Do you have all the elements for a strong company culture?

Company culture can be defined as a set of shared values, goals, attitudes and practices that characterise a company. Company culture impacts all facets of the business, from recruitment to retention to performance. Organisations with strong corporate cultures have been linked to higher retention rates and increased engagement.

Company culture is a naturally occurring phenomenon; your company will develop a culture whether intentional or not. Culture is influenced by a company’s mission statement, core values, beliefs and attitudes, appetite and success of innovation, work environment, employee benefits, charitable and social events and flexibility/business working hours.

Post Covid-19 culture is going to play an extremely important role in retaining and attracting top talent. Has your organisation considered what changes need to be made to create/maintain a strong company culture post covid-19?

Developing your lead generation strategy

Since the onset of COVID-19, businesses have had to find new and clever ways to connect with their customers to generate sales and maintain relationships – this has led to the acceleration of digitisation as more customers shifted to online.

Customers now have the power to dictate when and where companies can interact with them. Organisations that are customer experience-minded and leverage communication technology to engage with today’s customer in the way they prefer – in the right channel, at the right moment, with the right information, will be most successful in converting leads.

Have you analysed the change in your customers’ behaviours to help better manage them and improve your customer experience?

The question on everyone’s mind - how will customers behave post the pandemic?

A pandemic is temporary but it will influence temporary behaviours into fundamental shifts - some things will revert to pre-covid, some things will look very different, and other things will be gone for good. Covid-19 propelled a whole new generation of digital adopters online with about 70% planning to keep using the new channels permanently. It is critical for companies to improve their online offerings to provide a competitive experience for digital adopters. The quality of the customer experience remains an influential buying factor. To improve the customer experience overall, organisations need to understand the changing wants, needs and expectations of their target customer in terms of product/service offerings, the channels they use to interact/engage and when they use these channels.

There is no one size fits all option

The covid-19 pandemic has fuelled the remote working trend that was already underway – it has accelerated the shift toward more flexible and customised models. If companies don’t reinvent their people strategy and how they support their employees, they will lose in the new reality. This week’s focus will be on “Ways of Working and Your People Strategy”.

Business leaders have the opportunity and imperative to redesign the future of work to unleash a new wave of human creativity and productivity. The new design will need to have intent and requires effort, leadership engagement and innovative thinking. This will result in unlocking new talent, creativity, and productivity benefits.

When redesigning your company’s ways of working, it is fundamental that you adopt a broad and holistic approach while considering the value at risk to revenues, efficiencies, customer and employee satisfaction, retention, acquiring new talent, sustainability, and wellness.

The Whiteark Guide to Strategy & Execution

The key building blocks to guide the process of strategy to execution.

Answering strategic questions will form the basis of the key components to the Company Strategy building block.

•What is your current situation?

•Where do you want to go from here?

•What do you want to accomplish?

•How do you get from where you are today to where you want to be in the future? What are the steps do you need to take?

•What obstacles will you have to overcome? What problems will you have to solve?

•What skills and capability do you require to achieve your strategic objectives?

•What problem does your company seek to solve?

•Why do you believe this problem needs to be addressed?

•Does this problem matter to others?

•What are your offerings to solve this problem?

•What is the nature of your products and services?

•What specific customer/consumer needs are you addressing?

•Who are your ideal/target customers?

•What is your unique selling proposition?

•Are there other comparable offerings in market?

•What differentiates you from your competitors?

In today’s unpredictable environment strategic planning needs to be adaptive.

Covid-19 has been the catalyst for companies to reset their business strategy. In a time of such uncertainty, executive leaders need to be increasingly reliant on adaptive strategies so that they can set long-term goals but still flex with evolving conditions.

Contents of the Guide.

• Key building blocks for strategy to execution

• Considerations for each building block

• Adaptive strategy

• Building block one - market and industry trends

• Building block two - companies strategy

• Building block three - build the plan

• Building block four -manage performance

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Looking for help with your strategy? 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. So, if you’re looking to transform, reimagine or upgrade your strategy, then give us a call on 1300 240 047 for an no-obligation conversation.

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

Transforming your Sales and Service Model

Are you ready to take on a bold sales and service model transformation? Now is the time to reinvent your model and integrate the value your business provides into the “new” societal landscape post the global disruption of Covid-19. In today’s environment, your successful sales and service transformation will be enabled by strong leadership, facts driven from data and analytical insights, and new approaches to technology.

