Links to references

           Food Mag. (2018, April 09). The cost of absenteeism. Retrieved December 10, 2020, from FoodMag: https://foodmag.com.au/the-cost-of-absenteeism/#:~:text=On%20average%2C%20Australian%20employees%20take,%2444%20billion%20per%20year2.
           
             Oswald, A. J., Proto, E., & Sgroi, D. (2015). Happiness and productivity. Journal of Labor Economics, 33(4), 789-822.

           Tay, L., & Diener, E. (2011). Needs and subjective wellbeing around the world. Journal of personality and social psychology, 101(2), 354

           Wu, H., Sears, L. E., Coberley, C. R., & Pope, J. E. (2016). Overall wellbeing and supervisor ratings of employee performance, accountability, customer service, innovation, prosocial behavior, and selfdevelopment. Journal of occupational and environmental medicine, 58(1), 35.
​

Whilst workplace wellbeing has always played a pivotal role in ensuring optimal utilisation of human resources (Nordea, 2020), its importance since  the 2020 pandemic cannot be overlooked.
​
How we invest in human capital at this time may prove the difference between businesses that stand the test of time and those that do not. Our people survived through 2020, holding on to optimism that things will eventually return to normal. As 2021 is upon us, and a new normal emerges, are we prepared to
help our employees thrive in this new world?​

Collagis is committed to helping businesses like yours to optimise workforce and organisational effectiveness.
We'd love to share with you how we can help you address workplace wellbeing. 

COVID-19 has accelerated the transition to remote working, forcing companies to adapt or die. Those companies not re-imagining the way they do business in a digital world, will not find a place in this new reality. The office, customer events, the boardroom and the commute have all changed forever.

As with all things, there are pros and cons of this new way of working, prompting many to ask not when should we go back, but if we should?

Here’s a quick synopsis of how the argument is currently shaping up:
 
The Highs:

1. Losing the commute: If time is our most precious resource, finding another 1-2 hours a day has been a tremendous gift of the pandemic. Giving time back for balancing family and home life, or extra productive work time, is a big advantage. The consequence of no “workplace” to go to means work changes from somewhere you go to something that you do. The boss must trust that you are working (a difficult transition for some) and the focus must shift to outcome rather than face time.

 

1. Employee Productivity: According to the Harvard Business Review (HBR), researchers studied knowledge workers in 2013 and again during the 2020 pandemic lockdown and found significant changes in how they are working. They learned that lockdown helps people focus on the tasks that really matter. They spent 12% less time drawn into large meetings and 9% more time interacting with customers and external partners. Lockdown also helped people take responsibility for their own schedules. They did 50% more activities through personal choice and half as many because someone else asked them to. Finally, during lockdown, people viewed their work as more worthwhile.  The number of tasks rated as tiresome dropped from 27% to 12%, and the number we could readily offload to others dropped from 41% to 27%.

 

1. Bottom Line savings: Dynamic office spaces such as hot-desking (pioneered by IBM) focused on maximising office utility (read reducing office footprint cost) rather than employee well-being. Employee reception to this was luke-warm. On the contrary, working remotely (especially from home) has the potential to be the single biggest impact on the cost of corporate spaces. The company benefits from a massively reduced costs in office space whilst at the same time can address the problems of dislocation, disconnection and privacy concerns cited by employees as their main concern with hot-desk environments.

 

1. Acceleration to Digital: The pandemic has forced a rapid and accelerated shift to many superior digital ways of working. Corporate travel whilst not possible right now, will never be the same again. Companies have learned, through necessity, new ways of working, and the reduced travel bills and non-productive travel time are now pains of a by-gone era. Companies are re-imagining the old ways of doing things and recreating processes to operate more efficiently and effectively in the new world.

For example:

• Sales calls replaced by video calls (Zoom, Teams, etc) and physical marketing events being replaced by virtual conferences (e.g.: CES 2021, Amazon’s AWS, Adobe Summit, etc), webinars and contextualised one-to-one marketing.
• Virtual Workshops enabled through virtual whiteboards, post its to support interactive brainstorming (with a digital record to enable effective post workshop action planning!)
• Digital Signatures replacing slow and arduous paper sign off processes.
• A “truly” digital first mindset to customer journey design.

 
Enterprises are compelled to accelerate investment in contactless technology as well as re-engineer processes for the digital world. Whilst before it was a customer expectation now it is a customer necessity. Those that are doing it well are mindful to transform in the move to digital, not just shift and lift, to improve the outcome from the digital experience for both the business and the customer.
 
The Lows:

1. Impacts to Employee Wellbeing:  The feeling of burn-out and being always on has been accelerated by remote working. Research is showing that employees are struggling to switch off and create boundaries between personal and office spaces, as well as experiencing increased mental anxiety and increased financial security concerns in the face of the pandemic. As a consequence, employee wellbeing needs to be an ever-present consideration in the current environment, and companies need to be mindful that the transition to remote working is still a work in progress.

 

1. Employee Social Activity and Collaboration: The social life of employees is radically altered in remote working, creating a void that remains unfilled. This is in part due to COVID lockdown restrictions but also because the opportunity for employees to establish friendships at the office has not yet been effectively replaced in remote working. Employees working in the same office also had the greatest potential for collaboration and creativity due to constant proximity. As a result, many companies are exploring how we leverage existing office space to provide these social and collaboration opportunities in the new world. Organisations into the future will need to consider how to embed and manage culture with remote working, to ensure a company’s culture can continue to be experienced in our home offices and digital interactions. In particular, Companies will need to consider how to manage new staff/ inductions, to help onboard a new employee and make them feel part of the organisation when they may not visit a physical location or meet anyone face-to-face.

