Archives: November 2011

Rock On!!

Thursday 17th November was a big day for our clients, Virgin Money. By an astonishing quirk of fate, the opening of the first two of their new concept Lounges (Edinburgh and Norwich) coincided with the announcement by the chancellor, George Osborne, that the Northern Rock has been sold to Virgin Money.

This is a huge milestone for VM and one towards which they have been working for several years. They are determined to cause a stir in the world of banking – even though some in the industry are still describing their status as a minnow. If being 10th largest bank with 4 million customers makes you a minnow, it gives you some idea of the stranglehold that the big banks have on the market. Mind you, being smaller has never bothered Virgin businesses in the past – when VM first launched their internet based PEPS business back in 1995, existing players in their market saw them as irritants – mosquitoes if you like!! And we all know how much trouble mosquitoes can cause, don’t we?!

Over the past 6 months Tom Peters Company has been running events for all existing staff to help them to see their part in building the bank of the future. The commitment in time and money to run these events was extraordinary, given the manic level of activity that was going on in the business. But Jayne-Anne Gadhia, the Chief Executive, has always set great store by keeping everyone involved – the events are designed both to communicate but also to give everyone the chance to have a say.

Virgin Money Edinburgh Lounge, November 2011

And as for these lounges – what on earth are they about? The answer is that they are all about relationships and definitely not about transacting or selling. The return on investment may be very difficult to quantify, but the stir they are likely to create may well be just what’s required in these times of financial stalemate.

It’s going to be an exciting time for VM – wish them luck!!

2011 Update

As we approach the end of another year, it is a good chance to look back and reflect. Here are some of the highlights from the last year in TPC.

De-mystifying Excellence

Our Excellence Model, the Future Shape of the Winner (FSW), continues to be well received by clients and consultants alike. People really appreciate the simplicity of the model and the fact that it gives them a bird’s eye view of their progress on their Excellence agenda. It forces them to consider every angle – and to step up to challenges that they wouldn’t naturally take on. Here’s how one client summed up his reaction to the FSW model:

“…by accepting our outdated IT systems as a barrier (which I had), I am effectively limiting the ability of this business to provide the best customer experience that we can, so your project has inspired me to demand our own IT system and stop our lack of high level decision making (to sell or not to sell the business) impact the customer experience for this business.

Your (FSW) project was a moment of divine intervention, which I sincerely thank you for.” Managing Director, UK based plc

You’ll get an idea of the style and approach if you take a look at our free Excellence Audit taster – the LITE version. Prices of a full audit begin at UK£250/US$400 for an individual audit.

21^st Century Learning

Amongst this year’s headlines is the news is that I have finally graduated with a Masters Degree in Open and Distance Education from the Open University. It’s taken me several years, but on the back of this study, we’ve now had three serious sorties into the world of Distance Learning. Our 5-week FSW/Excellence Audit training programme has involved 21 consultants from literally all over the globe. “DL” is the learning medium that everyone is talking about, so expect to see more Distance Learning offerings from us in the future.

What’s your experience of Distance Learning? Have you got any requests for programmes in this format from TPC?

Spreading The Word!

After over 20 years of designing and delivering in-company development and training events in the US and Europe, TPC has decided the time is now right to move into new territories by licensing other “local” consultants to use our unique IP and workshop materials. The audience for Tom Peters’ ideas is truly global these days and we are getting more and more interest from people who want to access TPC services from far and wide.

We began during 2010-2011 by licensing consultants in the use of our Excellence Audit. In 2012 we are extending the licensing arrangements to include three of our best-loved training products, Brand You, WOW! Projects and Creating Value for Customers. Our partners are a well-established training company in South Africa, Business Results Group, who have had a successful track record of delivering licensed training products for over 15 years. Once we’ve got our head around how the deal will work for both parties, we’ll be looking for more partners based in markets that are new for us. All advice and contacts gratefully accepted!

Outlook

The clients who have continued to work with TPC over the past three difficult years increasingly have one characteristic in common. Sure, they have continued to invest in the aspects that they think make their business different and special, but increasingly the source of this distinctive difference lies the discretionary extra contributions that their people routinely bring to the business. When it comes to competing in ever more difficult markets, copying products and avoiding copyright legislation seems to be getting easier and easier. Copying the contributions special people make to special businesses is quite the reverse!

What are you doing to keep yourself ahead of the pack?

Is 2012 going to be an Olympian Year for you?

Tom Peters and Bob Waterman were the first people to link the concept of Excellence with business way back in 1982 in In Search of Excellence. They and their McKinsey colleagues, Richard Pascale and Tony Athos, operationalised this thinking in the still-famous 7-S model (Structure, Systems, Strategy, Shared Values, Style, Staff, Skills).

Many of the ISOE concepts remain relevant today, but in the intervening years, much has changed in the world of business. For example, it’s hard to believe that Information Technology got not a single mention in the book! And of course it was long before the internet crashed into our lives and changed everything. These days employees are less compliant and more opinionated than their ‘mustn’t grumble‘ predecessors of the 70’s and 80’s; customers demand more and more for less and less; and competition has become truly global. The current global economic crisis seems to be bringing this turbulent era to an anxious climax. Who knows what the next era will bring?

Tom has continued reflecting on the changing world in his speaking, writing, blogging and (more recently) tweeting. In TPC, we decided our contribution would be to create an Excellence Operating model that would help people to convert Tom’s ideas into action. Like the 7S model, our Future Shape of the Winner™ Excellence model also has seven elements. But unlike 7S, we position people (‘Talent’ in our terminology) at the core of the model. Leaders that manage to get the best out of their people have somehow managed to get the right balance between those various elements for their own situation.

To accompany our Excellence Model, we have a measurement instrument called the Excellence Audit™. Users rate themselves against our 50 Excellence Characteristics, and identify areas for future improvement. The definition of Excellence that is produced is therefore unique to each customer, as is the improvement agenda they create.

Reactions from users of the audit have been very positive, with some admitting that simply completing the audit was a useful experience – even before they saw their results. Here’s what one of them recently said:

“Just rating our company against the 50 Excellence characteristics helped me to become more open minded, to have a more ambitious picture of what we had to do to “reach excellence”, and to see how things were out of balance.” Fernando Marazón, General Manager, Grup MH, Barcelona

For the first time in our history, TPC is delighted to have an affordable tool that we can offer to any leader of any team, large or small, anywhere in the world. Participants complete the survey online, and results can be delivered in many formats. We also have a growing cadre of independent consultants around the world that are authorised to use this material with clients.

The start of another year is a great time to use this tool. As we look ahead to 2012, what are the challenges that you face?

How ready are you/your team for what’s ahead?
Are your people engaged enough in your plans?
Are you stretching your ambitions as far as you can?
Are your relationships with your people as good as they should be?

If you answered “No” or “Not Sure” to any of these questions, maybe the Excellence Audit can help you? Take a look at sample statements from the Excellence Audit on our Excellence Audit Lite, and contact TPC (team@tompeters.com) to find out more and get a quote.

Here’s wishing you a happy holiday season ahead and a successful 2012!