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Welcome ...
to our December newsletter. In a month when world financial markets are as pressurised as ever in the last few decades, it would be easy to focus on the difficulties that has brought.
This month we intend to concentrate, however, on a few key functions which should be within the grasp of each and everyone of your organisations. Getting right what is within your own control will position you more strongly to survive any challenges and enable you to grasp your opportunities.
Focus on the key data
The 2008 Formula 1 motor racing season has been one of the more memorable of recent years with the championship decided only during the last few laps of the final race.
With the Championship practically in the bag, Lewis Hamilton’s drive was nearly ruined as rain started to fall in the last 5 laps. Teams were required to make immediate decisions about changing to intermediate wet tyres or struggling to the end on the quickly failing dry tyres.
McLaren and most of the other front runners chose to change, costing them time and possible track position. As cars struggled to hold grip, others found significant advantages and Hamilton lost track position and with it seemingly the championship.
The key lesson for all teams and organisations is, however, throughout all of this seeming chaos McLaren kept their cool and focussed on the key data. Formula 1 teams are like many organisations, they measure everything and in such circumstances faced the very real prospect of being swamped with data that gave no real benefit.
McLaren instead were sufficiently confident and capable that they could identify the key information, the relative speed and track position of the couple of cars around Hamilton. This enabled them to focus their driver on the task of passing Timo Glock, which he did with two corners to go, recovering track position and winning the title.
In an age when information systems allow businesses to record data on so many different variables, the ability to identify your critical information requirements is essential. Without this the prospect of information overload and confused thinking is very real.
For advice on identifying critical information requirements and developing a robust intelligence system please give us a call.
When training fails to deliver
At the start of November the House of Commons Transport Committee issued its report on the failures during the launch of Heathrow's Terminal 5. In a sequence of events labelled a ‘national disaster’, insufficient communication and poor training were highlighted as key to the failure.
The airport staff had clearly failed to recognize adequate training requirements with near catastrophic consequences. The key lessons for all organisations to draw from this are that training on its own is not necessarily sufficient. The essential requirement is for properly focussed training needs assessment which delivers valuable quality measurable training.
If you require any support on identifying your training needs please contact us to discuss how we can help. |
