Who will transform the transformers? Part 1: Process model

What happens when the transformation practice becomes commoditised? Is this a good thing or a bad thing? Does it become vulnerable to disruption like any other business? Recent re-orgs at leading global consultancies beg these questions.

Highly regarded ground breaking facilitation programmes were once untouchable revenue generating machines. These "tough economic times" have since forced these programmes either down the P&L to the lowly cost section or off the P&L altogether.  Innovation, collaboration and transformation now reside in the same pool as facilities-management and stationary or they are gone entirely. To paraphrase a leader in the field, that’s the death of that.

Decision by Design by The Ludic Group

The Ludic Group specialises in design thinking by bringing together the analytical and the artistic into a transformational process that seeks to foster solutions for complex problems, relying heavily on visualisation techniques and participation of key stakeholders.

Basically, get all the high level important people in a really cool hi-tech and cushy room for a few days and throw their mobile phones into a huge bucket of water and don't let them leave until they solve the problem that none of them had the brain space or political acumen to sort out in a conventional way on their own. Throw in some actors (yes, real actors), some illustrators and some moderators who know what they're doing and you have a truly ground breaking event that produces a potentially innovative solution or idea .

The Clock by Christian Marclay

Photo credit: The Clock by Christian Marclay 2010, © The Artist. Courtesy White Cube

The Clock, features thousands of film fragments from hundreds of films of clocks, watches, and actors reacting to a particular time of day. These scenes are edited together to create a single continuous 24 hour-long video synchronised to the actual time of day so that the film always conveys the real correct time. With each new clip a new narrative is suggested, only to be swiftly overtaken by another. The world of fiction is linked to fact as real-time seconds fly by.

Out of India

It’s an act.  A balancing act: security concerns versus skill base; cost savings versus language barriers. Integrating another country’s workforce into your company’s framework involves a host of complicated issues that often don’t have easy or straightforward answers. 

For many years India has been the undisputed off-shoring king: a solid infrastructure with established service companies put this country way out in front.  That's changing.