It is important that you remain flexible and resilient while looking to the future - redefine your operations so that you can emerge stronger than your competitors. You must pivot your sales and service models in response to the new societal landscape - purchasing power is shifting fast, the demand for digital channels is rising. To retain customers, protect revenues and realign go-to-market investments you must pivot your sales and service model to meet the constantly changing expectations of your customers.

Hold tight and embrace the uncertainty – be courageous and apply a different approach to how you would usually gain market share all while monitoring the shift in consumer demands to ensure you are ahead of the competition.

Below are the key considerations for redesigning your sales and service model:

• Rediscover your customer - understand your customers so that you can meet their evolving wants and needs so that you can remain relevant

• Redefine the sales and service journey – segment your customers and focus your efforts on the strongest and most profitable opportunities

• Enhance your product/service offering to meet customer expectations - reinvent through new narratives, approaches and terms, and diversify dynamic offers

• Enable your team with the tools and skills to succeed in today’s digital age – ensure you provide your team with the key enablers that they need to support them in being successful  including training and coaching, sales tools, technology

• Reward your sales and service resources for the right behaviour/outcomes – align on priorities, determine the metrics to monitor, measure performance and reward success to keep your workforce motivated

If you need help with transforming your sales and service model to meet the needs of customers in today’s environment, please reach out to Whiteark for a no obligation consultation and we can help you navigate your future to success.

Why I joined the Business Chicks, Business Club

Image Credit: businesschicks.com

I’ve always loved the Business Chicks events – they are always inspiring, give you perspective and a great way to connect.  The Business Chicks brand is strong and it has a strong ability to bring out the best in people.

Whiteark was launched in July 2020 in the middle of Covid19 and I am lucky to have an amazing Co-founder who is so supportive of me and everything we are co-creating through Whiteark.  We have a great team here and 2020 was our foundational kick-off.

In January 2021 I was reflecting on finding some like-minded people that would give me connection, perspective, different experiences and an opportunity to grow.  I research and joined Business Chicks Business Club.

The induction session was expectational – inspiring to see so many ladies doing great things for them and looking like me for an opportunity to connect, learn and grow.  The fire side chats and virtual events have been great and I’m so excited about attending the offsite in early May 2021. An opportunity to reflect, connect, challenge and really help support each other as we grow our businesses. 

In your life, you need to find your kind of people. 

People how lift others higher.  Who bring out the best in you.  Who teach you, who support you and that always know they have your back.  What I have learnt about myself from joining Business Chicks Business Club:

1. People genuinely looking for support / connection

2. Women are amazing at running their own businesses and juggling so many other commitments

3. It’s an environment where people want you to be successful and they are interested in you and how to support and help you

In Corporate life, it’s disappointment that it’s normally the more senior women that have made it that don’t provide the support for the women coming up the ranks, why is this?  Maybe’s it’s why women go and start up their own thing and do something bigger / better for themselves.  I’m passionate about supporting women – helping them find their voice, work through the things that are holding them back and giving them the opportunities to prove to themselves how amazing they are.

If you are looking for your kind of women, people to raise you up, support, connect and provide a sense of tribe – and we are in this together – look no further than Business Chicks Business Club.  I’ve only just started but I feel like it’s just what I need right now and probably forever.

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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

How to deliver a successful transformation program

Nearly every project today is called a transformation.  Most companies are changing, evolving and putting in programs to change the way things are done and these call these programs – ‘transformation project’s.  It doesn’t matter what the programs are called, what matters is the that it achieves the outcome you are expecting.

The statistics are terrible, however on average 20% of transformation programs achieve the required outcomes, this is a terrible statistic.  Many companies put money, focus and effort into delivering the outcome however they are unable to deliver the required outcome. 

Why?

There are four main reasons that transformation programs are not successful:

1. Success for the project has not been defined and is not well understood.  Being very clear on what the project is trying to achieve, what is success and how the results are going to be measured is critical. 

2. No Executive sponsorship – the Executive team do not sponsor the project and help show how important it is.

3. No accountability for the outcomes.  The roles & responsibilities are not clear and the people running the program are not being held accountable and this flows down.

4. The organisation doesn’t want the change/they haven’t bought in and they make it so hard that the organisation gives up.  It’s all too hard.

Once one or all of the 4 above happen the transformation program will likely not be successful, will not deliver the required outcome and next time people try they will say we tried this and it doesn’t work in our company.

