opportunity in a modern world.

Adaptable, sovereign, connected and digital supply chains does not mean that you compromise your commercial imperatives – they are in fact the drivers to enhance them. This is a common mistake many make – they redesign their global supply chains in commercially unsustainable ways that really deliver little end to end, holistic value. The other mistake is of course that organisations focus solely on the efficiency and cost control elements – which of course can become a value dilution exercise if not linked in with strategy and value creation.

What is evident is this rethink is not optional nor is it a ‘nice to have’  – this is an imperative to business survival and relevance.

The cost of not having this rethink may have disastrous, if not fatal, consequences to achieving your organisation’s objectives and perhaps purpose.

Ultimately this will come down to how an organisation sees itself and how aware they are of their risk environment and of their opportunity to create. It will be a function of how close they are to understanding what is truly of value to their customer and also the communities that they operate in. Value remember, is in the eyes of the customer, not the operator.

The good news is that this all spells opportunity for those organisations that can transform their global supply chains into ones that are adaptable, sovereign, connected, digital and commercial. It just requires a rethink.

LOOKING TO rethink your supply chain? REACH OUT.

Our team has extensive global experience leading large scale Supply Chain Transformations from Factory to Customer across multiple industries. We have in depth capabilities around designing and delivering value in the Physical, Financial and Information (Digital) Supply Chain and can help your organisation create competitive advantage and value centred on the global supply chain. From strategy to design and execution. Contact us on whiteark@whiteark.com.au or explore our Supply Chain services here.

Article written by Matthew Webber

Development planning for your team to set them up for success in 2021

The past year has been like no other for organisations with the global Covid pandemic and the uncertainty that it has brought to businesses and life. To be set up for success in 2021, it is important that employees can shift their mindset from just surviving each week to truly thriving.

To achieve this, key people and culture processes need to keep happening! One of the key people processes that may have been overlooked in 2020 is development and career planning discussions.

With the start of a new year it is a good time to re-visit development plans with your team.  This should be an ongoing conversation, not a document that you dust off once a year to tick the box. Employees really need to own their development plan with their managers coaching, input and support.  You want your employees to know what career progression opportunities are available, so documenting and regularly discussing this will help facilitate their career progression.   Employee development plans help address future business needs and also succession planning.  

Why have development plans?                             

Most people are motivated by self-development. If self-development is aligned to the company’s goals, this helps to build employee motivation and engagement for your business. If you have an effective development planning process both employers and employees will benefit. 

For employers, spending the time and effort on employee development throughout the year can have a financial impact to your business, as an effective process can save you time and money on recruiting, inducting and training.  It also gives you valuable data to feed into your talent and successful planning processes. Meaningful and realistic development and career plans will help to retain your top talent as they have a clear understanding of their career path and opportunities.  

According to a Deloitte survey, more than two-thirds of millennials believe that it is management’s job to provide them with accelerated development opportunities in order for them to stay.   This highlights that this is an essential step to the manager employee partnership. 

Employees want to learn and grow within an organisation and an effective development plan supports this.  Focusing on career development is one way to positively impact employee engagement levels. They will feel more engaged if they believe that their employer is focused and committed to their growth.   

One of the main reasons employees resign from their role is because of the lack of career progression. Defining career paths and having two-way realistic development and career planning conversations are ways to reduce this reason for leaving. 

Steps to an effective development plan   

Many employees have a career and development plan, but it isn’t meaningful or realistic.  Achieving a successful employee career and development plan can be broken down into a few steps; 

• Consider and reflect on the business priorities and individual development areas  

• Discuss and define SMART development goals 

• Managers realistically assess their employees’ potential for career progression and that the plan reflects this 

• Follow-up and revisit this plan throughout the year, remain flexible and priorities and needs  can change 
  

Looking to unite your team? Reach out.

Whiteark is not your average consulting firm, we have first-hand experience in delivering transformation programs for private equity and other organisations with a focus on people just as much as financial outcomes.

We understand that execution is the hardest part, and so we roll our sleeves up and work with you to ensure we can deliver the required outcomes for the business. Our co-founders have a combined experience of over 50 years’ working as Executives in organisations delivering outcomes for shareholders. Reach out for a no obligation conversation on how we can help you. Contact us on whiteark@whiteark.com.au

Article by Phoebe Reid

Does it take a crisis for change to occur quickly?

Sitting around the table at Christmas everyone talked about how quickly their companies responded to Covid-19. People were shocked and surprised and impressed all at once.

In general companies are slow to make a change but when faced with a crisis they were able to respond differently, quickly, decisively and achieve an outcome. Why does it take a crisis to make a change this quickly? In recent conversations on this topic with my network, many people believe that's just how it is and nothing you can do to fix it -- but I'm not convinced that is right and would love to explore this further.

Speed is a differentiator for companies:

•    Speed to market competitive advantage

•    Speed on process drives efficiency and productivity

•    Speed to deliver product or service

•    Speed to pivot when something goes wrong

So if speed is so important why don't companies focus on what is slowing them down and focus on increasing speed. There seems like a lot of benefits of speed.

The Four Factors…

Below are 4 key factors that slow companies down. Do any of these resonate for your company?

1.         Process, policies and red tape.

Companies implement processes, policies and standards to ensure consistent application of outcomes across the company. This can create barriers for speed to get things done.

2.         Unclear accountabilities.

It's not clear who is responsible or accountable for the activity. Many meetings but no one takes responsibility.

3.         Unclear delegation.

It's not clear who can make the decision or it needs executive approval and therefore this is a formal process that takes time (6-8 weeks).

4.         Leadership team unable to make a decision.

They go around in circles on the pros and cons before making a decision - sometimes a decision is ever made. Making no decision is worse than making the wrong decisions.

I don't believe there needs to be a crisis to speed up businesses.

Survival and competitive positioning rely on speed and therefore every company needs to consider how they increase their speed. Consider what is slowing your company down and what changes are required to speed it up and the benefits.

Reflect, reset and charge -- take charge in leading your company to increase the speed across all aspects. What are you waiting for? Time is money!!

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Looking to reset your own strategic priorities and make some change in your organisation? Let us help.

Whiteark is not your average consulting firm, we have first-hand experience in delivering transformation programs for private equity and other organisations with a focus on people just as much as financial outcomes. We understand that execution is the hardest part, and so we roll our sleeves up and work with you to ensure we can deliver the required outcomes for the business. Our co-founders have a combined experience of over 50 years’ working as Executives in organisations delivering outcomes for shareholders. Reach out for a no obligation conversation on how we can help you. Contact us on whiteark@whiteark.com.au

Change isn’t easy, our guide to successfully navigate change

Change is not easy.  There are so many leadership books around change. Leading people through change, the change curve etc stories to tell people, videos to get people engaged and management courses on how to navigate it but change is a strange thing…

There is a natural resistant to change – more often than not people will put up a wall in relation to change – there are so many reasons not to change, to not do thing differently but above all else change takes effort and courageous and most people don’t want to make the extra effort or be courageous enough.

