A Few Case Studies

To give you a flavour of what you can achieve, here we present a few key examples of the development and deployment of some of the other main tools and processes we employ to great effect.

Developing and Evaluating Ideas for Innovative Next Generation Products - Belzona Polymerics

Techniques used: Discarding the BoxTM Combined With Opportunity Landscaping (Part of the Transforming CapabilityTM Toolset).

With increased competition threatening lucrative niche markets, Belzona wanted to keep ahead and come up with radical ideas for new market-changing products. They were looking for ideas to be teased out of the existing team in a short sharp session using creative idea-stimulating tools and techniques. The objective was to generate at least one (preferably more) great ideas that ticked all their boxes; i.e. revolution not evolution, great sales potential, relevant to all regions, a good fit with the existing business and exciting for the shareholders.

The results:

By the end of the 2-day workshop, hundreds of individual ideas had been connected and combined to create 48 new workable, next generation and beyond, product concepts. Many would be longer term projects but 17 of these were determined to be of immediate/urgent importance. Some of these were revolutionary and completely new to Belzona. In effect this was the icing on the cake because the team produced so many ideas that only a proportion of them could be processed during the two days of the workshop. Literally remaining on the boards to be developed at a later stage were another 50 new market development applications.

"Many heartfelt thanks for helping us take what is an enormous leap forward in learning, understanding and teamwork. We really have enjoyed the experience and are very excited by our enhanced project pipeline".

Bill Ashcroft, (former) Managing Director

Belzona Polymerics Limited

The Jaguar Story

Development of the Transforming CapabilityTM Toolset

Whilst with the Warwick Manufacturing Group, (WMG - Warwick University) our principal associate Clive Reynolds was the lead investigator in a £multi-million R&D programme (2004-2006) involving Jaguar LandRover (JLR). As a result of this programme, the powerful innovation enabling toolset ‘Transforming CapabilityTM’ was developed. This toolset was instrumental in securing the ongoing success of JLR, improving its supply chain capabilities, the launch of the XF model and consequently more rapid upgrades and new model launches. Clive continues to work on projects with JLR and has also used these tools with a number of other companies to improve their innovation capabilities and generate competitive advantage.

Various Transforming Capability tools are used to great effect in conjunction with core Accretis methods. These are used under licence via Strategic Capability (Transcap) Ltd (a joint venture between the University of Warwick and Strategic Capability Ltd)

 

 

 

Creating a Novel, On-line, Capability and Leadership Style Profiling System

The WSABI® Advanced Profiling Programme    https://wsabi.co.uk/

 

The WSABI® Advanced Profiling Programme was developed by analysing questionnaire and interview responses from over two thousand test subjects recruited as part of ‘Executive Search’ campaigns between 2004 and 2011. These responses were compared to psychometric and team style reports to identify their errors and inaccuracies. The recorded work style preferences, and associated attributes, were then mapped to significantly reduce the inconsistences between what was being assumed and how the respondents actually performed.

Between 2011 and 2015 further observations were made of subjects involved in other recruitment campaigns together with profiles of teams and participants of facilitated workshops. This enabled the scope of the WSABI® system to be extended for such purposes particularly within the context of innovation programmes.

Since January 2015 we have been working to devise the logic systems and complex algorithms required to create a fully functioning on-line programme. Launched in  2019 this system generates the most accurate profiling reports to be used as aids for:

  • Advanced recruitment (including motivational criteria and suggested interview questions)
  • Internal assessments (including values statements and cultural alignment)
  • Leadership development (including benchmarking)
  • Creating effective ‘Innovation Teams’
  • Optimising facilitated workshops

Eliminating Recruitment Bad Practice and Overcoming Obstacles to Effective Talent Acquisition

Techniques used: the '2FRTM' facilitation process plus various research and analysis methods.

During 2012 & 2013 our discussions with companies and consultants involved in the UK Growth Accelerator scheme, showed that the biggest obstacle to achieving economic growth was the common difficulty in successfully recruiting for business-critical roles. This was backed up by ‘The CIPD 2012 Resourcing and Talent Planning Survey’ which reported that 82% of organisations experienced difficulties in filling such vacancies”. We then conducted a year-long research programme to identify the main causes and develop solutions. The findings were published in our 2014 report “Emerging Best Practice in Talent Acquisition” (copies available on request) and in ‘Recruiter’ magazine.

"APSCo certainly welcome this report and the evidence provided that there is a real need for a truly consultative relationship which allows for clear communication and a level of trust throughout the recruitment supply chain." 

Marilyn Davidson, Director, APSCo

As part of the solution discovery programme we employed our '2FRTM' facilitation process to create an ideal ’25 Step Talent Acquisition Critical Path’ along which we identified over 120 common reasons for process failure. Our '2FRTM' facilitation process is a novel way of visualising a future perspective of the outcome of a project which encompasses a retroactive discovery process for recognising where and how things can go wrong and what to do about them. This technique together with the findings of our report have enabled numerous businesses to vastly improve their talent acquisition success rates leading to notable performance improvements. This technique is also extremely effective in ensuring the success of innovation projects and has also been successfully employed to improve other business processes such as production systems, supply chain planning and sales.

Projects we Support

We believe that innovation in everyday life is just as important as that in the world of business and we are proud to support projects that are closely aligned with our values. Most recently we have acted as co-investors in a particularly creative, not-for-profit, crowd-funded venture: ‘Harmony for Elephants’. This project aims to raise global awareness of the plight of African elephants as well as the farmers who live close to reserve boundaries and risk losing their crops and livelihoods as a result of wildlife incursions. Proceeds from this project will help the charity ‘Elephants For Africa’ continue their work to find sustainable, yet innovative solutions to aid elephant conservation whilst lessening the human-elephant conflict in Botswana. Of particular note has been their discovery that elephants are especially sensitive to the smell of chilli and will avoid areas where rags soaked in chilli oil are hung along boundary fences. By being educated in the necessary agronomy and processing techniques the farmers can, not only protect their staple food crops but also, collectively, produce an additional cash crop.

The Harmony For Elephants project specifically revolves around the production of an evocative fine art book, with photographs and information documenting African elephants and elephant conservation, accompanied by a tailored CD album containing music from renowned musicians such as former ‘Genesis’ guitarists, Anthony Philips and Steve Hackett.

 

Having successfully raised the necessary funds, and with a lot of hard work and dedication from the team, the primary objective of launching in time for Christmas 2016 was successfully met. The books (2 sizes) plus the CD are now available for purchase and continue to raise funds for the 'Elephants for Africa' charity. For more information please visit the project’s Facebook page

 

Photos courtesy of Lesley Wood - ©Wild Earth Fine Art Photography

Any queries?

Please call us on +44 (0)1904 403075, email us at info@accretis.co.uk or use our contact form.

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