No one sets out for it not be successful so how to do maximise the chance of success for your transformation program.  There are four main things that will help maximise success:

1. Be very clear on what success is – define success, work out how to measure success & ensure you communicate this change to people impacted and key stakeholders

2. Ensure you have an Executive Sponsor that will support and drive the project and help clear blockages that are in the way

3. Build a change champion network in the organisation – key people that can champion change and support the program

4. Demonstrate progress and the ‘what is in it for me’ mentality to show people why change can be great

The success of transformation will be driven from the ability of the lead:

• To set up the program for success

• To get buy in

• To not listen to naysayers

• To focus on delivering outcomes and communicating

• To build out the what is in it for me

The lead for the transformation needs to be very strong leaders, someone who is not worried or concerned about driving change and showing resilience.

From experience, I have seen many transformations go really well.  I am someone who doesn’t like to give up and I like to be on the winning team – everyone makes mistakes and from these comes learnings and experience that helps you when you do your next program/project/transformation.

At Whiteark we love helping our clients with transformation; focused on ensuring that we can use our experience to help ensure their transformations are successful. If you are interested in having a conversation about how we can help you, reach out.

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Need support in your transformation project? 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

Linking transformation to strategy

In today’s business environment, transformation can take many forms but no matter the type it revolves around the need to generate new value - unlock new opportunities, drive new growth, deliver new efficiencies.

It is critical that the transformation project aligns to the company’s strategy – strategy is fundamental in guiding/aligning decisions and actions to ensure they support the achievement of the company’s strategic goals. A sound strategy helps shape an executable transformation objective.

The value that your transformation project will create/deliver must be aligned to your company strategy and it will help with articulating desired transformation outcomes, from a financial perspective or from an operational perspective.

Once you have aligned your transformation ambition you can build out your transformation program. 

THE STEPS

1. Clearly defined company strategy

2. Determine your company strategic priorities

3. Define your transformation ambition – ensure it aligns to your company strategy/strategic priorities

4. Get leaders involved

5. Build your transformation plan

6. Be clear on what success is

7. Gather resources and expertise

8. Choose the right enablers

9. Focus on culture and change management

10. Measure success

For more support on transformation please explore our range of thought leadership articles…

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

M&A Trends and Insights

The economic impact of COVID-19 has led to a material decline in M&A activity globally including Australia. As a result, we have seen fewer transactions and according to Refinitiv (formerly Thomson Reuters), worldwide M&A activity totaled US$1.2 trillion during H1 of 2020, a drop of 41% compared to a year ago and the slowest opening six-month period since 2013. M&A activity abroad appears to have rebounded to some degree since the end of June 2020, presumably as economies have started to reopen. The Financial Times reported that since the end of June, 8 deals each worth more than US$10 billion have been announced.

Australian Private Equity History

Compared to the US and UK private equity (PE) markets, the Australian PE market is relatively immature.  The first venture capital fund was established in the mid-1980s by Bill Ferris, and the fund performed well but it was not until the Australian Government set up an Innovation Fund in the mid-1990s offering A$2 funding for every A$1 raised that the venture capital industry accelerated.

Between 2000 and 2010, deal sizes and fund sizes grew exponentially in Australia and many global private equity players such as KKR, Carlyle, TPG and Blackstone opened offices in Australia with a view to acquiring large businesses beyond the reach of the smaller newly formed local funds.

Australian Private Equity Landscape

Fundraising in Australia has become global with Australian institutions seeking global exposure and Australian PE managers having to raise funds abroad in competition with fund managers across the globe. Consequently, only the best performing funds have raised new and larger funds in Australia, while only a small number of Australian fund managers from the early 2000s are still active.

A decade ago, the vast majority of PE deals in Australia were by Australian managers investing Australian institutional money.  By 2019,  between 60-70 % of PE investment in Australia came from offshore funds with many adopting the “fly in fly out” model investing from their home base or from regional APAC offices in Hong Kong or Singapore. This trend for increased investment by offshore PE in Australia is set to continue for a number of reasons including:

• Higher levels of local competition and high prices in their home markets of US and Europe, some growth capital funds, and buyout funds, have abroad for investments;

• Australia has a stable political environment, first rate governance and rule of law, a strong economy and a reputation for technology and innovation;

• Australia has reduced competition from local funds due to consolidation and the relative weakness of the Australian dollar to the US dollar, it is easy to see why Australian deal values have been attractive to US investors.