 

1. Work from Home Office Environment: We have spent decades crafting our offices spaces to be ergonomic and optimised towards productivity and well-being. Due to the sudden nature of the pandemic, organisations are still discovering how to enable employees to set up an optimised home office space. This can be anything from ventilation and natural lighting, to the right seating, screens, hardware and software to do their job effectively. And even more so, how to ensure safety, security and work/home balance, to create an environment conducive to wellbeing.

 
 
As the effects of the pandemic continue to change the way we work forever, putting people at the heart of what we do today is even more crucial. Whilst we move to a digital, always on environment, we need to find new ways to build human connections and provide new tools and processes that allow people to continue to perform at their best – efficiently and effectively in the new world.
 
 
Links to reference
 
Hot Desking
 
The Psychological Impact of Hot Desking
 
https://www.opensourcedworkplace.com/news/psychological-impact-of-hot-desking#:~:text=Positive%20Psychological%20Impact%20of%20Hot,and%20communication%20in%20the%20workplace.&text=%2D%20Can%20lead%20to%20quicker%20employee,with%20employees%20outside%20their%20team
 
Hot desking affects wellbeing for eight in 10 office workers
 
https://www.personneltoday.com/hr/hot-desking-affects-wellbeing-for-eight-in-10-office-workers/
 
Working from home
 
Working From Home Increases Productivity
 
https://www.businessnewsdaily.com/15259-working-from-home-more-productive.html#:~:text=The%20study%20found%20that%20working,of%20their%20work%2Dlife%20balance
 
Why working from home is bad for productivity
 
https://www.smh.com.au/business/small-business/why-working-from-home-is-bad-for-productivity-20200618-p553wn.html
 
Australians more productive working from home
 
https://ia.acs.org.au/article/2020/australians-more-productive-working-from-home-.html
 
Research: Knowledge Workers Are More Productive from Home
 
https://hbr.org/2020/08/research-knowledge-workers-are-more-productive-from-home
 
 
Connecting with Customers in a COVID world
 
Connecting with customers in times of crisis (McKinsey)
 
https://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/marketing-and-sales/our-insights/connecting-with-customers-in-times-of-crisis#
 
4 Ways to Reconfigure Your Sales Strategy During the Pandemic (HBR)
 
https://hbr.org/2020/10/4-ways-to-reconfigure-your-sales-strategy-during-the-pandemic
 
Eight ways to keep up with your customers during and after COVID-19
 
https://www.ey.com/en_gl/consumer-products-retail/changing-customer-behavior-growth-strategy

Data Quality has a big impact on your bottom line and is a key factor that can differentiate you from your competitors. However, as the issue of data quality is complex and spans multiple business units, the impacts of data quality often go unchecked and unmeasured.

Data Quality issues are systemic across many businesses: For example: 

• Dun and Bradstreet estimate that 41% of companies cite inconsistent data across technologies, such a CRM’s, as their biggest challenge.
• Chief Marketing say that only 16% of companies characterise the data they are using as ‘very good’
• Reach Force predicts that in the next hour, 59 business addresses will change, 11 companies will change their name, and 41 new businesses will open, and some will close.

The impacts of data quality

Data Quality issues can have direct and indirect impacts on your organisation. The direct impacts are easily quantifiable, including how much money is being spent on 3rd party data, data cleansing, and manual data remediation efforts. However it is the indirect impacts that create the higher cost for many organisations.

Three common in-direct impacts of data quality include:

• Reduced effectiveness in decision-making – Low data quality can lead to reduced confidence in analysis and scenario modelling, and can lead to wasted time debating about data inconsistencies and reporting measures. This then leads to an inability to make timely and effective decisions and actions, which could lead to a slow market response and/or loss of first mover advantage.

• Reduced Productivity – Good data quality enables a focus on actual revenue producing activities as opposed to continuously validating and fixing data; especially for Sales and Marketing teams.

• Reduced Marketing effectiveness – Better data enables more accurate targeting and communications, and as a result more effective marketing return on investment, with a higher response rate and reduced media wastage.

So what is data quality costing your business? What is the opportunity cost of leaving this unchecked? 
​
No doubt, with some measurement and investigation, there is a strong business case for value creation by addressing this often overlooked and under managed issue. It takes an analysis of the direct and indirect impacts of data quality to get a true sense of why data quality is important and to understand the true cost to your business.

Collagis is committed to helping businesses like yours to optimise workforce and organisational effectiveness. We'd love to share with you how we can help address data quality in your organisation.
​
Contact us today 

As seen in the Australian Financial Review 

The “new normal” of work is more a work in progress than a done deal but there’s no doubt
that the momentum for change is unstoppable. A survey of 2,500 “working professionals” by recruitment firm Hays in November found that 61 per cent believe that a hybrid working model – part-remote and part-office working – is the most productive.

Hays managing director Nick Deligiannis says the rapid shift to working from home necessitated by the lockdown and social distancing requirements established that “a large percentage of the workforce can work productively and successfully from home”.

Hays research has also discovered that 47 per cent of employers, noting that productivity and
business continuity were not adversely affected by having employees working remotely, are open
to retaining working from home as part of their workplace mix. For many employees, according to Hays, overall performance, job satisfaction and work-life balance improved as less time was spent commuting or dealing with the distractions of office working.

The challenge for employers as the economy reopens is to strike a balance between the work
preferences of employees and the needs of the organisation. This is particularly a consideration
for business leaders who believe that having staff working in a central office has cultural, creativity
and collaboration benefits.

“Employers are looking to the future and how they and their staff can benefit most effectively
from this new way of technology-enabled working,’’ Deligiannis says. ‘‘Organisations everywhere will be going through this process ... [A] hybrid working model could be the ideal middle ground that allows
employees to work flexibly on certain days of the week then come together with colleagues in a
central workplace on others.”

The boon to employee productivity and job satisfaction has been one of the big surprises of
what has been widely dubbed “the great working from-home experiment”. A survey of 2800 knowledge workers in the UK, the US, Canada and Australia found that Australians were more productive working from home than their overseas peers. The survey by business transformation and managed services company Adaptavist found that 85 per cent of Australians, compared with the global average of 82 per cent, reported being equally or more productive when working from home. One-third of respondents said they were more productive than being at the office.

