The Change Society Podcast Sullivan & Stanley

If you’re looking for the benchmark in empathetic leaders, look no further than Phil Anderson. Our guest today is COO of Legal and General who chats with our host Pat Lynes on a wide set of topics across transformation, agile and innovation.

While we try not to talk about covid too much, but the way Phil and his team navigated an incredible flurry of changes both digitally and personally is to be admired. Naturally, Phil heaped praise on his team rather than himself- but it's clear that his calming influence was a major factor in its success.

To boot, Pat and Phil dive into how Phil manages his energy as an incredibly busy executive, as well as his scaling ambition for L&G.

All this to look forward to, so please enjoy the show.


Intro
Looks after Business Transformation, Technology, Strategy and Operating Model.
Last 6 months taken on operational resilience

3.30 - Journey into Change?
Started in retail management with Sainsburys and Tesco
Operational Management at BT
Evolved int

Amidst a crippling pandemic for many industries, Marshall Motors managed to have a very strong financial year. While the market went up 8.4%, MArshall eclipsed it with 19.5%.

We are lucky enough to have their CEO Daksh Gupta along with our own Strategy and Transformation Advisor Chris Hafner on the show to discuss some of the traits of leadership that helped them to achieve that.

“Unless you address the budgeting process, all the talk about radical change are just nice words”.




There probably isn’t a better way to introduce this show than the words of our guest Bjarte Bognses. 





Bjarte, winner of the Harvard Business Review/McKinsey Management Innovation award,

is the undisputed leader of the Beyond Budgeting movement - the topic of today's episode.




Lots of ground was covered in this one, including where the movement was originally inspired, how the adoption of beyond budgeting has increased since the pandemic, how to get the CFO and executive team on board with rolling budgets and how Handelsbanken operate with no budgets, targets or individual bonuses.




The topic becomes more than just about the budgeting process. It’s an exercise in challenging traditional management and leadership principles that can unlock the true potential of organisations normally slowed by bureaucracy and red tape.




As usual, a ton of value for any executive or leadership team looking to change and innovate.



References:




Twitter: https://twitter.com/bbogsnes
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bjarte-bogsnes-41557910/
bbrt.org
Implementing Beyond Budgeting Book

1.29 - Intro



The first time we kicked out the budget, and costs came down
The beginning of the Beyond Budgeting journey back in 2005
Enjoying public speaking and podcasting




4.17 - What is Beyond Budgeting?


The purpose is to create a more dynamic, flexible human organisation
Changing the budgeting process, but also the budgeting mindset
We are looking for a better name!




5.44 - Heritage of Scandinavian Management Techniques


Beyond Budgeting is more prevalent because of culture. Informal and trusting
A movement inspired by companies in both Scandinavia and the UK
The idea started in 1998, two years before the agile manifesto




8.24 - The 12 key principles and what they are looking to challenge


Divided into six leadership principles
The traditional models don’t reflect the management processes you need to unlock these leadership beliefs
We have to practice what we preach as leaders
Traditional management built on two principles - can’t trust people and that the future is predictable and plannable. 
 The pandemic has busted these apart




13.16 - Are you seeing a shift in uptake of Beyond Budgeting since the pandemic from boards?


Every big company is on some sort of agile transformation
Unless you address the budgeting process, wanting to change is just lip service
Everyone loves innovation, but that enthusiasm is limited to tech - not management




18.58 - Using the right language to align groups of executives


We should leave performance management behind as a label
Stop managing performance, and start enabling
E.g. Traffic lights manage performance while roundabouts enable it




20.55 - What are the barriers to transitioning to this new world?


The fear of losing control, although that is often just an illusion
We don’t need targets to evaluate performance
Hitting the target, but missing the point




25.33 - Case Study 

Handelsbanken has been operating with no budgets, targets or individual bonuses since 1970. Has never needed a government bailout



26.55 - How to take the CFO and Finance team on a journey to rolling budgets


They initially find it a bit big and scary
Ask ourselves - why do we budget? Set targets, forecast and resource allocation
It created gaming and sandbagging
We can continue to do all three, but we do them in separate processes
Target- an aspiration, what we want to happen
Forecast- what we think will happen
Resource allocation- optimisation of scarce resources





35.28 - What does the future look like?