Australian M&A Market

In Australia, M&A activity for the first half was subdued. Announced deals in Australia and New Zealand dropped 51% in value terms with the largest public company transactions being:

• Iberdrola’s bid for Infigen at $1.5 billion (topping an earlier bid by UAC Energy, a joint venture between AC Energy and UPC Renewables);

• Uniti Group’s proposed merger with OptiComm, valued at $540m;

• Shandong Gold Mining’s bid for Cardinal Resources, valued at $335m.

All other deals announced in that period had a lower value, though this excludes a number of significant transactions including:

• Bain Capital’s acquisition of Virgin Australia (in administration), agreed in June, but not strictly a public company transaction, given the nature of the transaction;

• TPG’s $15 billion merger with Vodafone which completed in July, as that was announced in 2018;

• BGH’s $542m recommended bid for Village Roadshow as it was agreed in August.

… download the full guide to read more.

“CONTENTS

> Introduction
> Australian PE History
> Australian Private Equity Landscape
> Australian M&A Market
> Recent Market Developments- Revised Foreign Investment Rules
> Impact of COVID on Asset Valuations- Digital and Technology assets
> Variable Consideration as part of Asset Valuation
> Renegotiation and Reneging on Agreed Transactions
Key insights from the 2H of 2020
> Deal makers widen assessment of value creation to non-traditional sources
> The impact of a hot IPO market on M&A
> Looking ahead: Resilience and innovation”

Need support with your M&A? Reach out to the Whiteark team.

We’re a team of doers led by Jo Hands and James Ciuffetelli. We don’t believe in unnecessary layers; and between us we have over 50 years of collective experience, expertise and global connections. Delicately weaving these together, we engage with you directly, with a single-minded focus on the task at hand. Collaborating at a senior level to propel organisations forward, we intricately map out and execute your next move, ensuring you’re prepared, protected and prosperous.

Fuelled by passion, we revel in working with Private Equity; the pace, targeted focus on business optimisation and limited timeframes spark unforeseen transformation opportunities, which we’re excited to deliver on. Our approach is rooted in data, ensuring the right decisions are made – based on accurate information. Hands-on, we get into the trenches with you, working directly with the management team to realise outcomes expected by shareholders. We offer a range of transformation services which can be tailored to suit standard private equity options; always accompanied by a laser focus on profit optimisation of the business.

Put your hat on and get ready to problem solve with your team?

The Six Thinking Hat technique is used in companies around the world to facilitate decision making and getting people to have good brainstorming conversations.

Before you start you need to educate your team on the 6 hats and background. You can do this by:

• Reading our hats articles

• Watching our Hats video

• Download our free Powerpoint template

Group Exercise

Pick a problem to solve with the team/ group. 

Allocate a hat to each person; the point isn’t to put people to the natural hat but make people outside of their comfort zone and ensure it creates good conversation.

Teams can use these hats in any order during a discussion, but typically progress from blue, to white, to green, to yellow, to red, and finally to black.

This order organizes the discussion:

• Blue: Start with the approach and process

• White: Review the facts

• Green: Generate new ideas without judgement

• Yellow: Focus on the benefits

• Red: Consider emotional responses to any ideas

• Black: Apply critical thinking after the benefits have been explored to test the viability of the new ideas

Any hat could make a reappearance in the discussion. For example, after facts (white) are laid out, more process (blue) may be applied, or after pros (yellow) and cons (black) are discussed, new ideas (green) may surface.

Using these hats takes some practice. Remember that this approach is not intended to "feel natural" at first. It is intended to help individuals focus on problem solving. Practice, however, can help the team flow through the hats more easily, and gives everyone in the organization a shorthand to focus on the analysis rather than their complicated thoughts and responses to the process.

 

Tips

Here are a few tips for running a “Six Hats” meeting:

• Empower a moderator (a designated blue hat) who has read de Bono’s book beforehand to set an agenda and facilitate the meeting.

• Use six physical hats of different colours (or labelled with the different roles) to remind participants of the different thinking categories and signal what category is the current focus.

• Ensure that participants all have a way to record ideas, either for brainstorming, or to save for when the conversation moves to the appropriate hat.

For more practical examples of how this works please follow us on LinkedIn and YouTube for some Whiteark bites that provide some practical examples.

Need more information on the hats?

Watch the videos below where Jo Hands and James Ciuffetelli unpack each of DeBono’s hats in less than 5 minutes…

Whiteark is aligned with the White Hat.
Let us explain more….

We’re a team of doers led by Jo Hands and James Ciuffetelli. We don’t believe in unnecessary layers; and between us we have over 50 years of collective experience, expertise and global connections. Delicately weaving these together, we engage with you directly, with a single-minded focus on the task at hand. Collaborating at a senior level to propel organisations forward, we intricately map out and execute your next move, ensuring you’re prepared, protected and prosperous.