This explains why 70% of organisations fail to executive change.  They have the plan and strategy and it all makes sense but can’t make the change.  This is a major issue, cost and reason for poor financial / commercial outcomes for businesses, so what is the secret?

Strong leadership that explains the why and takes people on the journey to deliver.  A mandate to make change in the organisation is required from the senior leaders / shareholders otherwise it will fail.  Having strong leaders that understand the why and how and work with the team in the trenches to drive champion celebrate and push the change. 

It’s not easy  - it takes tenacity and persistent to continue to make changes to the organisation.  If you are doing it right there will be resistant and push back and barriers for you to keep going – you then know you are on the right track.  Find some people that support the change and can help champion with you to provide support.

Looking Back…

Looking back it’s the time in my career when I have overcome and adversity and made change despite the naysayers that I am most proud of the outcome.  Delivering outcomes for businesses is what I love – making a different to commercial model and financial outcomes is my number 1 passion.  There is such an opportunity to make a difference for businesses especially post COVID but having the courage to do this is critical.

What are the key things you should consider when making change:

• Having support at the senior level for the change

• Being clear on the why and communicating this

• Getting people to see the greater good of the work that needs to get done

• Track and measure the outcome

• Hold people to account

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Looking to reset your own strategic priorities and make some change in your organisation? Let us help.

Whiteark is not your average consulting firm, we have first-hand experience in delivering transformation programs for private equity and other organisations with a focus on people just as much as financial outcomes. We understand that execution is the hardest part, and so we roll our sleeves up and work with you to ensure we can deliver the required outcomes for the business. Our co-founders have a combined experience of over 50 years’ working as Executives in organisations delivering outcomes for shareholders. Reach out for a no obligation conversation on how we can help you. Contact us on whiteark@whiteark.com.au

Advice for resetting strategic priorities

From a recent poll on LinkedIn, 50% of people responded that resetting strategic priorities was a key focus area for 2021.  It makes sense, 2020 was a very different year to what people had planned. Companies pivoted, reacted, and made decisions that were focused on survival.  Survival mode was the ultimate focus; do we have enough cash in the bank? Can we manage through this period of uncertainty and upheaval and survive to see the new world?

Everyone is excited to see the back of 2020 and focus on the new 2021. We are not back to normal and never will be, but it’s a chance for a clean slate, a chance to reset and a chance for companies to transition from survival to revival.  Resetting your strategic priorities is paramount and will ensure that you set your business up for success. Your employees are looking for leadership, vision, and a roadmap for the future. We have provided 5 key tips to resetting your strategic priorities.

5 Key Tips to Reset your Strategic Priorities

#1
Understand your customer and consumer behaviours

How has COVID changed the behaviour of your customer and consumers?  The purpose of your business is to deliver a product or service to a customer/consumer.  Understanding trends of their behaviours, expectations, wants and needs is critical.  We’ve published a range of articles on the impact of Covid, from reports to industry trends and tips on how to adapt and embrace agility - to get your hands on them, simple search our Thought Leadership articles for ‘Covid’ or click here to explore.

#2
Develop a roadmap focused on targeting the customer and consumer expectations

• A new product/offering

• A new go-to-market model

• A new pricing model

• A new service model

• A new operating model

Move quickly to get the best place in the market.  What do your customers and consumers expect, want, and need and how are you going to pivot your model to give this to them? If you are not sure, do some tests and trials to understand the reaction to some options and what gains the most traction. Explore more here.

#3
Find money to invest

This is the time to invest. If resetting your priorities is critical to ensure your business is successful, then you need to stop other things and find the money to invest for your desired future state.

Cash has been tight for businesses so you need to reassess your priorities and review all expenditure. Just because you have always spent money on something doesn’t mean it’s a good investment. It’s time to look at all expenditure and assess what is required to run the business and what can be repurposed to invest in the future.  The businesses that make this change/pivot will be the most successful. Find out more by watching our ZBB Video on YouTube or reading the Whiteark Zero Based Budgeting Guide here.

#4
Invest in your people

There are two main considerations:

• Do you need additional capability in your business with your change in approach/strategy?

• How do you retain your top talent with development opportunities within the business? Know your talent and maximise the value that the business gets from the talent.

There is a war on talent and it’s a good time to secure exceptional talent for your business. You need to understand your capability gaps and focus on getting the right people in the business to be the subject matter experts. It’s imperative that you focus on recruiting the right talent that you will need for the future, not just what you need today.

Companies spend money on recruitment but don’t invest enough money on development opportunities for their people.  This doesn’t mean formal training but internal development opportunities to work in different areas, work on projects and gain new experiences. It’s time to invest in your top talent to ensure you get the best out of them. Want to explore more? Read our article on The war on talent.

#5
Measure the metrics that matter

It’s true that what gets measured gets done.  Take time to understand the metrics that are aligned with the company’s strategic priorities – lead indicators are critical to ensure that the company is on track.  One scorecard that measures the top 10 metrics that are aligned to the strategic priorities is critical to monitoring your success. You also need to have clear ownership, roles and responsibilities for each metric. Want to explore more? Read our article on What gets measured gets done.

Resetting your Strategic priorities is critical to set your business up for success in 2021. 

Take time to reflect on what is working and what needs to change.  The 5 key focus areas above is a good structure to consider when updating your strategic priorities.

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Looking to reset your own strategic priorities? Let us help.

Whiteark is not your average consulting firm, we have first-hand experience in delivering transformation programs for private equity and other organisations with a focus on people just as much as financial outcomes. We understand that execution is the hardest part, and so we roll our sleeves up and work with you to ensure we can deliver the required outcomes for the business. Our co-founders have a combined experience of over 50 years’ working as Executives in organisations delivering outcomes for shareholders. Reach out for a no obligation conversation on how we can help you. Contact us on whiteark@whiteark.com.au

The New War For Talent - Get Ready in 2021

Are you ready for the new war on talent?  Does your company have the capability it requires for the new post COVID world? Are you actively searching for the capability your business is missing.  If not, why not?

2020 brought:

• Headcount freezers

• Salary reductions

• Low or no bonus payments

• Lack of job security

• High unemployment rate

• Increase in gig economy employees

Through 2020 companies have pivoting on strategy, priorities, reset targets and navigated the new uncertain environment that we now live in.

In light of these changes companies need to critically assess the capability of the business / teams to ensure that the organisation is set up for success in this new post COVID world.

As a leader making difficult people decisions is the hardest and most important part of your role.  Looking at the overall capability of the team / business versus what is required to deliver on the strategy and priorities and hiring the right person / right level is critical. 

If you lead a business or team have you reassessed the capability required for your new priorities and have you ensured the team is set up for success. It’s critical that you identify these areas early and ensure that you utilise a good recruitment firm that understands your business, your culture and understand what you need to be successful.

2021 is the year of the ‘new war’ on talent.  There is talent in the marketplace that wouldn’t normally be there due to COVID, people are looking for new opportunities and change in priorities and it’s a really active market.  Don’t miss the opportunity to get the right talent for your business. 