But there were also some downsides to digitally-enabled working from home: one-third of
Australian respondents reported stress arising from being “always on”. “An overnight transition has been forced upon the business world and companies have had to rise to the challenge by doing whatever seems to work immediately,” Adaptavist CEO Simon Haighton-Williams told the Australian Computer
Society’s Information Age.

“Now it’s time to reflect and analyse this, to see what positive patterns have arisen that we need
to reinforce and what negative patterns we see that need to be changed.”

Paul Ventura, managing director of management consulting firm Collagis, which specialises in
workforce and organisational effectiveness, says “everybody is trying to get their head around what
the new reality is going to look like”. “I don’t think there’s been a bigger or more profound adjustment, certainly not since the industrial revolution,” Ventura says.

“What’s happening now has been possible for a long time in terms of available technology but
what’s changed is the mindset around the workplace and employee wellbeing.”

Ventura says the “nature of work” has changed and “remote working is here, and here to stay”. “For many workers the commute will no longer be part of their daily life. For them, work has changed from somewhere you go to something that you do.”

While most employers are satisfied that the working-from-home experiment has been
successful, that recognition is just the beginning of the business transformation that needs to
occur as the economy reopens.

“Dealing with change, navigating the uncertainty and striking the right balance between the benefits of a flexible workplace and the needs of the organisation are the challenges
that now face businesses,” Ventura says.

“The working-from-home experience has created the momentum for change but organisations can’t afford to be too aggressive in pursuing new ways of working. “Changes have to be balanced, reflecting the
needs of employees, the needs of the business and the needs of the customer.”

For many organisations the transformations they embark on will not be limited to the workplace.
“There will be opportunities to grow and expand that weren’t there previously. Equally,
products and services that were a solid basis for growth in the past may no longer be relevant or
sustainable or may be subject to supply-chain disruptions,” Ventura says. “Some organisations will need to consider a change of business model.” Although questions about the future shape of organisations will be more complex for larger organisations, Ventura cautions that “fundamental change is important whatever the size of the organisation”.

The good news, he says, is that whatever form the “new normal” takes, the end result will be
“more efficient and more productive” businesses.

In the age of analytics, data quality plays a critical role in helping organisations achieve better and more sustainable results. However, as it is a complex issue often with distributed ownership, many organisations fail to tackle the issue of data quality holistically. Siloed business units and individuals can have different points of view of what data quality is and where data quality issues may exist. Unconnected projects can pop up that may not tackle root causes and may not work together towards a common goal. Because data is such an intrinsic part of the way we do business today, we see data quality as a foundational element of organisational effectiveness.

What is Data Quality?
​
Data Quality is basically the shape that all your information is in.  Is your company's data fit for purpose? Is it complete, accurate and reliable?

Our clients rely on data driven insights, whether it is to develop key strategic initiatives or to help improve relationships with clients via marketing and servicing. The quality of data will determine your ability or inability to solve business problems and will greatly influence your ability to make sound and accurate decisions. In short, the impacts data quality cannot be underestimated.

Defining Data Quality Dimensions

Data quality management  is multifaceted, so when defining data quality in your organisation, it is important to create a common language and understanding of​ the dimensions of data quality.

Here's an example of  6 dimensions of data quality that are useful in defining data quality.
 
1. Consistency - Is there only one version of the truth? Can you compare data across data sets reliably?
2.  Completeness – Do you have all the information you need? Are your key data attributes populated for your data set?
3. Accuracy – Is your information correct? Have you a process to manage errors?
4. Uniqueness – Does the information you have uniquely describe each individual? Can you identify a unique individual across data sets?
5. Timeliness – Is the information fresh? Do you have real time access to the data?
6. Validity - Is your information in the correct format?  Make sure that the data you have is user friendly and aligned to business rules.

Data quality can be a very complex and challenging business problem to solve, but breaking down the problem and reaching a common understanding of what the problem is, can be a helpful first step to commencing a well designed Data Quality Management Strategy.
 
Collagis is committed to helping businesses like yours to optimise workforce and organisational effectiveness.
We'd love to  share with you how we can help address data quality in your organisation.

Contact us today

Change is the only constant thing and it is necessary in an organization or business. However, it can often take a toll on the employees so that they start to suffer from ‘change fatigue’ - increased stress, exhaustion and decreased commitment among employees. Over time, change fatigue can lead to burn out among your employees. Change fatigue is actually a form of ‘passive resignation’ and can have serious implications on your business.
​
Here is how to reduce and combat change fatigue in your team.

1. Facilitate the change from the perspective of the entire team

Many organisations launch and manage change as individual projects within departmental boundaries yet this is not the reality of change. Change, even the smallest changes, sends ripples into other areas of the business. It may be a change specific to one area of the organisation but it will eventually affect the whole team. Stop managing change as a collection of projects but as an interconnected journey that the organisation is taking. If your plan is going to cause ripples, reduce the number of changes and increase your employees’ ability to handle change.

2. Begin at the end with every change

When initiating change of any size, start with an intended outcome that is understood and meaningful to the people affected. You cannot initiate change without having a clear outcome and communicating this outcome visibly to those who are involved. Outcomes expected from changes should be documented and communicated in a clear, concise and concrete way. It not only reduces the risk of change fatigue but also sets you up for success.

3. Build the change leadership strengths

Don’t separate leading and managing change from general operations because then leaders will easily overlook the impact of day to day leadership and management of the organisation on how the employees’ response to change. How you lead and manage when you are not implementing change will either improve or hinder your employees’ ability with change. To solve this problem, it is necessary for you to know the leadership and management activities that strengthen your organisation’s ability to handle change and those that do not. With this knowledge, you can do more of those activities that strengthen your capabilities and do away with those that weaken them.