Like-minded communities are joining forces to spread the word 
In 15-20 years, we’ll smile at management in 2021
Be the pioneer or the laggard 

Being customer-centric in 2021 is no longer a choice. But what are the nuances and tips that can differentiate you from the pack?




Joining host Jacob Perring on the show was our very own Chief Customer Experience Officer Emma Dark (previously ASOS, The White Company & Soho House) and Mark Baxter (Tesco, P&G).




In 50-odd minutes they cover the latest trends they’ve seen the past few years, why your customer must have a seat at the boardroom table, common issues when driving customer focus at a senior level and how to measure it all.




Between Mark and Emma there is a boatload of customer experience across industry on a variety of levels, so no doubt you will come away from this with huge value. One not to be missed, so we hope you enjoy the show.







1.12 - Intro


Mark Baxter, Marketing Director specialising in customer data and centricity.
Emma Dark, Chief Customer Experience Officer at S&S, previously ASOS, The White Company and Soho House




2.25 - What trends are we seeing in the past few years as we focus on customers


Buffet- you can tell who’s been swimming naked when the tide goes out
Customers seek authentic brands that resonate with them
Engagement and experienced led product or service is vital
CX is the battleground and differentiator in a digital world
Customer needs to be a strategy across the whole business




7.52 - Customer data and knowing your customer


Two types. Data and being forensic, but also observing with your own eyes
This leads your business on the right path to creating something unique
FMCG and retail, lots of copycats. So you have to differentiate through customer
Knowing them behaviourally and personalise their experience
Need to dispel the myths by researching what they really want 🔥

Focus on the epicentres where you can extract insights 
Customer data isn’t a one-off exercise - it has to become ingrained everywhere 🔥





11.38 - Customer having a seat at the boardroom table


You have that independent conscience of the customer 🔥

Shine a light when it's not the right decision for the customer 🔥

A single view of the customer across various organisational functions wins
Set out what the north star strategy actually means and how it resonates
How do they purchase? What is their journey? 




17.06 - Measurements and metrics


What is the as-is business across all our touchpoints?
NPS is a strong way of measuring customer satisfaction
Along with competent scores of that customer journey
Having multiple measurements and looking at the whole story
E-commerce is a good way to track that journey and identify problems







22.22 - Customer engagement via social media


Brewdog - they aren’t just discussing their products, they’re telling a story
Content and community strategy anchored in values and purpose
Customer dialogue > advertising
The opportunity to show your company personality
Creating a space for user-generated content




28.54 - Common issues when driving customer focus as a senior level


Thinking you know the customer, but you don’t
Customer centricity not part of your organisation’s culture
They don’t understand their ‘why’
Metrics aren’t strong enough




34.53 - Speed, failing fast and learning quickly


Case study: Mercadona
Trust the customer and empowering employees to make quick calls
Act upon your insights and be proactive
Where is it practical to get a cohort of your customers involved?




40.14 - Purpose over profit


Customers are skeptical, you have to walk the walk
People now actually care about environmental impact of products
Organisations talking about their people creates authenticity and builds trust
Purpose has to become the new differentiator
Stand for something - or you’re in a no-mans land of mediocrity
Big banks disrupted by customer-centric fintechs



If you’re interested to hear more about how Sullivan & Stanley solves the change problem and how we empower companies to embrace disruption to

As the UK prepares to emerge from the shadows of lockdown, Host Pat Lynes catches up with Chief People Officer Paul Cutler on what is next for individuals and organisations.

They discuss how the scale and simultaneous shock of the pandemic have levelled the playing field amongst organisations globally, but also why their return to work strategies are very different.

Can organisations offer people the flexibility to manage how they work? Can you build a virtual culture? Does this help or hinder blue-chip companies in the war for talent?

They then dive into other aspects of the future of work including portfolio plus, the value of leadership continuity while remaining flexible and what the boardroom of the future will look like.

All these answered and plenty more including why human capital is your biggest advantage in the world of open-source technology.

We hope you enjoy the show either to watch or listen.

Fed Kuzel is Tesco’s Head of Group Engineering for Central Europe and this podcast is chock full of value. They discuss Tesco’s history of innovation, how the pandemic has sped up changes in consumer behaviours, how to get product working with technology and finally how to put customer at the heart of development.