What if the way your organisation runs today, team structures, daily rhythms, and performance systems were never designed for your world at all? We set out to trace the roots of the modern world of work on the Sooner Safer Happier 1st Industrial Revolution Tour. We visited the sites where it all began: the first factory system, the first production line, the first shift work, the first time human labour was treated as a repeatable input rather than a creative force. The paral

When whispers of ‘keyboard tracking’ started circulating this triggered a huddle with my client about how to explain to well-intentioned yet traditionally minded SVPs the dangers of confusing activity with efficiency. We talked through a number of efficiency measurement systems that have become widely accepted over the past decade. Some were already in place in the organisation (DORA) and others were a work in progress. Thankfully for this organisation, the exercise resulted

Belper Mills and Industrial Community Building Colourised photo of Belper circa 1912 What if the way your organisation runs today, team structures, daily rhythms, and performance systems were never designed for your world at all? We set out to trace the roots of the modern world of work on the Sooner Safer Happier 1st Industrial Revolution Tour. We visited the sites where it all began: the first factory system, the first production line, the first shift work, the first time h

Why Do We Still Work This Way? What if the way your organisation runs today, team structures, daily rhythms, and performance systems were never designed for your world at all? We set out to trace the roots of the modern world of work on the Sooner Safer Happier 1st Industrial Revolution Tour. We visited the sites where it all began: the first factory system, the first production line, the first shift work, the first time human labour was treated as a repeatable input rather t

Are your metrics enabling Better Value Sooner Safer Happier? Why do we need to talk about metrics now? Most organisations have various...

Myth : Adam Smith in the Wealth of Nations (1776) was the first to write about division of labour. There's just one problem: Adam Smith never set foot in a pin factory. In fact we need to go back 3 steps to Jean-Rodolphe Perronet in the 1740s, the only person in this story to have actually visited a pin factory!  Image of a pin factory, Diderot's Encyclopédie (1755) (1) Adam Smith (1776): The Economist Smith's description of a pin factory in The Wealth of Nations (1776) intr

For many organisations, the annual planning season is a familiar ritual - strategy decks get dusted off, budgets are locked in, and project roadmaps are finalised months before the new financial year. But behind this seemingly structured process lies a system that’s often disjointed, misaligned, and increasingly unfit for the pace of today’s world. If your annual planning sounds like this, it doesn’t need to be this way. Why annual planning needs to change In many organisatio

How to build, enable, and measure learning in an organisation If you, your team or your organisation stopped learning today, how long would it stay relevant? It’s scary to think about this question in a world that changes rapidly, and is so uncertain. Continuous learning is the only way to stay adaptable, resilient, and relevant. Learning happens every day. Learning happens at every level in the organisation. Hence, learning is not a nice-to-have in the organisation. Learning

In April, we “officially welcomed” our newest team member, AI. We hadn’t actually advertised a role, but had heard such good things that we arranged to meet. Our APAC team is located across Australia so much of our collaboration and support is virtual. We appreciated AI’s willingness to spend a little time with each of us as an introduction. Collectively we concluded that we could definitely see potential value, but recognised that we’d need to work with a more dynamic role d

In 2023, I wrote a perspective on the 5 roles and their behaviours for leaders. This was based upon my work in transformation and strategy to execution advisory from the previous decade.  A few years on, I see these 5 roles as even more critical than ever! Today’s leadership environment is even more complex, uncertain, and demanding. To support leaders in navigating this, I’ve transformed these 5 roles into a light-weight self-assessment tool designed to guide reflection and