Colin Coulson-Thomas

Ensuring benefits realisation from ERP II: the CSF phasing model

Purpose – Delivering benefits from ERP II is challenging and the purpose of this paper is to investigate the allocation of resources contributing towards benefits realisation.Design/methodology/approach – A case‐study investigation was based on a five‐month placement within the project team of an organisation implementing ERP II. A critical success factors (CSF) phasing model was developed in order to categorise invested resources. Participant observations formed the first stage of the research and two years post implementation the observations were presented back to four key members of the project team to identify which invested resources contributed towards benefits realisation. Subsequently, the findings were presented to seven supplier organisations to validate the CSFs required to deliver benefits realisation from ERP II implementations.Findings – This research has identified 19 CSFs for ERP II, contributing an additional six to those already outlined in literature. A critical pathway for ERP II impl...

Talent management and building high performance organisations

Purpose – Many contemporary approaches to talent management are unaffordable. This paper seeks to summarise some key findings of a five‐year investigation into quicker and more affordable routes to creating high performance organisations. It aims to suggest a practical and much more cost‐effective way of quickly achieving multiple corporate objectives and measurable benefits for both people and organisations is often being overlooked.Design/methodology/approach – A programme of critical success factor, “issue” and other surveys was complemented with a five‐year evaluation of more recent case studies to understand early adoptions of performance support and to assess their results and implications. The applications examined were discussed with the relevant technical architect and the results obtained corroborated with commissioner/user performance data and/or documented assessments/reactions.Findings – Recruiting exceptional people – even if affordable – can create a host of problems if they are not properl...

Shaping things to come: strategies for creating alternative enterprises

The training community needs to place more emphasis on innovation, corporate venturing and the generation of new income streams. Standard offerings and common courses provide the same capabilities as everyone else, whereas a bespoke approach might enable people to be different and allow them to create fresh intellectual capital. Following the herd, playing catch‐up, copying and “me‐too” activities are not the route to market leadership. Those responsible for training and development should consider whether their current portfolio of courses and their coaches and mentors are contributing to uniformity, stock attitudes and commodity knowledge or stimulating diversity by enabling each person to play to their particular strengths and achieve their individual aspirations. Trainers, developers, coaches and mentors should enable colleagues to provide customers with additional and distinctive options that are genuine alternatives to those currently on offer.

Managing intellectual capital to grow shareholder value

Increasingly, knowledge is being shared, but is it being exploited to generate additional income streams and grow shareholder value? This article examines how 51 companies that generate around £9.3 billion in revenues from their know-how are managing 20 different categories of intellectual capital. Their experience suggests that boards need to increase the proportion of people who are creating, packaging and exploiting know-how and ensure various forms of knowledge from designs, websites, patents and copyrights to processes, skills and customer and supplier relationships are being fairly valued, fully exploited and converted into profit and ultimate shareholder wealth.

Individuals and enterprise: developing intrapreneurs for the new millennium

Downsizing, cost‐cutting and re‐engineering are essentially negative activities. The emphasis is switching to revenue generation and value creation. Also, customers increasingly demand tailored solutions and expect more imaginative responses to their particular requirements. In short, more entrepreneurial approaches are required. There is scope for reconciling individual and corporate interests. Companies want to encourage, develop, release and retain entrepreneurial talent, while many aspiring and intending entrepreneurs could benefit from the support which corporations can provide. Although relevant tools are available, training and development professionals are failing to encourage enterprise, develop entrepreneurs and support new corporate ventures.

Delivering training for highly demanding information systems

Purpose – There is a lack of research covering the training requirements of organisations implementing highly demanding information systems (HDISs). The aim of this paper is to help in the understanding of appropriate training requirements for such systems.Design/methodology/approach – This research investigates the training delivery within a customer‐facing organisation that successfully implemented an HDIS. A case study was undertaken to identify resource allocation during the implementation lifecycle and training guidelines were prepared following in‐depth interviews with client and supplier consultant practitioners.Findings – Organisations implementing HDISs should invest in training throughout the implementation lifecycle. Two areas of training were found to be of importance: end‐user training to avoid technical‐isomorphism and post‐implementation training to avoid system atrophy.Practical implications – Literature shows that training attracts the smallest proportion of the implementation resources. ...

Competences of an effective director

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to share the findings of investigations into the competences that an effective director should have. It draws upon the findings of surveys of director development undertaken by the author and others and the authors experience of advising over 100 boards on director and board development.Design/methodology/approach – The surveys examined have mainly involved UK directors and unitary boards. The situation might be different in other countries. It would be helpful if more studies were undertaken of director and board development in other contexts and involving different board structures, e.g. two tier or management and supervisory boards.Findings – The findings suggest it is possible to identify, categorize and prioritize the competences that directors require to be more effective in their roles. Trainers and developers interested in addressing directorial competence requirements need to understand the distinction between direction and management, and between deficienc...

“New leadership” and creating the high performance organisation: part 1

Purpose – In some respects traditional leadership is not working. The aim of this two‐part paper is to summarise key findings of a five year investigation into quicker and more affordable routes to creating high performance organisations. It identifies some aspects of the “new leadership” that is required and how the strategic adoption of performance support can facilitate the changes required and deliver multiple objectives. This first part introduces “new leadership” and performance support.Design/methodology/approach – A programme of critical success factor, “issue” and other surveys was complemented with a five year evaluation of more recent case studies to understand early adoptions of performance support and to assess their results and implications. The applications examined were discussed with the relevant technical architect and the results obtained corroborated with commissioner/user performance data and/or documented assessments/reactions.Findings – “New leadership” is less about “top‐down” lead...

Encouraging partnering and collaboration

Purpose – Proposes to show that in many organizations trainers, and other groups such as communicators, need to take positive steps to encourage partnering and collaboration.Design/methodology/approach – The article is intended to share findings from an ongoing investigation undertaken by questionnaire survey, interview and in‐company observation into the leadership of performance improvement and corporate transformation.Findings – Those who succeed in building productive collaborative relationships exhibit very different behaviours from those who fail.Practical implications – Trainers need to understand the differing behaviours of “winners” and “losers” in order to help people to adopt the approaches of their more successful peers and colleagues. It may also be necessary to equip people with job support tools that can help them to collaborate with customers and supply chain partners.Originality/value – The article highlights behaviours and approaches that trainers and developers need to encourage if indi...

Will 24/7 performance support replace traditional mentoring and training?

Purpose – Mentoring larger numbers of people can be a challenge. This paper seeks to show how performance support can overcome scalability barriers and cost‐effectively provide best practice and up to date help to people throughout an organization, and internationally, on a 24/7 basis and wherever and whenever they need assistance.Design/methodology/approach – Performance support tools can capture and share what high performers do differently in areas in which they excel, and enable others to emulate their approaches to understanding complex situations and doing difficult tasks. The author presents drawbacks of traditional mentoring and training, and summarizes the return on investment, scalability, flexibility, and sustainability advantages of performance support.Findings – Tools examined have yielded multiple benefits to users and commissioning organizations. Relevant and current support can be provided as and when help is needed, including out of the office and on the move.Practical implications – Perf...