The Ultimate Private Equity Playbook

Private Equity firms must have a clearly defined playbook containing value creation initiatives in order to succeed. This 40+ page playbook by Whiteark is the ultimate guide to realising value in your Private Equity transaction.

An asset’s full potential is realised through a holistic approach, that focuses on optimising operational performance, enhancing strategic capabilities and effective capital management.

Playbook Inclusions:

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✔️Overview
✔️Strategic Levers
✔️Operational Levers
✔️Identify Value Creation Initiatives
✔️Types of Value Creation Initiatives
✔️The M&A Benefits
✔️Strategic Pricing
✔️A Sharp Focus - where to target your efforts
✔️Distribution Strategy
✔️Types of Distribution Strategy
✔️Geographic Expansion
✔️Geographic Considerations: Entry to new markets, New sales, Access to local talent, Increased business growth, Competitive advantage, Operational efficiencies
✔️Product Strategy: Product Vision, Goals, Product Initiatives
✔️Product Innovation

✔️Digital Transformation Approach
✔️Digital Transformation
✔️Digital Strategy
✔️Customer Segmentation
✔️Aftermarket Service Strategy
✔️Data Strategy
✔️Data Strategy Principles
✔️Pricing Optimisation
✔️Approach to Pricing Optimisation
✔️Sales Force Effectiveness
✔️Procurement & Managing Suppliers
✔️Successful Procurement Management
✔️Pricing Optimisation
✔️Benefits of Product Portfolio
✔️Operational Efficiencies Focus Areas
✔️Cost to Serve

And more…

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Get your hands on the PE playbook

Want your copy of our 40-page Private Equity playbook? Click the button below to proceed.

Private Equity is our thing. Qualified, experienced, and connected, our team is on hand to help you exceed all expectations.

With extensive experience working with private equity firms, we have the ability to drive true value in portfolio investments. Globally, and locally, our team’s combined experience bridges the gap and fills in the blanks, so we’re ready to help - exactly when you need it.

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.

Digital Transformation

Digital technologies have recast business models and business value chains for over two decades, in almost every facet of work. The financial services, retail, media, entertainment and travel sectors have all been upended.

The burgeoning internet of things, along with technologies like edge commuting, materials science and even 3-D printing means that the industrial sector is likely to see the same upheavals as the commercial and services sectors have currently endured.

Those disruptions will prove uncomfortable and even destructive for some, yet the long-term benefits of digitisation are now much better understood.

“Article written by Andrew Birmingham, Editor-in-chief and Associate Publisher at Which-50.com”

In a report from Telstra called “Embracing the Digital Economy” the authors write, “Increased digitisation in Australia could add up to $90 billion to the Australian economy corresponding to 250,000 new jobs by 2025. The digital economy benefits are an Australia-wide opportunity that can have profound impacts for communities.” (https://www.telstra.com.au/business-enterprise/news-research/research/embracing-the-digital-economy)

Much more, faster

The first 25 years of disruption seem almost evolutionary compared to the huge acceleration of digital transformation since the global COVID pandemic upended the economy.

Bond Capital’s Mary Meeker — author of the famous annual “State of the Internet” report — predicted in April last year that the businesses which will weather the disruption best will be those that embrace the core tenets of digital business. They will rely on Cloud services, sell always in-demand products or products that make businesses more digitally efficient, they will be easily discoverable online and can serve customers with limited contact.  

Later in 2020 McKinsey & Company studied the impact of COVID-19 on its corporate clients and reported that most had, on average, experienced seven years of transformation in just six months. Another way to think of that is that if you didn’t reform your business during those months you are now seven years behind your competitors!

The effect was even more pronounced in the Asia Pacific region, which saw an average of ten years worth of transformational work in just six months. 

And while much of the focus was on the impact of the shift to work-from-home arrangements, the biggest impact was actually found elsewhere. The management consultants reported the largest leap in digitisation was in the share of offerings that are digital in nature — now at 55 per cent on average globally, up from only only 35 per cent before the pandemic began.

But this is not simply an issue for global enterprises. One of the extraordinary effects of the pandemic shutdown is that every community everywhere in the world was impacted at about the same time, creating a rare economic alignment requiring adjustments to businesses large and small.

According to McKinsey, the reason why every business no matter its scale or maturity has had to react is because the biggest inhibitor to digital transformation — the inertia of business as usual — was swept away. 

BAU was simply no longer a viable option. 

Take ecommerce, for instance. About ten per cent of Australia’s retail trade happened online pre-COVID, according to National Australia Bank. That ballooned in March 2020, simply because there was no alternative. 

And it immediately created new problems.

Australia’s logistics sector was calibrated around single-digit or low double-digit online sales. It simply was not equipped to cope with an overnight shift to mass online trade.

And remember, that huge shift in consumer behaviour occurred when internal borders were closing and international travel was greatly restricted. 

Customer service was likewise disrupted. Internal call centres in Australia were closed as staff were ordered home. Companies that relied on outsourced call centres overseas fared even worse in some cases. 

Luzon province in the Philippines, which hosted call centres for many Australian businesses, shut down with less than 24 hours notice — leaving businesses to contend with how they could get their staff home from the office in the middle of a strict curfew. Taking calls from customers simply wasn’t the main concern!

The impact on call centres of the massive shift to work-from-home revealed the extent to which those businesses which took digital technology seriously suddenly had a massive advantage over those that didn’t. Companies that relied on Cloud-based software-as-a-service applications were able to migrate staff rapidly to home working arrangements. 

Those who were late to the party struggled to adjust.

Measuring success

Digital transformation, like many business process reengineering projects, often suffers from the difficulty of proving the benefits. 

BCG for instance, says that as few as 30 per cent of digital transformations deliver the intended business benefits.  ( https://which-50.com/only-30-per-cent-of-digital-transformations-are-successful-bcg/ )

However, such statistics need to be taken with a grain of digital salt. These figures tend to reflect the original deliverables in the business case, and really represent a failure of planners to understand and define the long-term benefits.

McKinsey has identified five metrics leaders should focus on to determine success in digital.

