Touchpoint Change! Newsletter Template

Welcome to the Winter edition of Change!, the newsletter of Touchpoint Change Consulting.

As our economy bumps along, some organisations in the private and public sectors seem to be performing better than others. Many of those who have improved efficiency, reduced costs, kept close to their customers or found their niche are better prepared. The rest of us should question how we need to change and how we can help our teams make the most of the opportunities presented.

• Article - how best (and how not) to use consultants - six benefits to gain and six pitfalls to avoid (part 2 of 2)

• Article - Getting ready for better days. 8 vital business areas for SMEs to focus on

• Case study - developing an outbound calling team from an inbound contact centre

• Blog - the HR Maverick's views on targets, bonuses and performance management

All of our newsletters are on our web site and a slightly condensed version is attached below. We hope you find it interesting and useful. We are always happy to talk with you and share ideas so please get in touch to discuss your current challenges at any time.

Our attempts to transform the public sector and private sector show how difficult it can be to deliver a lasting change. But all is not lost - they provide some light relief amongst the gloom of the last three years. Touchpoint Change's James Crawford chaired the Transformation Forum 2010 in the week following the general election and highlighted the need for a new management as well as a new politics.

Click here to read a summary of the introductory speech. Click also for the opening slides from the conference that introduced Deming's system of management as a framework for the event.

Consulting assignments, or dare we say it, consultants themselves, can sometimes seem costly, unnecessary or ultimately unsatisfactory. You may not have experienced this yourself, but you could agree that there is a risk!

Actually, Consultants can be a very powerful force in your organisation, if brought in at the right time and managed correctly. Here is part 2 of the Touchpoint Change guide about how best to use consultants and how to avoid the pitfalls.

David Hopkins had a career in corporate IT for large FMCG companies, culminating in a role on the IT Executive Board for the United Biscuits Group. He subsequently joined an SME IT firm as Services and Commercial Director and transformed it into a specialist security services provider through acquisition and significant growth. More recently he managed the transformation of a recruitment business to become the largest search and networking organisation for business improvement specialists in Europe. He is now a Director of Touchpoint Change Consulting and shares his experience to help organisations review, improve and develop their business.

Bryan Smith is a senior interim manager and change specialist with over twenty-five year’s experience. He delivers customer focused solutions in a range of settings, and has significant experience in retail banking. Bryan is a thought leader who champions, mentors and coaches people through change. He facilitates learning, talent development and increased customer awareness; and challenges people to develop at a personal level, helping them use their expertise more effectively in the organisational context.

See our Team Page to read about other specialists. We offer over 400 consultants and interim managers across the UK.

We have all been through some heady days and some turbulent times over the last few years. As we prepare for better days, Touchpoint Change sponsored an event with the Co-Operative Bank, Kuits Solicitors and accountants Kay Johnson Gee. Held in the spectacular surroundings of the Power Hall in Manchester's Science & Industry Museum, this talk for business Directors looked at 8 vital areas to focus on so that we are ready for the opportunities now upon us.

Case study - Outside In. Developing an outbound calling team from an inbound contact centre

UK Trade & Investment, the government organisation that helps UK-based companies succeed in the global economy, needed to develop its inbound Enquiry Service to offer its advice services to a wider range of businesses. This entailed a new outreach programme where the Service would offer advice pro-actively to businesses wishing to export or attract inward investment.

The Enquiry Service was well versed in responding to customer requests, but the outbound work required new skills, processes, rosters, reporting and performance management. Our partner Katalyst Consulting was selected to develop the business in each of these areas over a five month period. Katalyst selected us at Touchpoint Change to support the project and Touchpoint’s Steve Allington and James Crawford were appointed project leads. They put in place a plan of skills evaluation, training, coaching, management development and performance reviews that enabled the successful introduction of the new service.