4. Expand the involvement of the recipients of change

When implementing change, it is only a specific group of change management team that is involved in the planning and implementation. The others affected by the change become the recipients of the plan. This approach is not effective because there is no active involvement of the change-recipients. Therefore, they begin to feel like the change is being done to them and not with them. To solve this problem and avoid change fatigue, expand the level of active involvement in the areas and levels affected by the change.
Change fatigue is something you want to avoid in your team because it will slow down your progress and ability to accomplish your goals. 

Collagis is committed to helping businesses like yours to optimise workforce and organisational effectiveness. We'd love to hear from you to share how we can help you drive effective and sustainable transformational change. 

​Change can be frightening and intimidating to your team. For many, it might be something they want to avoid. But not all change is bad. As a matter of fact, it creates an excellent opportunity for growth, new directions and renewed energy. If you want to make change a positive experience, then use these tips:

1. Be strategic about change

While change is a necessity in an organisation, it should also be strategic. Don’t decide on changes without having a solid rationale for change. Look out for signs of change within your industry or organisation and how these changes affect the role of your team or your organisation. Besides making contingency plans in the expectancy of change, build scenarios for those possible changes. Spend time writing your case for change and helping to make this consumable for all different roles and personality types (simple, visual, data-driven, rational, emotive). Make sure the need for change can be understood from several angles and can also be justified to yourself!

2. Communicate the change

There is nothing as discouraging for employees or team members as having changes made in the organisation without their awareness or involvement. When employees have no communication about any changes taking place, they will be passive about the whole process and make it out to be a negative experience even when it was for their benefit. It is important for you to make an effort to communicate what you could see happening now and what might happen in the future.

You should encourage your team to express their perceptions and ideas. You may just be surprised at the insights they have. Furthermore, they will feel that their contributions are important enough to be considered in the change strategy. Having them as active participants is less likely to result in any negative energy or experiences in the course of implementing the changes.
​
3. Coach for change

When implementing changes in your organization or team, it is not only important to have a change management team but also a training and coaching program for your employees. There is need for continuous improvement in all areas if change is to be successful and seen as a positive thing. Meet your team or employees on a regular basis and make them individual champions of change in the areas of their responsibility. It is good to encourage them to think and plan strategically for their roles and future roles. In addition, coach them so that you can help them develop the skills they need to implement the anticipated changes.

4. Try mini changes

Try small changes in your organization before the implementing the actual change. For example, you can encourage your team or employees to experience tasks outside their normal duties with other employees. Mini changes create a dynamic in an organization that promotes organizational cohesiveness.

5. Celebrate changes

​Take note of the little changes that happen on a daily basis. Make comments on them and when necessary, appreciate and celebrate them. Giving positive feedback on change to one employee leads to positive performance and creative thinking in the others. With all these said and done, still expect some resistance from some people in your team. Regardless of how well you prepare them, some people will still resist change. Nevertheless, these strategies should help you have more people having a positive experience with the changes than those who are not. 

Collagis is committed to helping businesses like yours to optimise workforce and organisational effectiveness. We'd love to hear from you to share how we can help you drive effective and sustainable transformational change. Contact us today at info@collagis.com.au

What goes into a strategy? What makes it either good or bad? In simple terms, a strategy is a way to deal with a problem or challenge. A good strategy must therefore identify the challenge to be overcome and design a way to overcome it.

The three elements of a good strategy

In order to spot a good strategy, you should look out for these three important elements:

1. A diagnosis - A good strategy defines the challenge and simplifies the overwhelming complexity of reality down to a simpler story by identifying areas of the situation which are deemed critical. The diagnosis uses analogies, metaphors or existing frameworks for simplicity and comprehension. If you don’t know the problem you are solving then you cannot develop guiding actions.
2. A guiding policy - This is an overall approach that is chosen to either cope with or overcome the challenges identified in the diagnosis. It is the guiding policy that directs and constrains actions so that they follow a certain direction without exactly defining what will be done.
3. A set of coherent actions - It is not enough to have a guiding policy. A strategy needs coherent actions that dictate how the guiding policy will be carried out. The actions should be in coherence such that the use of resources and the pathways undertaken blend together without clashing.

Other elements of a good strategy include:

• Simplicity 
• Coherence such that all actions taken by an organisation reinforce and support each other
• Focus and coordination of efforts to achieve an outcome
• Leveraging sources of power to overcome an obstacle

The elements of a bad strategy

There are four major hallmarks of a bad strategy which include:

1. Fluff This is a strategy which uses inflated words to create an illusion of high-level thinking. Substance needs to underpin every good strategy.
2. Zero challenge A bad strategy is one that fails to define the challenge to overcome which makes it impossible to evaluate or improve.
3. Goals instead of a strategy Goals are essential but they are not a substitute for a strategy. More often than not, people make statements of desire rather than actionable plans for overcoming obstacles. Goals should not be confused for a strategy.  A strategy is what dictates how the goals are to be achieved.
4. Bad strategic objectives A bad strategic objective is one which fails to address critical issues or is impracticable.  When strategic objectives are bad, so is the strategy itself.

Use these pointers to evaluate your strategy, and determine if your business has a well-formed strategy or if correction needs to be done. Strong strategic planning is the first step towards effective execution.

