Blue Monarch Management

Category: Articles

  • Sustainable Companies: Retention & Productivity

    Sustainable Companies: Retention & Productivity

    Building a sustainable business in 2024 is challenging. Late in 2021, we started a pivot towards becoming a more responsible company which I shared in a recent article, Our Direction in Sustainability – Blue Monarch Management. Our company is cycling through its fourth iteration and is about to engage in a period of sustainable high growth – a fifth iteration.  Despite being a knowledge company staffed with uber-bright, ambitious, and creative management consultants, building an operating model that could meet the needs of today’s modern professional consultant has been one of the more complex challenges we have faced to date. This complexity to meet the needs of our professional staff (and more broadly, workers in general across most industries) has shifted significantly over the last decade, particularly in response to disruptive global events. Well-researched trends and trajectories have emerged, and businesses have invested heavily in trying to understand them – one foot in the past pining for a return to the ‘good ole’ days we understand’ and one foot in the future that we don’t yet understand while simultaneously trying to anticipate where to go next to create some advantage. It is hard to criticize the modern executive, inundated by the exponential volatility and uncertainty of managing not one but several ambiguous and highly complex shifts in the competitive landscape. Go ahead, pick a few favourites:

    1. The War for Talent.
    2. Hybrid work environment.
    3. The ‘Gig Economy’.
    4. The ‘Sharing Economy’.
    5. The Great Resignation.
    6. Generative AI.
    7. Robotization.
    8. Increasing awareness of mental health issues and the need for better supports.
    9. Diversity, Equity, and Inclusiveness.

    I have worked for many years with the professional bodies representing Canadian (and now global) Certified Management Consultants. I review industry reports. I shape policy and professional development initiatives, and I am watching the industry shift rapidly with the disruptive introduction of many new forms of consultants – some take on the flavour of traditional management consulting, but many others are displacing traditional management consulting through technology, automation, changes to how information is sourced or accessed. There has also been an infusion of new consultants drawn from a many different career backgrounds (science, health, engineering, the arts, etc.) because businesses demand specialized knowledge outside of the realm of traditional business, strategy, and leadership. At an industry level, this is cause for great celebration as consulting, particularly management consulting, is an excellent career path for people seeking challenge, empowerment, income, and insulation to the whims of company business cycles. The industry changes also afford modern businesses greater access to portable knowledge, the ability to grow and shrink their workforce with more flexibility, and an increased level of disruption that can improve the resiliency of a company. Management consulting, as a global industry, is valued into the hundreds of billions of dollars with strong growth projections and fundamentals, so I feel secure in the knowledge our company will remain relevant, albeit awash in competition requiring focus on adaptability and agility as a permanent state to remain relevant.

    What do these trends have to do with building and operating a sustainable business and why is management consulting important here?

    It’s still about the People.

    People inspire, operate, and sustain businesses. And businesses don’t always understand the needs of their people or how to unlock the full potential from their workforce. Josh Bersin’s recent  HR Predictions for 2024: The Global Search For Productivity – JOSH BERSIN article is very insightful, and his annual trends and predictions are always an excellent read. He cites a stark rise in employee burnout from 2019 to 2023 and highlights key trends such as (younger) employees taking back their power to ‘act as they wish’ and quietly leave for another company. His key message in this report was that companies are hunting for productivity gains – and this is critically important – the speed to reinvent faster than the competition.

    Bersin’s team recommends that  companies focus on building a high-retention model (playfully named ‘labour-hoarding’) to allow for career growth. They emphasize that it is essential for top leadership to better understand the ‘needs, desires, and demands’ of their workers with better focus on listening and delegation (read: empowerment). Some compelling supporting evidence identifies that the top needs of the workers are the desire for career advancement, personal empowerment, and to have a societal impact.

    To a professional advisory firm like Blue Monarch, the implications are twofold. First, we need to be in tune with who we hire and what our team members need. Our organizational structure, career development, culture, learning and mentorship practices, operating model, values, and leadership must absolutely acknowledge these needs and trends. Our organizational culture needs to be tailored whenever possible to the unique requirements of each person in our firm. The task is exhausting and complex and is absolutely essential to get right.  The imperative is critical when you consider that as professional management consultants operating as trusted advisors and working on strategy and tactics with business leaders, our people can have tremendous impact on a great many companies and communities. Long-term relationships built on trust and knowledge transfer matter – so retention and productivity matter. Quality matters. Additionally, we work with clients to help them better understand and develop their own people. This implies that businesses we work with also need to pay attention to the needs of their people and make smart, well-timed investments that address the evolving needs of today’s modern workforce. That is sustainability.

    About

    Jeff Peterson is the Founder and CEO of Blue Monarch Management and is a professional Management Consultant specializing in Strategy, Governance, and Organizational Development for companies designing and driving transformational investments.

