Biologize » Business Transformation

Infinity Context Free Process for business biomimetics

Phil Richardson — Sun, 05 Sep 2010 12:23:38 +0000

Infinity Context Free Process for Business Biomimetics

Dr Phil Richardson of Thoughtcrew Limited has developed a new process for the translation between between business problems and biological systems. This, the Infinity Context Free Process, provides an approach for strategic thinking and can be used as a workshop process or can be embedded into the strategy process or the innovation process of a business. Thoughtcrew offer a subscription service where new biological system cards can be added to the process to provide a wider range of analysis. The process has already shown successful results in both the consumer packaged goods and the business services sectors. Because of the integrated nature of biological systems the solutions produced by the ICFP tend to be richer and add more long term value. Further details from Thoughtcrew

Feedback from HR directors highlights the importance of biomimetics as a technique in leadership and change management

Phil Richardson — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 11:13:54 +0000

HR Directors that attended the recent HR Forum in London to hear Phil Rchardson give his talk on leadership and change management and the use of biomimetics as a business tool provided some exciting feedback. If you are interested in finding out more visit Thoughtcrew or call Phil on +44 208 133 4728.

“Very passionate about biology. Emphasis on biology mostly lost the impact on change/change leadership culture. Pace could have been quicker through the theory to practical examples. Practical example right at end was quite good looking with journey to growth (crab example). Fascinating”

“Very interesting. Would have preferred more time to work through the business problems at the end”

“Great session”

“Really creative and interesting presentation. Food for thought. Very thought provoking”

“Most enjoyable session so far. Well presented and an articulate presenter”

“Very interesting and innovative”

“Excellent, very interesting content and great presentation”

“Very clever and entertaining and relevant”

“Thought provoking, different”

Symbiosis as a tool to understand business partnerships

Phil Richardson — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 22:55:31 +0000

At the HR Forum in London today Phil Richardson presented biomimetics and how that can be used in helping understand busines relationships and growth driven change management. A summary can be found in Personnal Today

Biologize your HR strategy

Phil Richardson — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 11:18:16 +0000

Tap into the power of nature to design and deliver your HR strategy. Using Past Casting based on the biology of crabs it is possible to design everything from a future based competency interview to aligning the leadership team to the new growth strategy. Business biomimetics provides a way of challenging traditional thinking that can be readily employed by diverse HR teams. The ideas generated are richer and better integrated than those created using stand alone strategy and brainstorming models. Contact Phil Richardson at Thiughtcrew for further details of this exiting, innovative new approach.

Man made evolution

Phil Richardson — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 21:14:42 +0000

Did you know that cabbage, broccoli, kohlrabi and sprouts are all man made vegetables? Wild mustard was used as the initial species and then engineered over time to artificially select certain attributes.

This artificial selection can also be seen in business strategy where people, processes and systems have been selected from the original. However they may not all be appropriate or fit for the future. Can you still track your original species?

Credit cruch change - what’s in it for me?

Phil Richardson — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 18:10:04 +0000

Making the connection between the idea and the delivery needs more than just a proven consulting method. By understanding the “what’s in it for me question” change can be better managed and success achieved more readily.

If you can answer this question for your key stakeholders then you are halfway home. Next time you write a business case include the wider benefits making sure there is something in it for you!

CRM project not quite going to plan?

Phil Richardson — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 14:23:36 +0000

You will no doubt be aware of the ‘buzz’ surrounding something called CRM or customer relationship management. In some cases it might be referred to as ERM ( enterprise relationship management), customer loyalty, or even the customer experience.

It all means the same thing.

“How do I/we make money?”

Essentially all the terms above are concerned with the long term profitability of customers. There are many proponents of this and their various approaches often concentrate on one aspect or another. Software companies try to brand CRM as a software solution and many businesses have bought on this basis only to discover that , in fact, it is a way of doing business. So the processes, organisation, strategy, technology, data, information, governance, branding and performance indicators all need to be changed.

Thoughtcrew takes a trouble-shooter position in this marketplace. Using our extensive CRM experience, our role is to help you cut through the jargon and help identify the aspects that are appropriate to your business. We will tell you if CRM is appropriate to your type of product or service (there are a number where customers do not want a ‘relationship’). We are also particularly good at sorting out CRM projects that haven’t quite gone according to plan!

The value of business operations

Phil Richardson — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 14:02:29 +0000

One significant weakness in many business strategies, is that they do not appreciate the value that business operations can bring to achieveing both competitive advantage and success. Once the domain of manufacturing, business operations is now the mainstream way in which any business works. perhaps the better way to think about business operations is to think about all the processes that are running.

This means that anyone responsible for the running of processes in an organisation is in part an operations manager.

Our challenge is to help you understand the benefits that this approach can bring. Then we will help you figure out where the key opportunities for improvement lie, both operationally and in your processes.

Business projects - did we solve the problem?

Phil Richardson — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 13:56:10 +0000

Projects

There seems to be a difference between what people think project management is and how they go about managing projects. Our view is pretty simple. We see the project as a finite piece of work that delivers a result - often solving a business problem. It rarely is IT alone and often IT takes a reasonably small percentage of both the time and the cost ( somewhere in the region of 20%).

So when we advise on projects, we advise on the process. We help our clients focus in on the problem ( which is often different to the one that they thought they were solving) and then we fous on getting the planned results. In our view the sponsor owns the problems and agrees the solution, the project manager then manages to the result.

The first question anyone should ask is “Did we solve the problem”?

Shadowboard

Phil Richardson — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 13:54:02 +0000

In our experience when you, as a business needs consulting help, you do not need all the help that you are given (and pay for!). We have created Shadowboard as away to minimise your investment and to maximise the capabilities that you get. Essentially our Shadowboard analysis looks at the changes that you face and identifies the gaps in your team’s capability to deliver the changes. We then provide the resources to fill the gaps, creating a Shadowboard

What is capability consulting?

When choosing consultants there are three different approaches. Typical thinking is:-

1 Provide me with deep subject matter expertise and let me decide how to use it. Typically I will give you a specific task and expect to see deliverables such as a report or technical advice.

2 Let me hand my problem to your and your team. You will analyses the problem. Define the scope of work, plan the budget and then when approved use my people to help you put the solution into practice. We will follow your method and leave you to decide who gets involved

3 We need some help. We have not got the time or the resources available to address a key issue our business faces. What we need is to plug the gaps we have and then work together with your people as peers to provide expertise, advice and support as appropriate.

We believe we add the most value for those businesses seeking option 3. We only provide the capability you need.