The programme started with a training needs analysis, which incorporated online psychometric profiles. The staff found the feedback from these particularly valuable. Campaign development and rostering changes followed and new performance management processes were adopted. After go live, a period of on-the-job agent coaching helped to build confidence and productivity further.

UKTI commented that the delivery team were “very well received by staff” and that the programme was delivered “extremely successfully; in fact, beyond expectations”. For a PDF of the UKTI case study simply contact us.

Forthcoming workshop dates:

Interactifs Leadership Workshop - training to increase the people skills of directors, managers, sales and operational staff at all levels. Learn to communicate and lead more effectively for better results. Join Alan Palmer of our partners Interactifs at a 2-day seminar in Manchester on January 18/19, 2011. Contact us at Touchpoint Change, click for more details or visit the Interactifs web site . “I like the way the Interactifs approach communicates objectives and expectations clearly but also puts them into a personal context – expressing hopes, enthusiasm, doubts and fears. It is straightforward but powerful.”

The Deming Transformation Forum workshops - the leading UK organisation for seminars and conferences founded on Deming's transformational system of management. Click here for details of forthcoming seminars and events in 2010 and 2011.

Touchpoint Change has been co-sponsoring a series of Breakfast Sessions for Chief Executives and Directors in Local Government. The events explore some of the key challenges of change as the financial pressures increase. Call us for more details or e-mail marina.turner@touchpointchange.co.uk.

At Touchpoint Change we are always looking for ways to help clients succeed. Some new services are summarised here:

Quick win supplier savings – efficient management of costs can start simply by making sure you are not over paying for basic commodities such as energy, water, telecoms, computers, money exchange, advertising, fuel, bank charges etc. Touchpoint Change has partner organisations in these areas and one is Compare UR Mobile. Click here to request a free review of any of these areas - you pay nothing up front and could make significant savings.

Bespoke change in local government – many Authorities prefer to deliver their transformation/ change programme internally and are not looking to partner with a major consulting business. Feedback and personal knowledge says that increasingly organisations are working in this way. Councils are therefore looking for something that supports their programme but which does not involve being overwhelmed by a large team of external people. There are several options that we recommend. They provide a good balance between pace, challenge, empowerment and new learning. Click here for details or here for our Local Government Change Matrix.

Buy Time To Survive & Thrive - when the future is uncertain, markets are tight and credit is expensive, one of the most precious commodities is time. Now is the time to take action to release capital, reduce waste, accelerate processes and reduce cost, you can buy vital extra time to grow or turnaround your business even whilst others are slowly losing market share or cash. Click here for details.

See also our digital brochures – turn the pages on screen to read about some of our services to identify opportunities for change and deliver them successfully.

Glyn Lumley worked in Financial Services for many years as an HR Manager and experienced most of the HR fads and tools that we have all been familiar with. In fact his job was to 'do' them to the people he looked after. He now sits on the Advisory Board of the Deming Transformation Forum and is Vice Chair of the CIPD (Chartered Institute of Personnel & Development) North Wales Group. He also has a blog on the subject of better people management.

Glyn aims to highlight discredited approaches, challenge current practice, view HR through a systems thinking lens. He provokes an intelligent debate on performance appraisal, targets and bonuses, among other topics. Google "the hr maverick" or click straight on to www.GlynLumley.co.uk. You can also follow him on Twitter - @thehrmaverick. Glyn is also an Associate of Touchpoint Change.

Touchpoint Change Consulting helps organisations to improve performance and cost – whether making a radical change or embedding a structured approach to continuous improvement. We are always happy to provide some advice and in due course hope that it develops into the opportunity to work with you. To explore this or for a free discussion, phone/email us or browse the web site for more information. Please email us at office@touchpointchange.co.uk. Thank you.

Who are Coffee House Digital? They are our e-marketing partner who do the distribution of our newsletters and manage the unsubscribe process. The links on our emails often point to their site, but are programmed to pick up the content from our own web pages. Take a look at www.CoffeeHouseDigital.com.