Strategies for Change

My professional background is in strategic planning. Essentially a process of: 1) identify issues; 2) prioritise; 3) develop a strategic plan; 4) implement agreed actions, and 5) monitor progress.

My expertise is in facilitating the development of corporate strategies to improve work/life issues such as work life balance (I prefer to talk about harmony), stress management, work/leisure skills development for work benefits, and transition from work to retirement (the non-financials).

Changes to a workplace culture (or, "the way we do things here") cannot of course be resolved in a workshop. Such a workshop can, however, become the first stage in a strategy to evolve that culture further. Nor can it be imposed from above. Our processes recognize the fact that your organisation forms a mosaic (your design) of unique individuals. When it comes to personal lifestyle issues such as stress and work/life harmony, each individual has equal status in the organisation, irrespective of their position in the organisation.

INDIVIDUAL EMPLOYEES therefore need to provide the bulk of the information from which the strategy will evolve. Our seasoned experience in workshop or meeting facilitation ensures that any relevant workplace issues are raised in a harmonious environment.

The process for developing a strategy will of course vary for each organization and for the type of work/leisure issues being considered – sometimes for each team within an organization. However the fundamental process is that the team leader and team members will work together to:

• Identify current issues affecting the extent to which people are energized in their business and personal life (based on use of the workshop format)
• Prioritise the key issues in need of priority attention
• Agree on a strategy for addressing the priority issues
• Develop a plan of actions to be taken, persons responsible and deadlines
• Establish an ongoing monitoring and review program,
• Review periodically and develop new strategies

Of course, only you can decide how best to resolve your unique issues. Our role is to give you a sound process for arriving at your best solutions. You choose whether our participation is as little as conducting the workshops, through to facilitating the whole strategy development process.

Successful organisations take action:

1. Circulate the link to this page to your managers/leaders to get their views on the value of the strategy. This process will work only if your senior people support it - personally and emotionally.
2. decide the key issue for which a strategy is needed to make your workplace culture more cost-effective - eg work life balance, stress management, developing leisure skills for work, transition to retirement, other
3. E-mail me or phone me on 0417 817 027 to arrange for more information or a no-obligation discussion
4. Consider which staff could best represent the feelings of staff on the agreed issues. Make sure people from different levels of management are involved. If it's a small organisation, have all the staff/managers involved.
5. Decide how much of the strategy you want me to resource
6. Arrange a date and venue for the initial workshop session.