Aletheian Advisors

Change Management

What to do if Two of your Teams are not Working Well Together

Change Management, Operational Efficiency / Anthony Saint

Scenario Your organisation has a number of high quality teams, with good leadership. Each team functions well as a stand-alone unit. However two teams simply do not work well together – for example your Sales and Marketing teams do not quite seem to mesh together, or your finance team and your operations team seem to

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What to do if One of your Teams Is not Performing Well

Change Management, Corporate Culture, Operational Efficiency / Anthony Saint

If you have concerns about the performance of a particular team, whether that is your management team or an individual functional team, this is what you should do about it. Step 1: Investigate First, investigate what is going on. Establish what the issues are and what unhelpful behaviour is undermining performance. This is akin to

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Culture Change: How to transform your organisation

Change Management, Corporate Culture / Anthony Saint

We are social primates, programmed to follow subtle unwritten rules and social cues. Those rules and social cues are the foundation of group culture. Any group of humans is a community, and every community has a culture. That is as true of informal gatherings as it is of large organisations with complex corporate cultures. The

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Take Our Quiz to See what sort of Culture Your company Has

This short quiz is a bit of fun with a serious purpose. It's not 100% accurate, of course, but it should give you some insights into what sort of organisation your company is - or what sort of organisation you want it to be. Answer a few simple questions about how your organisation operates (or how you would like it to operate) and we will tell you which archetype it best fits. Enjoy the quiz.

1 / 10

What is the key investment needed to grow your company to the next level?

Investing in staff or equipment that will advance the company's mission and raison d'etre

Investing in whatever will beat the competition

Expanding the sales team and improving the customer experience

Improving your purchasing power and investing in more inventory

Investing in further product development

2 / 10

What information does your management team always ask for before making an important decision?

How it is likely to impact profitability

An assessment of how it will affect customers and the customer experience

How it will affect your competitive position

What the impact will be on product delivery

How it will impact your company's mission

3 / 10

Who, out of the following, is the most powerful/influential figure in your company [If the CEO plays several of these roles, choose the one that is most important to the CEO]?

The person who ensures that the company stays focused on what it was founded to achieve

The person who is seen as mainly responsible for driving profitability

The person responsible for sales and customer relations/customer experience

The Chief Engineer/Chief Technician or whoever is responsible for the maintenance, development and production of your core product(s)

The person who drives the company’s competitive strategy

4 / 10

Who are your most valuable employees?

Those who show the greatest commercial acumen

Those who provide really great customer service

Those who do the most to advance our company's mission

Those who are behind the development of our really great product(s)

Those who compete hardest against our competitors

5 / 10

Who is the ideal person to lead your business?

Someone who is passionate about the same things that people in the company are passionate about

A technical person who knows everything about the company’s product

A highly commercial person, such as an accountant or a former banker

Someone who understands the competitive landscape and how to survive and thrive against strong competition

Someone who really understands the customer base

6 / 10

If a new customer makes a difficult request, what is your reaction?

You will only help the customer if it improves your competitive position – e.g. if it is a prestigious account that competitors would love to land

You will help the customer if it makes commercial sense – e.g. if you expect them to become a very profitable account

You will help the customer if they share your principles and your overall world view

You will always bend over backwards to do everything you can for customers

You will help the customer if it allows you to demonstrate how great your product is

7 / 10

If you are hiring a new junior employee who you hope will learn the business and will go on to make a big contribution to the company in the future, which candidate would you be most impressed by?

The one who displays the greatest commercial acumen

The one who shows genuine interest and passion for your product and/or sector

The one who shares the same passions as most people in the company

The most ambitious candidate

The one who shows great interpersonal skills

8 / 10

What key metric is the most important for your Management Team – the thing they are obsessed with?

Feedback on how well your product or service is performing for customers

Profitability

Performance versus competitors

Customer satisfaction data

Progress towards meeting the company's key mission

9 / 10

If an employee breaks the rules, what excuse is most likely to get them forgiven?

They were behaving in line with the company's founding principles

They broke the rules to make an extra bit of profit

They broke the rules to do something extra for a customer

They broke the rules to score some points against a competitor

They broke the rules to try to make the company's product work better

10 / 10

What is most likely to get praise, a promotion or a bonus in your company?

Making an unexpected extra profit

Advancing the company's mission

Finding a way to beat competitors

Making a significant improvement to your product or service

Going “above and beyond” for a customer