One of the quickest ways for university leaders to understand the effectiveness of their services is to study demand. When done right, such studies will provide a student perspective that can act as a sophisticated way to reframe student services. Studying demand in a university As a consultant I conducted a demand analysis (adapted to meet constraints and to fit within … [Read more...] about To understand effectiveness university leaders should study demand
Book reviews
Consulting advice is serious business
Despite widespread humour about business consultants giving advice, it is a serious endeavour. Bad advice harms companies and livelihoods. I wanted to illustrate the mechanics of advice-giving with an example from internal consulting practice. A CIO asks for an opinion A Chief Information Officer (CIO) asked for advice during an IT development freeze. One team had … [Read more...] about Consulting advice is serious business
Seeing distance learning module production as a system
Recently a department responsible for the digital design and build of distance learning modules asked me to assess the feasibility of introducing new technology and agile. A quick-look identified that an expanded study was necessary. Excavating the system It can take some time for a module to progress from initial idea, through the process of design, content creation and … [Read more...] about Seeing distance learning module production as a system
Studying reveals the impact of incentives
This compilation on targets and other incentives and the second film from a sales environment was recorded between 2010 and 2013. All of the staff and managers had the opportunity to study and learn together to understand their service from the customer’s point of view. When they removed the targets, changed the design of the service and introduced better measures the … [Read more...] about Studying reveals the impact of incentives
Systems thinking in Lloyds bank
In this video Justin Watts (Head of Systems Thinking Lloyds Bank) talks about the application of systems thinking in banking. Justin highlights how traditional transformation approaches and the introduction of technology drove huge volumes of failure demand into their service centres. Now Lloyds advocates studying and learning before doing. Watching time: 8 minutes … [Read more...] about Systems thinking in Lloyds bank