  • Our Direction in Sustainability

    Our Direction in Sustainability

    July 27, 2024 marked the sixth anniversary of Blue Monarch Management. When I first launched Blue Monarch Management in 2018, my inspiration came initially from wanting to surround myself with smarter, principled management consultants who were driven by something larger than power and profit, with purpose that could grow beyond themselves and frankly, who could help me to step up my own game into a larger world of building companies and communities. I also saw the opportunity to move beyond simple project delivery with clients – many of whom did not want to work with consultants – to one where the work would be pulled to us by clients aspiring to change, thrive, and be different – to lead. Over the last couple of years, we started to shed the textbook management consulting practices in favour of introducing new language and values around building sustainable companies and communities while we walk alongside our clients, helping them to navigate their own development journeys.  In a world where 20% of new businesses fail in their first year and a mere 50% survive to celebrate their fifth birthday, I am incredibly proud  to arrive at this milestone anniversary with a team who possesses the courage to  be different.

    Sustainability is a complex concept that has implications and applications for businesses and society. Sustainability can be understood as the ability to meet the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs, and as a balance and integration of the environmental, social, and economic dimensions of human activities and outcomes. As a former colleague rightly described it, we are future-proofing ourselves and developing the experience to guide our clients towards long-term viability through sustainable business practices that start today.

    I believe sustainability can also be seen as a strategic advantage and a moral obligation for businesses that want to create value and impact for themselves and their stakeholders, and who want to contribute to the global goals and challenges. We often work with our clients early in our engagements to help them connect their purpose to more globally-recognized needs and priorities, such as “solving world hunger”. Sustainability has both costs and benefits, which can be direct or indirect, tangible or intangible, short-term or long-term, and which require a holistic and long-term perspective and assessment.

    The research is certainly mixed around whether “sustainable companies” are more profitable – though that is only one dimension of long-term viability, and in my opinion, no longer the most important way to measure the impact companies have on the world around them.

    We have begun to shift our recruitment practices to bring on management consultants with high acumen, training, and experience around the dimensions of governance, social impact, and the environment – while still knowing how to interpret the construct, health, and performance of a company. I am pleased to see a selfless culture building in our organization centered around how to do right in the world, and demonstrated repeatedly by small acts of kindness, a sense of fun and play, and a natural curiosity around the work of our clients and partners. We are intentionally upgrading our language to align with the needs of our community, clients, and network stakeholders, and  we are learning from each other.

    Sustainability for Blue Monarch Management will intentionally encompass the dimensions of ESG (environment, social, governance), corporate social responsibility, and long-term viability for us, and importantly also as part of our core playbook working with clients who are trying to grow and compete in world markets. We have embarked on a journey to create awesome career pathways for those who work closely with us. Careers of significance, learning, empowerment, autonomy, wealth, and impact. With all the ego I can muster, we must be leaders in authentically applying high moral and ethical standards to the growth and transformation of competitive businesses and communities. We will advance our development around tightening our ecological footprint; improving our human development and our happiness indices; and building our social capital – all core measures of sustainability. Continuing to shape Blue Monarch Management around these dimensions will award us the street credit to advise in today’s increasingly disruptive and competitive world.

    The first six years introduced powerful learnings about the growth and development of Blue Monarch Management. We have learned some important lessons from our own successes and failures, and as a firm staffed with assertive, quiet, thoughtful leaders who read, engage, ask tough questions, and work closely to understand our clients, we have learned much that will help to shape the growth and navigate complex change with inspiring companies and communities in the next leg of our journey.

    About

    Jeff Peterson is the Founder and CEO of Blue Monarch Management and is a professional Management Consultant specializing in Strategy, Governance, and Organizational Development for companies designing and driving transformational investments.

  • Hope: The Cornerstone of Employee Experience

    Hope: The Cornerstone of Employee Experience

    Picture a project team composed of new recruits—engineers and energy scientists—led by a seasoned veteran at the company. Outwardly, the project is thriving, but internally, the team is filled with despair. The leader sets unachievable targets and uses threats, boasting about their extensive networks in the energy field. The team is completely demoralized and fearful. They perceive the organizational culture as hierarchical, fear based and undesirable. One of the team members stated, “All I wish is to have the strength to survive one year in the role and then I will look for another company to work with.”

    This is a real-life example from one of my previous organizations where such a toxic sub-culture existed in one team, while the wider organization experienced support, investment and purpose-fueled leadership. Recognizing the cultural deviance, knowledge of which came about due to an informal chance conversation with one of the team members, my team and I intervened. We communicated compassionately, restructured the team reporting, and provided the necessary support. Over time, the team’s confidence and hope were restored, leading to improved performance and morale.

    This is a great example to talk about many different topics within the People and Culture/Human Resources realm. I choose to talk about HOPE. In my opinion, hope is the glue that holds teams together, builds commitment to goals and helps retain critical talent within organizations.

    Understanding Hope

    What is hope? It is not an ethereal feeling or some abstract concept that cannot be explained. As Brené Brown puts it, hope is a cognitive process made up of a trilogy of goals, pathways, and agency. Hope is created by:

    • Setting Realistic Goals: We have the ability to set realistic goals, knowing the direction and the mileposts along the way. This clarity provides a sense of purpose and direction, ensuring that employees know where they are headed and what is expected of them.
    • Developing Pathways: We are able to figure out how to achieve those goals, including the ability to stay flexible and develop alternative routes as we encounter obstacles and learn on our journey. This flexibility fosters resilience and adaptability, crucial traits in today’s dynamic work environment.
    • Believing in Ourselves: We believe in ourselves; we believe that our effort makes a difference, and that continuous learning and intentional effort will lead us to achieve the goals we have set for ourselves. This self-efficacy is fundamental to maintaining motivation and engagement.
    Creating Hope in Organizations

    Translating this for an organization, it is clear that the combination of goal setting, ongoing feedback, reflection and learning, and inspirational leadership are the drivers that can create hope.