Areas that are going to be hot in the market in 2021:

• Process reengineering – being able to process improvement efficiencies across the business to drive overall reduction in costs and better customer experience

• Transformation leads – to be able to help business execute changes to drive sustainable savings.  These are unicorns to find people that can execute transformation and ensure savings can be realised

• Data & analytics – do we really understand our customer, consumer trends and how this impacts their behaviour and using predictive analytics to drive operational and strategic decisions

• Cashflow management – process, cashflow forecasting and tactical and strategic levers to maximise cashflow and minimise working capital management

• Reporting – regular reporting and insights on key lead indicators to understand the performance of the company and ability to pivot where changes are required to be made

You are a leader of your organisation / team – make bold people decisions that drive the best outcome for your shareholders / members and ultimately your employees. Your decisions might not be popular but they should be strategic and focused on ensuring the organisation can maximise the outcome.

The biggest differentiator in any organisations results is the leadership team – right people, right structure and clarity on accountability between the key areas of the business.  An open culture where the leaders are encouraged to challenge each other and put ideas and thoughts that focus on the strategy of the organisation. When Private Equity companies buy companies they assess the investment teams considering the strength of the management team and providing structure and incentives to drive the best behaviour.  When a company is bought normally 65% of the leadership team are changed and CEO is removed in first 12 months.  Private Equity companies understand the value of the right leadership team and the sooner they get this sorted the sooner they can focus on maximising the business outcomes.

Many leadership books talk about lessons learnt and many say – I shouldn’t have wasted time to make changes to the team, I should have moved earlier and wanting to be popular leader made me not want to make the changes that were required and ultimately didn’t generate the respect of the people in my team. 

As a leader you have a massive responsibility to navigate and ensure the business is making the right business decisions – start with your people. If you haven’t got the right leadership team you can spend all the money in the world on transformation, system changes, processes etc but it won’t give you the outcome that is critical. 

Don’t miss out on good talent that your business needs.  2021 is the year to be bold in business which means getting your leadership team right and ensuring that capability gaps are fixed with the perfect hire.

Keen to know what you think on the challenge on talent...  Let us know on LinkedIn and tag us in discussions on #whiteark

2021 will bring:

• New strategy

• New priorities

• New operating model

It’s the time to assess the capability in your own organisation. What capability does your company need? What are you missing?

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Looking to capitalise on these trends and plan your own people strategy? Let us help.

Whiteark is not your average consulting firm, we have first-hand experience in delivering transformation programs for private equity and other organisations with a focus on people just as much as financial outcomes. We understand that execution is the hardest part, and so we roll our sleeves up and work with you to ensure we can deliver the required outcomes for the business. Our co-founders have a combined experience of over 50 years’ working as Executives in organisations delivering outcomes for shareholders. Reach out for a no obligation conversation on how we can help you. Contact us on whiteark@whiteark.com.au

Seven Days Until Christmas

The countdown is on, and we’re taking a look at 2020 and the year that was…

2020 has been a year of change. We are often resistant to change, but during a crisis we are forced to adapt as a matter of survival, we look for opportunities, and we are more susceptible to taking risk.

“If you don’t create change, change will create you.”

— unknown

It’s almost the end of another year, but not just any year, the year of COVID-19, one that won’t be forgotten.

2020 Snapshot

… the things no-one ever saw coming!

• Disruption across the globe

• Faced with uncertainty

• Resilience was tested

• Lockdown, face masks & hygiene front of mind

• Working from home was enforced

• Imposed restrictions on gatherings

• Travel bans & border closures

• Industries, businesses & individuals were all impacted by the Pandemic

• Rising unemployment

• Agility was forced

• Digital acceleration

• Changes to consumer behaviour, preferences & expectations

A crisis is a great catalyst for innovation, “if you don’t create change, change will create you”. Over the course of the last 6 months, Whiteark has been committed to providing you with thought leadership to assist with navigating this period of uncertainty. We look forward to sharing more content with you in 2021 as we recover from the impacts of Covid-19.

If you need a hand as you build your business back up again, get in touch with us for a no-obligation chat.

A Comprehensive Covid Report

A closer look at how industries have been affected by the pandemic that swept the world.

Source: IbisWorld. Note: This is based on Stage 4 Restrictions.

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Recently, we asked our followers what they wanted. What would be truly helpful to them in these unprecedented times, and the answer? Industry specific breakdowns.

We all know that every sector has been affected in one way or another, there's heaps of generalised statements floating around that provide helpful overviews. But what people were after was a more specific breakdown of exactly what the impact would be to their area of operations and ideas around how they could pivot, adapt and thrive as we move forward into the new world normal.

So, here it is. A comprehensive deep dive into 18 different industries - we hope you enjoy the read.

What's in the report?

Setting the Scene
Impact: How exposed is your industry?
Impact Analysis: Exposure Definitions

Industry Deep Dives
Accommodation & Food Services
Arts & Recreation Services
Education & Training
Manufacturing
Professional, Scientific & Technical Services
Retail Trade
Mining
Construction
Health Care & Social Assistance
Transport Postal & Warehousing
Administrative & Support Services
Public Administration & Safety
Agriculture, Forestry & Fishing
Wholesale Trade
Electricity, Gas, Water & Waste Services
Finance
Information Media & Telecommunications
Rental, Hiring & Real Estate Services
Bonus Article: The Importance Of Innovation

Managing Uncertainty: Three Key Strategies

A recent survey by Whiteark found that people in business were more concerned about uncertainty than any other issue.  This is understandable given the shocks of the past year, including extensive, tragic bushfires, the COVID-19 pandemic, an economic recession, and electoral mayhem in our most important ally, USA.

When business executives are confronted by increased uncertainty, many seek to cut costs – both operational and marketing – which is usually not an optimum strategy.

We seem to experience major shocks about once a decade and there are smaller unexpected disruptions more frequently.  I have listed the major such events that I can remember in Appendix 1.  As in 2019-20 there are times when we have to cope with more than one disruptive factor.  Other potential catastrophes and their impacts are listed in Appendix 2.

Can we predict shocks such as these, and so prepare?  If not, how can we survive such shocks?  Why do some companies get stronger during a period of uncertainty?  Before addressing these questions, it important to consider the types of uncertainty that we may encounter.

Types of uncertainty

Reports that say there's -- that something hasn't happened are always interesting to me, because as we know, there are known knowns; there are things that we know that we know. We also know there are known unknowns; that is to say we know there are some things we do not know. But there are also unknown unknowns, the ones we don't know we don't know.

Donald Rumsfeld (then US Defense Secretary) in February 2002, speaking about the lack of evidence linking the government of Iraq with the supply of weapons of mass destruction to terrorist groups.

“It ain’t what you don’t know that gets you into trouble. It’s what you know for sure that just ain’t so.”

— Mark Twain

It is a shame that Donald Rumsfeld was not more familiar with Mark Twain’s writing as he may have realised that there are two types of known knowns.  One is true known knowns and the other is fallacious known knowns.  The latter often stems from a false assumption or theory that has become a strong belief (had he known about the latter category, perhaps Rumsfeld may have referred to it as unknown knowns).

Economist Frank Knight, in 1921, defined risk as a quantity which can be measured while uncertainty is not measurable.  That is, we can compute the likelihood of a risk event occurring in a given year (perhaps on the basis of past frequency of occurrence) but uncertainty does not have a known probability distribution.

