The business world in 2001 can be characterised in one word - complexity. Achieving impressive results is as important as ever for CEOs and their teams, but now equally vital is not missing the boat on the new technology, which is currently transforming all organisations and their business processes. These inescapable realities are putting pressure on companies and their leaders to adapt, or fall by the wayside.
Delivering the goods while keeping up with the changes can seem an 'impossible' challenge for the hard pressed CEO, but now help is at hand. PA Consulting Group, the leading international management, systems and technology consulting firm, is offering 'Mission Possible - Leading In An Age of Business Complexity,' a revolutionary Transformational Leadership programme with a practical focus on rapid action.
PA's 'Mission Possible' programme is based on 100 days of embedding new intentions into business action, and is rooted in the client's business rather than abstract generalisations.
PA is offering 'Mission Possible' as an in-company programme for intact leadership teams, and marketing it to CEOs, Strategy Directors and HR Directors in FTSE 500 companies. The programme's logistics can be customised for particular organisations' needs and schedules.
The programmes start with workshops led by Peter Fisk and Bridget Skelton, who are strategy and leadership experts at PA Consulting. These workshops feature independent guest speakers who are all recognised experts on business transformation issues. An artist and a storyteller will capture the sessions, and chronicle the transformational journey. The workshops are followed by 100 days of practical implementation support, including a business forum to review organisational progress after 50 days, a leadership forum to review personal progress after 100 days, and one to one coaching during the 100 days to support business and personal change. A team of personal facilitators will be on hand throughout to help the leadership teams manage the transformation process's emotional curve and anxieties, and look at ways to approach these very real issues.
Business leaders are only human, as Peter Fisk points out: 'Human beings can only absorb so much information and take so many perspectives. Mission Possible helps the delegates step out of the box and see new perspectives, and break free of their current paradigms and define new ones.
'Other programmes on offer cover either the business aspect or the personal aspect of the transformation process, but we look closely at both. By fusing the two aspects in one programme and embedding the new intentions in the organisation through follow up forums and personal coaching, we can do in 100 days what it takes business schools two years to achieve.'
PA Consulting - Qualified through experience
In the new business environment, many business leaders realise the old recipes do not work, but they dare not articulate their fears. The result is that today's CEO is an increasingly anxious individual - on occasions they have broken ranks and talked about their worries in public. Most of the time, they cannot, because it will affect the share price, not to mention their chances of survival. PA is helping companies to talk about their concerns and address them through its 'Mission Possible - Leading In An Age of Business Complexity' programme.
PA Consulting Group's Peter Fisk says:
'The growing complexity of business means companies need to work differently to assess such enduring issues as industry restructuring. They also need to think afresh at ways of working effectively in partnership with other companies to exploit their most valuable opportunities, and how they formulate strategies to capture the potential of their intangible assets - the ideas, reputation and relationships which make up an estimated 70% of a company's value.
'Our unique blend of experience - strategy, technology and, most importantly, people - means we are well placed to help clients who come on our programmes to understand the new business context and perform better in it.'
Up to the minute practical thinking
PA Consulting Group's 'Mission Possible - Leading In An Age of Business Complexity' programme uses up to the minute thinking in a practical way, to help leadership teams change themselves and their role, and also drive their organisation forward.
The programme is based on the principle that to win in a complex environment, first the leadership itself must be transformed in its perspectives, roles and behaviours.
Leaders need to be the hub of a networked organisation, rather than the top of the pyramid. The old models of vision and control don't work - the leader must be there in the thick of it, acting as the visionary, guide and coach, interpreting the apparent chaos, connecting the different ideas and initiatives, and enabling action.
PA Consulting Group has vast experience of different 'global themes' and across various competencies, including expertise in leadership development, such as British Airways' recent e-leadership programme. Bridget Skelton concludes: 'Our work gives us insights into business issues and leadership challenges - few can match the depth and breadth of our experience. This type of change programme needs to be both practical and business issue-focused: you can't get that from business school! The programme connects into action, and is anchored in our insights into business change.'
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