The RG Blog
While we ponder how best to present meeting reports on our site here is a recent one.
RG Saturday 14th January 2012The meeting began with the Chairman presenting certificates to our 6 new members. The Richmond Group’s 30+ members attending were treated to two excellent seminars by our three guest speakers. Consulting in the Middle market
She explained that there are great opportunities for independent consultants such as those in the Richmond Group, Sally’s company commissioned two pieces of research led by Fiona Czernlawska of Source for Consulting, to identify where these opportunities are and how best they could be exploited.
These ogranisations suffer greatly with poorly designed processes and inefficient legacy systems.
Sally reiterated the opportunities for the RG to work with them and stated there is cost involved and asked those interested to register their details on their dedicated portal "consulting connect." Diversity – a tool for organisational growthLiz Kennedy a well respected consultant and academic presented a very lively and interactive discussion on diversity in the workplace. Liz covered the legislation which has taken place from 1943 to the Equality Act 2010. This Act was the first to introduce “discrimination by perception” Members cited their own experiences of discrimination including what sounds now (but not at the time), very comical anecdotes. Throughout her presentation Liz made the argument that not only is it right to treat everyone fairly, it also makes business sense, not least in improving morale and enabling innovative thinking. Poor practices on the other hand create a potentially destructive and ineffective work force where effort can be withdrawn.
To put this in context Liz outlined business cases on both good and poor diversity practice. |
RG Saturday 12th November 2011A lively crowd of some 30 members and guests heard two enthusiasts talk about the way they were building their business ventures about which they evidently cared deeply. South London Business Initiatives
Peter focused his talk on the need for business to take on apprenticeships and the inhibitions to do so due to the high risk to small businesses of adding employees due to the employment law, tribunals etc. As a creative entrepreneur, he has found a way to meet this need by developing a new highly focused pair of two-way contracts – one with the apprentice and one with the host business using a model called an Apprenticeship Training Agency (ATA). This agency directly employs all the apprentices placed with other businesses and so removes the employment risk from the hosts. While dropout rates in the first four weeks in similar to standard employment businesses the progression rate of 100% offered permanent employment of those young people who get through the first four weeks is clearly excellent. Peter believes this successful pilot has demonstrated the scale of the opportunity and hopes to have ten times as many apprentices under contract within a year. He has also created an incentive scheme for anyone able to provide a placement and for anyone delivering a successful referral. For more information on how to participate, email peter.pledger@southlondonbusiness.co.uk Exploring functionality and techniques for web-based meetings – iFacile We were treated to a powerful demonstration of where technology such as live meeting is going to have an enormous impact on meeting productivity at least in organisations where there is an appetite to improve and w willingness to make the small investment required to be successful. In particular, the ability to observe, share and capture everyonefs thoughts on challenging topics and capture the feeling of a meeting with a consensus that leads to action, could transform many organisations ability to turn strategy into successful implementation. Mike is open to collaboration and we expect RG members to find this a valuable and profitable area in which to engage. For more information, email Mike at mcc_01@tesseracts.co.uk |
Peter Pledger has been Chief Executive of South London Business Ltd since January 2007. South London Business was set up in 1999 to promote and support the business community in the 12 South London boroughs. Over the past five years South Business has grown into a group of Companies delivering business support, business representation, property services, skills development, business awards, apprenticeships, supply chain support and an employment business. It runs a club for the largest businesses in South London and it has a cost effective offer to any business that wishes to be a member with an annual flat rate annual fee of £100 per year.
Mike Clargo, a well-known and highly respected member of RG, has a particular interest in improving corporate effectiveness through encouraging his large corporate clients to engage in better ways to operate - especially in running meetings. He showed us the results of a recent client survey which highlighted just how much time and travel costs these can entail and the ease with which these ehardf costs could be reduced in order to justify small investments whose real benefits are much harder to measure but far greater.