There may be some factors or events which are impossible to imagine and so these are completely uncertain.  This is most likely because they have never happened before.  They are the “Black Swans” of Nassim Nicholas Taleb or the unknown unknowns of Donald Rumsfeld.   Taleb, in his books Fooled by Randomness and The Black Swan, describes Black Swan events as having three characteristics.  The first is that nothing in the past could have convincingly pointed to its possibility.  Secondly, the event has an extreme impact.  Third, in spite of its outlier status, human nature makes us concoct explanations for its occurrence after the event – retrospectively making it appear to have been predictable even though it wasn’t predicted.  Technological developments can be Black Swans when it comes to long-term forecasting – for example, it would have been very difficult for someone in 1945 to imagine that in less than 60 years  there would be cheap, very small and powerful personal computers with high bandwidth links to billions of others.

There are some events which we know can happen but we don’t know where or when and how severe their impact could be.  These could include extreme weather events (such as hurricane Katrina) and other natural events such as volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, tsunamis, large solar flares, collisions with large meteors or comets.  Then there are disease pandemics and terrorist acts.  While these are highly uncertain, we know they can happen and may be able to take some precautions – such is improving the levee banks for New Orleans, constructing resilient buildings in earthquake prone areas, developing tsunami and volcanic eruption warning systems, and developing new medicines.

Financial markets and consumer markets can also suffer from events which we know can happen, but we can’t predict their timing or likely severity.

Then there are changes which are slow moving and there is little uncertainty about their impact – and yet we take little or no precautionary action.  The only uncertainty is when we will act.  Examples of this type of change are provided in Appendix 3.

Can we predict shocks and so prepare for them?

Yes, we can predict some types of shock and we can have some idea of their likelihood.  The following is from the editorial of The Australian Financial Review of 4 July 2011.

“Imagine this. The year is 2017 and a virulent strain of H5N1 avian flu has jumped from poultry to humans in the crowded southern Chinese city of Guangzhou. The virus quickly spreads across the porous border into Hong Kong, then sweeps rapidly through the rest of Asia. The World Health Organisation declares the outbreak a pandemic as governments around the globe break open their vaccine stockpiles in an effort to protect their citizens from the deadly virus. But the measures taken by health authorities do little to stop the spread of the virus. The pandemic ends up killing more than 50 million people around the world, transport and trade systems grind to a halt, and the global economy tips into a recession more severe than that caused by the financial crisis of 2008-10.”

The 2020 pandemic occurred three years after that posited in this scenario.  It was not avian flu, but a corona virus – although it did transmit from an animal and probably started in China.  As at 30 November 2020, 1.46 million people have died rather than 50 million but 63 million are known to have been infected.  The current global recession is indeed more severe than that of the financial crisis of 2008-10.

The scenario cited by the Financial Review was from an OECD report at the time, which identified and described several other potential shocks.

The current pandemic has been described by some as a one in a hundred year event by reference to the so-called Spanish flu of 2018.  It is not!  There was a deadly flu pandemic in 1957-58 which killed more than a million people worldwide (Asian flu).  The Hong Kong flu pandemic of 1968 also killed more than one million.  In the past 17 years there have two earlier deadly corona viruses – SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome) in 2003 and MERS (middle east respiratory syndrome) in 2012.  They petered out, but should have served as a warning.

Despite these warnings we were unprepared for the pandemic.  We did not have enough supplies of personal protective equipment and sanitiser.  There had been no pandemic rehearsal for over a decade.

Managing uncertainty means that we should treat how we managed this pandemic as a dress rehearsal and learn from the experience.  There will be another pandemic and it could be soon.

It was possible to predict a severe economic slowdown in 2008-09, but people in power at the time did not want to see the signals.  In mid-2007, I was able to predict the slowdown in Australia and to warn my clients.  I realised that three shocks could occur together in about mid-2008 and that the combined impact would be a significant slowdown.  One was the sub-prime home loan boom in the USA, which was likely to slow their economy when the bubble burst.  Another was the Reserve Bank of Australia’s interest rate policy.  They had been lifting interest rates since 2002 in an effort to quell inflation.  I knew they would go to far and so they did, lifting interest rates in August and November 2007 and in February and March 2008.  By the end of 2004, the proportion of household disposable income which was consumed by interest payments exceeded the 9.7% record set on the eve of the recession of the early 1990’s.  By mid-2007, the burden was 11.7% and yet the Reserve Bank piled on the misery, lifting the burden to 13.3% on the eve of the GFC!  They obviously did not see it coming.  The third predictable impact was associated with the Beijing Olympics in August 2008.  I had visited Beijing in April 2007 and witnessed the huge construction boom as the whole city was reconstructed – not just sporting facilities.  A metro with 500 underground stations, whole villages demolished and replaced with apartment towers – all built using steel made from Australia’s iron ore!  It had to come to a shuddering halt before mid-2008.

The Reserve Bank of Australia did not see the GFC coming, but they were not alone in that.

Legendary US Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan said in 2008 "I made a mistake in presuming that the self-interests of organisations, specifically banks and others, were such that they were best capable of protecting their own shareholders and their equity in the firms”.  He regretted his earlier opposition to regulatory curbs on financial derivatives which left banks facing billions of dollars worth of liabilities.

The danger signs for Australia were there as I have described above, but the experts in charge of monetary policy and financial regulation were oblivious to them.  All it took was good general knowledge and imagination to develop the scenario.  Both of these skills are important in anticipating shocks.

The 2019-20 bushfires were of unprecedented ferocity, but they were predicted long in advance (see Appendix 4).  Adequate preparation was lacking, despite the predictions.

Preparing for uncertainty  

We can prepare for uncertainty by using two techniques: scenarios and peripheral vision.

Scenarios are plausible futures, like those described above for a pandemic and a significant economic slowdown.  They must be accompanied by plans for managing should they eventuate.   Developing a set of scenarios can increase resilience.  The aim is to develop plans which can succeed across a range of scenarios.  We do not attach a likelihood to each scenario because we are dealing with uncertainty but we may be able to discern which scenario is most likely as time goes on, based on a range of indicators.

Peter Schwartz wrote the early guide to scenario development, “The art of the long view” (Currency Doubleday, 1991).  He lists eight steps in the development of scenarios:

1. Identify the focal point or key decision.  This will increase the relevance of the scenarios.

2. Identify the key factors – what will the decision makers need to know when making choices?

3. List the driving forces that influence the key factors.

4. Rank the driving forces by their levels of importance and uncertainty.  This will focus the analysis on issues which are both highly important and uncertain.

5. Select scenario logics – a diverse set of plots spanning the range of plausible outcomes.

6. Fleshing out the scenarios – develop the narratives associated with each scenario.

7. Implications for each scenario – what are the opportunities and vulnerabilities revealed by the scenarios and how should strategy be adapted?

8. Selection of leading indicators and signposts – which can reveal, as time progresses, which  scenario is closest to the course of events as they unfold.

