A Year in the Life
By Steve Smith
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October
Waiting in a hotel in Brussels for the Board of a global multinational to join us after lunch. We have three hours to facilitate a balanced business strategy. Will they cooperate or be difficult? They arrive, a little late, but in a good mood. We were well prepared and ready to go. Using QWiP (Quest Worldwide Interactive Process) electronic handsets to good advantage, we quickly build up a rhythm of agreeing goal statements and targets. Three hours later it is done, the Board has a balanced communicable strategy and they are happy with their work. Despite the limited contact time, the strategy proves to be a strong one: a year later it is in action around the world and has been confirmed for a second year.
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November
Singapore. A Strategy into Action workshop for a regional executive team with team members running businesses as far afield as Japan and South Africa. This team also has limited time (top teams always do) but knuckle down to the task and produce a one-page strategy which pleases them.
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December
Barcelona and 120 top executives from around the world meeting for the first time to shape and align their strategy. They work hard and well in small teams and then together as one big team. Executives tend to respond well to a structured process which channels their knowledge and experience and this group thrives on the challenge. Nearly a rebellion though when I propose to the most senior team that they go through their draft strategy another time before exposing it to the big team. They agreed very reluctantly but were grateful afterwards when they discovered lots of things to improve.
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January
Waiting at Delhi airport. I am not on the list of the greeters for a big event and the local agents don’t know what to do with me. Eventually, one of them takes me into the city in his own battered car which stalls in the middle of every chaotic roundabout. This proves to be a good introduction to Delhi where three days later we dispatch 150 top executives into the slums to experience the developing world first hand. They love it and are inspired to change the way they think about products and their businesses. Waiting again at Delhi airport on a busy night at 3am – a classic traveller’s experience.
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May
Sydney. Quest has been operating out of Sydney for 18 years and we have many long-standing clients and many new ones from all sectors. Australia is thriving from its strategic position serving the Asian growth countries and its mining and drinks industries lead the world.
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July
It is so hot and humid in Shanghai that the government has banned ties and jackets. The pace of change is astonishing. One day a service is state-owned; the next it is in private hands. Both state and private business are eager for Western management practice but hardly have the time to apply it. Strategy Execution is a big need as leadership teams try to manage rapid growth, increasingly with global ambitions.
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October
In Florida for a review of our service in the Americas. Our Operational Excellence projects in the US are driving fast returns of 7+to1 on investment while building internal capability. Our clients are so pleased they want to replicate the projects as fast as they can.
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