    • Goal Setting: Organizations need to ensure that their employees have clear, realistic goals that align with the overall vision and mission of the company.
    • Ongoing Feedback: Continuous feedback is vital. It keeps employees informed about their progress and areas for improvement. Constructive feedback helps them stay on track and make necessary adjustments, fostering a culture of continuous improvement.
    • Reflection and Learning: Encouraging a culture of reflection and learning is crucial. This can be achieved through regular training sessions, workshops, and opportunities for professional development. When employees feel that their organization is investing in their growth, they are more likely to remain engaged and hopeful about their future within the company.
    • Inspirational Leadership: Leaders play a pivotal role in fostering hope. They need to be visionary, setting a clear direction for the organization and inspiring their teams to strive for excellence. Inspirational leaders are also empathetic, supportive and humble. They are willing to be vulnerable and in turn invite openness from their teams leading to higher performance, collaboration, morale and positivity in the work environment.
    The Role of Human Resources in Cultivating Hope

    Human Resources professionals are in a unique position to cultivate hope within an organization. By designing and implementing processes that support goal setting, feedback, reflection, and inspirational leadership, they can create an environment where employees feel hopeful about their future.

    In my own experience, working with visionary and inspirational leaders and partnering with them to define and implement performance enhancement processes within various organizations has given me the opportunity to see such hope being created. It has been the critical factor making people stay with the organization in the face of tough times, offer discretionary effort, and create unprecedented success.

    Those that lean into creating hope through clear goals, continuous feedback, and inspirational leadership can attract and retain the best minds, driving innovation and success.

    Practical Ways That Human Capital Consultants Can Partner With Business Leaders To Create Hope
    • Facilitate the Process to Set Clear Goals: Deeply understand the organizational strategy and work with leaders to ensure that every team and employee has clear, achievable goals. Institutionalize the mechanisms to regularly review and adjust these goals to keep them relevant and attainable.
    • Implement Continuous Feedback Mechanisms: Create systems for ongoing feedback, such as regular check-ins, performance reviews, and informal feedback channels. Shape and sharpen leaders who encourage a culture of open communication. Strengthen the feedback loops in the organization that provide you the pulse of the people on a regular basis.
    • Promote Learning and Development: Design relevant skill-based, employee and leader centric training programs, reflection workshops, and linked opportunities for vertical and lateral career advancement.
    • Support and Develop Inspirational Leadership: Coach leaders to shine their vision, empathy and growth mindset in order to promote resilience and flexibility within their teams. Provide them with the tools and resources they need to inspire and motivate their teams. Additionally, offer coaching to encourage a growth mindset that promotes resilience and flexibility.

    Blue Monarch Management can enable you to create an environment where hope thrives, leading to a stronger, more engaged, and more successful organization.

    Pooja Agarwal is a Strategic Human Capital and Entrepreneurship Consultant with Blue Monarch Management. She brings functional HR and Leadership expertise with 20+ years of international experience in various industry sectors, including experience working with scale-up stage ventures. Pooja holds a Master’s degree in HR and Organization Development, is pursuing her Executive MBA (2025), and holds SHRM-SCP and CPHR designations. She is passionate about building Teams and Cultures that enable teams to thrive, perform and prosper. Reach out to her at pooja.agarwal@bluemonarch.ca to co-craft personalized Team Coaching, Leadership Coaching, and Strategic HR Processes, Policies and Systems solutions for your team/ organization.

  • Everybody Is Talking About Scaling. Should We Be Talking About It?

    Everybody Is Talking About Scaling. Should We Be Talking About It?

    Growth and scaling are two terms that are often used interchangeably in the context of business development, but they have different meanings and implications. Both may be important objectives for companies of any size, but they require different strategies and techniques, and those practices will certainly drive different outcomes, benefits, and risks.

    The (Traditional Slow) Growth Operating Model

    Growth, defined for this discussion, refers to increasing the revenue or market share of a business while ramping up assets and resources that help to build revenue streams. Companies that are built around a ‘growth’ operating model can add much cost to generate greater revenue. Some business model examples you might recognize as slow growth include medical practices, traditional post-secondary education models, consulting and other professional firms that operate through a trade-time-for-money model, many resource-intensive industries, and business models that have manual efforts by staff and contractors and/or high knowledge elements. Many traditional bricks-and-mortar operations that require optimization of time and space with people are also tied to this form of a traditional growth model.

