http://deltapartners.ca en delta@deltapartners.ca Copyright 2012 2012-02-01T01:59:35+00:00 http://www.deltapartners.ca/en/blog/entry/business-sustainability-and-risk/ http://www.deltapartners.ca/en/blog/entry/business-sustainability-and-risk/#When:01:59:35Z Last week I was lucky enough to attend an Executive Workshop in Phoenix, Arizona, that was presented by the AHC Group, and led by the group’s founder, Dr. Bruce Piasecki. For those who are familiar with the long-term focus of Bruce’s work, it will come as no surprise that the theme of this meeting was around various aspects of business sustainability—often referred to as corporate social responsibility (CSR). These discussions revolved around the various ways that a business can approach the… Blog 2012-02-01T01:59:35+00:00 http://www.deltapartners.ca/en/blog/entry/food-safety-a-complex-leadership-challenge-part-2/ http://www.deltapartners.ca/en/blog/entry/food-safety-a-complex-leadership-challenge-part-2/#When:16:47:44Z This post follows on Part 1 where we discussed employee engagement and the vestiges of 19th century management.   “Treat regular workers as if they were volunteers.” Drucker on Leadership Gaining Traction on Engagement What exactly do we mean when we talk about ‘improving engagement’? Put simply: both individuals and managers must focus on how they need to work together. To do so, employees must: Understand the Strategy and contribute to the organization’s mission and direction—at least in terms of how… Blog 2012-01-23T16:47:44+00:00 http://www.deltapartners.ca/en/blog/entry/food-safetya-complex-leadership-challenge-part-1/ http://www.deltapartners.ca/en/blog/entry/food-safetya-complex-leadership-challenge-part-1/#When:18:52:03Z At their most basic level, companies exist to create revenues by selling products to customers.  And for most industries, this seller-buyer relationship is founded on a basis of trust.  The buyer trusts that the seller is going to provide a product or service that performs well, and can be counted on to do so consistently and safely.  Sellers who reliably honor the trust relationship by meeting these standards find that buyers are remarkably loyal to trusted brands, and are often willing… Blog 2012-01-20T18:52:03+00:00 http://www.deltapartners.ca/en/blog/entry/steve-jobs-reality-distortion-field-leadership-or-bullying/ http://www.deltapartners.ca/en/blog/entry/steve-jobs-reality-distortion-field-leadership-or-bullying/#When:19:21:08Z I was born in 1955, the same year as Steve Jobs and Bill Gates. As a fellow cohort a few things distinguish me from them: I’m a lot shorter, far less wealthy, not nearly as smart, nowhere near the visionary, and the list goes on. Plus, I’m a boring Canadian. Having already read a lot on Jobs in recent weeks, and despite all the media hoopla following his death, I still bought his new biography as soon as it was on… Blog 2012-01-17T19:21:08+00:00 http://www.deltapartners.ca/en/blog/entry/the-case-for-transforming-to-a-process-managed-organization/ http://www.deltapartners.ca/en/blog/entry/the-case-for-transforming-to-a-process-managed-organization/#When:16:28:22Z   A recent global strategic business report makes the assertion that the global business process management market is projected to exceed $5.0 billion by the year 2017. This is good news for the Information Technology community, considering the advent of cloud computing, mobile and other technologies, but what does it mean for businesses, non-government organizations, and organizations and agencies of different levels of governments? We can start with some definitions. What is Business Process Management? Business Process Management (BPM) can be… Blog 2012-01-13T16:28:22+00:00 http://www.deltapartners.ca/en/news-and-events/entry/351/ http://www.deltapartners.ca/en/news-and-events/entry/351/#When:16:16:49Z Delta Partners is pleased to be participating in the 2nd annual Food Manufacturing and Safety Forum, to be held in Dallas, Texas, January 25-26. We will be there to discuss our enhanced consulting capacity in Organizational Development and Change Management, as well as our expertise in food safety consulting. We look forward to developing new relationships that will allow us to assist in developing client capacity, and support U.S. based food companies in their export development to Canada. If you will… News and Events 2012-01-11T16:16:49+00:00 http://www.deltapartners.ca/en/blog/entry/is-there-a-difference-between-program-evaluation-and-performance-measuremen/ http://www.deltapartners.ca/en/blog/entry/is-there-a-difference-between-program-evaluation-and-performance-measuremen/#When:13:42:58Z In response to my recent blog concerning why Public Service managers should care about Program Evaluation, I was asked about the difference between evaluation and performance measurement.  As these terms are bandied about rather loosely, there may be a perception that they are really the same thing. The Simple Answer The simplest answer is that performance measurement and evaluation are complementary activities.   