Right from when we were first in business, our work was fuelled by our unashamed coffee habit – and not just for its welcome inspirational qualities! Our business model has been to have lower financial risks, and be more flexible for clients and for our team members, by the simple expedient of not having business…
Corona coffee: and it’s a . . . book!
As we reach a year since the first rumblings of COVID-19, we are more than a little chuffed to see the release of the book written by our Managing Director, Carolyn Evans. Published by Brill | Nijhoff, based in the Netherlands, the book becomes Volume 61 in their series ‘Legal Aspects of International Organizations‘. The…
Best of basics
Client: Hadrian Logistics Solutions Pty Ltd Our confidential logistics project -involving a significant series of detailed functional reviews and the associated labour standards – is now set for the first half of 2021. In a world of such COVID-induced uncertainty, we are delighted to be able to provide strong foundations for this client.
Corona coffee: still time for (plenty of) refills
Stop press: Well not really, this is hardly a newsflash when the project is some months in, but it is another moment in getting to the finish line with one of our special initiatives for the covidtimes. Our resident expert on all things governance and accountability, Managing Director Carolyn Evans, has at last received the…
Cheers!
Our languages guru, Alan Evans, has graduated from his studies at Keio University in Tokyo, completing a Master’s degree in Media and Governance. Any old time, such an achievement by one of our team members would be cause for many a celebratory coffee hereabouts. But in covidtimes, with all of the untidyness and uncertainty about…
Building on the basics
Client: Hadrian Logistics Solutions Pty Ltd As the coronavirus continues to richochet around the world, in second and third waves, spot fires, and a scramble for a vaccine, the opportunity to address the fundamentals of better work process for our key logistics client also continues. Taking great care to comply with all government requirements, that…
Corona coffee: and now the long brew time
It’s done. In the latest chapter of ‘what to do when you are locked down in a pandemic’, our Managing Director Carolyn has sent the full manuscipt of her forthcoming book to the publisher to be delivered into the waiting hands of typesetters. But don’t start holding your breath in anticipation just yet. Typesetting is…
Corona coffee: just add caffeine
Whoosh – or at least, whoosh in the sense of the usually-glacially-slow-publishing-process, raised to the power of a COVID-induced-reality! It is a common story to hear how book projects take considerably longer than expected, have myriad delays, and come to fruition long after might have been expected in comparison to commercial projects. Not this time…
Back to basics
Client: Hadrian Logistics Solutions Pty Ltd As we saw in the 2008 GFC, the presence of a global impact on business tends to focus the mind – particularly those of board members and senior executives – on how to deal with the fallout. Then we saw a huge surge in our business as boards tried…
Governance: report delivered
Client: Congregation of the Sisters of Saint Joseph of the Sacred Heart The report from this project provides an extensive context for the goverance issues presently faced by the Congregation and its leaders, and then puts forward a substantive body of findings and recommendations for actions needed to revitalise the Congregation’s leadership functions in contemplation…
Corona coffee: getting a WFH dividend
As consultants who have used a flexible working approach for our entire corporate existence (like, since before it became trendy, or now a necessity due to COVID-19), working from home is not exactly novel, and we have come in to the corona coffee era with more than a few relevant skills. Not least, we are…
Corona coffee: less barista, more home-brew
Like everyone, we are a bit stunned by the onset of COVID-19 as a world-wide phenomenon, and scrambling to work out what living and working in a coronavirus reality will look like. As a niche business that survived the 2008 GFC, and actually thrived in that environment, we’d like to think we can work it…
Governance: report on time for reflection
Client: Congregation of the Sisters of Saint Joseph of the Sacred Heart Over the cusp of the time in office of two leadership teams, this project consulted with, and then synthesized findings from, successive leadership teams at the helm of the Congregation. The time was right for reflecting on the changing needs of the Congregation,…
For the record …
In any governance project, a procedural point on which we inevitably face many questions is how to duly record what is decided by a board of directors (or any board of governance, however it might be named in other organisational structures). What is needed to show good governance? Don’t we need to do a ‘Hansard-style’…
Simplicity v Complexity
We’ve often had the conversation about achieving a balance between simplicity and complexity in organisational design, which – not unexpectedly – has knock on effects in how governance of that organisation will then perform. Of course, there is great strength in a self-explanatory design – like having a big red button to hit in emergencies….