    The Scaling Model

    Scaling refers to increasing the efficiency or profitability of a business that can lead to rapid growth. Companies that invest in scaling practices may invest smartly in leadership, systems, and culture development to avoid introducing ongoing costs while still driving revenue growth. Operating profits in a scaling company may have potential to generate higher free cash for reinvestment and accelerated growth. Scaling is the process of growing a business to meet increasing demand, reach new markets, and achieve greater impact. It’s not just about growing bigger, but also about growing smarter, faster, and more efficiently. Scaling requires a strategic vision, a flexible mindset, and a willingness to innovate and experiment. Scaling also involves overcoming various challenges and risks, such as managing complexity, maintaining quality, ensuring alignment, and fostering culture.

    True scalability involves adding revenue at a much greater rate than costs, ensuring efficient expansion without compromising quality or profitability.

    Scaling within medium or large-sized enterprise has been an area of professional interest since my days working within the  railroad industry. Following the 2008/2009 global financial crisis and further ongoing disruption in global commodity markets,  the ability to grow profit has depended increasingly on international market selection, cost management, productivity, demand, and capacity. These optimization investment trends are pervasive in resource and asset intensive industries such as transportation, energy, mining, and manufacturing.

    We have also been working with a more entrepreneurial client base whose primary aspirations are to transform their companies repeatedly and iteratively through innovation, great positioning, and relationship management, while either entering or creating new markets facing incredible pressures and disruptive forces. These companies consistently aspire to chase high growth through relentless innovation in what they perceive as untapped opportunities to solve well-known business problems.

    Scaling a business is not a one-size-fits-all process. It depends on various factors, such as the type, stage, and industry of your business, the size and nature of your market, the preferences and expectations of your customers, and the availability and suitability of your resources and capabilities.

    Should you Scale?

    The strategy and business cases to scale an organization should ask and attempt to answer these and other questions first – all focused on answering ‘why’ first, before getting to ‘how’ and ‘when’.

    Strategic Thoughts

    • Do you think your  products, services  and operating model can create a sustainable competitive advantage for you? What is your revenue and profit potential? What problems can you solve?
    • What market(s) should you select and is there a strong trend that will help you to quickly build momentum for profitable and fast growth?
    • Why do you want to grow? Are you (perhaps naively) chasing the “Unicorn” dream to be “the next…”?
    • Have others paved the way before you or do you have potential to be a market leader?
    • Do your plans follow rigorous business fundamentals or are you pursuing some ‘implied growth imperative’?
    • What happens if you fail and where are your potential failure points? How can you manage those risks?

    Practical Matters

    • How will you resource your rapid growth with people, funds, and time and what value are you potentially negotiating away?
    • Can you establish sufficient working capital to build control and stability into your growth?
    • What investments in projects and initiatives should you make and when?
    • Will you create ongoing dependencies on investors for revenue and funds to continue your operations?
    • How will you establish and build the right relationships with banks and other financial institutions to power your growth and manage sustainable operations and risk?
    • What leadership structures and cultures will  you need to develop…and when…to power your growth?

    Ethics and Morality: Sustainability Considerations

    • What ethics and morality principles should you follow around staffing and labour practices, particularly in higher risk / higher rewards growth scenarios?
    • What are your obligations to your people as your growth potentially outpaces your systems, infrastructure, and culture development?
    • What are your obligations to your communities as you develop and position your products and services in untapped markets?

    Conclusion

    The nature of growth, positioning, and scaling companies will be the topic of a series of posts by Blue Monarch Management over the coming weeks. We will continue to develop narratives around investment in systems, people, leadership, culture, and strategic analysis.

    Jeff Peterson is the Founder and CEO of Blue Monarch Management and is a professional Management Consultant specializing in Strategy, Governance, and Organizational Development for companies designing and driving transformational investments.

  • Avoiding the Stall

    Avoiding the Stall

    With the arrival of spring on the calendar, Albertans honor the tradition of waiting out Old Man Winter’s final tantrums as his dominance gives way to gentle spring rains and the rise of green chutes signalling the countdown to summer bliss. As my thoughts impatiently drift toward the pursuit of fair-weather pastimes, I was inspired to prepare a brisket for smoking just as soon as the late March snow drifts make their final retreat. Always eager to find an opportunity to leverage a metaphor into my writing, it occurred to me that my brisket project shared certain attributes with my experience managing businesses through rapid growth and change.

    Our metaphor centers around a phenomenon experienced by barbeque pit bosses called “the stall.” This refers to the eight to twelve-hour mark of a low and slow smoking process when the internal temperature of the meat reaches 165 degrees Fahrenheit. At this point, no matter how long you wait, the internal temperature refuses to rise, and untended, our precious brisket would shrivel into a dried-out, inedible hunk of carbon before it reaches the target temperature of 205 degrees.

    Just as our seasoned pit boss would intervene by wrapping the brisket in butcher paper to prevent evaporation and allow the cooking process to continue, a technique known as the “Texas crutch,” CEOs who are managing “the stall” within their high-growth organizations are well served to intervene before organizational inertia sets the company into a highly destructive state of equilibrium.

    Organizations, particularly those experiencing rapid growth or scaling, will outgrow their founder’s ability to assert influence over the critical business aspects that drive the key outcomes. Sales conversion, service delivery, and margin efficiencies are highly vulnerable in these fast-growing companies.

    Founders need to ask themselves when, not if, their business growth will outpace their ability to maintain dominion over all aspects of the firm.