Evaluation gives meaning to performance measurement and performance measurement gives empirical rigour (evidence) to evaluation. For example, the performance… Blog 2012-01-10T13:42:58+00:00 http://www.deltapartners.ca/en/blog/entry/deltas-top-10-posts-for-2011/ http://www.deltapartners.ca/en/blog/entry/deltas-top-10-posts-for-2011/#When:19:12:39Z For the past year we’ve been publishing posts fairly consistently (we aim for twice weekly on Tuesdays and Fridays) on the Delta Blog on a range of topics - from change management and leadership to program evaluation and innovation. Overall, I think that we have achieved our goal to provide our clients and readers with information and resources that are readable, accessible, timely, current, helpful and valuable. We’ve attempted to share our professional knowledge and experience to help both individuals and… Blog 2011-12-23T19:12:39+00:00 http://www.deltapartners.ca/en/blog/entry/managing-change-a-workbook-for-personal-and-organizational-change/ http://www.deltapartners.ca/en/blog/entry/managing-change-a-workbook-for-personal-and-organizational-change/#When:20:34:47Z "Profound and lasting cultural change in an organization cannot happen unless individuals...themselves undergo a personal change”.      - Stephen R. Covey Over the years, we have helped a large number of clients deal with the “pain points” they face in their work place. All of these cases involved understanding the root causes of their pain. Invariably, both the pain and the root causes were highly unique to each situation. However, there are also common traits that are universally present in these… Blog 2011-12-19T20:34:47+00:00 http://www.deltapartners.ca/en/white-papers/entry/345/ http://www.deltapartners.ca/en/white-papers/entry/345/#When:20:25:13Z Delta Partners is pleased to offer this eBook—Managing Change: a workbook for personal and organizational change. This eBook doesn’t pretend to be an exhaustive compilation on the subject of organization development and change. Rather, its aim is to provide a condensed and readable workbook that you can work through on our own to help you understand change, how it impacts you personally, and how it impacts those around you.  We have included a number of checklists, tools, and resource links to… White Paper 2011-12-19T20:25:13+00:00 http://www.deltapartners.ca/en/blog/entry/strategic-operating-reviews-the-ultimate-leadership-challenge-part-2/ http://www.deltapartners.ca/en/blog/entry/strategic-operating-reviews-the-ultimate-leadership-challenge-part-2/#When:15:18:02Z What Needs to be Done? “Treat regular workers as if they were volunteers.”       Drucker on Leadership Overview While research shows that engaging employees can directly improve performance, experience has shown that it is not easy to do. In its July 2011 study, The Engagement/Performance Equation (paywall), the Aberdeen Group states that to move towards Best-in-Class performance, organizations must: Work with senior leaders to get buy-in, and support engagement and performance management efforts; Give managers the tools to deliver effective feedback… Blog 2011-12-09T15:18:02+00:00 http://www.deltapartners.ca/en/blog/entry/strategic-operating-reviews-the-ultimate-leadership-challenge-part-1/ http://www.deltapartners.ca/en/blog/entry/strategic-operating-reviews-the-ultimate-leadership-challenge-part-1/#When:21:43:08Z In an interview report in a recent issue of the Canadian Government Executive magazine, Wayne Wouters, the top public servant in the Canadian federal government, answered a number of questions explaining his take on leadership in the Public Service—Modern leadership: agile, adept and collaborative. I totally subscribe to the essence of his message; however, for me the message didn’t directly address the scale of change required given the enormity of the challenge facing Canada’s Public Service (PS) posed by the SOR/DRAP… Blog 2011-12-06T21:43:08+00:00 http://www.deltapartners.ca/en/blog/entry/measurement-and-evaluation-integrating-the-functions-at-ppx/ http://www.deltapartners.ca/en/blog/entry/measurement-and-evaluation-integrating-the-functions-at-ppx/#When:21:13:18Z from: Performance and Planning Exchange (PPX) - November 28, 2011 This morning I attended another excellent PPX sharing and learning event at which senior performance measurement and evaluation managers from TBS and several line departments gave refreshingly candid presentations on the progress of measurement and evaluation integration. By way of background, the Government of Canada recognizes the close relationship between measurement and evaluation in the context of its broad agenda for results-based management from a whole-of-government perspective.   