We’re nimble; we will assemble the best team for your problem, guaranteeing you have the skillset and people you need - no more, no less. Using data (de Bono’s White Hat) we load up your arsenal with the information needed to define and craft your next move; your strategy. Then together we’ll use this knowledge to carve out a unique set of priorities and objectives, bringing the entire team into the fold so they’re aligned towards the same targets and goal.

Digital Transformation Playbook

Technology is changing at a rapid pace and while technology is changing, companies will continue to be forced to change. New technologies can disrupt established businesses, but more importantly they stimulate opportunities for innovation. In today’s environment, business owners are more concerned about missing opportunities to grow, than become obsolete.

Technology prompts companies to rethink how they do business.

Technologies including big data, the cloud, the Internet of Things, and Artificial Intelligence are helping entrepreneurs to develop new business models and disrupt the established way of running operations.

Digital technologies are:

• Enabling businesses to operate in new ways to deliver more value to customers and generate more productivity and cost efficiencies

• Altering competitive landscapes

• Changing the economics of markets

“CONTENTS

> Technology
> What is digital transformation?
> Guiding your digital transformation strategy
> A digital transformation approach
> Tips for successful digital transformation
> Benefits of digital transformation”

Guiding your digital transformation strategy

Digital Strategy

A clear strategy determines your organisation's ability to reimagine and transform your business for the digital world. A multi-year digital strategy focused on driving customer experience, operational efficiency, and new revenue.

The digital strategy is the foundation for operating the business and delivering on business targets. New revenue streams, customer experience, and operational efficiency will all be viewed from a digital lens.

Technology modernisation is critical to your ability to meet changing market demands.

12 benefits of digital transformation

Need support with your digital transformation? Reach out to the Whiteark team.

We’re a team of doers led by Jo Hands and James Ciuffetelli. We don’t believe in unnecessary layers; and between us we have over 50 years of collective experience, expertise and global connections. Delicately weaving these together, we engage with you directly, with a single-minded focus on the task at hand. Collaborating at a senior level to propel organisations forward, we intricately map out and execute your next move, ensuring you’re prepared, protected and prosperous. Contact us to book in an obligation free conversation today.

What hat are you naturally and what hat is outside your comfort zone?

Following on from our thought leadership article on “What hat you wear can change the game - are you ready to play?”  here we unpack the six different hats in more detail, and explain the pros and cons in a little more detail.

As you are reading through these descriptions you should consider:

• In a meeting what hat is my default?

• What default hats do I have on my leadership team?

• What hats are missing from my leadership team?

The White Thinking Hat 

The white hat is like a detective who gathers, organizes, analyzes, and presents current information. As detectives gather clues and facts, they remain neutral and unbiased to avoid jumping to conclusions based on single bits of information. Instead, all clues, facts, and evidence must be analyzed and weighed to see what they have and what is missing. 

In the same fashion, while “wearing” a white thinking hat, you should collect known information and analyse it to reach fact-based solutions. Analysis of the gathered data will help you find gaps so you can look for ways to fill them or at least take note of them so you have a better idea of how to direct your conversations. 

Start gathering facts and data based on these problem-solving questions:

• What do we know about this issue?

• What don’t we know about this issue?

• What can we learn from this situation?

• What information do we need to solve this problem?

• Are there potential existing solutions that we can use to solve this problem?

Work through these questions as a team to gather more information as each person shares their unique knowledge of a particular issue or problem.  

The Yellow Thinking Hat

This hat represents enthusiasm and optimism. Like a bright, sunny day, the yellow hat is used to bring positive energy and life to every idea.

With the yellow thinking hat, you seek to find the benefits and value of ideas. You should not be hampered by limitations or boundaries, but rather believe that when there’s a will, there’s a way. 

Yellow hat questions could include:

• What is the best way to approach the problem?

• What can we do to make this work?

• What are the long-term benefits of this action?

These questions are only a starting point. As you work through your Six Thinking Hats exercises, you may want to come up with more questions that take into account the optimistic role of the yellow hat.

The Black Thinking Hat

The black hat is the opposite of the yellow hat and represents judgment. Wearers of this hat look for ways that the situation can go wrong.