    Legacy managers, often promoted for their aptitude in previous non-management roles, are keen to establish relevance in the management hierarchy as the company achieves scale. Inevitably, this leads to the onset of agency issues and the development of silos within the firm. The inevitable outcome is that the system will move toward balance and its equilibrium point of productivity that resists any increase in demand on the system. In a business context, equilibrium is a terminal disease if left untreated.

    At this point, the CEO, often aware of the inertia building within the firm, begins mandating the management teams to intervene with the organizational deficiencies that are beginning to show up in the firm’s KPIs. These might include reduced service delivery metrics, diminishing sales conversion rates, or directional drift from the firm’s North Star principles and mandates.

    Frustrated by the management team’s inability or unwillingness to champion the cause and handicapped by their lack of bandwidth to direct the initiative personally, CEOs of these organizations, like our pit boss, are experiencing “the stall.”

    Understanding any problem is the key to overcoming it. There are tangible inputs into the business growth process that will result in often unexpected but otherwise predictable crisis developments.

    Understanding the business growth cycle and understanding when, not if, these emergent threats are likely to occur is key to circumventing the potential harm they represent to the business.

    As anyone who has had to shift the direction of a large organization would attest, the more entrenched systemic deficiency becomes, the more difficult and expensive it is to overcome. Shifting metaphors, big ships turn slowly, and an astute boat captain will invest early and often to build their organizational structure in a form that avoids the threat altogether. Still, leaders exhibiting head-down efforts to capture the maximum benefits of their rapidly growing firms often fail to look up long enough to see the iceberg coming. Even in late-stage cases, recognizing and diagnosing the causes of organizational inertia will enable executives to develop action plans to put the business back on course.

    Once a plan is developed, the impetus for success falls squarely on execution. It is here that corporations need to honestly assess their organizational structure requirements, specifically how they have changed since inception. In the next installment of the spring series, we will explore methods to remedy these naturally occurring bottlenecks and explore organizational structures designed to avoid them altogether.

    Neil Schmeichel is a management consultant at Blue Monarch Management in Calgary, Alberta. He is a 30-year veteran of the oilfield service industry and has cofounded two highly technical businesses with operations in Canada and the USA. Operational expertise gained over a career puts Neil in a unique position to execute his consulting mandate: to assist high-growth and scalable businesses in achieving sustainable value as a going concern and on both sides of M&A transactions.

  • Hobby or Full-Fledged Business.  Which one are you?

    Hobby or Full-Fledged Business.  Which one are you?

    In the dynamic world of entrepreneurship, the fine line between pursuing a passion as a hobby and transforming it into a thriving business often becomes blurred. Business owners, driven by their enthusiasm, sometimes struggle to recognize the crucial differences that can determine success or stagnation. 

    One primary reason for this oversight is the initial excitement that comes with pursuing a personal interest. Entrepreneurs, fueled by their love for a particular activity, may inadvertently overlook the meticulous planning and strategic approach essential for building a sustainable business. The transition from a casual hobbyist to a savvy business owner requires a shift in mindset – one that embraces not just the joy of the craft but also the complexities of running a successful venture.

    Additionally, the absence of a structured business plan contributes to the confusion. Many aspiring entrepreneurs fail to recognize the importance of outlining clear goals, understanding their target market, and establishing a solid financial foundation. Without a roadmap, businesses risk getting lost in the vast landscape of possibilities, hindering their potential for growth and profitability.

    Another factor at play is the reluctance to delegate tasks. Hobbyists often revel in the hands-on approach, personally managing every aspect of their passion project. However, the leap to a full-fledged business necessitates a willingness to entrust responsibilities to others, fostering collaboration and efficiency.

    To bridge this gap effectively, business owners must cultivate a keen awareness of their evolving role. Recognizing when to transition from a hobbyist’s mindset to that of a strategic leader is imperative. Seeking mentorship and embracing continuous learning can provide invaluable insights, helping entrepreneurs refine their business acumen and make informed decisions.

    In essence, the journey from hobby to successful business is an exhilarating transformation that demands a delicate balance between passion and pragmatism. By acknowledging the disparities and proactively addressing them, entrepreneurs can unlock the full potential of their endeavors and turn their once-beloved pastime into a flourishing enterprise.

    Rick Bennett, a global international leader with 20+ years’ experience, is renowned for driving transformative business strategies. His expertise in catalyzing growth and scaling Fortune 500 companies spans diverse regions, managing geographically diverse sales teams and overseeing hundreds of millions in revenue. Rick’s global impact extends from the Americas, Europe to Australia and even the polar regions. He champions people as the linchpin for sustainable change, excelling in forging profitable partnerships and enhancing operational efficiency in B2B and B2C realms. Rick’s passion for empowering Indigenous communities through scalable economic development earned him accolades, including “Best Workplace for Aboriginal Employees.” Recognized for strategic success, he is the visionary leader for purpose-driven growth and unparalleled performance.  

