Tag archives for strategy
Civil Service Live 2016
Yesterday I attended some sessions at Civil Service Live 2016 in the Queen Elizabeth II Conference Centre in central London. The QEIICC is next door to my office, so I didn't spend the whole day there. Some meetings were arranged at the last moment and I missed a couple of sessions. Civil Service Live Civil Service Live is a two day affair in London. There are a number of talks and workshops on a range of themes around sharing best practice across the civil service. There are also display stands for the L&D sides and some key ; In theory I could go back in today and catch what I missed. However my diary for today is pretty full. So I'll just need to hope that some of my colleagues found those interesting and can share the key messages with…
Performance Objectives – Public Sector
Performance Objectives - Public Sector Slack et al. identify five generic performance objectives: quality speed dependability flexibility cost These generic performance objectives are explained below. There are public sector examples to help illustrate them. Quality Quality is about consistent performance. This could be meeting a product specification or about providing a superior service. In the public sector, it could be how many decisions get appealed. Or the number of letters re-drafted before being sent. Externally Quality increases customer satisfaction. Excellent services for the citizen should drive public services. Internally Quality reduces costs and increases dependability. Measurement Customer satisfaction surveys where there is a direct service to the public. Internal metrics ( redrafts or errors recorded on a case management system). Speed Speed is about minimising the time lag between a customer request and its fulfilment. This could be the time taken to reply to correspondence, or…
Influential Books – Ten Books You Should Read
Some of my most influential books A friend recently did a facebook list of the ten most influential books that had the most impact on his life, and he tagged me in it. This got me thinking. I found it hard to identify ten influential books. I firmly believe that every book you read is an influential book and has some sort of impact on your life. One of the issues I have is that I’ve read a lot of books. I’m reading 50-60 books a year just now. I read more before the internet. Doing an OU degree also cut down my reading rate. In 2012, just before my daughter was born, I gave up my study for her bedroom. I filled over 20 crates with books to keep, the ones I thought that I might re-read or refer to later. I gave…
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Scottish Independence – Make Sure You Vote
August and September 2014 opinion poll results on Scottish Independence I've scoured the Web for all the Scottish Independence opinion polls I could find. My conclusion is that it's pretty much neck and neck in the final straight. So if you've got a vote it's vital that you use it. There was a slew of polls released on 11th & 12th September, and as you can see from the graph they basically overlap. This means that the differences between them are all down to the margin of error in the polling methodology. Given how close it is every vote will count. If you haven't yet made up your mind then it is time to do so, see my previous post on cutting through the bias inherent in every campaigner's rhetoric. You might also want to skim Robert Hutton's Would They…
Mintzberg’s 5Ps & Whittington’s 3Ps
I noticed that a number of the people visiting my blog are looking for strategy material. So I've trawled my unpublished archives and have put together some short posts on strategy topics. Here's one on looking to explain two ways of defining strategy. Mintzberg's 5Ps and Whittington's 3Ps. The main thing to bear in mind, with both Mintzberg's 5Ps & Whittington's 3Ps, is that they're not a process tool for producing strategies. However, they are both excellent tools for analysing and evaluating strategies. That is definitely worth doing if you have to devise strategy. Before you release a strategy you need to robustly take it apart to ensure that it is fit for purpose. If you find it weak then it isn't yet ready for prime time. Mintzberg's 5Ps Henry Mintzberg has described five ways of looking at strategy as plan, ploy, pattern, position and…