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Phil Preston

Organisational Success ArchitectPhil helps you improve the productivity of your assets and lift your performance.

He specialises in strategic review, social innovation and the creation of shared value (examples) – where financial benefits for business go hand-in-hand with social impact.

Click here to discover  5 ways of revitalising or giving your enterprise the performance edge.

For thought-leading articles on social innovation, check out and bookmark Phil’s daily publication: the Social Innovator.

Tapping into his expertiseIf you own, manage or work for an enterprise that has specific challenges or any of these 10 common problems, then Phil can help you in one or more ways, including:

    1. Analysing the structural trends affecting your enterprise and how you can respond
    2. Introducing ideas that lead to transformational change
    3. Applying socially innovative techniques to improve your performance

 
Phil is a speaker, a facilitator of ideas and change processes and regular industry commentator (refer his Media section).

How best to make contactPhil works with a range of enterprises – the best way to get in touch is to email or call. He welcomes enquiries and will discuss on an obligation free basis. Recent activities include:

  • A complex stakeholder management project for a major bank
  • Running workshops on forming effective partnerships
  • Helping ‘experts’ develop and lever the power of their communication skills
  • Advising on major innovation initiatives
  • Organisational Success
  • Helping You
  • Touching Base

Less than one-percent of HR people are doing anything strategic

Monday, 14 May 2012 06:16 Written by philpreston

The headline is a grab from an interview I conducted with Ross Clennett, who is a recruitment industry expert. As a coach and mentor of owners and professionals in the agency recruitment industry, he is uniquely placed to observe human resource trends and how they affect the employer, recruiter and employee ends of the market.

Given that several studies, such as SKE’s analysis of high performing workplaces, have shown that employee engagement is a key driver of business value, I was interested to find out from Ross what is really going on out there, especially in the SME market. How strategic are employers?

Social media, such as Linked In, is a disruptive technology that is impacting traditional business models. I was keen to hear Ross’s views on this and much more:

Can you explain the difference between agency recruitment and other forms of recruitment?

Recruitment agencies provide outsourced recruitment services, both permanent and temporary/contract. These outsourced services are mostly provided on a success-only fee basis.

The most common other form of recruitment is a company having an internal recruitment function where they undertake all, or most, of the recruitment activities themselves.

The advantage of agency recruitment is that it is a completely variable cost, incurred only when used. Internal recruitment has many fixed costs including staff, office space, software, telephone, Internet etc that continue to be incurred regardless of the volume of recruitment being undertaken.

Why should we take this market seriously?

Because it is a very large market. IBIS World research indicates that the recruitment industry in Australia comprises around 2,500 business and employs around 15,000 people. It provides a service, especially to the SME market, where internal recruitment would be uneconomic.

What trends are driving change in this industry?

Technology and social media, especially the aggressive growth of Linked In. Companies now have easier and cheaper access to DIY recruitment than they have ever had. This puts far more pressure on recruitment agencies to deliver excellent value for their fees.

The skills shortage means more and more pressure is on making the right recruitment decision, as a poor choice could have significant negative consequences.

Read more ...

Announcing the daily Social Innovator

Wednesday, 09 May 2012 14:25 Written by philpreston

I’m always looking to help you and your enterprise become smarter in the way you deal with complex business, social and performance issues.

As a result, I’ve launched a new on-line publication, the Social Innovator, that assembles thought leading articles on this topic. It comes out daily and you can go there now to see what it looks like and request email notification if you wish.

I trust you will enjoy reading it and my email updates will continue, but on a monthly instead of weekly basis.

Five ways to fine-tune your performance

Monday, 30 April 2012 15:59 Written by philpreston

Managing a business or enterprise is like driving a car: we monitor the road ahead; we deal with the internal environment such as the radio blaring, broken aircon and kids fighting in the backseat; we also check the rear-view mirror regularly.

Without knowing exactly what will happen on the road ahead, we can prepare by observing our current situation, trends and past experiences.

Having sent out 49 weekly newsletters in the past year that analyse the business challenges ahead (and more than 20 that were published in the Leadership Section of the Business Spectator), I picked out five “P”s that drive organisational performance:

1. Partnership power

Partnering is an off-balance sheet way of gaining access to resources. As a solo practitioner, I’ve learned that partnering is powerful. I’ve been able to get two workshop programs from concept to reality within weeks, rather than the months it would have taken me on my own.