    Rick is a Management Consultant with Blue Monarch Management located in Calgary | Canada.  Bluemonarch.ca | Rick.Bennett@Bluemonarch.ca

  • Navigating the Growth Horizon: Tackling Critical Challenges Head-On

    Navigating the Growth Horizon: Tackling Critical Challenges Head-On

    In the dynamic landscape of business, growth-oriented companies constantly find themselves at the forefront of innovation, competition, and change.  I’ve had the privilege of being trusted by global Fortune 500 companies to scale market share faster than the competition, and it’s clear that while the path to success is exhilarating, it’s not without its challenges. My experience points to 6 critical issues facing growth-oriented companies today and how a proactive approach can transform hurdles into steppingstones. Let’s explore those challenges / opportunities. 

    1. Talent Acquisition and Retention: The Power of a Stellar Team.  In the race for growth, attracting and retaining top-tier talent is paramount. Companies must create an environment that fosters professional development, encourages creativity, and champions a strong company culture. By investing in their people, organizations can build a powerhouse team that propels them forward. 
    2. Market Expansion and Globalization: Seizing Opportunities Beyond Borders. While expanding into new markets offers immense growth potential, it also introduces complexities. Companies must navigate diverse regulatory landscapes, cultural nuances, and market dynamics. The “handshake” is different country to country. A comprehensive market entry strategy, paired with a global mindset, is essential to turning expansion challenges into triumphs. 
    3. Strategic Partnerships: Collaborate for Success. The business landscape is increasingly collaborative, and growth-oriented companies must recognize the power of strategic partnerships. Aligning with complementary businesses can accelerate growth, provide access to new markets, and enhance overall competitiveness. 
    4. Financial Management: Balancing Risk and Reward. Managing finances is a delicate dance, especially for companies in growth mode. Striking the right balance between investment and risk mitigation is crucial. A well-thought-out financial strategy ensures that growth is sustainable and doesn’t compromise the financial health of the organization. 
    5. Customer-Centric Approach: The Heart of Sustainable Growth. In an era where customer expectations are soaring, companies must prioritize a customer-centric approach. Understanding customer needs, providing exceptional service, and actively seeking feedback create a loyal customer base that serves as a foundation for sustainable growth. 
    6. Agility in the Face of Uncertainty: Navigating the Unknown. The business landscape is inherently unpredictable, and growth-oriented companies must embrace agility. An adaptable mindset allows organizations to pivot when necessary, turning challenges into opportunities and demonstrating resilience in the face of uncertainty. 

    Yes, the journey of growth for companies is exhilarating, filled with promise, and inevitably accompanied by challenges. My experience has shown that tackling these challenges head-on, with a proactive and positive mindset, can transform them into opportunities for unprecedented success.

    Here’s to conquering challenges and achieving unparalleled growth!

    Rick Bennett, a global international leader with 20+ years’ experience, is renowned for driving transformative business strategies. His expertise in catalyzing growth and scaling Fortune 500 companies spans diverse regions, managing geographically diverse sales teams and overseeing hundreds of millions in revenue. Rick’s global impact extends from the Americas, Europe to Australia and even the polar regions. He champions people as the linchpin for sustainable change, excelling in forging profitable partnerships and enhancing operational efficiency in B2B and B2C realms. Rick’s passion for empowering Indigenous communities through scalable economic development earned him accolades, including “Best Workplace for Aboriginal Employees.” Recognized for strategic success, he is the visionary leader for purpose-driven growth and unparalleled performance.  

    Rick is a Management Consultant with Blue Monarch Management located in Calgary | Canada.  Bluemonarch.ca | Rick.Bennett@Bluemonarch.ca

  • Policy Change in Transformation Initiatives

    Policy Change in Transformation Initiatives

    Driving an Aligned Organization

    Aligning an organization’s people, processes, and technologies is an essential principle to driving the highest sustainable value from the goods and services provided by that organization in the marketplace.

    We believe most rational companies know this.

    So where does good policy fit with this necessary alignment? And when a company decides to grow, evolve, or transform itself as part of its enterprise strategy, how could obsolete policies stall the transformation?

    Using a transformation as a catalyst for policy upgrades can yield potential benefits to an organization.

    What is Policy?

    Policies are part of a set of governing statements that define the principles, values, and intent of the organization as a foundation from decision-making and the allocation of resources. Policies are informed by a company’s strategy, by its risks, and by externally-imposed laws, regulations, standards, and social norms. Policies are most effective when they are:

    • Clear, accurate, and relevant.
    • Actively and consistently used as part of an effective governance and decision-making framework.
    • Understood and accessible by those who need to follow them.

    Common Issues

    From time to time, we review and develop policy for clients of various sizes and levels of maturity in private, public, and not-for-profit industries. Even before a company begins a transformational project, there are often issues with the policy environment. Here are some of the common ones.

    Policy Governance is Not mature

    The procedures to identify the need for new policies or changes to policies, develop annual work plans, research and develop policies, align them, and have them approved are often not well-established, leading to conflicting policies, siloes and fragmentation in the policy environment, and misalignment from the organization’s strategies and changes in outside environment.

    Not Effective – Not Followed – Lots of Exceptions

    Policies that do not reflect the needs and direction of the organization, or are not consistently applied, or are ignored without checks and balances can contribute to poor delivery of the organization’s core mission and drive other risks and potential penalties.

