Flowe_About
We help leaders and teams create change
We do this by making simple to use and accessible tools; that enable teams to succeed at turning knowledge into change.
We founded Flowe based on a belief that we can all be much more effective at turning knowledge into action, and an ambition to see teams succeed at bringing about change. We base our solutions on these key observations:
Most organizations spend time developing an insightful business strategy and set objectives. Translating the objectives into actionable initiatives and ensuring execution, is where the hard part starts. Often daily operational tasks and short term issues mean the organizations, leaders, and teams stray from the agreed objectives, resulting in targets being missed and the long term benefits are not realized.
From the book ‘Great by choice —Jim Collins— ”Successful organizations excel at sticking to strategy and ensuring timely execution of change initiatives”
Leaders set direction and objectives but often delegate execution. Teams often fail to execute, partly because they do not fully understand the objectives and perhaps do not see a compelling reason to change. Successful change requires that everyone is on board and motivated.
For any team to be motivated, communication and being able to give feedback is key. Most organizations conduct climate surveys and leaders have one-on-one meetings, but in the context of reaching objectives, feedback is infrequent and of limited use.
Ensuring that everybody understands what we are trying to achieve, how we intend to get there and how we are doing, requires a lot of communication both quantity and quality. Some organizations implement cascading objectives (scorecards or similar) and develop cumbersome processes to ensure follow-up, through a physical board or standard templates in word or powerpoint. It is time-consuming to ensure quality in these processes and therefore these get down prioritized in favor of daily operational tasks.
According to leading institutions (HBR, Wharton, McKinsey) about 70% of all change initiatives fail. Leaders today have vast amount of up-to-date information, which is readily available and have plenty of tools to help make sense of the information. The issue is not knowledge but execution.
During the past approximately 20 years, a lot of focus has been given to ensuring effective and efficient management of organizations (ERP), ensuring smooth operations and efficient resource usage. Little attention has been given to supporting change and innovation. Organizations are increasingly competing on the ability to adapt and change fast, but few tools are available to support these efforts.
background
Why it's needed
The typical strategy cycle, and why 70% of change initiatives fail
Involved …
Senior leaders.
What leaders do …
Analyze market, operations, competition, etc. and develop trends and identify business potential
Organizational reaction …
Unaware of any changes on the way. Most can not understand why management isn’t doing anything
Involved …
Leaders and a few senior employees.
What leaders do …
Decide on a strategy and make plans for the future. A lot of confidential meetings held.
Organizational reaction …
Some have heard that a new strategy is in the works. Most believe that it either has nothing to do with them or will fail because no one has asked for their input.
Involved …
The strategy team, the rest are informed
What leaders do …
High-level roadmap and initiatives planned. A balanced scorecard or similar is developed. Management communicates the strategy at an all-hands meeting.
Organizational reaction …
Perceived as ‘management talk’ due to the high-level summary, many either believe the strategy is wrong, or want to understand and need more information.
Involved …
Everyone
What leaders do….
Follow up on scorecard and strategic initiatives. React to changing conditions and progress. Strategy implementation is delegated to middle management.
Organizational reaction…
Some initiatives are started. Measurements are difficult, and the organization is not committed. Most wonder why nothing is happening, and focus instead on what they know.
According to leading institutions (HBR, Wharton, McKinsey) about 70% of all change initiatives fail
Leaders today have vast amount of up-to-date information, which is readily available and have plenty of tools to help make sense of the information. The issue is not knowledge but execution and Little attention is given to efficient change execution. Organizations are increasingly competing on the ability to adapt and change fast, but few tools are available to support these efforts.