The intended outcome is plans which are robust across a wide range of uncertainty.  The individual scenarios should be rehearsed so that implementation of strategy adaptation is smooth and efficient.

Peripheral vision

The biggest dangers to a company are the ones you don’t see coming.  Understanding these threats – and anticipating opportunities – requires strong peripheral vision.
George S Day and J. H. Schoemaker in “Scanning the Periphery”, Harvard Business Review, November 2005.

Scanning the periphery is all about answering the question “what don’t we know that might matter”.  Often management reports are quite internally focused – on the business and the market in which they operate.  But demographic change, technological change, regulatory change, environmental change, amongst others can cause major disruptions to a business which are not anticipated.

Peripheral vision involves scanning the broad business and social environments for weak signals of potential change and analysing the implications.  This should be a continuous process.  Unfortunately, this activity can be seen as “nice to know” rather than “need to know” and investment in it can be seen as discretionary.  The global financial crisis which emerged in 2008 was not predicted by economists primarily because of groupthink and a failure of imagination.  Perhaps they had not invested enough in scanning the periphery.

Scanning is sometimes referred to as STEEP analysis (Social, Technological, Economic, Environmental, Political) and also has other acronyms such as PESTEL. 

Scanning the periphery differs from scenario analysis in an important way.  Scenarios start with a focus on the key decisions to be made and then identifies and qualifies influential factors.  Scanning starts with the broad business environment and then evaluates how future trends may influence the business.  I recommend that both approaches be employed as they provide complementary insights, which increases preparedness.

How can we survive during a period of uncertainty?

Some organisations lapse into pessimism and crisis mode.  They cut costs across the board, including marketing, and so hand market share to more optimistic competitors.  If the market is shrinking this is devastating and recovery is very difficult.

A study published by Harvard Business Review in March 2010 studied business responses during the three previous recessions to identify the most successful strategies.  It was found that the best performing businesses cut costs mainly by improving operational efficiency rather than by slashing the number of employees.  They also invested in growth. They developed new business opportunities by making significantly greater investments than their rivals in R&D and marketing, and they invested in assets such as plant and machinery to improve productivity.

During the current pandemic and recession governments and some businesses developed near real-time data so that strategy decisions were not based on out-of-date data.  Fortnightly data from the Australian Tax Office on payrolls was used to gauge employment and payrolls, banks provided data on consumer spending via debit and credit card records, the Australian Bureau of Statistics and private agencies conducted more frequent surveys to measure the mood and expectations of consumers and business managers.  Health departments provided daily updates on coronavirus infections.  Mobility data was provided by Google and Apple.

This is also referred to as “fast data”.  It is not only near real time, it is also more granular in respect to location, type of business and consumer demographic.

This regular flow of timely data allowed government economists, health officials, and businesses to adjust forecasts and strategy frequently – to be more agile.

Fast data is essential during periods of uncertainty and our experience in developing information systems over the past year and interpreting fast data will stand us in good stead for the next shock, when it comes.

Can we get stronger during a period of uncertainty?

Harvey Norman sales soared during the pandemic, and so did profits and dividends.  Gerry Harvey said it was the best sales growth he had experienced in 60 years of being in retail. “It started off with freezers and then it went to whitegoods and computers, then to televisions and then to furniture and bedding.  This performance was not by design, but was a consequence of working from home and compulsory cocooning during the pandemic.  Harvey Norman took advantage by strong investment in advertising from the outset.

Other retailers to prosper during the recession have been JB Hi-Fi, Bunnings, Kogan.com, and Temple & Webster.

During the global financial crisis most major brands of vehicles cut advertising investment significantly – because they were pessimistic about recent and expected future new vehicle sales.  One brand kept advertising and so significantly boosted share of voice and market share.  They have held on to that extra share ever since while one of the big brands then, Holden, have now exited the market.  That optimistic brand was Hyundai.

Nassim Nicholas Taleb, of Black Swan fame, recently wrote a book called Antifragile.  The theme is that resilience is not the opposite of fragile.  Something fragile breaks under stress, while something resilient does not: but something which is antifragile gets stronger under stress.  Hyundai during the global financial crisis is a good example of antifragility.

These successes reinforce the findings described in the Harvard Business Review article mentioned above.  Investment in growth during an economic slowdown, while also improving operational efficiency, is the best strategy for prospering during periods of uncertainty.

Key strategies for managing uncertainty

1.     Anticipate.  Use scenarios to construct a set of plausible futures complete with appropriate plans for each.  Rehearse the plans and use peripheral vision to be ready to respond quickly.  

2.     Respond.  A strategy which is a mix of improving operational efficiency and investing in growth through increasing market share or creating new opportunity is needed to survive and prosper during a period of uncertainty.

3.     Monitor and adapt.  Develop a “fast data” capability to increase agility as uncertainty develops, peaks, and ebbs.

Article written by Charlie Nelson, Director Foreseechange

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Looking to prepare and plan for uncertainty? Let us help.

Whiteark is not your average consulting firm, we have first-hand experience in delivering transformation programs for private equity and other organisations with a focus on people just as much as financial outcomes. We understand that execution is the hardest part, and so we roll our sleeves up and work with you to ensure we can deliver the required outcomes for the business. Our co-founders have a combined experience of over 50 years’ working as Executives in organisations delivering outcomes for shareholders. Reach out for a no obligation conversation on how we can help you. Contact us on whiteark@whiteark.com.au

Appendix

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Appendix 1: disruptive shocks over the past 50 years

This list is intended to illustrate the range of shocks rather than being comprehensive.

Appendix 2: potential disruptive shocks

Every year, the World Economic Forum brings out a risks report.  Prominent on the 2020 list were a cyber attack, extreme weather, natural disasters, and human-made environmental disasters.

In 2020 Australian population growth has slumped due to a fall in net migration.  Could there be a significant decline in fertility to continue slow population growth?  It has been speculated that fertility will fall because young adults will be reluctant to bring children into a world where COVID-19 is still a threat in the short-term and climate change is a threat in the medium-term.  The recession also has the potential to cause a temporary decline in fertility due to concerns about unemployment.  Australia’s fertility has been running at around 1.8 births per woman and other countries such as Italy and Japan have lower fertility of around 1.3.  This topic has been researched by foreseechange and current indications are that a significant decline in fertility for an extended period is unlikely but cannot be ruled out.  This research is ongoing.

Solar flares are a hazard for electronic communications.  The last major disruption was the Carrington event in 1859, in the days of the telegraph.  A huge solar flare followed by a large coronal mass ejection struck Earth and induced huge currents into wires causing extensive and costly damage.  Lesser events struck in 1921 and in 1989, the latter causing a huge blackout in Canada.  In 2012, there was an event of similar magnitude to the 1859 Carrington event which passed through Earth’s orbit – fortunately, the planet was in a different quadrant of its orbit.  A repeat of the Carrington event today would severely disrupt all forms of communication, power transmission, GPS and other navigation, and damage pipelines.  The recovery time has been estimated at four to 10 years and the cost at up to $2 trillion in the first year.