Collagis is committed to helping businesses like yours to optimise workforce and organisational effectiveness. We'd love to hear from you to share how we can help you build clear and effective strategies for your business.
Contact us today at info@collagis.com.au

​Many organisations have been unable to turn their strategies into action mostly because they start with the wrong strategy or they get caught up in a model that no longer works. Compelling visions that cannot be seen or believed by others remain only in the mind. This is why organisations must understand how to bring a strategy to life. While it may sound like a really difficult thing to do, there are five simple ways that businesses can do that:

1. Writing it down - The only way a strategy can come to life is if it is put on paper. A strategy should be put on a single piece of paper which will then serve as a strategic framework for the operation of all leaders and employees. When you write it down, it no longer remains an exciting vision in your head but you can actually get others to see it, read it and be convinced about it. Writing down a strategy is the first step to bringing a strategy to life.
2. Sharing it - There is no use in keeping a strategy to yourself. It sounds obvious, but you need to effectively share the strategic framework to ensure that your leaders are aligned. Better yet, give your employees and leaders a chance to build the strategy with you in the first place, so they can understand the context and have co-created the direction. They will therefore also be better placed to make the strategy relevant for their different teams. Everyone in your organisation should be aware of your strategy,  and be engaged in crafting it in a way that is relevant to them, so they can feel a sense of ownership for the outcome.
3. Using it consistently -  Consistency creates familiarity. You should use your strategic framework consistently in your communications with employees so that it they become familiar with it. They should be able to see what is happening and how it ties to the strategy. The importance of the strategic framework will only become important when they see and hear it from multiple sources.
4. Updating and communicating -  There is no way that your thinking at the beginning of the year will remain the same at the end of the year. In the course of time, you have new ideas that you would want to incorporate in your strategic framework. As such, update your framework as your thinking evolves. Communicate with your employees on a regular basis so that they are in the loop and understand the reasons behind your decisions.
5. Celebrating - Celebrating wins has a way of encouraging and creating a positive momentum. Always connect back to and reinforce the core elements of the strategy even as you celebrate your wins

Collagis is committed to helping businesses like yours to optimise workforce and organisational effectiveness. We'd love to hear from you to share how we can help you build clear and effective strategies for your business and enable effective execution. Contact us today at info@collagis.com.au

The failure to effectively execute a strategy is not uncommon in organisations. But businesses sometimes miss that their failure to execute  is because there isn't a strategy worth executing.

Reports are written, town halls held and budgets are set aside, but after all these steps are followed, still nothing happens. The major reason why failure occurs and there is no action on the “new strategies” is that these strategies are often not strategies at all. 

Is your strategy real?
The big question is therefore what a real strategy refers to. A real strategy is one that involves a set of clear choices that define what the organisation is going to do and what it is not going to do.
Understand that a real strategy is one with clear choices. Therefore, if a strategy does not represent a set of clear choices, it will fail to be implemented even with ample efforts of hard-working people. 
 
Goals vs. strategy
In so many instances, people mistake strategies for goals. A statement that only covers what you hope your outcome will be but not what you are going to do to get there, is a goal and not a strategy. You still need a strategy to accomplish those goals. So if you only have ‘hopes’ and no actionable plans, then you have a ‘false’ strategy and you are bound to fail in your execution process.

Priorities vs. strategy
Sometimes, it is not just goals that are confused for strategies. Some organisations have a set of priorities and choices which they pass for a strategy without forming a coherent direction when considered in conjunction. For example, the priorities of your business may be to increase the operational efficiency of your business, target markets outside your country and divest in a certain business. While these are excellent priorities, they cannot be combined to form a strategy. 

When you have your priorities, a strategy presents a clear set of choices which fit together to form a direction for the business. If there is no clear strategic direction, any execution process is doomed for failure.

Ask yourselves these questions to determine whether your strategy is real?

• Is my strategy a clear set of actionable choices and plans or is it a set of hopes and desires with no direction on how to achieve them?
• Do I have a logic behind the plans I have made?
• Have I communicated this logic to others?
• Is my strategy a top-down, one-way trickle-down cascade of decisions or a bottom-up co-creation process?
• Do I insist more on telling people to change their behaviours rather than identifying and countering resisting forces and reinforcing driving forces?

If your strategy is not real, then you need to work on making it real. If it is real, your halfway there, and  tackling execution challenges is your next focus.

What other tips do you have for determining if you strategy is real?

Collagis is committed to helping businesses like yours to optimise workforce and organisational effectiveness. We'd love to hear from you to share how we can help you build clear and effective strategies for your business.
Contact us today at info@collagis.com.au

​People get excited about having a strategy,  but how many organisations stick to the plan and enable the team to effectively execute?  Having a strategy is important, but it is even more critical to create the right conditions for execution and to stay the distance in order to realise the intended outcomes.  

So how do you ensure that you stick to a strategic plan?

1. Designate a champion - A champion is a leader who can engage others and break down big projects into small steps. Your strategy should have a designated champion who will push the rest of the team towards implementing it. This champion does not have to be a senior manager or a person in senior leadership. You should also not designate yourself as the champion of your strategy. Find someone who is charismatic and great with interpersonal skills who can get others to engage with the plan.

2. Define responsibilities - When you have your strategic plan all written down, you must delegate responsibilities to make sure that everyone in your  team and organisation understands his or her own components. Such clarity on responsibilities will allow the designated champion and other leaders to execute the plan without unexpected roadblocks and unnecessary slowdowns. Every person in your organisation should know what their role is in executing a strategic plan. As such, you will have check and balances that evaluate how well people have taken up their responsibilities and bring to account those that have veered away or are slowing down the implementation process.

3. Constantly clarify priorities - In the midst of implementing a strategic plan, it is easy to lose sight of the priorities. Your team could be focused on so much that they need constant reminders that your strategic plan takes priority. There are two ways to communicate the importance of your plan. One is by what you say and two is by what you measure. If you don’t communicate the importance of the plan in one week, then it is no longer a priority for them. In addition, if you are not evaluating your metrics according to your strategic plan, people will lose sight of it. People will usually spend time and effort in something they know they will be evaluated on.

​4. Give time to see results -  It takes time for a strategic plan to yield results. When you evaluate your plans too soon, you will likely get discouraged and start assuming that you have veered from the plan. Don’t expect final results from an incomplete process. Your strategy needs time to bear fruit before you start changing the direction or actions to achieve it.