These include:

The return on digital investments. Don't just look at the value of an individual project, but rather how an initiative supports your strategic organisational goal. Don’t try to fix everything at once, but focus on a critical process or a customer journey and then broaden out from there.

Percentage of annual technology budget spent on bold digital initiatives. Don’t starve your most strategic and bold initiatives with parsimonious budgets. And recognise that technology projects have changed — the days of big monolithic IT architecture is past, moving instead to best-of-breed tools, customer applications and what the technologists call micro-services (https://www.gartner.com/en/information-technology/glossary/microservice#:~:text=A%20microservice%20is%20a%20service,independently%20deployable%20and%20independently%20scalable).

Time to market for digital apps. Don’t boil the ocean. Instead, focus on the quick translation of ideas into tools for frontline use. Time to market for things like new analytics models or new application tools should be measured in months, not years!

Percentage of the leaders’ incentives linked to digital. Align management incentives to the organisation’s digital goals and make sure that incentives across departments do not work at cross purposes. Your technology chief needs to be involved heavily in product design and delivery and their incentives should be inked to things like new application builds, cycle time, and business value generated.

Top technical talent attracted, promoted and retained. Finally, and crucially, focus on attracting and retaining the best talent in areas such as data engineering and analytics, design and user experience, and core technology. And remember that the talent you need will change as your digital maturity improves. So the staff plan can not be a set-and-forget engagement.

Digital transformation is a super cycle that will last decades. Many companies are only part of the way in their journey.

Industry analyst Gartner, for instance, says that 87 per cent of senior business leaders say digitalisation is a company priority — yet only 40 per cent of organisations have brought digital initiatives to scale. And Gartner warns that the gap between aspiration and achievement is widening (https://www.gartner.com/en/publications/the-it-roadmap-for-digital-business-transformation).

 The changes ushered in by the COVID-inspired acceleration are likely to prove sticky, according to Gartner, and consumers will continue to reward businesses that make the experience of being a customer simpler, faster and easier. 

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Article by Andrew Birmingham

When should you recruit versus developing existing staff?

It is fabulous when everything seems to be humming along with your team, they are working well together, have a good understanding of their role and business and are motivated and engaged. But then someone resigns! This can throw a real spanner in the works if you haven’t planned for it. By having meaningful succession and talent planning and robust career and development planning processes you are able to better plan and be prepared for these situations.  This will help inform your decision to recruit externally or promote someone internally that you have already identified with the right skills and experience. 

This article will look at the two options to filling vacancies when someone leaves your business, or a new role is created:  recruiting externally or hiring from within. 

Recruiting externally

There are a number of reasons to recruit externally, there are times when you need some new talent to bring new skills and different organisational experiences, so it is important to find the right balance between hiring new employees and promoting current employees.   You will usually assess each role as the vacancy arises.   Existing business challenges can sometimes be solved with new ideas, so recruiting a fresh set of eyes who can look at the role and business in a different way may be the right solution.

A clear and known recruitment policy will assist you in hiring right. By this we mean hiring not only the right person with the necessary skills and experience, but also the candidate with the right cultural fit – this is just as important.  The selection and interview processes play a big part in hiring successfully and ultimately retaining these employees.

if there is a vacancy for a highly specialised role, you should consider the effort and resources needed to train an existing employee versus hiring a new one who already has the essential skills. It may be easier and more cost effective if you run a recruitment process and find an external resource.

Hiring from within

Many leaders think of recruitment as the only option when someone resigns, if you are a smaller business this may sometimes be the case, however in medium or larger businesses there will often be an internal option.   A recruitment policy that consider hiring internally before looking externally is recommended.

Employees who are given training, development and have a career path defined for them, are more likely to stay in your business.  The cost to hire is huge, according to Employment Hero, the average cost of a new hire can be anywhere between $3,500 to $5000, with executive roles being much greater than this.  Then you have the expense and time it takes for the new employee to be trained and learn their role and business. So, this is a significant reason to focus on developing your staff where possible.

Look at the way you support and engage your existing employees. Support them with internal training and upskilling opportunities, which will have a positive impact on the culture and overall employee engagement.  When employees feel challenged, supported and that their company invested in their growth and career, engagement is higher, and turnover reduces. 

As part of your succession planning process you should consider which roles are the hardest to hire and invest in developing employees with these skills so that you have options. Ideally for some roles you will have a successor who is ready or possibly ready in the near future already identified in your business.  This is also the case where there is a skill shortage and you know that skills are really hard to recruit in the market. 

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

Being true to your values

When growing up, we learn to understand the impact core values have on driving our behaviour and activity, as well as attracting those you work well with because you share similar values. Your values are critical, they are at the heart of everything that you do.

I attended a Brene Brown course called “Dare to Lead” in 2020 - it was a chance to consider what kind of leader you want to be and understand your values.

My core personal values are:

Connection - I value having strong connections with people and I'm a connector. It drives me and my thinking. I genuinely love people 

Achievement - I love to do a great job, I put 100%+ into everything I do 

Passionate - I'm passionate about helping people / companies to deliver the best outcome. I have energy and drive to help people find their passion

Company values 

Most companies have a set of values but unfortunately most don't live by them – it’s frustrating and impacts the culture of companies. 

Company values and alignment with executives / co-founders and employees is important. Data, research suggests that companies where leaders align culturally and on values are 63% more successful than companies that don't. 

Having a clearly defined set of values helps your stakeholders to understand what you stand for. Your values provide guidance to your employees in delivering their work and creates a sense of unity and belonging. Your set of values encourage your employees to make decisions that help them achieve the company’s vision and mission.

Whiteark 

Once upon a time, in a land (not so) far away, two values aligned human beings came together to collaborate. The result? Whiteark was born. Whiteark is committed to bridging the gaps within organisations and making a lasting difference.

At Whiteark, we have spent the last 6 months refining and aligning on our Vision, Mission and Values before we launch with you all! 

Our values are important to us and are at the core of everything we do, who we partner with, who collaborate with, and who employ to be a part of our team.  