In 1908, a large comet or asteroid caused a major explosion over Siberia (the Tunguska event).  The energy released was up to 1,000 times greater than the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima in 1945.  Fortunately the area was sparsely populated, but such an impact on a major city would be catastrophic on an unprecedented scale.

A major volcanic eruption is capable of blocking sunlight over large areas for extended periods, creating severely cold conditions.  This can reduce food production and cause illness, as well as curtailing air travel.  There have been several such events in history and they may happen about once every 1,000 to 2,000 years.

Appendix 3: slow and steady disruptions

There are changes which are slow, but steady and seemingly irrevocable – because we do too little to manage the consequences and risks.  This procrastination has current and future financial and human costs.

One of these is the ageing population, combined with still increasing lifespans.  The baby boom of 1946 to 1964 was followed by a baby bust in the 1970’s as women became more able to control their fertility.  This meant that there would be a large generation reaching the traditional retirement age around 2011, followed by a smaller generation than would have previously been expected.  This future problem was evident before 1980.  The predictable consequences were increased funding to pay age pensions, increased demand for health and aged care facilities, and a need to encourage people aged over 65 to keep working.

In the 1990’s a compulsory superannuation scheme was set up and every other predictable need was also put off.  We have not caught up with the needed infrastructure and services yet and there are too many people over 65 who want to keep working but who cannot secure a job.

Another is climate change.  The countries of the world gathered in Rio di Janeiro in 1992 and agreed to take action to reduce the risk of dangerous climate change.  In the 28 years since, the concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere has continued increasing at the same rate.  Temperatures in Australia and much of the world continue to increase.  Sea levels are increasing at a faster rate.

Appendix 4: predicting extreme bushfire conditions in 2019-20

Twelve years ago, economist Ross Garnaut made a prophecy that has devastatingly come true.

In the 2008 Garnaut Climate Change Review, which examined the scientific evidence around the impacts of climate change on Australia and its economy, he predicted that without adequate action, the nation would face a more frequent and intense fire season by 2020.

ABC News, 8 January 2020

I, too, provided warnings.  In July 2011, I wrote to the Victorian water minister predicting severe drought in the period 2017 to 2022.  The prediction was applicable to much of south eastern Australia.  The reply, In September 2011, said that the driver of drought which I proposed was not considered by mainstream climate scientists to have a plausible mechanism.  The reply said that planning processes are designed to cope with variability including severe drought.

In January 2019, I again wrote to the Victorian water minister saying that my prediction had come true and that it was time my predictions were taken seriously.  I included a copy of the previous correspondence.  It was a different water minister and a government of a different political party, but the reply was almost a carbon copy:  the government works with Australia’s most experienced and respected researchers and planning processes are designed to cope with a wide range of climate futures including prolonged drought.  Only months later the many victims of the terrible bushfires would disagree with that statement!

Twenty-three former fire and emergency leaders say they tried for months to warn Prime Minister Scott Morrison, beginning in April 2019, that Australia needed more water-bombers to tackle bigger, faster and hotter bushfires.  They were not able to get a hearing.

The catastrophic bushfire conditions were caused by both extremely low rainfall and record high temperatures.  This combination of conditions was unprecedented, but predicted.  The charts on the following page show how severe the conditions were in the three years 2017 to 2019. 

Chart 1 shows the annual rainfall in the Murray Darling Basin, along with the rolling three year average.  The average over the period 2017 to 2019 was the lowest ever recorded three year period, consistent with my 2011 prediction.  Chart 2 shows the mean temperature  and the three year average.  The three year average temperature over the period 2017 to 2019 was the highest on record by a huge margin.  Even more severe conditions may be less than 20 years away!

Chart 1

Chart 2

Article written by Charlie Nelson, Director Foreseechange

Transforming your B2B Sales Team

B2B buying behaviour has become even more unpredictable with Covid-19 and as a result driving customer retention challenges for many organisations who have traditionally leveraged the sales function to manage high value accounts. A multinational client shared with us that their frontline sales teams were now working remotely as their ability to generate face to face meetings with their clients had become near impossible.  

Whilst this trend has been disrupting field sales for many years it has almost definitely been brought to a head and compounded by the pandemic this past year.

Our data and research suggests’ that today’s buyer wants to engage with suppliers through digital channels at least initially. To meet this omnichannel experience for the buyer sales functions will need to leverage new skills and learn to execute the new technologies at their disposal.

The future of sales has been permanently transformed and as a consequence companies that want to be relevant in a sales economy tomorrow need to ensure that their sales processes are bookended and supported by a ‘digital’ engagement will all customers.

Research* suggests that B2B customers are leveraging digital channels for information and guidance prior to engaging sales representatives. In many cases respondents suggested post acquiring the knowledge they needed to make their buying decision they opted away from any engagement at all with the sales rep.

Furthermore, as buyers move more towards digital platforms to help them navigate their decision making process, they are rewarding those companies that have invested in seamless omni channel experiences, hence from a selling perspective ensuring technology is underpinning the sales process has become more critical than ever in terms of revenue protection.

Despite the enormous rhetoric around data and its importance over the last decade research* also suggests that most sales led companies fail to leverage data and AI capabilities to capture customer and buyer behaviour hence enhancing the risk at a relationship level between the sales representative and the customer.

“Sales companies that plan to succeed moving forward must move their cultures towards being the leaders of the selling process as opposed to being the leaders of sellers. ”

That requires a shift in the strategy and focus away from sales professionals as the primary and predominant channel to market and a move towards digital sales channels that are supported by personal human engagement at the appropriate moment for the buyer. In this new world sellers’ decision making will be driven by data, analytics and AI, not on intuition and experience.

A key shift for organisations seeking to transform their sales functions will be their ability to pivot to a model whereby they can be ready to engage a customer in whatever channel they are seeking to be served whilst in parallel having an ability to execute effective selling.

Sales leaders have an opportunity as we move into this next chapter of selling to help navigate their organisations by creating a roadmap that is focused on aligning to their capabilities around customer buying behaviour.

Simple considerations for transformational roadmaps might include:

Position your salesforces as the facilitators of education in the buying cycle

In a world where it’s never been harder for the sales teams to engage and influence buying decisions sales needs to be focused on helping customers feel more confident in their assessment of data and ultimately their buying decisions.

Focus on increasing the digital capability of your sales team

By focusing on up-skilling your sales teams and increasing their digital competence, you will be able to enable your sales team to sell more effectively across various digital channels and in turn be able to be more visible and present to the customer and their buying pattern.

Reconsider your GTM channels so as they embrace more digital engagement points

Moving towards a customer centric channel approach will force your organisation to stop being so focused on your own products and will allow you to leverage your customer lifecycle or value stream to determine the right time to engage a customer based on their need or problem relative to the buying cycle. This shift towards the buyer is fundamental and requires you to focus operational efforts on ensuring all commercial channels are integrated around the customer needs not yours. Taking note and acknowledging customer engagement preferences for digital, sales and self-service channels will allow you to reprogram your efforts around the customer.  

Leverage your technology assets to drive customer engagement

Ensure you are using whatever levels of technology to support as much automation of the customer journey as possible. For example, using AI to execute basic sales tasks such as preparation and insights, to detect buying signals and predict business outcomes will be useful for both your sales teams and your customers will be one.