This means developing fact-based… Blog 2011-12-02T21:13:18+00:00 http://www.deltapartners.ca/en/blog/entry/lessons-in-innovation-from-ps-engage-2011/ http://www.deltapartners.ca/en/blog/entry/lessons-in-innovation-from-ps-engage-2011/#When:04:45:42Z Along with over a hundred other delegates, presenters and sponsors, I had the pleasure of participating in the PS Engage 2011 Learning & Networking Event last Tuesday.  The Canadian Aviation and Space Museum was a wonderful and inspiring choice of venue, and we were extremely fortunate to have the entire run of the museum for the day—not to mention lunch in amongst the aircraft. I would definitely recommend that anyone planning a conference in the Ottawa area consider the Aviation Museum… Blog 2011-11-30T04:45:42+00:00 http://www.deltapartners.ca/en/news-and-events/entry/340/ http://www.deltapartners.ca/en/news-and-events/entry/340/#When:14:01:09Z The Honourable Tony Clement, President of the Treasury Board Secretariat and Minister for FedNor, announced at PS Engage 2011 the release of Guideline for External Use of Web 2.0. This long-awaited guideline provides Public Servants with direction in both their official duties and personal use of Web 2.0 tools and technologies. Delta Partners was proud to contribute to the success of PS Engage 2011, and our representatives at the event were delighted that this important announcement was part of the kick-off… News and Events 2011-11-24T14:01:09+00:00 http://www.deltapartners.ca/en/blog/entry/come-to-ps-engage-2011-and-think/ http://www.deltapartners.ca/en/blog/entry/come-to-ps-engage-2011-and-think/#When:19:15:32Z We have burned a lot of cycles on this blog writing and writing and writing about… Some of the many hurdles facing the Canadian Public Service The Great Recession has left global markets in turmoil, and, even though we Canadians have been well insulated, this thing is far from over. Fiscal responsibility is the overriding theme for every public institution—with the result that the leaders in our Public Service are facing great change and uncertainty as they engage in SOR/DRAP. The… Blog 2011-11-16T19:15:32+00:00 http://www.deltapartners.ca/en/blog/entry/leading-changetalking-about-communication/ http://www.deltapartners.ca/en/blog/entry/leading-changetalking-about-communication/#When:17:35:52Z We spend a lot of time talking about communication around here. Why? Because it may very well be the most important aspect of anything you hope to achieve in a group environment.  Right now, we’re focusing on change and the steps that you can take to give yourself the best chance of success. But it really goes beyond just change management—if you can’t communicate effectively, you can’t accomplish anything where the group size is greater than one! You Under-Communicate 100x Too… Blog 2011-11-11T17:35:52+00:00 http://www.deltapartners.ca/en/blog/entry/change-ready-or-change-fatigue/ http://www.deltapartners.ca/en/blog/entry/change-ready-or-change-fatigue/#When:02:54:31Z Your organization has—though painful at first—completed a large-scale change initiative. And now you are starting your next change project, right on the heels of the first one. Taken together, it just might be too much change for your employees to absorb and implement. Following one change program with another often encourages employees to maintain a ‘bunker’ mentality, where they feel they just have to wait-out the current transition in the hope that all will go back to the status quo.  While… Blog 2011-11-07T02:54:31+00:00 http://www.deltapartners.ca/en/blog/entry/everyone-hates-change-12-steps-to-help-overcome-the-fear-and-doubt/ http://www.deltapartners.ca/en/blog/entry/everyone-hates-change-12-steps-to-help-overcome-the-fear-and-doubt/#When:19:21:31Z Everyone knows—and in theory agrees—that change is necessary.  It must and will occur. Implementing change is hard. And making it stick is even harder whether you are following Kotter’s Eight Steps to Changeor David Ulrich’s Seven Key Factors for Making Change Happen. Irrespective of your organization’s change capacity, you may encounter some employees who resist change. But what do you do when a key person on your team just can’t or won’t adapt to change? When almost everyone is on-board, except… Blog 2011-11-01T19:21:31+00:00 http://www.deltapartners.ca/en/blog/entry/strategic-operating-reviews-a-checklist-to-understand-your-capacity-for-cha/ http://www.deltapartners.ca/en/blog/entry/strategic-operating-reviews-a-checklist-to-understand-your-capacity-for-cha/#When:17:25:01Z As the rate of change that our people and our organizations face continues to accelerate, many are undoubtedly in the process of preparing for some form of transformational change. For public servants, most of you are preparing to face the fallout of the current SOR, while private sector companies wrestle with increasing intrusion from global competition or the market disintermediation of online players.  In either case, your organization is undoubtedly in the process of or preparing to undergo a “transformation”. Against… Blog 2011-10-25T17:25:01+00:00