Here are our values that we live and breathe 😊

Leadership

Shaping the future.

Passion

Energising, engaging and inspiring.

Excellence

Achieving ambitious goals.

Value

Data drive outcomes.

Fun

Doing things differently.

Our values underpin our Vision and Mission and why we wake up every day, excited and ready to help our clients and our networks. 

Watch the video that James and I put together for our value launch to understand what these mean to us.

If our values resonate with you and you'd like to have a conversation about working for us, working alongside us or if we can help you, please reach out. 

Governing Data

Article written by Pete Crawford

Moving from Principles to Practice.

Let’s face it, data governance has a reputation of being a worthy, essential, but staid topic – a necessary prop underpinning aggressive innovative strategies or new analytic frontiers such as automated decision platforms powered by Deep Learning models. Part of this perception stems from a traditional notion that the function of data governance is to maintain data quality and reduce risk by upholding data protection regulations. By adhering to this formulation, governance is primarily viewed as a set of ‘command-and-control’ rules with escalation points.

A more balanced view is to regard data governance within the wider perspective of value creation. With this lens, governance becomes an important extension of developing data literacy skills and task-based, ethical accountability throughout the organisation.

“Insights from Pete Crawford | Head of Data, Analytics & AI, Pete Crawford spends his day-to-day leading strategy, governance and execution over enterprise data platforms, data science and AI capabilities. Speaking at leading industry AI and data events, Pete is experienced in forming and directing multi-disciplined teams to manage enterprise information assets and deliver business outcomes through advanced analytics.”

The journey from principles to practice starts by outlining why governance is central to any data strategy or business transformation endeavour. An assessment of what sort of governance model is most applicable to the power dynamics of the organisation follows. This leads to key milestones for establishing a governance program and the types of activities that support a well-informed and data privacy compliant playbook.

Why Data Governance Matters

Strategic drivers

• Changing regulatory requirements with data protection and privacy – which carries large financial penalties for compliance failure.

• Customer experience – the outcome from improved operational decision-making stemming from superior interpretation, sharing and evaluation of data.

• Accountability – linking the quality and trust of data with an assurance that employees responsible for business outcomes are part of its governance.

• Reputation management – by containing potential data breaches which invariably lead to costly PR fallout, weakened business valuation, customer churn and consumer abandonment.

Tactical drivers

• Data is available, discoverable, consistent and appropriate to different domains of users.

• Guidelines for the acquisition, sharing, processing, combining, retention and deletion of data.

• Capture of all consumer data event journeys coupled with consistency of interpretation across all data consumers.

• Prevention of bias and discrimination which may be inherent or inadvertently introduced through data, algorithms or practice.

Governance Structure Options

Item	Top-Down	Bottom-Up
Summary	~ Leads by authority ~ Hierarchical	~ Democratic control and management of conditions ~ Shared vision and principles based on network relationships
Principles	~ Standardised rules ~ Dedicated data stewards	~ Everyone has clearly defined accountabilities
Operating Model	~ Defensive - risk mitigation focused	~ Agile – policies and processes closer to the end user
Suitability	~ Rules are set by executive branch or dominant business unit who owns the business problem and proposed solution	~ Data is treated as a shared strategic asset across multiple business functions
Risk	~ Lack of context or sense of ownership over the application of rules	~ Coordination complexities across multiple business units

Setting Up a Data Governance Program

A governance program – like any change initiative – should begin by recognising the importance of storytelling. More specifically, there is a need to rethink and reframe narratives around enterprise use of data that look beyond ownership, protection or unquestionable economic value in order to bring into focus concepts that validate access, trust, agency and partnerships. Key considerations include:  

Awareness

• Ensuring executive sign-off and visible sponsorship of vision, principles, structure, funding and timeline.

• Understand, up-front, key messages from a strategic, tactical and operational perspective and how they should be differentiated according to role or domain.

• Be clear with stakeholders that there are time, resource and budget implications – too often governance is assumed to be a component of BAU, or worse, achievable by simply standing-up a committee.

Roles and responsibilities

• Establish and clearly communicate who is running the program. A common challenge is that people assume IT ‘owns’ the data.

• Identify data domains.

• Form a governance council from business leaders and partners.

• Identify operational data stewards. Stewardship is a trained and formalised accountability which describes a task-based relationship to data. It is not a hired position – anyone can be a data steward.

Standards, policies and processes

• Commence discovery to identify critical pain points for what business units cannot do because of a lack of availability, quality or knowledge about data.

• Review and consolidate existing policies and practices that define enterprise data engagement behaviours.

• Define missing policies e.g. how are algorithms being monitored for fairness?
  
  

Value creation

• Take a human design-centric approach by engaging with data consumers, both inside and outside the organisation, to recognise their aspirations and pain points when dealing with their ability to share, use or retrieve information.

• Educate stakeholders by translating governance principles into business context.

• Formalise data literacy programs by focusing on improving how employees:

  • Use numbers, statistics and infographics to convey important messages;

  • Evaluate data collection or automated decisions for bias and discrimination;

  • Use data analytics, find insights, identify trends and make decisions;

  • Use data platforms in a self-service capacity;

  • Link and share data without compromising privacy or proprietary.

• Clear associations are established between data quality, data usage and customer experience. Measurable incentives should form part of a group’s performance evaluation.

Barriers to success

• Lack of leadership – or, conversely, total reliance on top-down command. Leadership needs to visibly support the program and reward team accountability over data.

• Lack of investment – to counter, a simple cost-benefit exercise can help set a baseline against the costs of compliance if data governance is not implemented.

• Business units retain a proprietary sense of ownership of data – the breakdown of silos needs to be central to a coordinated data strategy and modernised data architecture plan.

Creating a Governance Playbook

A clearly defined playbook is required to put a data governance program into action. Each activity should be clearly documented, communicated, frequently updated and referenced to relevant regulatory or ethical standards. Some selective activities are listed below.

A playbook can be exhaustive, but if starting from scratch then concentrate on:

• Start small by focusing on a particular business unit or data domain.

