Wednesday 29 October 2014

Jobs For UK 18 - 24 year olds, please forward on to the young:
Paid placement with management fast-track opportunity
Champions SE exists to provide young people with real work experience whilst fundraising for our partner charities. Since appearing on Dragon’s Den in 2007, we have trained over 750 young people and raised over £10m for charity. Due to demand, we are now opening this opportunity to applicants without a degree for the very first time. This is a unique opportunity to gain qualifications whilst earning a salary. Anyone interested in moving into a fast-paced social enterprise that helps raise money for some great causes should apply.
What we offer:
• Enrollment on Institute of Leadership & Management Qualifications
• Sales training
• Charity training
• Basic salary & bonus
• Zone 1 to 3 travel card
What we require in return:
• Desire to learn
• Basic can do attitude
• Ambition
• Drive
How to apply:
All those wishing to apply MUST attend one of our information meetings in central London. Spaces are are very limited, so please email your CV to managementfasttrack@championslifeacademy.com to guarantee yourself a place.

Sunday 21 September 2014

YOUR DIGITAL JOURNEY: CROSS-FUNCTIONAL COLLABORATION

Whether the digital revolution makes or breaks your business will likely depend on the underpinning ‘digital integration’ necessary to optimise the customer experience. Because this requires an unprecedented level of cross-functional collaboration, Pomegranate, a pioneering digital user experience agency, has incorporated into our offering TEAMWIN, the innovative collaborative capability developed and used around the world by strategy consultancy Beechwood International. 

This unique combination allows organisations to explore ways to improve the digital customer journey and address the required internal changes in tandem. 

To celebrate this initiative, we have designed a highly interactive, productive and enjoyable 1-day workshop, for carefully selected cross-functional groups across the organisation to look back to review their ‘digital journey’, and look forward to refocus and re-energise. Participants will leave with fresh insights and a shared understanding of the vision, priorities and next actions. 

We will tailor the workshop planning, facilitation and reporting to your particular needs, and agree an outcomes-based fee. We hope that this might then form the basis of a replicable process to kick off and monitor progress of your digital projects as they arise. And by repeating this experience across the organisation, cross-functional collaboration will progressively become embedded in the way your people navigate the digital journey, and other aspects of the business, together. 

If you think that now is the right time to affirm the work you are doing, or you want to increase the success of a next phase of development, this pit-stop will help your team to frame and resolve the challenges that jeopardise the value of your digital customer experience. 

www.beechwood.net

http://www.pomegranate.co.uk/

Friday 19 September 2014

Local Authorities - UK

The situation Local Authorities find themselves in is a predicament with dire consequences and borders on unfix-able.  Faced with the known challenges of year on year budget cuts, greater pressure and demand from the public, managing risk and conflicting priorities, and the influence and political nuances of the Members and their Parties we could almost feel sorry for those running Local Authorities.

Much is being done across the country by our Local Authorities to act more commercially.  Ideas ranging from sales of consumer oriented goods, recycling schemes, leveraging IT&T infrastructure, consolidation of property and more, but one cannot throw a blanket across the nation and say 'be commercial' as there are far too many local and parochial variables to contend with.
Take a helicopter ride over a business, any business, what becomes clear is there are two main types of activity taking place.  If we were to put these activities into buckets we would have; bucket 1 - 'business as usual (BAU)' and bucket 2 - 'projects'.

Bucket 1 - 'BAU' - in the context of local authorities is filled with the daily tasks that need to be completed to serve the community and run the business.  From emptying bins to collecting rates, these activities must not stop and must meet demand.

Bucket 2 – ‘Projects’ - contains everything that starts as an idea or an imperative with a budget and a date to complete.  Some projects start and don't finish, some start and run for ever, some start and finish way over budget and some never get off the ground but the issue is every one of these projects will either negatively or positively affect bucket 1, business as usual.

In my recent conversations with local authorities what does loom large as a common denominator in those authorities who are searching for and delivering a more commercial approach is that this cannot impede on 'business as usual'.   This could be done though better project management, better understanding of financial information and better decision making processes but it appears the problem in being really commercial is more to do with 'mindset' throughout the authority coupled with a focus on the customer.

Without Local Authorities being able to clearly articulate internally why the business needs to be commercial, and therefore to build a plan with clear descriptions of the benefits and outcomes for the business, its customers and its employees this mindset will never shift.  

Scott Thompson
Director
Beechwood International