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Salvatore Venezia

Senior Project and Change Analyst

About this Author

Salvatore is a Senior Change and Project Analyst who oversees the change delivery within iProspect's Consult process. Salvatore has worked with some of the largest companies in the UK from broadcasting and media to the financial sector, specialising in large people-based operations adopting digital transformation.

Why Authentic Leadership is More Than Just a Buzzword

Authentic leadership and change initiatives are two hot topics at the moment, particularly when it comes to how a company structures its strategy. However, there are a fair few brands out there that are investing in authentic leadership and change initiatives, but aren't seeing the benefits. In this blog post, I will explain why these two are so important for brands to get right to see real results. But first, what do I actually mean by authentic leadership and change initiatives? Authentic Leadership It's important to understand that authentic leadership doesn't just mean that you are a good leader. Over the years, the term 'authentic leader' has grown to encompass authenticity and self-awareness. It seems like today we have more leadership coaches and motivational leadership services than before. In fact, the courses in authentic leadership development at Harvard Business School oversubscribe every year, and you can’t scroll through social media now without multiple quotes on the topic. This is relevant to businesses because with more startups being acquired by major corporations, it's now crucial to have a leadership style that meets today's demands and thirst for buy-in and authenticity. To achieve this, businesses will often hire a leadership coach to transform a senior team into authentic leaders. There are two types of authentic leaders: low self-monitors: these individuals are actually the opposite of authentic and often just say whatever comes to mind high self-monitors: more calculated in how they deliver their insight to ensure it has a positive impact on others However, this is only half of the equation when you are trying to successfully implement change under truly authentic leaders. Change initiatives According to Harvard Business Review, seven in ten (70%) change initiatives fail. This is a headline stat that you’ve probably read from numerous blog posts with key business statistics. This does't sound so promising when its a core workstream in most strategies. In my experience, the reason for most of these failures is that businesses rush in to change or changes have taken place without previously assessing the impact. This then results in managers having an abundance of initiatives where they can often lose focus, and become spellbound by all the advice given by various counterparts on what they should try to accomplish and how they should do it. When it comes to change initiatives, there are two main types of corporate change: Theory E (economic value/top-down) and Theory O (culture/people). However, companies increasingly try to inherit both strategies simultaneously. When done right, this approach has excellent shareholder return, whilst instantaneously building employee engagement. However, far too many times this doesn’t go to plan and encourages distrust, effectively demolishing Theory O. This is very important when combining with an authentic leadership strategy. To quote Gary Hamel, an American management expert: “What’s needed is a real-time, socially constructed approach to change, so that the leader’s job isn’t to design a change program but to build a change platform—one that allows anyone to initiate change, recruit confederates, suggest solutions, and launch experiments''. Conclusion: the effective authentic change To effectively triumph in this space, you must carefully and strategically do the following: discover, define and dive in to the why, what and how of change. Historically, companies wouldn't hire consultants when adopting Theory O, but in my experience, this is fundamentally where it goes wrong. As Consult experts, we advise implementing the following: true authentic deep culture inquiries employee change diagnostics organisation behaviour and analysis measurable success tried and tested implementation modules All of these will help businesses effectively and successfully deliver both authentic and culture driven change for those complex, fast-moving commercial environments. Remember: “Nobody cares about the colour of a wall unless they have chosen that colour” Be sure to check out my blog next month that delves deeper into Theory E and O, and to find out more about how a creative change process can support your business, get in touch with our dedicated Consult team. 0 4 min read

Optimising Personalisation with AI

How is Artificial Intelligence (AI) improving personalisation for businesses and consumers? 53% of marketers plan to increase AI spend in the next three years. Source: Lessons of 21st- century brands, AI reports In an age of hyper-personalisation, good content needs to be tailored to be effective. Let’s take email for example, subscribers are likely to only pay any attention and engage with content that speaks to them directly. That’s why the key to great email marketing is to send interesting content, to the right people, at the right time and the right rate. However, delivering personalised content at the right moment can prove tricky. The level of personalisation in email marketing has increased significantly as technology like AI, Business Intelligence, Machine Learning, and Cognitive Computing now play a major role in its development. Technological advances make it possible to send emails that have a higher chance of engaging with subscribers and prospective customers. AI gives brands the ability to match information about its products with the information prospective buyers need at the time and in a format they are most likely to engage with. AI enabled systems allows a brand to optimise all parts of the marketing process to ensure the greatest amount of personalisation possible. This also stretches across social, display and out of home. So how do you compete with the bigger brands in this hyper-personalised world? To succeed it takes innovation, differentiation and providing personalised experiences. It's important to know and understand how elements such as quality of customer service and brand messaging can work in your favour. It takes truly personalised consumer-centric business model to succeed when competing against the online retail giants. Ecommerce has levelled the playing field. Choice is unlimited, location is irrelevant and even price no longer creates a competitive edge. Revenue is now driven by an emotional and personalised customer journey and this is what helps conversions. Your audience expects timely, effective communication and an experience that makes them feel as if a brand genuinely understands their personal needs and are attentive to their taste. Millennials in particular prefer to have a personal and emotional connection with the businesses in which they choose to invest their time and money. So, to take your brand's personlisation to the next what questions should you be asking? Do we have the correct technology stack in place? What does our data preparation and integration at scale look like? What modelling and data science capability do we have? Are we outsourcing when we could be insourcing? (or vice versa) Consult at iProspect is supporting clients to make sure they have the right people, processes and tech to leverage AI to build better consumer relationships through personalisation. Get in touch if we can help you integrate and grow now. 0 3 min read

Salvatore Venezia

About this Author

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