• Define business ownership and identify roles and responsibilities.

• Map data flows across infrastructure and to operational tools.

• Place data education and task-based accountability at the centre of the program.

• Set measurable goals (especially around end user experience).

Strategic activities	Operational activities
~ Vendor risk assessments ~ Data sharing agreements ~ Data broker or marketplace evaluations ~ Establishing decision rights ~ Issue resolution and approval path ~ Acceptable use and consent standards ~ Technology platform options ~ Communications plan ~ Measuring and reporting value ~ Data collection bias ~ Algorithmic fairness	~ Data taxonomy and classification ~ Data collection standards ~ Data quality specifications ~ Data lineage and data flow maps ~ Data masking standards ~ Data privacy impact assessments ~ Issues register and matrix ~ Privacy-by-design ~ Differential privacy ~ Model registry and feature stores ~ Automated decision observability

Evaluating Governance for Short-Term Effectiveness and Long-Term Value

Business Impact Metrics Examples	Operational Metrics Examples
~ Compliance cost ~ Application development cost ~ Customer satisfaction ~ Data quality	~ Data governance maturity level ~ Data management efficiencies ~ Data literacy ~ Data governance issues register

LOOKING TO Leverage and utilise your data? 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.

Article by Pete Crawford

Preparing Your Business for Sale

The Guide to Getting Your Business Ready for Sale

To maximise the value of your business on exit it’s imperative that you commence strategic planning work at least 18 months to 2 years out from sale.

Key elements that need to be considered in your strategic plan include:

Key Business Drivers

• Understand the key drivers of the business. 

• Identify which of the drivers will have the greatest impact on the business valuation.

Competitive Environment

• How are your products or services positioned in the market?

• Who are your direct and indirect competitors?

• How does your pricing structure compare to the competition?

Global Mergers & Acquisitions

• Review global activity within your industry and understand the trends and key information.

Potential Buyers

• Understand potential companies that could acquire your business.

• What would they consider the most important value drivers?

Our 6-step guide to maximising value…

Key activities to undertake when preparing your exit plan.

Revenue & Margin Analysis

Understand which customers, products and markets generate the most revenue and the have the most attractive margins. This will drive improvements in performance, making your business more profitable and appeal more attractive to buyers.

Growth Plan & Scenario Assessment

Build a financial model that considers multiple scenarios to demonstrate how further profitable growth can be achieved to maximise your future sale value.

Overheads & Profitability

Analyse overheads and reduce fixed costs to enhance profit margins and increase the value of your business.

People

Create incentives for critical employees to remain in the business post the sale, to minimise risk for the buyer and to ensure the business valuation is defensible.

Financial Governance and Reference Books & Controls

Make sure that the business’ financial statements and accounting information is accurate. This will elicit compliance, assurance in numbers and transparency. Buyers like it when business operations run smoothly and efficiently so it is important to document business processes, review controls and update systems to improve the value and desirability of your business.

Data & Documentation

Ensure documentation required for the sale process is readily accessible to allow buyers to complete the due diligence quickly and efficiently. This will reduce risk for the buyer and maximising value for you.

Additional Funding

Top 3 key considerations for requesting additional funding for your business:

1. You have a guaranteed return on investment (ROI): You know if you have more money to invest you will be able to make an appropriate return.

2. Improve Financial Results: Additional investment will increase the revenue and gross margin of the business to cover the fixed costs and generate positive cashflow.

3. Overheads & Profitability: Additional investment / partnership will give the business a competitive advantage through new capability and linkage to the market.

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How Whiteark can help?

With extensive experience working across a range of services, we embed ourselves within companies to drive value, and deliver on key metrics.

Maximise Revenue

o Develop future strategies for way forward
o Understand market opportunities
o Build flexible workforce planning models
o Develop strategy and plans around a Buy and Build model to generate revenue growth
o Data, analytics and diagnostic tools
o Build comprehensive strategies across the business
o Customer experience & optimisation
o Marketing optimisation
o Go-to-market approach
o Pricing and packaging
o Account based marketing model
o Develop key metric reporting, aligning incentives to drive the right outcomes

Optimise Cost Base

o Utilise data, analytics & diagnostics to fully understand opportunities
o Develop strategy and plans around a Buy and Build model to realise operational efficiencies
o Organisational re-design, including outsource options
o Sales resource optimisation, aligned with GTM strategy
o Process review and redesign
o Benchmarking of costs against other industries and similar organisations
o Marketing spend optimisation
o Contract review to drive an improvement in costs
o Activity based costing model developed to understand financial drivers
o Cost optimisation strategies around activity based costing, specific to the business

In addition to the above services, Whiteark can help you secure funding (seed, investment or debt) through our network so reach out to see how we can help you.

Reach out to us today for a no obligation conversation today.

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

Structuring Data Teams

Article written by Pete Crawford

Understanding Roles, Responsibilities and Operating Models.

How data teams organise themselves and evolve their operating model directly dictates the speed and success in delivering clearly defined value. There is often ambiguity associated over team roles – especially as tasks change in response to technology services that accelerate the ability to automate, collaborate and experiment. In these circumstances, how data teams are structured effects knowledge sharing, ownership over data initiative outcomes and alignment with business objectives.     

“Insights from Pete Crawford | Head of Data, Analytics & AI, Pete Crawford spends his day-to-day leading strategy, governance and execution over enterprise data platforms, data science and AI capabilities. Speaking at leading industry AI and data events, Pete is experienced in forming and directing multi-disciplined teams to manage enterprise information assets and deliver business outcomes through advanced analytics.”

The organising principles, or structure, of data teams can be reduced to four key elements.