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Never in our lifetime has the importance of revenue generation and profitability been greater yet failing to accept that technology and readily available data has driven the power to the astute buyer in the old sales process.

The new era of selling means that there can be no separation between your sales teams, technology, marketing communications, data and analytics and all of the operational functions that sit in between.

It’s time to transform to the new approach to selling where every move is driven by how well you leverage AI to command the entire sales process and all of those who serve it.

With change comes opportunity and be clear the possibilities are enormous; but will only benefit those sales leaders who are bold and progressive enough take action now and transform their sales functions.

Moving towards agile workflows and channels that can engage their customers wherever they want, whenever they want will only drive a great connection to the new millennial buyer and in turn a great share of wallet for your company.

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Looking to capitalise on these trends and plan your own sales strategy? Let us help.

Whiteark is not your average consulting firm, we have first-hand experience in delivering transformation programs for private equity and other organisations with a focus on people just as much as financial outcomes. We understand that execution is the hardest part, and so we roll our sleeves up and work with you to ensure we can deliver the required outcomes for the business. Our co-founders have a combined experience of over 50 years’ working as Executives in organisations delivering outcomes for shareholders. Reach out for a no obligation conversation on how we can help you. Contact us on whiteark@whiteark.com.au

*Source: Gartner B2B Buying survey 2018

Global Trends to emerge post Covid-19

We take a closer look at the trends affecting countries across the world as we emerge form the changes caused by Covid-19.

1. Connected Work

Connected work scenarios will drive the need for cloud everything. New subscription-based models will see growth in demand for unified communications as a service offerings.

2. ‘Lights-Out’ Operations

Autonomous “lights out” operations will drive demand for remote asset management solutions, and service providers will focus on data management strategies and data-driven business models.

3. Connected Living

An increased adoption of contactless surfaces post-pandemic will drive home automation and security markets.

4. Technology Advancements

Pandemic preparedness will speed up AI deployment and accelerate the pace of AI innovation.

5. Supply Chain Optimisation

Seamless integration of end-to-end digital supply chains will increase traceability, sustainability, and transparency within the supply chain ecosystem.

6. Human Augmentation

The adoption rate of customer behaviour analytics by enterprises will grow by 20% for the period 2019-2025.

7. Smart Cities

Increased spending on technology by smart cities will lead to a surge in the adoption of digital tools like crowd analytics, and increased focus on developing digital platforms and apps for citizens.

8. Digital Health

Digital health driven by telemedicine and robotic care will become the new standard of care delivery. Will require an increase in the number of service and technology providers.

9. Geo-Political

To protect themselves from economic fallout due to COVID, global organisations are coming together to restore geo-political and economic balance.

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Looking to capitalise on these trends and ensure your business is poised for success? Let us help.

Whiteark is not your average consulting firm, we have first-hand experience in delivering transformation programs for private equity and other organisations with a focus on people just as much as financial outcomes. We understand that execution is the hardest part, and so we roll our sleeves up and work with you to ensure we can deliver the required outcomes for the business. Our co-founders have a combined experience of over 50 years’ working as Executives in organisations delivering outcomes for shareholders. Reach out for a no obligation conversation on how we can help you. Contact us on whiteark@whiteark.com.au

SOURCE: Frost & Sullivan 9 Critical Trends Reshaping all Industries Post-COVID, 2020

Taking Care of Sales

The hot topic for 2020 has been COVID and in particular what businesses should be doing to transform to this well-articulated new normal. At Whiteark we’ve been thinking specifically about the impact this unique year has had on B2B selling and specifically what your organisation may want to be considering ensuring your sales team is set up to be successful over this coming year.

“Employees come first. If you take care of your employees, they will take care of their clients.”

— Richard Branson

In a year where the conventional approach to B2B selling has been rewritten and now the new normal seems to be emails followed by zoom meetings and if you’re lucky another zoom meeting, how can we help our sales teams better serve their clients?

The B2B sales process has never needed to be more agile than it needs to be today. We are experiencing the constant introduction of new products and services in market as a result of digital software and technology that are challenging even the very best of value propositions in the marketplace.

We are hearing first-hand that even the very best sales organisations are upgrading their sales processes so as they can stay ahead of their competitors. As we move into the Christmas break many companies are planning their 2021 kick off activities with a view to energising their sales teams to meet the demands of the next cycle.

In a market where control is clearly geared towards the buyer, sales must respond to this power shift by ensuring they are able to meet the increased demands of this new process. High levels of personalisation are no longer appropriate for a select few customers who meet a given criteria, it will become a baseline expectation that every customer has some degree of account-based personalisation to meet their specific needs and problems.

Covid has driven the emergence of working from home and many buyers and decision makers will demand access to information that they will expect to be able to review and assess in their own time without a meeting face to face. They’ll use emails and video meetings to manage the selling process and only the greatest equipped salespeople will be able to match this game change.

Buyers will also be leveraging more than ever their peer groups for recommendations, referrals, and reviews of the sales proposals without any engagement or influence from the salesperson. The days where we could get by on ‘the buyer - seller’ relationship will now be tested, and we will need to help redefine the traditional sales tool kit to ensure our sales process maintains its integrity. Customers will now have access to information and will know a lot more about your company and its product, as well as your people than you might expect. They will be looking for partners that are authentic and genuine as a mere starting point before they hand over their trust.

Whilst the process might have shifted as a result of this unusual year the reality is that the sales process has always been underpinned by trust and the real focus for 2021 needs to be fuelled by continuous training and development.

In our opinion, it’s never been more important that the sales team has to be ready to change their game to win the trust and credibility of the new buyer. The bar for sales competence must be once again raised and those organisations that are able to measure and track sales skills, characteristics and abilities via specific dashboards and metrics will be able to use this data to ensure the needs of the customer are met.

Sales teams who have very clearly defined metrics will be most likely to succeed. Hence, sales management will be reliant on sales operations and support functions like never before as well as working with and ensuring their utilisation of technology is driving their sales process. Customers will want to be engaged on their terms and as such every channel will be equally critical to the success of the next sales campaign.

Whilst the sales - client relationships will still be critical, technology and use of emails, EDM, social will become critical tools in the sales communication cycle. Social selling is on the upward trend for sure, with businesses and employees following and commenting on LinkedIn about their companies and their brands. Therefore, engagement in these channels will be critical to sales outcomes and the content that your sales team is generating on this channel will need to be in alignment marketing as well as whatever was leveraged in email, SMS and whatever other channels you are engaging.

In any case as we embark on the new normal for our sales team, it is imperative to accept that everything matters. Remembering that there’s no such thing as ‘this is how we’ve always done it’ approach that will work in every situation all the time so working with the teams in an account-based methodology where ‘every’ customer matters will be critical to your 2021 sales strategy.

This coming year, the organisations that will win will be those who case best align their sales talent to their technology, broader support teams and work together as one to solve the problems of their potential buyers.

Driven by customer insight, behaviour and technology, the trend is moving towards account-based selling and digital transformation.

