The centre of excellence How many times have you heard the claim “We are building a centre of excellence”? Or, even more triumphant, “We are a centre of excellence!” It is great management speak. It shows strategic drive and direction. Every thrusting young manager wants a centre of excellence, why wouldn’t they? There are a […]
Archives for July 2019
All That Glisters…
The next big thing There is a revolution going on in the world of medicine. Robotic surgery equipment is being installed in operating theatres across the western world. The robots allow surgeons to make far smaller incisions and operate much more precisely. The surgeon doesn’t have to contend with slippery instruments and the robot has […]
Pointless Conversations
Defining the metric People get very excited about metrics; they spend hours debating exceptions and accuracy. The definition becomes everything. Imagine the conversation: My Boss: You take too long to get to work in the morning; we must measure performance. What should the target be? Me: I’m not sure; there are several things we should […]
The Performance Pyramid
F1 Professor Mark Jenkins Mark Jenkins is the Professor of Business Strategy at Cranfield School of Management. He has spent time studying Formula One, trying to understand what creates great performance. I’m a bit sceptical of people who study “great” organisations. The genre leading books In Search of Excellence and Good to Great have both […]