1.     Leaders who can set context, navigate trade-offs and supply decision-ready data

Organisational data expectations can switch between defensive-oriented objectives (security, privacy, governance, regulation), platform-oriented objectives (infrastructure, data discovery, data quality) and offensive-oriented objectives (self-service insights activation, enterprise-wide data literacy, decision automation, partnerships, monetisation of data products). To accommodate this mix of expectations, data leaders must balance domain and technical expertise with an understanding of how to:

·      Advocate and embrace change both within the data team and at an executive level

·      Create a shared context and comfort with knowledge transition among the data team and their collaborators

·      Set an environment of ownership over decisions and accountability over outcomes 

·      Facilitate partnerships with knowledge hubs such as research institutes and open data organisations

·      Focus upfront on the challenges of operationalising data products by adopting a go-to-market mindset

2.     Assessing the state of the data team

Regardless of whether data and analytics is a new or a mature capability there are a clear set of questions that need to be regularly addressed:

People

·      What data and analytics skills are currently in the organisation?

·      How are skills and capabilities being identified?

·      How are people being recruited?

·      What career paths are available?

Processes

·      How is task prioritisation and job allocation handled?

·      Is the team assigned problems to solve or given a list of features to build?

·      How are objectives communicated and what results are measured?

·      Is there scope and incentives for training and skill development?

·      What workflow processes, collaboration tools and CI/CD practices are used?

·      How are ideas generated, assumptions validated and products tested with customers?

·      Who ensures data quality or ethical accountability over data or algorithms?

Relationships

·      What is the funding model?

·      What is the level of data expertise at the executive level (and greatly affects meaningful dialogue over the strategic engagement)?

·      What external relationships exist (SaaS vendors, post-graduate research programs, R&D audits)

·      What formal and informal mechanisms exist for empathising with customer or business problems?

3.     Role clarity

In broad terms, data team roles can be segmented into four groups:

Engineering: Data engineer; machine learning engineer; software/application developer;

Analytics: Data analyst, data scientist

Governance: Data steward (an accountability also commonly assigned to existing roles)

Complementary: Data lead/manager; data architect; product manager; project manager; business analyst; human-interactive designer (which greatly depends on the scope of ambition and funding)

Clarity over roles matters on three levels:

Firstly, the allocation of roles and relevant skillsets in relation to the sophistication, ambition and investment of analytical objectives demanded by the organisation.

Secondly, the alignment of responsibilities against key activities in the data value chain:

And thirdly, the emergence of new roles in response to rapid changes in data architecture, cloud infrastructure and tooling. This must also take into account that:

·      New titles and highly specialised skills will, over time, become more generalised.

·      Responsibilities are becoming less departmentalised and skills less mutually independent as DataOps practices mature, formalised learning grows, new data infrastructure ecosystems emerge. For instance, processes that use machine learning to automate the end-to-end development of machine learning pipelines (AutoML) are gaining greater adoption.

·      There are divergent approaches as to whether traditional data governance responsibilities or the emerging application and monitoring of ethical behaviours requires separate roles or simply describes a relationship to data and not a position.

4.     Making structural choices to optimise communication and complement capabilities  

Five models are presented which support the distribution of skills and responsibilities between data team members and across the rest of the organisation.

1.              Centrally pooled

Engineers and analytic specialists report to one data manager and consult to other business units. This model supports strong top-down governance, coordinated data management practices and inter-team knowledege sharing. It works best before operations scale.

2.              Distributed

Engineers are centralised under one reporting line while analysts report directly to business units. This model supports immersion in business operations and customised data transformations but places a heavier load on engineering capacity and consistent data interpretations. 

3.              Steamed

Engineers and analysts are managed as separate teams with separate data leaders. This model may suit organisations with large infrastructure initiatives and a set of clear strategic analytic priorities. It can also lead to weaker collaboration and knowledge sharing.

4.              Domains

Engineers and analysts are aligned to source-oriented domain data with data ownership placed into the hands of the business domains. This model is contingent on relinquishing centralised data ownership for distributed data architecture, global governance, open standards and domain-oriented data served as a product. This is similar to the Tribe model but with a formalised infrastructure layer to fully support domain ownership. It does, of course, require a very sophisticated engineering stack, API integration, deep domain knowledge and data-literate business units.   

KEY

LOOKING TO Leverage and utilise your data? 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.

Article by Pete Crawford

What does resilience and adaptability mean to you?

Common themes for 2021 off the back of the year we have had…resilience and adaptability.  This article will explore what they mean (let’s get back to basics), how does it apply personally, how does it apply professionally and key practical tips to be more resilient and adaptable.

This all comes down to experience so keen to get your practical view and experience on this – what works and what doesn’t so we can share this as a community.

What does this mean?

Let’s go back to the basics, the dictionary.

Resilience is defined as:

the capacity to recover quickly from difficulties; toughness.
"the often remarkable resilience of so many British institutions"

 the ability of a substance or object to spring back into shape; elasticity.
"nylon is excellent in wearability, abrasion resistance and resilience"

Adaptability is defined as:

the quality of being able to adjust to new conditions.
"adaptability is an advantage in the harshly competitive global economy"

the capacity to be modified for a new use or purpose.
"this is a good example of the adaptability of listed buildings"

How does it apply to me personally? 

Change is constant. 

Being able to adapt to change and deal with things life throws at you (resilience) is critical to your happiness and success.  That doesn’t mean that you are always ok or you are always having a good day.  It means that you take what life gives you and make the best of it.  Some days this is not easy, other days it is. 

Adaptability allows you to proactive change based on a change in circumstance. 

It means embracing the change and looking for the positives, opportunities and way to make the best of the situation.  It’s an important skill in your personal life for the challenges that life will throw at us.

My mother always told me …life is not fair…which I didn’t like and thought maybe she was wrong but I have learnt this also to be true.  Life throws its challenge at everyone – what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger – but it’s how you bounce back is your true sense of character.  Everyone has a story, everyone has tragedy – so that doesn’t make you unique but your response determines the impact to your life – if you are resilient you bounce back / recover quickly.

Most of you will resonate with this BUT it takes some difficulty in your life for you to really know and appreciate how resilient you are.  Your inner strength, what you can deal with and how you respond normally surprises you – so be kind to yourself and reflect if this is true for you.

“It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent. It is the one that is most adaptable to change.”

— Charles Darwin

How does it apply to me professionally? 

