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Change and Transformation
“The Beacon Group’s program proved to be a transformational experience for our staff, and has created a new, more open culture of creativity and collaboration that has given The Globe and Mail a marked and measurable competitive advantage.” — Phillip Crawley
“The Beacon Group’s thought provoking curriculum utilizes best practice tools and interactive media for evaluation, assessment and overall learning. It has helped us raise the bar on our calibre of talent.” — Ernst Lieb
“The Beacon Group was able to handle our 360 reviews across 9 offices in a manner that brought significant value to our partners, the firm and ultimately our clients.” — Judson Whiteside
“The human capital programs provided by The Beacon Group are best in class.” — Tye Burt
“The Beacon Group acted as a strategic partner and was instrumental in helping us raise the bar on candid dialogue and team performance.” — Robert Courteau
“The Beacon Group approaches very serious and difficult topics in an accessible and insightful way.” — Eric Siegel
“We engaged The Beacon Group when we needed to bring two cultures together after our first major international acquisition: the evidence of their success lies in both the subsequent growth in our business and our presence in more than twelve countries on five continents.” — Rupert Duchesne
“The Beacon Group excels in facilitating open & candid dialogue that has fostered superior team performance.” — Mary Ellen Carlyle
“Top-level thought leadership, combined with practical, cost-effective solutions—that’s the real value the Beacon Group team brings to bear on Foresters talent challenges.” — Suanne Nielsen
“The Beacon Group delivered cutting edge perspectives on many human capital topics that were tailored and customized to our company in a way that we could not have obtained at more generic, cookie-cutter advising shops.” — Doug Lord
“Doug Williamson and his team were of invaluable assistance in helping our organization navigate through a completely new strategic planning process and emerge with a three year plan resoundingly endorsed by our Board. Doug’s global perspectives and ability to drive consensus was an integral part of our success.” — Don Forgeron
“The Global HR & Communications senior team engaged the Beacon Group in shepherding us through a unique strategic planning process that involved an outside-in view of our current and future workforce and how this aligns to our business strategy. Thanks to Doug and his team it was a thought provoking process that sharpened our strategic thinking and, in the end, made our strategy stronger.” — Sylvia Chrominska
“The Beacon Group’s customized and personalized approach fit our needs perfectly. From the initial self-discovery phase all the way to recommending solutions, the work they have done has been consistently world-class. They combine strong analytics with a wealth of real world experience. They are focused, targeted and are experts at taking theoretic concepts and making them real. We look forward to working with Doug and his team as we continue to elevate our business and improve our internal performance.” — Don Romano
“I have had the pleasure of working with The Beacon Group and Doug Williamson for several years across several organizations and have always been impressed with their professionalism, work ethic and customer orientation. Doug's own highly energetic and highly customized approach to the specific needs of our business and our leadership team sets him apart from other strategic facilitators and objective "thought provokers" I have experienced. I am always grateful and impressed by the tangible results his interventions tend to produce.” — Lloyd A. Perlmutter
“The big contribution was The Beacon Group challenged our culture and our comfort level. We then arrived at a clear plan of concise deliverables that we needed to execute to move forward on our vision.” — Tony Ambler
“SKF approached The Beacon Group to develop our Talent Management program. The process implemented by Doug Williamson and his team was extremely important for us in determining how to execute the program on a clear, organized and systematic way. This was one of our most important projects that will enable us to ensure our sustainable growth.” — João Ricciarelli
“Through its sound and strategically practical business knowledge and experience The Beacon Group has and continues to assist SCI in better understanding and enabling our organization to build engaged teams and leadership capability to help make our supply chain clients more competitive.” —John Ferguson |
Provocative PropositionsIn the hyperactive and challenging world in which we all live, it is becoming harder and harder for business leaders to find time to read, reflect and gain insight from the many valuable sources at our disposal. In "Provocative Propositions", The Beacon Group attempts to fill that void by offering our opinion, often rather pointed, on a wide array of issues we believe are relevant to leading a modern organization. The articles are catalogued into 12 categories so you can quickly and easily find a topic of particular interest. We then offer three easy steps under the heading "In Our Opinion" to help business leaders take action on the key themes. Simply click on the category and read away. The Lemmings Affect
Detective Joe Friday said it best – give me the facts, just the facts. If the human race relied on “just the facts”, it would be much further ahead. However, we’re human, and we fall victim to irrational behaviour. It’s what makes us human after all.
The fact is - it’s human behaviour to make bad choices from time to time. The Problem is - when there are large amounts of money or time at stake, making bad choices can become a serious issue. The Outcome is – one organization after another gets sucked into situations where tremendous amounts of money have been spent, and inflated egos prevent any admission of error. As a result, bad courses of action are continued to the detriment of the organization. The Solution is - to have a clear, candid view of your organization, and its industry, coupled with a strong sense of humility that allows for mid-course corrections. Organizational Behaviour Issues Your organization is not alone. It happens time and time again. A decision is reached on biased information. A choice tainted by arrogance. The question is, how and why does this happen? Your employees are smart, aren’t they? The short answer is yes, they are smart, but they are also emotional creatures. They want to succeed, they sometimes get blinded. Then, add other emotional creatures, and their ambitions, and you’ve got the potential for a really big problem. Sorry for Your Loss In the book “Sway”, brothers Ori and Rom Brafman conclude that, in many cases, the human tendency to try to avoid loss of any kind causes much of this behaviour. With the recent economic meltdown, the fear of loss became very real, and shareholder satisfaction was paramount. Organizations made several bad choices:
As the economy begins to pick itself back up, one can only hope that organizations have discovered some of their shortcomings, and have learned that in order to survive the next (yes, the next) downturn, they had better have a plan. Or they risk losing everything. Swaying in the Wind As the winds of change pick up within an organization, there must be a strong sense of flexibility. Choices will be made, opinions will vary, and the organization must be constantly monitoring progress and outcomes. There is no room for paranoia, only candour and clarity. Short term priorities will shift. Leaders must prepare their employees for this reality, while maintaining a focus on the future. Leaders must also welcome feedback from each and every employee to ensure that decisions are grounded, and, if changes must be made, the success of the organization remains paramount. In Our Opinion The Beacon Group’s Keys to Making Sound Choices Benchmark - While your organization may feel they already benchmark, when you do so, be sure you are looking for best in class, not solely best in industry. If your entire industry is headed in the wrong direction, there is no hope for your organization. Seek Outside Opinions - Every now and then you must consult with outsiders to ensure that your organizational culture is not becoming a set of blinders to your organization’s reality. Fall on Small Swords - The goal of the organization should be to live to fight another day. Choose your battles, and admit defeat on some decisions. It’s healthy and a learning experience for next time. |
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