There’s never been a better time to take stock, conduct an honest self-assessment and to identify the elements that will lift your sales team to meet the needs of tomorrow.

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Looking to capitalise on these trends and plan your own sales strategy? Let us help.

Whiteark is not your average consulting firm, we have first-hand experience in delivering transformation programs for private equity and other organisations with a focus on people just as much as financial outcomes. We understand that execution is the hardest part, and so we roll our sleeves up and work with you to ensure we can deliver the required outcomes for the business. Our co-founders have a combined experience of over 50 years’ working as Executives in organisations delivering outcomes for shareholders. Reach out for a no obligation conversation on how we can help you. Contact us on whiteark@whiteark.com.au

What are the key considerations for successfully transitioning your staff back to the office?

As we start to move towards Covid normal, businesses are starting to plan for their employees to return to the office.  Here are some things to consider and action from a people perspective.

Flexibility

A company that embraces flexibility around work location is here to stay. If they haven’t already, every organisation should start working on a plan that details what this looks like for their business. 

Ideally the plan should be developed with HR, managers and employees. We suggest that it considers areas such as technology set up and support at home, learning and development opportunities, engaging the team in multiple locations, the risk management impacts on the business and having a robust performance review process to support employee performance. 

Staggered start times, a roster for when employees are in the office with workforce bubbles, and working from home days, are all considerations.  In most workplaces a hybrid model will need to be agreed. Businesses need to be also able to flex back to working from home as required until we have a vaccine, so flexibility really is key.

Health, Safety and Policies

The health and safety of employees is a critical consideration. It is important that you consult www.coronavirus.vic.gov.au or your equivalent state site to create your Covid Safe Plan.

Some items to consider;

• Do you have the right policies?

• Do you have a policy and process if an employee be required to self-isolate?

• How will you keep confidentiality and privacy in dealing with employees who have suspected or confirmed COVID-19?

• Do you have a policy for employees that have travelled to another country and need to quarantine?

• Does your working from home policy needs updating?

Some other thing that you need to plan for are; your office layout, signs for meeting rooms, making sanitiser and masks available, cleaning schedules, a register of who is in the office.

Communication

Communication is critical to the success to any change, but especially relating to people.

Start planning;

• How you communicate key messages about social distancing, personal hygiene and associated policies

• Using www.coronavirus.vic.gov.au posters and hand outs to communicate the key message 

• Where possible have meetings by phone or online instead of face to face

• Your mental health plan to be proactive in supporting employees who are struggling

Employee wellbeing

For many people, especially those with an existing mental health issue, returning to the workplace can bring up a range of feelings including fear and anxiety. If you have one, promote your Employee Asisstance Program (EAP) to help support your team’s wellbeing. These organisations will also have support materials that you can share with the team. If you don’t have one, consider partnering with a provider.

Beyond Blue have some great tips to help manage mental health as employees transition back into the physical workplace. They are;

• Prioritise self-care by maintaining positive habits

• Manage your information intake

• Understand what constitutes a mentally healthy workplace

• Celebrate the opportunity to reconnect

Send out a short pulse survey to employees to get a feel for how people are feeling about returning and what would make the transition as smooth and positive as possible.  As always employee feedback is key to the success of any change.  Book in one on ones, check in to see how people are feeling and plan some fun Covid safe team activities. 

Focus on recognition

According to the Achievers Workforce Institute, 2020 Culture Report,  recognition is the number one request from employees in the postCOVID world.

When employees were asked “how organisations could better support them through the COVID-19 pandemic”, one-third said they wanted more recognition.  

To be effective it is important that recognition is; timely, specific and ideally values based.  If recognition aligns to your company values, you are constantly reinforcing the values and the behaviours that ultimately under pin your culture.

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Looking for a harmonious transition? Reach out.

Whiteark is not your average consulting firm, we have first-hand experience in delivering transformation programs for private equity and other organisations with a focus on people just as much as financial outcomes.

We understand that execution is the hardest part, and so we roll our sleeves up and work with you to ensure we can deliver the required outcomes for the business. Our co-founders have a combined experience of over 50 years’ working as Executives in organisations delivering outcomes for shareholders. Reach out for a no obligation conversation on how we can help you. Contact us on whiteark@whiteark.com.au

Article by Phoebe Reid

Resetting Your Customer Experience For Post Covid

We are nearing the end of 2020… the year that changed the world with months in lockdown, travel bans, restrictions on gatherings, working from home enforcements and rising unemployment. No one saw these things coming.

For vulnerable consumers and the customer teams that serve them, Covid-19 has forced companies to rethink what customer care means to ensure they are addressing their customer needs.

A customer’s interaction with a company can have an immediate and lasting effect on their sense of trust and loyalty. During a time of crisis, it is essential that businesses deliver service and experiences that meet customers new needs with empathy, care, and concern. It is important to use real-time data to understand shifts in consumer behaviour so businesses can quickly pivot innovating redesign journeys to align with constantly changing customer preferences.

Below are customer experience practices that build resilience and prepare companies for success in the days after Covid-19.

Care

People need extra information and support to navigate during these unprecedented times.

To show that you care, REACH OUT and offer genuine support, not through marketing or blatant attempts to gain competitive advantage. These experiences are important for customers in the short term, and the impact will build positive, lasting relationships.

Meet your customers where they are

Your customers’ normal patterns of life have been put on hold, and as a result there has been a shift in demand patterns - customers need digital, at-home, and low-touch options. Digitisation has accelerated because of the coronavirus pandemic and digital-led experiences will continue to grow in popularity as we recover from the crisis. Businesses that act fast and innovate in their delivery model to help consumers navigate during the pandemic safely and effectively will establish a strong advantage.

Redesign operations to support the new world

It is to be expected that consumer preferences and business models will last longer than the crisis. Once covid-19 subsides, economic challenges will remain, so it is key for companies to deliver on customer experiences that are emerging as most important, whilst realising productivity efficiencies, to remain competitive.

A keyway to simultaneously improve your customer experience and business efficiencies is to increase digital self-service and to make smarter operational trade-offs, driven by what matters most to customers. Migrating customers to digital channels is often a successful way to boost savings and satisfaction.

Agility

Sustaining a strong customer experience during a crisis requires prompt research to interpret the changing dynamics and new pain points as well as agile innovation to address them. Businesses that can master that tactic will generate value for customers in high-priority areas in an environment of intensified competition.

Customer experience has taken on a new definition and dimension in the uncertain times of Covid-19. Companies who show care towards their customers, reinvent their customer journey and anticipate how customers will change their habits, will build deeper relationships that will continue beyond the crisis.

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Looking to redesign your own customer experience? Reach out.

Whiteark is not your average consulting firm, we have first-hand experience in delivering transformation programs for private equity and other organisations with a focus on people and customers just as much as financial outcomes.

We understand that execution is the hardest part, and so we roll our sleeves up and work with you to ensure we can deliver the required outcomes for the business. Our co-founders have a combined experience of over 50 years’ working as Executives in organisations delivering outcomes for shareholders. Reach out for a no obligation conversation on how we can help you. Contact us on whiteark@whiteark.com.au