    Riddled with Procedural Language

    Often policies are written too prescriptively without room for interpretation and flexibility. Authors of policy are often tempted to include detailed procedural steps and standards which should be covered in other more tactical governance documents.

    Written in Legal-Speak / Language is too Heavy

    Lewis Eisen, lawyer, and author of Rules, (lewiseisen.com) is an emerging business partner of Blue Monarch Management. He is an international speaker and trains organizations in how to write respectful, progressive, clear, and useful policies. We had an opportunity to attend one of his training sessions at an information governance conference in San Diego late 2023, where he shared his best practices in removing ambiguity in policy language for organizations trying to drive improvements in acceptance and adoption of policies.  He upgraded our own thinking to separate policy development from policy communication. Previously, we had worked with our clients to develop simple, clear policies without ambiguity, legal speak, and passive language. He coached around separating the policy development work, which should be accurate, factual, and often tailored towards specialists in a particular topic (read: may be inherently complex) and the communication work to make policy direction accessible and understood by those who need to follow them.

    Policy Drift

    Thriving organizations are dynamic and may be working in hot industries that experience constant change and disruption from competitive pressures, investment, and regulations. It is natural for policies to drive out of alignment from the strategic direction a company is taking or needs to take. A strong policy governance capability or any company should include ongoing surveillance of drivers that might influence a need for new or changed policies. Many companies do not have this mature practice of ongoing policy review and surveillance, resulting in policies that do not reflect their current direction.

    Business Transformation: a Trigger for Policy Review

    When an organization plans a transformation initiative, the impacts from the changes will most certainly drive a need to review and upgrade policies.

    The Essence of a Business Transformation

    The essence of a business transformation is to change ‘what works needs to be done and why’. A transformational initiative is a strategic investment by an organization to build capacity, introduce new capabilities, drive out cost, reposition the company into new markets, manage an acquisition, or to take advantage of emerging technologies. Transformation initiatives are not always enterprise-wide, but they are, by design, intended to have a significant impact. When companies invest time, energy, funds, and skill into changing how work is done, those initiatives will create ripples across the company…and policies will certainly need to be changed.

    Benefits from Upgraded Policies

    When policies are upgraded during a transformational change initiative, companies may benefit from:

    • Easier and more complete adoption of the changes.
    • Better return on investment from the transformation initiative.
    • Sustained change without reverting back to ‘the old ways’.
    • Higher productivity and lower costs (by removing churn from policy related decisions)
    • Greater potential for the company to achieve its strategic goals.
    • Improved risk profile for the company.

    Jeff Peterson is the Founder and CEO of Blue Monarch Management and is a professional Management Consultant specializing in Strategy and Organizational Development for companies designing and driving transformational investments.

  • Painting Pictures, Telling Stories with Data

    Painting Pictures, Telling Stories with Data

    “Over the next two years, enterprise data is projected to increase at a 42.2% annual growth rate. Only 32% of data available to enterprises is put to work. The remaining 68% goes unleveraged.”

    These were critical findings in a seminal market report prepared by Seagate Technologies in 2020. Consider key global developments since the article was published. A global pandemic, prompting an acceleration in the development of technologies that change where and how people work and create value. Heightened focus on how products and services reach the market with disruptive investment in supply chains. Far more aggressive development in cyber security technologies to combat the exponentially increased threat of cyber attacks. And now, disruptive releases of world-changing artificial intelligence capabilities that are usable by everyday users. Political and sociocultural trends that have challenged basic definitions of ‘truth’, ‘facts’, and ‘evidence’ have heightened the importance of strong information governance and ‘informed decision-making’.

    To a Management Consulting firm deeply embedded in a Management Consulting industry, our livelihood is at risk because so much of what we do for our clients depends on the reliable and insightful interpretation and critical thought developed from data, reading, and research.  Colleagues in our industry have staunchly defended the relevance of Management Consultants as being relatively safe and inimitable because of our ability to develop critical assessment.

    But we are not so sure.

    In April of this year, Noor Gillani from Science Alert, summarized the opinions of five AI experts around whether AI could ever become as intelligent as humans. The consensus across the experts was that AI will achieve human level intelligence, reaching ‘artificial general intelligence’, and that much of what we once believed machines incapable of doing has been proven to be false. There are still significant questions around the potential capacity for creativity and emotional intelligence, but this year interestingly and to illustrate the point, AI and robots have been tapped for companionship to combat loneliness and mental health issues. In other emerging articles looking at the evolving ‘intelligence’ of AI, current models could meet or exceed average human IQ, with future generations potentially reaching much higher. What does this mean? In short, it means we are open to the possibility that everything we think we know or believe about ‘what AI can or will be able to do’ may be wrong. It also means we need to move quickly to build new pathways forward.

    How do we help?

    Significant global investment, inquiry, and early conversation are driving new regulations across parts of the world. We have an obligation to know the arguments, understand the ethics discussion, and to become comfortable with how to manage the technology-driven transformational changes that our clients take on as part of their pursuits for growth and development.

