Services Offered

The ROTAR Discipline Workshop

Jim Collins, in his book Good to Great states that great companies employ disciplined people who engage in disciplined thought, and who take disciplined action.

One of the major challenges that organizations face today is how to direct attention at problems and strategic issues objectively, while at the same time allowing creativity and innovation to occur. Creative marketing ideas and innovation are often stifled by emotions that are applied by hard-nosed managers who are only interested in the bottom line, even before these ideas have been fully explored. However, if both pragmatic and creative thinking could be combined in an objective manner, where emotions are applied after the journey of discovery, then organisational learning and development should be able to occur.

Another major challenge relates to the fact that most organizations spend very little time focusing on intentional pro-active thinking - they only tend to think when there is a major crisis that requires immediate attention.

Within many organizations, the learning, growth, development and in particular the systems thinking of managers, leaders and teams is not always as effective as it could be and many organisations tend to apply conventional thinking while operating in unconventional times.

The ROTAR Discipline workshop presents an attention-directing thinking framework for individual and organisational thinking which can be used highly effectively in conjunction with the principles and methodology of Action Learning.

The ROTAR Discipline promotes rigour of thought, action and reflection - all of which are essential ingredients for effective learning.

The ROTAR Discipline is a simple, yet highly robust and powerful thinking tool which can be used effectively for strategic, operational and tactical problem solving and planning, or even as a coaching tool for leadership development.

The ROTAR Discipline contains four distinct yet interrelated components, each of which requires focused thinking and action taking in a structured sequence, yet which permits sufficient latitude for creative thinking.

The ROTAR Discipline

The four disciplines involved in the process are:

• The "rigour of thought" discipline which focuses on improving thinking and questioning of the central problem, challenge or issue on hand
• The "link" discipline which relates to the generation of specific options based on the initial thinking and questioning process
• The "impact" discipline which evaluates the potential impact of the option(s) generated
• The "implementation" discipline which reflects on the detailed requirements for effective implementation

The ROTAR Discipline workshop utilises QPower - the power of creating great questions through the development of Question Boxes - developing great questions first rather then on trying to find the right answers.

Figure 1 below illustrates the ROTAR Discipline process.

Application of the ROTAR Discipline

The ROTAR Discipline can be applied in numerous ways such as:

• Strategic "think tanks", problem solving and planning sessions (including scenario planning)
• All forms of strategy formulation (business strategy, marketing strategy, brand strategy, operational strategy, etc)
• Leadership development
• Coaching, mentoring
• Self-development
• Counselling
• Training and development of staff
• Team building

The ROTAR Discipline workshop was developed as a result of years of research and extensive experience gained in working with organisations and individuals at different levels including leaders, managers and people at all levels.

This research and practical experience identified one common factor - disciplined thinking and disciplined action are key factors in achieving success at both a personal level, leadership and organizational level.

The ROTAR Discipline workshop is offered to both individuals and organisations as a one-day workshop with follow up workshops as required.

Consulting

• Marketing-related consulting is offered to organisations - small medium or large

Marketing strategy workshops:

• Marketing strategy workshops are conducted on a one-day basis with follow up sessions where necessary

Market research:

• Online marketing research is offered via our associated company FutureThink

Action Learning

Organisations are facing two types of problems: Technical and Adaptive

The necessary knowledge to solve technical problems already exists in a legitimized form or set of procedures. The challenge in solving these problems is to obtain and apply the knowledge in an efficient and rational way.

• Technical problems have a linear, logical way of being solved, with precedents within or outside the organisation.
• Adaptive problems, however, involve attitudes, work habits, and other aspects of people's lives. No satisfactory response has yet been developed for these, and no technical expertise is fully adequate.

The challenge in solving these problems is to mobilise people so that they are able to make painful but necessary adjustments while learning new ways of working.

What is Action Learning?

• Simply described, action learning is both a process and a powerful program that involves a small group of people solving real problems while at the same time focusing on what they are learning and how their learning can benefit each group member and the organisation as a whole.
• Action learning contains a well-tested framework that enables people to effectively and efficiently learn and to simultaneously handle difficult, real-life situations.
• It is built on the application of new questions to existing knowledge as well as on reflection about actions taken during and after problem-solving sessions.

Benefits of Action Learning are:

• Shared learning throughout various levels of the organisation
• Greater self-awareness and self-confidence due to new insights and feedback
• Ability to ask better questions and be more reflective
• Improved communication and teamwork

Action Learning workshops and training are available

Coaching

• Individual and organisational business coaching is available

For further information click here: inter@acenet.co.za

"It isn't that they can't see the solution. It is that they can't see the problem"
G.K.Chesterton, "The Point of a Pin" in The Scandal of Father Brown