5. Clarify how/if the plan changes -  Along the way, you may have to incorporate some changes into the plan. You might find a better way of going about something listed in your strategic plan. When you decide to make a change to the plan, ensure that you get everyone on board. Otherwise, people will lose track of the plan and fail to stick to it.

Collagis is committed to helping businesses like yours to optimise workforce and organisational effectiveness. We'd love to hear from you to share how we can help you build clear and effective strategies for your business.
Contact us today at info@collagis.com.au

There is no perfect marketing automation software that applies to all businesses across the board. Different marketing automation platforms have different elements, so some are better suited for some environments more than others. However before you invest, look out for these five top must-haves.

1.   Multi-channel capability
Leads stream into the sales funnels from varying sources and that is why multi-channel capability is important. Your system must have the ability to coordinate across the various channels and campaigns on many platforms. It should have the ability to handle social media, email, online and offline integration, and direct mail.

2.    Aggregate Information
Other than being able to coordinate data across different platforms, your automation system should also be able to aggregate that data in a way that helps you segment your customers and prospects into targeted groups. Successful marketing automation relies heavily on how data is collected and how it is used. 

3.    Lead scoring and nurturing
Once you get the data on your leads, the next critical question would be what to do with these leads. Do you understand their needs and how can you meet these needs? Your marketing automation tool should help you answer these questions. It should have the ability to perform lead scoring so that you know the sales-ready leads, it should also help with lead nurturing so that you guide your customers through their buying journeys, and it should have segmentation tools that allow you to tailor content to the customer's specific needs at that stage in the buying cycle. 

4.    Content Marketing
Content is a key aspect of implementing a successful marketing automation platform. A good platform must be content hungry. It should allow you to generate and cross-reference the content you create. Go for a system that allows you to monitor and customise information, gather data on an individual's profile and consumption, and one that allows you to generate content across various platforms. 

5.    Analytics
A good marketing automation platform allows you to access all your information in an easily accessible comprehensible format. It should have customisable dashboards and intuitive designs in analytics presentation. At a glance, you should be able to see data at an individual level, data pertaining the campaigns and overall data indicating performance. 

Making sure your marketing automation system has these five elements is one step towards successful implementation. It is, however, important to note that choosing the right automation system does not on its own guarantee success. Paying attention to the People and Process parts of the transformation plays a key role in determining whether your implementation will be successful or not.

Collagis is committed to helping businesses to drive sustainable and effective Marketing Automation transformation. Contact Sheree.morrison@collagis.com.au to set up a time to discuss your business needs.

​Marketing automation gives businesses the chance to have meaningful interactions with their customers at pivotal moments. Automation must, however, be adapted in a strategic manner so that the change process is effective and seamless. Here are ten tips for effective marketing automation change.

1.    Define success
Before investing in a marketing automation system, you need to define marketing automation success. If it’s driving revenue, by how much? Clearly defining the success will help you implement the tool to get desired results.

2.    Focus on efficiency in content production
Content is the fuel that drives your marketing automation engine. From the very onset, have an idea of the content that will resonate more strongly with your clientele and potential customers.

3.    Reach a consensus on the lead scoring measures
Instead of just pursuing a great number of leads, have your sales and marketing teams agree on criteria to pursue leads with the greatest potential. That way, you increase the chance of increasing revenues since most of your leads will most likely give you business. 

4.    Take Total Cost Ownership seriously
In addition to the subscription fee you pay for your marketing automation system, there are other costs that you will incur from campaign design and activation among other days to day tasks. Keep money aside for these additional expenses; otherwise, your system might not give you the ROI you hoped for.

5.    Align your system with business strategy
Before implementing a marketing automation system, it is advisable that you take six to twelve months preparing for it and ensuring it is aligned to your business strategy. 

6.    Pay attention to content requirements
Generating content regularly is not enough. Periodically, you will need to carry out an audit to determine which content is current and valuable, irrelevant and outdated and what you can do to salvage the situation. 

7.    Work with your CRM
Your customer relationship management system should be integrated into the marketing automation system. This will help close the gap in creating new growth opportunities.

8.    Understand your business needs
It’s easy to get carried away by the hype of a marketing automation system but if it doesn’t meet your needs then it won’t achieve desired results. Understand what your business needs are and then research on the systems that can meet these needs. 

9.    Capitalise on the discovery workshop
Before implementing a marketing automation system, the vendor conducts a series of workshops with you to help you and your team members understand the system. This is critical because you are able to evaluate the need and efficiency of the system to your unique situation. 

10.    Assess, refine then rest
Implementation of marketing automation systems is continuous. You have to keep reviewing, refining and resetting periodically as the business environment changes. You might even have to change your entire marketing automation system if the one you’re using becomes outdated.

Collagis understands firsthand the challenges that come with change and that is why they are committed to walking the journey to support the implementation of  marketing automation with you and your team.  For more information about Collagis services, contact Sheree on sheree.morrison@collagis.com.au

Research shows that the adoption of marketing automation has increased by over 50% in the last year and is expected to grow exponentially within the next year. 

However, just like with any marketing platform, there are pitfalls that you can avoid when implementing a new marketing automation platform. These include: 

1.    Failure to align your marketing and sales

Research shows that businesses that fail to align their marketing and sales when adopting marketing automation often realise lower or even negative return on investment. This is tragic since marketing automation platforms are intended to help increase sales and ultimately profits for the company. 
Your sales and marketing teams should agree on lead definitions. The team leading your Marketing Automation implementation should be in constant communication with members from both Sales and Marketing. They should work through what constitutes a quality lead, expectations on lead volume and velocity and the type of leads Sales has the capacity and incentive to serve. The marketing team should also rely on constant feedback from sales, so as to use this information to create the ideal nurturing campaigns.

A good marketing automation software is not enough on its own. You will need the right sales and marketing teams working together for successful implementation.