Managing organisational change – adapting, responding and showing resilience through change will make you a strong leader and role model in the organisation.  It’s hard to find leaders that are happy to champion change.  To be able to manage change well with your team you need to explain the why and how it impacts them and the team.  Be a good communicator.

Leading by example & navigating your team through change – it ties into the managing organisational change but leading by example in words and actions and ensuring a clear message of leadership to your team.  Teams go on a journey with change – people respond differently and go through various phases of responding to change as demonstrated by the change curve below.  As a leader you are responsible to manage and help your team work through change to allow them to be both adaptable and more resilient.

“When something goes wrong in your life, just yell ‘Plot Twist’ and move on.”

— Anonymous

Organisational change requires strong leadership, an ability to be decisive, communicate and take the employees on the journey with you.  This is the role of the CEO and the leadership team and will define the success of a leadership team – the ability for them to make change and take the employees on the journey.

Practical Guide

At Whiteark we are all about creating practical guides and tools to apply for key principles.  So see two below that we think are great for improving adaptability and resilience.

The 7 C’s of Resilience:

Dr Ginsburg, child paediatrician and human development expert, proposes that there are 7 integral and interrelated components that make up being resilient in Children that can apply to all of us – the detail is below:

1. Competence

   People need to be seen when they are doing something right and to be given opportunities to develop specific skills. If people in business have a particular passion for something or aptitude for a specific skill, activity or sport, we need to recognise this and let them know we’ve noticed and encourage them.

2. Confidence

   The solid belief in one’s own abilities is everything. As we teach and nurture, we build  confidence. We need to be careful not to undermine confidence but develop it by pushing our team to achieve and creating age-appropriate opportunities for experiencing success.

3. Connection

   When people are part of a community (class, team, club) they know they aren’t alone if they struggle and that they can develop creative solutions to problems. Close ties to family, friends, and building a sense of community at work can get team members sense of security.

4. Character

   People need an understanding of right and wrong and the capacity to follow a moral compass. A fundamental sense of right and wrong helps people make wise choices, contribute to the world.

5. Contribution

   The experience of offering their own service makes it easier for people to ask for help when they need it. Once people understand the feel-good factor of helping others, it becomes easier to ask for help when it’s needed – being willing to ask for help is a big part of being resilient. People who learn to cope effectively with stress are better prepared to overcome life’s challenges.

6. Coping

   People need healthy coping strategies to manage their stress. Some strategies involve engaging and disengaging such as breaking down seemingly impossible  problems and challenges into smaller, achievable pieces, avoiding things that trigger extreme anxiety, and just letting some things go.

7. Control

   People need to feel like they have a degree of control over their lives and their environment. When they realise that they can control their decisions and actions, they’re more likely to know that they have what it takes to bounce back.

4 Ways to Boost Your Adaptability Skills

1. Change Your Thought Process. Let go of the “Well, that's the way we've always done it” mentality

2. Force Yourself to Take Risks. Little progress is made without risk. ...how do you encourage failure in our organisation and innovation as it’s powerful and important

3. Encourage Others to Be Open Minded. One of the best ways you can develop an open mind is to encourage others to do the same

4. Embrace Learning.  Always learn from others, from situations and make the most of everything

 
Well it’s fair to say that resilience and adaptability are key skills to be successful in life and work – so very important. 

These skills and the ability to be able to apply them in business will allow companies to respond to changes in market, customer and consumer expectations and unexpected financial or commercial issues that occur.  Building a leadership team of resilient and adaptable people will be a key differentiator for an organisation.

Determine what kind of leader you want to be and be proactive in creating this. Start by having a think about what resilience and adaptability means to you? Join the conversation online by Searching for Whiteark on LinkedIn. Whiteark chat with a chief every week to learn from leaders in their field so if you want to learn from experienced leaders tune into The Chiefs podcast series.

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At Whiteark we have hands on practical experience helping leaders to build resilience and adaptability. Please reach out for a no obligation conversation.

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

Data Team Integration Models

Article written by Pete Crawford

Positioning data and analytics within the organisation.

Regardless of whether a data team is comprised of two, 20 or 100 people its ability to produce actionable insights and outcomes is heavily compromised if capabilities are not aligned to business needs. Furthermore, business needs are typically diverse, competitive and evolve as strategy unfolds and analytical use cases grow in complexity. To this end, it is worthwhile examining the differences between a handful of commonly used data capability models.

These models can also be viewed in the context of their suitability to divergent modes of business engagement, analytics maturity and resource coordination.

“Insights from Pete Crawford | Head of Data, Analytics & AI, Pete Crawford spends his day-to-day leading strategy, governance and execution over enterprise data platforms, data science and AI capabilities. Speaking at leading industry AI and data events, Pete is experienced in forming and directing multi-disciplined teams to manage enterprise information assets and deliver business outcomes through advanced analytics.”

Considerations

The adoption of a particular data and analytics organisation-alignment model is contingent on a number of considerations:

• What data or analytics models can be shared?

• What is the overall data governance structure?

• What is the state of data infrastructure development?

• How is data currently accessed and distributed across the organisation?

• What is the analytics maturity or independence within other business functions?

• Is innovation or AI a central tenet of business strategy?

• Has there been consistent success with operationalising analytical models?

Common Options

The adoption of a particular data and analytics organisation-alignment model is contingent on a number of considerations:

• What data or analytics models can be shared?

• What is the overall data governance structure?

• What is the state of data infrastructure development?

• How is data currently accessed and distributed across the organisation?

• What is the analytics maturity or independence within other business functions?

• Is innovation or AI a central tenet of business strategy?

• Has there been consistent success with operationalising analytical models?

Centralised

A single data and analytics team serves the whole organisation. Data people (analysts, data engineers, data science) sit together and treat other teams as clients.

Pros:

Sustainable funding; career growth aids talent retention; data is recognised as a strategic asset

Cons:

Lack of shared motivation or cooperation between groups; prioritisation challenges

Centre of Excellence

Combines the coordination of a centralised model with independent innovation intent.