The black hat is used to expose flaws, weaknesses, and possible dangers of proposed ideas. On the surface, the ideas you got from the yellow hat session may seem perfect. The black hat dives below the surface to find any potential problems. The black hat is essential to keep you from jumping headfirst into a potentially disastrous situation. However, the black hat’s role is not just to sit around and be all judgy. In addition, this role looks for and identifies resources that may be needed to accomplish your goals.

Questions to help you think from the black hat perspective can include:

• How will this idea likely fail?

• What is this idea’s fatal flaw?

• What are the potential risks and consequences?

• Do we have the resources, skills, and ability to make this work?

The Red Thinking Hat

While you have the red thinking hat on, your primary goal is to intuitively suggest proposals and plans of action based on feelings and hunches. This hat is open-minded and non-judgmental. Using the information gathered from feelings and emotions, you should be able to intuitively relate these feelings to the problem you are trying to solve.

A red hat thinker’s objectives include:

• Make intuitive insights known.

• Seek out your team’s hunches and feelings.

• Reveal an idea’s hidden strengths.

• Use instinct to identify potential weaknesses.

• Find internal conflicts.

For example, some ideas and plans may seem weak or impractical but if someone wearing the red hat can identify a new idea or plan that “feels” right, this idea should open up discussion and exploration of additional opportunities you may never have considered.

Red thinking hat questions may include:

• What is my gut feeling about this solution?

• Based on feelings, is there another way to fix this problem?

• What are our feelings about the choice we are making?

• Does our intuition tell us this is the right solution?

The Green Thinking Hat

Green hats are used for creative thinking. Wearing this hat lets you think outside the box to explore more possibilities and bend the rules of problem-solving. This creative thinking should be free from judgment and criticism. 

Because the green hat is not bound by rules or limitations, this is where you can think beyond the norms of reality. The green hat lets you conduct a brainstorming session where no idea is too wild or crazy to be noted or immediately shot down. The green hat must refrain from criticizing or judging any ideas or suggestions that come up. The idea is to expand your thinking as you explore possible solutions.

The green hat may ask questions such as:

• Do alternative possibilities exist?

• Can we do this another way?

• How can we look at this problem from other perspectives?

• How do we think outside the box?

Keep in mind that as you work with the green thinking hat, you are free to express any idea that comes to mind. Even ideas that may sound crazy can have a kernel of feasibility that can put you on the right path to solving your problem. 

The Blue Thinking Hat

This hat provides a management role and will help you analyse the situation. When wearing the blue hat, your job is to manage the thinking of the other hats to ensure that the team stays focused and works more efficiently toward a workable solution. The role makes sure the other hats are being used correctly. 

Specifically, the blue hat seeks to:

• Efficiently and effectively improve the thinking process.

• Ask the right questions that help you direct and focus your thinking.

• Maintain and manage agendas, rules, goals, and tasks.

• Organise ideas and proposals, and draw up action plans.

Questions that will help you in the blue hat role may include:

• What is the problem?

• How do we define the problem?

• What is our goal and desired outcome?

• What will we achieve by solving the problem?

• What is the best method for going forward?

It's something new. You might have heard about it but haven't applied it in your workplace. It's a challenge for the year ahead to use this to better engage with your team and get different perspectives for effective brainstorming.

If you are interested in a powerpoint template that can use used to educate your team on the 6 hats please sign up here.

If you’re looking for some help to navigate workshops using DeBono’s Six Thinking Hats, then reach out to the Whiteark team.

How we use the hats with our clients

We’re a team of doers led by Jo Hands and James Ciuffetelli. We don’t believe in unnecessary layers; and between us we have over 50 years of collective experience, expertise and global connections. Delicately weaving these together, we engage with you directly, with a single-minded focus on the task at hand. Collaborating at a senior level to propel organisations forward, we intricately map out and execute your next move, ensuring you’re prepared, protected and prosperous.

We’re nimble; we will assemble the best team for your problem, guaranteeing you have the skillset and people you need - no more, no less. Using data (de Bono’s White Hat) we load up your arsenal with the information needed to define and craft your next move; your strategy. Then together we’ll use this knowledge to carve out a unique set of priorities and objectives, bringing the entire team into the fold so they’re aligned towards the same targets and goal.

What hat you wear can change the game - are you ready to play?

We know that successful companies work to proactively listen to different perspectives from across their organisation. Finding ways to do this where people feel comfortable to share their views/ideas is critical; and now with the majority of corporate employees working remotely, this creates even more of a challenge when it comes to getting people to engage…

I have a technique, that I learnt, and I now use this approach with leadership teams which elicits some exceptional and interesting results.