One of these programs was designed to help business and community interests partner more effectively, and there has been good demand for capacity building in this area.

A new frontier for the business, non-profit and the public sectors is cross-sector partnering. Technological advances, disruptive change and the shorter product cycles that come with it require higher levels of organisational flexibility.

A vice-president of Xerox recently talked of their use of innovative partnerships. For example, Xerox levered its product energy efficiency efforts by partnering with the US EPA to build the Energy Star program.

Energy Australia is well known for partnering with local communities in order to help balance its technical needs with social and environmental concerns, leading to less disputes and shorter development times.

A long journey is safer and achieved with more reliability if the driving is shared (as long as the partners get on with each other!).

Read more ...

How the community can lift your business performance

Monday, 23 April 2012 18:05 Written by philpreston

Business has a moral obligation to help the community, right? This is the terminology that many people use but I’m not sure that it is the right choice of words. However it is smart for business to find ways to help the community so that the community helps it in return.

There are three main ways in which businesses can benefit from improving the communities in which they operate:

1. Business environment

Initiatives that promote equitable economic development, community stabilisation and labour force skills help to create a better business environment and underpin business performance.

A rising tide lifts all boats, and business and community organisations can co-create better conditions for all.

For example, a coalition of property and casualty insurers in the US worked with a community-based network to help increase home safety in low-income areas. They provided education, free safety assessments and financing for hazard reduction projects.

Apart from the obvious social and community benefits, the insurers have been able to increase the profitable sale of insurance in areas where these products were previously not viable.

By assisting with community stabilisation, the business environment improves.

Read more ...

« Older Entries

ARE YOU IGNORING 80% OF YOUR ASSETS?

  • Can you name your 5 most important intangible assets?
  • How do they contribute to performance?
  • Which ones should you be focusing on?

 
This easy-to-read paper tells you more about the importance of intangible assets, why we need to manage them carefully and a process you can use to master them yourself.

Innovating in another dimension

Find out how companies get competitive advantage from community connections

Testimonials

  • Testimonial – NCS
  • Testimonial – FARE
  • Testimonial – ACMF
  • Testimonial – PCYC
  • Testimonial – Pennie Scott

“Phil got to the heart of our organisational issues with ease, skill and speed. All participants felt he added value, particularly on practical approaches to innovation.”
Simon Rosenberg, CEO Northside Community Service

” This workshop turned the mirror on our organisational objectives and how to best achieve them”
Vivien Mitchell, Fund Development Manager, Foundation for Alcohol Research & Education

“Well planned, thought provoking, developed new ideas and strategies for immediate use in my organisation.”
Trish Hurley, Community Relationships / Strategic Partnerships, Australian Children’s Music Foundation

“An excellent session. Phil made me look at my organisation in a different manner. I can now use this to bridge the gap between PCYC and potential partners.”
Evan Walsh, Assistant General Manager, PCYC

“I was most impressed with the content of [Phil's] presentation. There were many ka-ching…ka-ching moments during his talk and I felt great resonance with what he was saying.”
Pennie Scott, Marketing Consultant, Australian National Institute for Public Policy

Phil's Tweets

  • Phil Preston's Social Innovator is out! http://t.co/6WuLRKhd ▸ Top stories today via @leimer @oluwakorede @GoodInRI about 9 hours ago from Paper.li
  • The daily Social Innovator is out ... featuring @CSIsocialimpact @the_young_fdn @MatthewAlberto @hackmanagement http://t.co/2LkQuHQ5 #csv about 1 day ago from HootSuite
  • RT @guardiansocent: Hey!? what's Gordon Gekko doing on the Guardian social enterpirse network? http://t.co/LgXuBbbR #profit about 1 day ago from HootSuite
  • RT @csisocialimpact: Govt Announces Charity Regulator’s ‘Staged’ Introduction | Pro Bono Australia: http://t.co/5fhFTYHs #ACNC #NFP #charity about 1 day ago from HootSuite
  • CEOs say more emphasis required on the value of relationships http://t.co/YNBUt84z #intangibles @harvardbiz about 1 day ago from HootSuite

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Contact info

Phil Preston
PO Box 163
Helensburgh NSW 2508
Australia

 

(e) phil@philpreston.co
(m) +61 (0)408 259 633