Pros:

Focus and coordination when introducing new capabilities benefitting the rest of the organisation; optimal model for developing new infrastructure tools

Cons:

Can become isolated from business concerns; expertise may skew toward deep specialisations but neglect operationalisation skills; high operating costs.

Decentralised

Resources are funded and appointed by individual business units.

Pros:

Appropriate when there is limited inter-divisional coordination requirements (or inherent, irreconcilable internal conflicts)

Cons:

Duplication of resources; lack of ownership over data quality; data silos inhibit efficient data strategy

Federated / Embedded

Attempts to balance enterprise aspirations of the CoE model with the capacity to contract-out expertise for functional customisations. Analytics personnel report to business leads. Data engineering remains with the core data group.

Pros:

Encourages motivation and alignment of data-business objectives; retention of team identity; suitable for organisations with mature analytical competencies and systems

Cons:

Can lead to high costs; leadership conflicts between hub and spoke

Democratic / BI

Promotes self-service and domain-specific data ownership through development of data-as-a-service APIs and dashboards.

Pros:

Strong investment in data infrastructure; accessibility; rewards literacy with data visualisation

Cons:

High cost of infrastructure and training; systems need to be extremely robust as on-call engineering resources are scarce; limited role for data science and infusion of emerging data practices

Comparing Integration Models

Each model can be described and broadly evaluated against a set of coordination, management and capability factors.

A simple traffic light system denotes a generalised level of efficiency with deploying each model.

Mapping Integration Models

The five data and analytics integration models discussed can be loosely positioned in relation to both the complexity of an organisation’s analytical use cases and their capacity to control and coordinate data or personnel.

LOOKING TO Leverage and utilise your data? 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.

Article by Pete Crawford

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

Treating Data as a Product

Article written by Pete Crawford

Approaching analytics with a product orientation.

Even prior to COVID, the development of mature data and analytics capabilities was regarded by over 75% of organisations as a ‘mission-critical function’ as central as IT, HR and finance units.[i] Now, there is even greater urgency to formalise data as a cornerstone of digital transformation. However, it is estimated that between 60-85% of analytical initiatives fail to be operationalised in support of wider business goals.[ii] In part, this can be attributed to conventional issues such as lack of executive commitment, talent, investment or adherence to the principles of a clear data strategy. But a major obstacle is simply that building or growing a data function is reduced to delivering a set of applications, features and capabilities – regardless of common agreement over data accessibility and actionable analytical insights.

“Insights from Pete Crawford | Head of Data, Analytics & AI, Pete Crawford spends his day-to-day leading strategy, governance and execution over enterprise data platforms, data science and AI capabilities. Speaking at leading industry AI and data events, Pete is experienced in forming and directing multi-disciplined teams to manage enterprise information assets and deliver business outcomes through advanced analytics.”

The value of data is too important to be managed as a project and organised along the lines of an IT program. Data is a strategic asset better served by adopting a product-team model.

Problems with Data Projects

• Investment is attached to a pre-defined scope of work instead of funding a team

• Work is focused on data acquisition and infrastructure development leaving teams removed from owning solutions to actual customer problem – unfortunately, this exemplifies the classic ‘mercenary’ versus ‘missionary’ debate that typically leads to an inability to retain talent

• Data governance is assumed to be a ‘one-size-fits-all’ model more obsessed with reporting structures than responding to nuances such as the diversity of data-sharing interests across an organisation or competing stakeholder incentives

• Teams of specialised data engineers and data scientists operate without appropriate understanding or application of a suitable product prioritisation framework – compromising effective analytical use case development

• The operating model with which the data team engages with ‘the business’ fails to change in response to the dynamics of data requirements or data consumption

• There are dependencies associated with maintenance – such as analytical models which dynamically influence customer behaviour – which contribute to future arguments over funding and resources after handover

In contrast, a product-oriented approach recognises that the outcome of data and analytics activities must produce a product which solves a customer or business problem and will evolve once the product interacts with users. Success or failure starts with whether or not it is adopted by users.

Organisations growing their data function should be encouraged to borrow processes from product, people and financial management disciplines and incorporate them into formalised data management best practice.

Recommendations

1.     Focus on context

A discovery period comprising interviews and audits to understand the context of the organisation from the perspective of the analytics value chain. This is the bridge between data and strategic corporate direction.

2.     Understand alignment challenges by assessing data maturity

This exercise uses the discovery phase to map the current state of capabilities (i.e. data architecture; data security etc.) against target state. To be effective, the target state must align with strategic OKRs and feed into an outcome-oriented data roadmap. Most importantly, the selection of metrics must reflect how the maturity of these capabilities inform the digital transformation of the business toward customer-centric innovation.

3.     Communicate a clear change narrative

A fundamental principle of a data strategy involves integrating data and eliminating silos. This course of action is typically disruptive to existing operational patterns and team structures. Productivity, collaboration and morale suffers without a change narrative and segmented communications plan crafted to the dispirit issues and ambitions of the organisation. Defining and mapping stakeholder interests along with a commitment chart are valuable tools in monitoring the effectiveness of these changes.

4.     Determine the most suitable operating model

Balancing the assorted skills sets of a growing data team against the complexity of data requirements of the rest of the organisation requires flexibility and continuous optimisation. Baseline data maturity and relationships with other business functions will dictate the initial operating structure – typically a ‘Centralised’ model – and how it evolves over time.

5.     Have a rigorous prioritisation process

Inevitably, data teams need to make considered choices as to which experiments to run and how to juggle competing data product options with ad hoc internal requests or unexpected challenges. An understanding of prioritisation frameworks is an essential product management capability. It stands outside Agile and DataOps methodologies and must be sensitive to time, visibility, type of quantitative or qualitative inputs and a culture of data-based decisions. Having dedicated product managers (ideally with a background in engineering work) is highly preferable for building bridges with business units and tracking execution. This is even more critical with AI/ML focused use cases.

6.     Own the customer problem

To be clear, an effective data product roadmap is not a series of features or applications with projected timelines meaningful only within the data team. High performing data teams are trusted to own a set of customer problems. The success of candidate initiatives across discovery, validation and delivery cycles is measured against end states (the problem to be solved from the customer perspective) and metrics (OKRs) alignment to top-down business strategy.