To apply this technique and get the full benefit we need to take you on a journey. We will take you through the journey in the next few articles where you will learn:

1. About Edward de Bono’s Thinking Hats

2. To understand the concept and theory behind each Hat through Whiteark articles and bites

3. How to use the technique of the Hats with your leadership team, wider team, workshops and the power of using it to facilitate brainstorming with a group. We will give practical real life examples of how to use it

““Creative thinking is not a talent; it is a skill that can be learned. It empowers people by adding strength to their natural abilities which improves teamwork, productivity, and where appropriate, profits.” ”

— Edward de Bono

In 1985, a man named Edward de Bono wrote a book called Six Thinking Hats. A physician, author, and consultant, de Bono is a proponent of teaching thinking as a subject in schools to help people be more successful in business and in life. He developed the Six Thinking Hats method as a way to run better meetings and make better decisions more quickly.

In the Six Hats methodology, de Bono identifies six different ways of thinking, each represented by six coloured “thinking hats.” As you wear each hat, you learn how to think in different ways to brainstorm and approach problems from various angles.

The de Bono’s thinking hats are defined in the following ways.

Whiteark is aligned with the White Hat.
Let us explain more….

We’re a team of doers led by Jo Hands and James Ciuffetelli. We don’t believe in unnecessary layers; and between us we have over 50 years of collective experience, expertise and global connections. Delicately weaving these together, we engage with you directly, with a single-minded focus on the task at hand. Collaborating at a senior level to propel organisations forward, we intricately map out and execute your next move, ensuring you’re prepared, protected and prosperous.

We’re nimble; we will assemble the best team for your problem, guaranteeing you have the skillset and people you need - no more, no less. Using data (de Bono’s White Hat) we load up your arsenal with the information needed to define and craft your next move; your strategy. Then together we’ll use this knowledge to carve out a unique set of priorities and objectives, bringing the entire team into the fold so they’re aligned towards the same targets and goal.

Return on investment

Return on investment is an overused phrase but an underused concept in business.

What return are you going to make for that investment? What is the payback period and how confident are you on the return?

Say a company can only afford to spend $20 million on investment each year how does it decide what to invest in?

Key criteria

•    Is the investment aligned to strategy?

•    What are the benefits of the investment?

•    What is the payback period for the investment?

•    What metrics will the investment improve?

•    Are there ongoing financial benefits of the investment?

I am a big believer in working out where your investment will give you the biggest return. If measured correctly, more money can be invested if there is a clear ratio of investment versus return on investment. 

Making good investment decisions will be critical to the success of any organisation especially during the current environment so take the time to consider:  

•    How much money you can invest?

•    What's your criteria for investment?

•    How are you going to track benefits?

•    How and who will you hold to account?

Somehow when people get project money, they forget it's cash out the door - it’s real money, it's costing the company. While there are financial reporting, tax and other benefits of consideration when investing, don't forget you are outlaying cash. Spend what you need to deliver the outcome / return on investment.

Post Covid-19, companies need to be very focused on where they spend their money and payback period. If the pay period is longer than 3 years, leaders will need to consider if it's a good investment.

How do you think about return on investment in your company? Does it need a review? Is your payback period more than 3 years? Maybe you need to reconsider.

“The biggest room in the world is the room for improvement.”

— Helmut Schmidt

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Do you need to assess the ROI in your business and make some changes? 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

Obsessed about business optimisation

Optimisation is an overused word that can mean a lot of things, so let me explain... can a business perform better than they currently are? Can they improve customer experience, their pricing strategy and financial outcomes to drive a better return? In most cases the answer is yes!

I'm that person at the cafe that worries about how the owners are affording to pay all their staff (overstaffed), that nail place that isn't charging enough to make ends meet, the tradie that doesn't make me pay when the service is done but a month later, the discounts in the department stores, the amount of stock on the shelves and the cashflow management of companies.

The COVID period has shown us that companies need to be:

• More efficient

• More commercial

• Focus in on cashflow more

• Get the pricing right

• Focus in on customer experience

Small, medium and large businesses all have areas that they can improve. Research shows that business optimisation can improve the financial performance of your company by 21%+.  

Business owners and leaders need to focus on business optimisation. What are the 4-5 things that will move the dial for your business?

Cashflow optimisation - maximising your working capital through tactical and strategic levers. Are you putting enough focus on this?

Pricing rationalisation - are you charging enough for your product and service and how you do compare to your competitors? 

Strategic sourcing - are you strategic around how you manage your vendors to drive cost improvements and working capital outcomes? 