2.    Assuming that a new platform will sort out all your issues

No matter how excellent a marketing automation platform is, it cannot make up for deficient internal processes. It’s an automated platform, not magic. A lot of effort has to be put into the marketing strategy and planning so that your implementation can be a success. 
​
Since a marketing automation platform is a tool used by a long chain of individuals in a business, it is important that every individual in the chain does their job well so that overall success can be achieved. If any team member or groups of teams are slacking, irrespective of how sound the automation platform is, your business will not yield the desired results.

3.    Failure to produce up to date content that is relevant

Do not be deceived, content is a major component of marketing automation. The marketing content is what fuels your marketing automation platform so that it keeps going. Ensure that your automation platform is smoothly running by creating content that provides balanced information about the business and products and services offered. Including white papers, informative eBooks, research reports, infographics and other content is extremely valuable as well.

Watching out for this pitfalls is one step towards realising the successful implementation of marketing automation tools. However, let’s face it, it’s not as easy as black and white. That is why Collagis is dedicated to bringing your workforce effectiveness tools to the marketing automation transformation. Collagis will help make your marketing automation journey seamless and successful by bringing to your best practice change, program management toolkits, approaches, and processes, which they then customise to suit the needs of your business and to address the marketing automation challenges

Want to know more about how to effectively manage Marketing Automation change? For more information on Collagis and our services, email sheree.morrison@collagis.com.au. We'd love to hear from you.

Selecting the right marketing automation system can be gruesome. Changing or adopting a new marketing automation system is even more gruesome. When leaders decide to acquire a new marketing automation system, they should be effectively enabled to take their teams through the transition process as seamlessly as possible.

Leaders can be effectively enabled for the change by following these tips.

1.    Involve the main stakeholders in the decision process

Marketing automation systems are employed by several stakeholders in any business and involving them from the very onset of deciding on the best automation system is imperative. These stakeholders include sales, marketing, data and IT, who should all be involved in the selection process and implementation as well. They should be adequately trained on the system so that they are able to assist and oversee its implementation and use by teams.

2.    Prepare to migrate your marketing data properly

Leaders should ensure that their data is properly migrated into the new marketing automation platform. This will help ease the transition once the organisation starts using the marketing automation tools. It is common to find that some of the data is incomplete or of low quality.  A proactive approach to data strategy and management needs to be taken to ensure the data that moves into the new marketing automation system is relevant and useful. Otherwise, you put garbage in and you get garbage out.

3.    Prepare corresponding metrics and set goals for the transition

Leaders should proactively establish goals and then put together performance indicators that will be used to monitor how the team is progressing towards achieving set objectives. Changing into a new marketing automation system should not be rushed. It is a large project and it should be evaluated and adjustments made every step of the way so that the business gets the most from it.  Goals should be set with a realistic phasing, taken into consideration the time it will take to build and migrate programs and upskill the team.

4.    Engage IT in the transition process

Marketing leaders ought to work closely with their tech leaders when transitioning into a new marketing automation system. The process requires tech guidance from evaluation to deployment and maintenance. 

IT leaders can  help in developing a cost-benefit analysis for the services the automation system offers. 
IT professionals can also offer guidance on the best automation system to go for, customised to the organisations unique set of needs.  The biggest potential pitfall when it comes to switching marketing automation vendors involves issues with technology integrations. Addressing existing and unforeseen issues from the very onset can save the business a lot of time and money.

5. Identify Change Sponsors and Agents

Leaders and teams are often not effectively enabled to adopt and drive Marketing Automation Change. It is essential that leaders become sponsors of change, helping to create and communicate a vision for the future state and a compelling case for "why" change is required. Marketing teams are change fatigued, so leaders need to clearly demonstrate the "what's in it for me" for teams, and paint a picture of the future state that inspires action and adoption. Change agents within the team need to be identified and activated in order to embed the change.

Collagis recognises a gap exists between technology implementation and the effective embedding of people and process to support sustainable and effective MarTech change. Collagis can support your organisation in bringing best practice process change and program management toolkits and approaches to help enable Marketing Automation change. We can customise these to suit your unique needs and challenges  during marketing automation transition process.
​
Want to know more about how to effectively manage Marketing Automation change? 
Contact Sheree on sheree.morrison@collagis.com.au. We'd love to hear from you.

The Challenge.  Do you find yourself wasting time looking for things at work?  Whether it’s paper or electronic files the frustration that comes with not being able to find that document or file is stressful and can reduce effective output.
 
The Cost.  In short, the cost of not being able to place your hands on that item of work you need is time.  Some people we work with waste up to an hour a day trying to find things.  What could you do with an hour of time back in your work day?

Simple tips to help you find things in rapid speed

1. File effectively.  There’s plenty of guides around on how to construct your own filing system.[1]  For example, build your files around the major components of your role.  To help, list your major responsibilities and projects.  Then create working files and reference files for each of those areas of your role.  The time spent filing can be returned in faster retrieval of material.
2. Don’t file what you don’t need to. Use advanced searches to help find the material you’re looking for[2]; which works great for electronic files, not so great for paper.
3. Use short term ‘piling’ backed by a good filing system.[3]  Piling refers to dumping a bunch of electronic files into one area or folder.  It’s almost the opposite of filing in that you don’t have to create a special folder.  For this option you’re really relying on your search engine.
4. Take a consistent approach to filing across all platforms – Think upfront about how you will use Outlook, shared drives, Sharepoint, etc.  Replicate the files you created in point 1 across all these platforms including paper files.
5. Use Conversation view in Outlook to draw together threads of conversation related to the same subject.  It’s a fast way to bring together emails that could be filed all over Outlook – inbox, sent items, other folders.
6. Don't keep what you don't need to keep.  If you have less to look through it takes less time.  So be ruthless with what you keep; hoarders beware!
7. File as you go - Outlook lets you file an email you send wherever you want, not just the default of Sent Items.

 
Whatever approach you use make sure that it’s serving you and not the other way around!