7.     Take responsibility for improving enterprise data literacy

Solely focusing on the strength of data capabilities within a specialised group inside an organisation is no longer viable. In this case, knowledge will not scale and a data literacy gap widens.

Enterprise-wide literacy with data and analytics needs to recognised as an explicit driver of business value. It requires formal inclusion in a data strategy and change management program. A data team will be expected to play a significant role as translators and ambassadors leading education workshop programs to enable measurable improvements in how the rest of the organisation access, interpret and deploy relevant, task-specific analytical models.

8.     Obsess on tracking data events

Data events need to be tracked with the rigor of financial assets. Managing and communicating analytical decisions across the organisation can only occur by capturing events, properties, triggers, values and pathways as data is acquired, transformed, distributed and operationalised. This process must be simple and visual. It augments inputs to a prioritisation framework and OKRs. Moreover, a growing data function needs to look beyond reporting to analysing data patterns that help internal teams such as sales, finance, HR, marketing or product make actionable decisions.

Article by Pete Crawford

[i] Gartner, Fifth Annual CDO Survey, March 2020

[ii] TechRepublic, 85% of Big Data Projects Fail, 10 November 2017

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

What does good leadership mean to you?

There are many resources you can draw on to understand what makes a good leader but you will find there are many varied opinions. In my experience, I have learnt the most from the poor leaders I have worked for as they have really emphasised what not to do if you want to be a good leader.

Below is a list of what to avoid if you want to make a good leader:

1. A leader who is self serving

2. A leader who doesn't listen

3. A leader who wants yes people that will not challenge their ideas

4. A leader who doesn't care about your career development

5. A leader that doesn't have your back

6. A leader that changes their mind

7. A leader who is more interested in being political than driving an outcome

8. A leader that doesn't communicate

9. A leader that doesn't practice what they preach

10. A leader that thinks they are the smartest person in the room

11. A leader that is more interested in being popular than making good commercial decisions for the business

12. A leader that is disconnected from the customer and consumer

Being a leader is hard, lonely and requires you to make difficult decisions for the good of the company, not individuals or divisions but the collective good. You don't always get it right, but you are focused on what matters most (clear priorities) and set the organisation up for success.

Being led by a good leader is life changing as you feel supported and you do your best work. The power of a team that is being led by an amazing leader that empowers, encourages and challenges is beyond belief.

As a leader you have a very important job - to coach, mentor, guide and set a vision for your employees - to get the best out of everyone. The power of getting people to run in the right direction, is unbelievable.

Everyone has worked for a bad leader and I hope you've had the opportunity to work for a good leader, regardless, make sure you proactively shape the leader you want to be knowing that your leadership will have a lasting impact on the company and your employees. Make sure it's a good legacy, one you will be proud of.

The Top Three 

If you want to be an amazing leader there are three key things to consider:

1. Make decisions for the good of the business - hard decisions that will ensure the business achieves the outcomes

2. Treat people with respect and kindness and take care of people - don't underestimate kindness

3. Always listen - understand challenges and people ideas

Determine what kind of leader you want to be and be proactive in creating this. Start by having a think about what good leadership means to you? Join the conversation online by Searching for Whiteark on LinkedIn. Whiteark chat with a chief every week to learn from leaders in their field so if you want to learn from experienced leaders tune into The Chiefs podcast series.

“Wherever you are, be all there.”

— Jim Elliot

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At Whiteark we have hands on practical experience to help CFOs navigate and set their company up for success, whatever is the challenge. Please reach out for a no obligation conversation.

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 life of a CFO – how to thrive

The CFO role is not an easy one - there is a real struggle between short term financial objectives and long-term strategic outcomes. Both are very important but need to be balanced.

Getting your priorities right will ensure you thrive and not just survive which ultimately is the goal for every organisation. 

While there is a lot to do, I have narrowed down 5 key priorities that any CFO can apply to their role.

The key 5 priorities of a CFO

1.         Financial Governance

Focused on financial governance through month-end, balance sheet reviews and working capital management. This eliminates any surprises during an audit. Building a robust process for accurate and timely reporting and forecasting so that good decisions can be made in a timely manner. This creates confidence with regulators and auditors.

2.         Optimise the financial position

A CFO is expected to proactively manage and optimise the financial outcome. This requires good forecasting ability, business partnering and the ability to make good commercial decisions.

Work through strategic and operational strategies to optimise the financial position of the company by:

o   Actively focusing on working capital management

o   Actively managing investments including cashflow timing

o   Actively managing government rebates, tax benefits and obligations

o   Actively managing strategies to deliver financial outcomes both short term and long term

3.         Alignment to strategy

The CFO must work closely with the strategy department to ensure alignment between long term strategies, priorities and the 3-5 year business plan and associated financials. This clear linkage is critical to ensure it all hangs together and will give confidence to the board. The CFO must work through the linkage to ensure key metrics are measured and tracked to ensure lead indicators for managing the success/delivery of the strategy. 

4.         Holding the business to account

As the CFO it's your job to hold the leadership team and the organisation to account on expenditure, investment, key metrics and achievement of the plan. You must do regular call out of results and ensure you hold the business to account.

5.         Building an exceptional team

The quality of the finance team is paramount and ensures the business has the commercial support for decision making. The role of the team to provide insights and business partnering is critical to ensure the Executives and others in organisations have the support to make good commercial decisions.

The CFO role is not easy, but it is enjoyable and rewarding helping the organisation navigate through strategy and financials and measuring success while having the confidence of the regulators and auditors. There is always a lot to do - so focusing on your top 4-5 priorities.

“Measurement is the first step that leads to control and eventually to improvement. If you can’t measure something, you can’t understand it. If you can’t understand it, you can’t control it. If you can’t control it, you can’t improve it.”

— H. James Harrington

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At Whiteark we have hands on practical experience to help CFOs navigate and set their company up for success, whatever is the challenge. Please reach out for a no obligation conversation.

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

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