Today brings another round of ‘journalism’ telling us that we live in a time of more information than ever before, and yet more social media messages urging us to think there is no mystery that can’t be solved if we google it hard enough or crowd-source the problem to enough people in enough places. That’s…
Coffee on the road: Enough! on April fools day
In an era of populism writ large in global events, seen equally in ‘any-opinion-will-do-if-I-shout-it-loud-enough’ leadership and public debate that often seems to have only a passing acquaintance with facts and reasoned logic, many of our clients and colleagues on boards are facing quite tough times in holding the line on more mature and considerate leadership….
Sabbatical postcard – lies, damned lies and statistics v2.0
What the numbers really say is an issue at least as old as published statistics themselves, but one finding a renaissance in the world of the Oxford Dictionaries Word of the Year 2016: ‘post-truth’.* Anyone who has spent more than five minutes in a commercial organisation knows, for example, that it is possible to have both…
Coffee on the road – our word for the year
Big surprise – no, really, an actual surprise – our word for 2017 is not ‘coffee’! This year we are going public with our choice to applaud all those mature decision makers who know when to hold ’em, when to fold ’em, and when to walk off into the sunset for the next challenge –…
Implementing legislation
Client: Board & Chief Executive Officer, Nature Conservation Trust of NSW Our new client is a bespoke entity – a statutory body corporate also operating as a nonprofit organisation with deductible gift recipient status for tax purposes. In a new direction for the organisation’s objects of nature conservation on private land, the organisation is now…
Coffee on the road – what a difference an accent makes!
We might not be much given to knitting our own yoghurt or weaving muesli here at ThinkEvans, but we are pretty darn serious about sustainability. For us its about being able to keep your promises to stakeholders – not just this week or next week, but next month and next year and the year after…
Sabbatical postcard – kawhe i runga i te ara i roto i Aotearoa
Kawhe i runga i te ara i roto i Aotearoa – or coffee on the way in New Zealand – prompts fresh reflection on the microeconomic importance of engaging with fellow human beings, and the “innovation” value of just getting the basics right. In Wellington to present an element of my PhD research (to…
Sabbatical postcard – no time to wish for coffee
A self-confessed cynic about process improvement, which too often fails from want of a clear objective, I am delighted to report a customer service experience that seems to shine as an exception. It was so fast and efficient there was no time to wish for a coffee while waiting in line for service! The early indications…
Rethinking pricing
Client: Chief Executive, Coast City Country General Practice Training Ltd In a new project for our client, we will apply microeconomic disciplines to their pricing of services, including sensitivity analysis around key events. Sunset at Mollymook, in the far south of this client’s area of operations, is a great inspiration!
Congratulations!
After more than five years and two children, we are delighted to congratulate Sharna on the conferral of her PhD. Her thesis is entitled ‘Talking About Talent: Conceptualising Talent Management Through Discourse’. Her research ’employs discourse analysis in order to understand how the concepts of “talent” and “talent management” are socially constructed within an organisational…
Coffee makes planning go ’round
Carolyn Evans and Tanya van der Wall share our guide to keeping planning in perspective as a means to an end – all the coffee in the world won’t fix a governance and planning process that doesn’t keep “eyes on the prize” of realising the organisation’s purpose. Three decades since Michael Porter identified the ‘lost…
Sabbatical postcard … coffee on the road to international peace & security
In the first public airing of her thesis research, Managing Director Carolyn Evans this week presented her work at the Australia and New Zealand Society of International Law Postgraduate Workshop, held in Canberra on the eve of the Society’s annual conference. Using her experience in governance for government, commercial and nonprofit organisations, Carolyn presented her…
Project wrap up
Client: Board of Directors, Coast City Country General Practice Training Ltd In wrapping up this project the ThinkEvans team put focus on the purposes of the organisation (what are we here to do?) and aligning activities accordingly (how are we going to do it?), to make a strong foundation from which to measure outcomes (how well…
Staff development workshops
Client: Board of Directors, Coast City Country General Practice Training Ltd To voice the project focus on options for adding skills to the team for best effect in sustainability terms, the team worked with the client’s team to consider options from a multidisciplinary perspective. The main session was held in Wollongong, with a follow up session…