​Want to know more about how you can improve your productivity in the workplace? Contact us at info@collagis.com.au OR visit collagis.com.au/pep to find productivity programs for your workplace. We'd love to hear from you.


[1] https://hbr.org/2012/01/tip-for-getting-more-organized.html
[2] https://www.whatsbestnext.com/2008/12/filing-vs-piling/
[3] https://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newHTE_85.htm

By Andrew Gallaway

The Challenge.  What do you feel when you're in the zone - reading, writing, thinking - at work?  Fulfilled, purposeful, in control?  How do you feel when someone interrupts you in the zone?  Frustrated, important, stressed, willing to please?  Mixed feelings right?  That's probably because there are 'good' interruptions and 'wasteful' interruptions.  The good interruptions are when you're being informed of something that's urgent and important. The 'whoop, whoop' of the alarm is a great interruption if the building is on fire!  But the wasteful interruptions can be damaging to an organisation because everyone loses - the interrupter and the interrupted.  Neither is doing productive important work during the wasteful interruption.
 
The Cost.    Three interruptions per hour can cost you up to 30 minutes of time when you consider how long it takes to deal with the interruption and then get your mind back into work.[1]
 
5 Simple Tips to find your zone during work time
 
1. If someone comes into your workspace and interrupts you it’s likely that they consider the issue important; they might even be super pumped and excited.  But how important and urgent is it compared to what you’re doing right now.  The first step is to assess the nature of the interruption.  “How can I help you?”  If the matter is more urgent, drop what you’re doing and deal with it.  If it isn’t, then could you make a later time that day to talk? 

2. Consider saving up those important but not urgent conversations for another time.  Collect your thoughts, emails, issues in a folder and take them to a 1:1 meeting with a colleague or a group meeting where the session is planned.  It could be once or more per week.  Cover off the matters you and your colleague have saved up during that session.  You'll be amazed at how much time you save by batching those discussions.

3. Recognise if there’s a problem with interruptions in your workplace.  This is important because interruptions can happen quite unconsciously and can become an organisational habit.  So, awareness is the first step.

4. Talk to each other!  If there’s a problem with interruptions talk to the team and get buy-in to recognise the costs.

5. Find the right place to work.  At Collagis we believe that work needs to be done in the right workspace.  If you have to do work where you need to concentrate and not be disturbed, could you book a meeting room to work in for an hour or so?  Tell someone where you are going just in case and ask not to be disturbed unless it's an emergency.  You'll only be gone an hour or so!  

Finding the right environment during work hours is kind of like coming into work early or staying late because that's the only way you can get work done; no one else is around to bother you. 
Think about it!  Why are you doing that?  Work in work hours as much as you can by creating the right conditions for you to get the work done.
 
Want to know more about how you can improve your productivity in the workplace? Contact us at info@collagis.com.au OR visit collagis.com.au/pep to find productivity programs for your workplace. We'd love to hear from you.

[1] https://www.forbes.com/sites/markmurphy/2016/10/30/interruptions-at-work-are-killing-your-productivity/#4fa3968f1689

Author: Andrew Gallaway

The Challenge:  Do you find some people a joy to work with and others...well, not so?  It could be that you have unrecognised preferences in the way each of you work. 
               
The Cost:  When work preferences are at odds it can lead to frustration, stress, wasted time and in the worst case conflict at work.  This situation is no way for a team to progress and be effective. 
 
6 simple tips to discover and embrace work preferences

1. Recognise your own preferences when it comes to work. What are the conditions where you work best? How would you finish this sentence: "I work best when..."You might have a number of answers.I work best in the morning; I'm a night owl and think best between 2-4am; I work best when I know what outcome I'm driving towards; I enjoy discovering new things along the way; I like to do one thing at a time till it’s finished; etc.
   
   
2. Then ask yourself if it's possible that other people you work with might have different preferences? Of course they can! It's important to understand these differences and the relative strengths and weaknesses such differences bring to the team. For example, are you the type of person who enjoys a real global view of your work world, who is always scanning the environment and making connections between seemingly disparate events? Or are you more of a detailed person who has a razor sharp focus and likes to make decisions based on facts and figures? Both of these preference types contain obvious strengths but there are also elements of work that both these types of people find challenging or boring. The 'global' person might find it hard to close projects because they lose interest near the end, whilst the 'detailed' person might find it difficult to get started on new projects if there are a number of unfinished projects and they can't easily understand why something new is being started.
   
   
3. Celebrate the fact that diversity in style of work equals power...but only if the differing preferences are recognised and understood. To achieve team awareness, use an analytical tool to determine the individual work preferences of your team. Next share those results amongst the team whilst discussing the relative strengths of each preference.
   
   
4. Beware of black and white labels! Remember, just because team members have a preference doesn’t mean they can’t adapt in the short term for a good reason. For example, if they prefer to process work in a linear fashion, one item at a time, doesn’t mean they can't process a number of items simultaneously if it relates to a time sensitive deadline.
   
   
5. Watch out for blind spots across the team results. There is  a benefit to having a diverse team; different working styles bring various strengths to the team. If your team has very similar working styles, highlight the gaps and bring into the team styles that are not present in the team. If all team members are the same this might create harmony and strength in some areas. However, the team might be missing something in performance capability because they're missing a strength that exists in a difference preference. If you have a diverse team celebrate the good fortune you have of working together and carefully nurture the team and harness their styles for the benefit of the team.
   
   
6. Now you understand your own preferences and those of your colleagues it's time to consider what changes you might need to make to the way the team operates and how the team members interact with each other. There are some great tools that can help bridge any gaps between people that have different work styles.

Want help to implement your work preferences review? Speak to Collagis today about how you can make a real difference to your team's effectiveness today.

Contact us at info@collagis.com.au or visit www.collagis.com.au/pep to find productivity programs for your workplace. We'd love to hear from you.