Governance: time for reflection
Client: Congregation of the Sisters of Saint Joseph of the Sacred Heart Approaching the end of a 6 year period in office, the present team has seen many, if not most, of the complexities typically experienced in a large and, therefore, unavoidably complicated endeavour – meaning leaders always face consequent challenges for focussing on, and…
The gentle (?!) art of crafting reports
As much as we have come to shudder at the idea that there can be due accountability without formal reporting, the prospect of a truck pulling up to the door to deliver voluminous materials for a board meeting is something that, equally, we greet with regretful sighs. All too often we have seen baroque board…
Following through
Client:Chief Executive Officer, ACPSEM Following our report to the Board of Directors in late 2018, and their acceptance of all recommendations made, 2019 sees ACPSEM fully engaged on implementation as a major initiative in governance reform. Our present follow through is with the Professional Standards Board within ACPSEM, which is the custodian of professional self-regulation…
The perils of trust without accountability
An earlier post on accountability concluded that ‘a pervasive reason why a decision-maker ought to explain and justify conduct is to engender the trust necessary to function effectively in the circumstances. Knowing why makes it possible to look at to whom one should be accountable, and for what conduct.’ That post was prompted by many experiences showing that the…
Coffee party
Just to confirm that all the coffee did actually culminate in a party, here is the evidence from the University of New South Wales Faculty of Law graduation held on 8 May 2019. Our Managing Director, now Dr Carolyn Evans CSC, received her degree from Chancellor David Gonski.
Thinking about ‘being accountable’
In the very broad church of governance and decision-making, ‘being accountable’ has long since become one of those expressions that is bandied about as the all-encompassing remedy for poor decisions, inappropriate actions, lacklustre results – not least, accountability is cast as a panacea to corporate performance ills and the solution to ‘undemocratic’ government. [1] But…
One last sabbatical postcard
In a step known as ‘administrative conferral’, yesterday our Managing Director, Carolyn Evans, was awarded the degree of Doctor of Philosophy from the University of New South Wales, ahead of a later opportunity for graduation celebrations. Her doctoral thesis is entitled Towards a more accountable United Nations Security Council – why, to whom, for what,…
A few tears with your coffee
Today we are sniffling a little as we bid a very fond farewell to our long time colleague Tanya van der Wall. After 15 years with ThinkEvans, Tanya is leaving us for a full time role with Commercial Eyes, a specialist consultancy based in Melbourne and focussed on pharmaceuticals, life sciences and related business. As…
Governance is … what now?
In the FAQs grab bag for consultants and other advisers to organisations, the predictable inclusions are a bunch of things about ‘governance’ – what they think it is, what a good system looks like, why senior people should lose sleep over it, and the like. Unfortunately, all of the talk that goes into the top…
It’s not just you …
If you thought the last two years were just a bit odd, with everything blowing hot and cold on a seemingly random basis, it really isn’t just you. We may have come to expect that from climate-change induced weather, but political leaders in many places have been giving the weather a run for its money….
Women in Community: sunset or sunrise?
Client: Sisters of Saint Joseph of the Sacred Heart, NSW Region This project responded to a felt need for a fresh look at a long-standing initiative of the Sisters, to answer the question of what options there may be for this initiative to continue to serve an evolving community. The project team has now reviewed…
All recommendations adopted
Client:Chief Executive Officer, ACPSEM ThinkEvans has now reported to the ACPSEM Board of Directors on a range of governance initiatives that, if implemented, will steer the organisation towards positive governance outcomes for the entire ACPSEM membership. The report put forward 32 headline recommendations for change, all of which were adopted by the ACPSEM Board. The…