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…
Sabbatical postcard: coffee on the road, for one
When it comes to decision making and governance, there is probably no bigger stage than that of the United Nations. There are many other organisations that may well have more, or more obvious, influence – like multinational corporations that design our lives with their products and redesign our planet with the impact of their production…
Board briefing
Client: Board of Directors, Coast City Country General Practice Training Ltd The briefing dealt with the quantitative analysis of the supply side of this complex market, and the organisational options going forward. With the Board’s endorsement, this will now provide the basis for team briefings in the new year. The south coast of New South Wales,…
Sabbatical postcard: a dash of dissent in your coffee on the road
For those of us fascinated by leadership and decision making, Australia’s first time in three decades as UN Security Council President has been, to say the least, underwhelming. Any whelm was certainly hard to find in the one topic put forward for formal debate by Australia in the Presidential role – small arms. Not unimportant…
Sunset on a project
Client: Board of Directors, Grand Pacific Health Ltd As part of further implementing the merger of two previous Divisions of General Practice, re-think the executive structure and division of responsibilities in the senior team, and assist the Chair to select a preferred candidate for CEO for consideration by the board. The Board endorsed the recommended…
Sabbatical postcard … coffee on the “crowded” road
On sabbatical from consulting, while travelling in England for her PhD research Managing Director Carolyn Evans has discovered a whole new meaning to fighting the crowd to get coffee. Staying at the University of Warwick in Coventry, this was the crowd scene at the local coffee spot on the banks of the River Sherbourne. Having…
Can’t see the wood for the trees?
Internal projects naturally drive additional business activity and costs but our experience at ThinkEvans indicates they do not always result in an appropriate return on investment. So what is going wrong? Here we look at some of the classic issues we see in businesses and suggest a few actions to start successfully delivering the projects…
Digesting growth to leverage learning
Client: Board of Directors, Coast City Country General Practice Training Ltd In an environment of growth and success in winning and delivering on contracts, the principal objective of this project is to provide an independent viewpoint and make recommendations on options to evolve team capabilities to support sustainable operations over the long term. The project focus…
Coffee on the (long, long) road
Embarking on the long, long road to a PhD, our Managing Director Carolyn was this week advised she will receive an Australian Postgraduate Award (APA). Her scholarship is tenable for three years. Carolyn was also awarded a further scholarship by the University of New South Wales Faculty of Law, given to top-ranked APA recipients in recognition…
Cake with your coffee on the road
Join our virtual workplace event in August – support the cause and get a cake! We are supporting the Red Cross Big Cake Bake event this year, and will be handing out the cakes that we make to those who contribute to our fundraising for this wonderful cause. To make a donation, click on the…
Post-merger integration for the Board
Client: Board of Directors, Grand Pacific Health Ltd As part of further implementing the merger of two previous Divisions of General Practice, review current Board and committee charters and related documents, and propose a body of governance documents for Board activities. A Board policy manual was approved by the Board 30 May 2013 and an…
Inside out strategic planning
Client: Illawarra-Shoalhaven Medicare Local (operated by Grand Pacific Health Ltd) Following on from our earlier survey, ThinkEvans is providing a different lens for leveraging the outcomes as a strategic planning case study.
Coffee while paddling on the road to human rights
We may not have needed more inspiration from coffee to paddle hard in the Amnesty International Australia dragon boat team, but we sure did need a reviver between races! As part of a team of volunteers put together just for the Chinese New Year festival at Darling Harbour in Sydney, ThinkEvans Managing Director Carolyn and…
Coffee on the road … in cyberspace!
Since being interviewed in 2009 about how we help our clients but are never “stuck behind a desk“, we have continued to walk the talk of virtual workspaces – it is really just the most practical solution for many of us in contemporary organisations.* Since we are not at all shy about our adventures in…
Coffee on the geopolitical road
After three decades more or less confined to the peanut gallery of the United Nations, the indications now are that Prime Minister Julia Gillard will support a bid by Australia to become an elected member of the United Nations Security Council (for which former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd is widely acknowledged as having had considerable…
Survey results yield strong strategic directions
Client: Illawarra-Shoalhaven Medicare Local After garnering more than 90 completed responses to the survey of professional development needs from those working in primary health care, ThinkEvans continues to collaborate with CCCGPTraining to develop strategic insights from the results.