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PRESS RELEASE.
Media Contact: Annmarie Gabriel
SAMI Consulting
Tel: +44 7765 255560
Email: annmarie.gabriel@btinternet.com
Beyond Crisis Author Concerned Companies Who Survived the Financial Crisis May Not Have Learnt From It
Companies who fail to get beyond cost control, performance, and budgets may fail to grasp the opportunities of a turbulent world
NEWBURY, Berkshire – November 8th 2010 – In a recently published book, Beyond Crisis, future, strategy planning and organisational change experts from SAMI Consulting; Gill Ringland, Patricia Lustig and Dr Oliver Sparrow, provided a clear and coherent model to help senior management teams move beyond the financial crisis, and respond proactively to the unprecedented organisational challenges of the next decade. At a recent scenario planning think-tank, Gill Ringland, SAMI Consulting CEO expressed concerns that many executives have failed to grasp the importance of becoming a Purposeful Self-Renewing Organisation (PS-RO) and are failing to think beyond their immediate concerns of cost control, performance, and budget management.
“In Beyond Crisis, we aimed to give a clear outline of the failures that led to the crisis, and how executives must now have clarity of business goals, feel they have the legitimacy to act and change, and how they must engage their business in continual purposeful renewal. Our analysis of the crisis showed that many would for too long concentrate on the challenges the economy presents after the financial crisis, rather than the opportunity of business growth in turbulent times,” says Ringland. “I am concerned that many businesses seem to think the days of “business as usual” are still with us, and that sitting tight on inherited values and business logic is the safest business strategy.”
Published by John Wiley, Beyond Crisis outlines how organisations need to follow the Darwinian imperative and evolve, and now evolve continually, in order to survive, and thrive.
It sets out clear guidelines for how individual executives can initiate and achieve organisational renewal, allowing senior management to continually self-evaluate, adapt and respond. As well as supplying a toolkit to create your own PS-RO, the book identifies the five essential qualities of a successful PS-RO:
- Values – that inform the organisation’s discretionary choices
- Insight – into the operating environment
- Options – the practical destinations that lie ahead
- Narrative – universally understood and synthesising insight, values and options
- Machinery – the systems to generate clarity
Beyond Crisis gives a clear explanation of how debt, demographics and technology led to the greatest financial crisis and upheaval in organisational memory. The conclusion is clear: there can be no return to “business as usual”. The PS-RO is one that knows how to combine robust process, financial acuity and invaluable corporate memory with innovation and agile adaptability.
“The PS-RO organisation recognises that nothing stays the same, and looks to evaluate all aspects of business as often as it can. Most importantly, it continually looks to renew itself, and has a wish and ability to tame an uncertain terrain, while accepting ambiguity and the fuzziness of the future,” continued Ringland. “However, this is not about being ready for anything, or having a continued state of business process flux, it is about creating within executives a sense of open horizons, linked to a real sense and understanding of an organisation’s purpose. While those business processes seen as sacrosanct may not need renewing very often, it is clear from the financial crisis that accepting that “just because something isn’t broken you can ignore it” cost many businesses and governments dear. We cannot let that happen again.”
The next decade will present organisational challenges on an unprecedented scale. Beyond Crisis demonstrates how the PS-RO is the key to survival and success in our current turbulent world.
Sir David Brown, former Chairman, Motorola UK said of Beyond Crisis, “If leading your organisation sometimes feels like changing the front wheel of a bicycle whilst you are still pedalling it as fast as you can, this is a book you should read."
Beyond Crisis can be ordered online now at http://www.amazon.co.uk
About SAMI Consulting
For over 20 years SAMI Consulting has been helping organisations make robust decisions in uncertain times. Known as the home of scenario planning, SAMI understand the barriers to managing in uncertain times. They help clients overcome those barriers and partner with them to carry through their decisions and sharpen their competitive advantage. SAMI understands political, international and regulatory risk, economic uncertainty, social and cultural change, and the opportunities of technology for its clients.
SAMI works for private, public and NGO sector clients and its world-leading reputation for ground-breaking future thinking and strategic planning is matched by the innovative organisational change tools it uses to effect the implementation of decisions. SAMI consultants are not only experienced and creative, but highly effective. Its clients include Arup, City of London, Glaxo, Legal & General, Shell and The Bank of Scotland.