    As an advisory firm working with professional clients, we have long since understood the power and potential of data – but that data needs to be accessible, structured, managed, protected, interpreted, and developed for the company – and people yet have a significant role to play. Thriving businesses need to tap into the data they have and reimagine the data they need to accelerate the path to demonstrated wisdom. “Data is fairly worthless to most of us; it is the product of research or creation (such as writing), but it is not an adequate product for communicating. To have informational value, it must be organized, transformed, and presented in a way that gives it meaning.” (Shedroff, 1994).

    Our data and business analysis work powers the strategy development work and storytelling used by our advisors to drive complex change. Blue Monarch Management continues to pivot and invest in growth and development of professionals, partnerships, and capabilities along three intelligence dimensions: Business intelligence, Business Analytics, and Market Research & Competitive Intelligence.

    As one of our business analysts remarked, “BAs transform raw data into useful and actionable insights. We can transform numbers into images. But to get to there we first must work with our advisory team to understand the KPIs and metrics that will be meaningful to our clients. On that basis we extract the data and “clean” the data using such tools as PowerBi or Tableau. At all times, we recognize data’s intrinsic (face value and structured) and extrinsic (functionally useful) nature. This duality closely mirrors the business analyst’s approach to the client need vs that of the advisor – and both are required to shape a useful client deliverable.”

    The introduction of the Business Analyst role was a strategic move for us that goes back to our earliest planning days. The industry of management consulting has shifted such that large companies have brought strategists in-house – something that used to be the Consultant’s bread and butter offering. The dimensions of competition on which good strategy is developed have changed as well. To boost the quality, depth, and insight of our strategic advisory work, we have had to bolster our ability to conduct research and understand analytics and data. Management Consultants tell stories and use those stories to shape the business transformation narrative. Our BA team brings to our client work real depth and quality. And while it’s still early, our BAs have begun to strengthen our work in strategy and change by introducing data modeling, advanced analytics, and data visualization to our toolbox.

    Want to know more about how the power of information and automation can integrate with your organizational and leadership development? Why not contact us to start a conversation.

  • Tactical Cost Management

    Tactical Cost Management

    Effective management of total costs should be a top priority for any company, whether during periods with recessionary pressures or during times of growth and prosperity. When facing a crisis, companies can face hard decisions about how to manage through an emergency and set up for recovery, and often have little time to consider choices and develop options. In the months following the Covid-19 pandemic, global interest rates have risen at an alarming rate in response to inflationary pressures – impacting such elements as:

    • The ability to service debt.
    • The ease of acquiring, operating, and maintaining assets.
    • Access to stable and qualified labour.
    • Other resources required to operate a business.
    • A company’s free cash and access to working capital.

    Inflation and Market Uncertainty

    The Canadian monthly inflation rate peaked at 8.13% in June 2022 and has come down to 3.12% by October 2023 (ycharts.com, October 2023). In early October 2023, Bank of Canada Governor Nicolas Vincent noted the trend of businesses raising their pricing more frequently was likely contributing to higher-than-expected inflation and has the potential to drive a self-fulfilling prophecy of continued high inflation (CBC.ca, October 2023). The consequence – continued interest rate hikes by the Bank of Canada to combat inflation and drive towards a target of 2%. Current world events, the pandemic and recovery, and a period of heightened inflation and interest rates have influenced significant market disruption, which has impacted many businesses over the last few years.

    The Relationship Between Costs And Solvency

    How would you answer these questions?.

    1. What kind of business do you operate and how are your costs structured? Are they largely fixed, or do they fluctuate in response to your business activities?
    2. Do you feel your costs are high? How do they impact your cash outflows?
    3. What could you do if you had more free cash at the end of each month? How would you use it?

    While these questions may seem elementary, they are (or should be) part of a fundamental practice for companies of all sizes and levels of maturity. Smaller organizations often struggle because they don’t have the size or clout to negotiate favorable terms on agreements, and many have leaders who have not yet faced cost management decisions and pressures. Large, established enterprises often struggle with cost management – due to inefficiencies that have built up over time and deeply rooted inertia that prevent any easy fix.

    Cost Management and Competitive Advantage

    Understanding and effectively managing costs can create significant competitive advantages for companies of all sizes. Companies might:

    • Gain market share by offering their goods and services at a lower price than competitors.
    • Improve profitability and free cash by retaining more margin on each sale, allowing for reinvestment in the business.
    • Create the capacity for faster recovery from an emergent crisis.

    Minimizing vs. Optimizing costs

    While reducing costs may be advantageous for any business, we prefer a more nuanced optimization strategy rather than seeking the lowest cost position. Costs are required to generate value for a business and its customers. Driving out costs that lead to erosion of service or quality may impact growth potential, while optimizing a cost position for a given set of business requirements, risk appetite, and strategic goals may help a company to gain advantage.

    Tactics for Cost Management

    There are (cost effective) tactics any business can apply to better understand and reduce (or optimize) their costs. While not a complete list, these cost management tactics have proven to help organizations get a handle on their costs during times of crisis and improve profitability even during times of growth and stability. These tactics can be developed into programs, standard operating procedures, policies, and stand-alone projects without necessarily requiring expensive technology solutions.

    Our advisors can help you develop a better understanding of your total costs, how to manage them, and how to drive your business towards a more competitive and sustainable future.