Process optimisation - improve process efficiency and effectiveness by reducing complexity in the process. 

Property management - lease costs cost approximately $10-12k per person per year. With the new ways of working and companies adapting to remote working, review your lease arrangements and assess whether your company really needs all that space. Can you sublet the space or hand it back to the landlord? Many companies are considering other options in relation to rental space. Are you?

One way to really reset the cost base of a business is the zero-based budget. Read our recent Whiteark article that explains why, how, and when you should use this technique. With a focus on what money is spent on and the return on investment including dollars and time to recover cost outlays, you can significantly change your cost base.

“If I had one hour to save the world, I would spend fifty-five minutes defining the problem and only five minutes finding the solution.”

— Albert Einstein

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Do you need to create a business optimisation plan? Let us help.

At Whiteark we have professionals that have practical, hands on experience on how to optimise business. Understanding every business is different and there is no one size fits all but we would be very happy to have a no obligation conversation around your business optimisation plan. 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

It’s time to simplify

There are a lot of reasons to simplify but why don't companies do it? Because it's hard work. It takes time, money, effort and a lot of change. It's never too late to start and I suggest you make 2021 the year.

Companies have grown too complicated and it results in:

•  Customer dissatisfaction
•  Errors in reporting
•  Lack of good commercial decisions
•  Higher costs
•  Poor management of cash

•  Higher prices
•  Longer lead times to deliver
•  Lack of problem management
•  No accountability
•  Too many people

Companies need to simplify to:

•  More effective
•  Improve the timeliness of data for decision making
•  Improve your competitive advantage

•  Be more price competitive
•  Improve customer experience
•  More efficient

Key considerations to simplify;

•    Less executives

•    Clearer accountability for process and outcomes at the Executive level and clear delegations

•    Black belts to undertake process reviews from end to end and identify areas of waste and the key metrics to focus on to drive process improvement

•    Streamline systems and transition everything to the cloud

•    Determine your outsource strategy - what you want to own v outsource

•    Vendor consolidation to drive savings

•    Create one centralised data hub where all reporting and information is stored as the source of truth

Create some momentum in the organisation to simplify - give the executives and leaders the challenge of identifying areas that the company can simplify and put a program of work together to drive change and promote continuous improvement. Be structured and be clear on mandate. Remember, what gets measured gets done.

“It’s like doing a spring clean of your cupboards - there is some therapeutic and liberating about it and you find the piece to the puzzle that’s been missing. Imagine how you’ll feel when you simplify your organisation - there will never be the perfect time - so decide today to start the process of simplification.”

Looking to simplify the structure and set-up of your organisation? Let us help.

If you need assistance, please reach out to Whiteark as we have extensive experience in simplification programs focused on improving the financial performance of companies, we would be happy to help. 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 build the right culture in your company?

Most people assume building the right culture within a company is simple, but the reality is, it’s quite difficult and very few do this well.

Being a start-up or smaller company makes it easier to manage, influence and build the desired culture but as companies grow and evolve it is important that you hold the right culture, and ensure it is driven from the top down.

Let's explore factors that drive culture in organisations:

Recruitment.
Companies recruit based on whether the candidate is the right fit for the company’s culture.

Performance.
Are employees rewarded for practicing the right behaviours, that align with the culture of the organisation.

Values.
Most companies have values that are core to their operations. These are usually displayed on their website, the walls in their office and screensavers to remind their community of what their foundations are built around. Many companies have values but very few actually live them; this needs to be driven from the top. Do your executives live/display the company’s values?

Leadership.
The leadership in the organisation sets the tone, and ultimately that culture of an organisation.

We all want to work for a company with the right culture. While there are some things we can control – culture is the responsibility of the leadership team to drive.

“If you change your mindset, you have the ability to change your whole world.”

— Damien Thomas

4 key things to consider when influencing culture:

1. Leadership team - right people, right behaviours and help build out the culture in organisation.

2. Reward performance/behaviour aligned with culture and values.

3. Continuously remind/train employees on what is expected of them from the time they join

4. Ensure there is an outcome if employees are not aligned to expectations

As a leader in a company you must set the right culture and foster it. A positive culture is the biggest driver of productivity in any organization and people spend a lot of time working, so it is important to create an enjoyable workplace environment.  

You can have the best business strategy in the world but if your culture is rotten you won't be successful in the long-term.

“Alone, we can do so little; together we can do so much.”

— Helen Keller

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Looking to create a lasting culture and rally the team 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

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