Women are better educated and more active in the labour force than ever, and are increasingly working in managerial roles.

https://ilo.org/infostories/en-GB/Stories/Employment/beyond-the-glass-ceiling#introduction

Written by Shantha Martin

I keep going back to innovation…and I am sure you’ll be wondering, WHY??

It is simply so, because if it wasn’t for innovation, we wouldn’t have progressed thus far,…..for innovation keeps coming back,…..each time in a new avatar, hence for me to talk about innovation is neither stale,…..nor a stale-mate,…..instead it’s a state we are in,……a state of evolution and progress,….

In school we were taught, so many things,…..the languages, the mathematics, the sciences, the histories, the geographies,…..and thereafter it was our lives that took over, ever so constantly teaching us,…..every moment, every day,…..and in this mire we are constantly reminded that we have to survive, for life is a struggle,…..and we are all in the business of survival,…..and the law of “The survival of the fittest”, holds true for us as well,…….and to survive in our businesses we must innovate,…..constantly ever so,…..never stale,…..never a stale-mate !!!

Looking at the logic of logistics, we realize  that the strengths an army drew in the WW II, was through its logistical competence,…….the Industrial revolution took over thereafter,……economies opened up unto one another towards the creation of a globalised environment, especially in terms of trade and commerce.

Soon supply chain brought in an edifice of scientific management in logistics which saved time and money, and catered to the needs of Individuals and Organisations. The advent of Telecommunication, followed by The Information Technology and Faster and efficient transport systems saw us propelled beyond our orbits towards a world that would change very fast,….and now we are here within a constant flux of our business environments wherein innovation is the only panacea for survival.      

“Innovation begins at the intersection of invention and insight,” notes Patricia Pepper, director of strategy and innovation for IBM Integrated Supply Chain

While many companies talk innovation, what’s truly important is achieving the results of that innovation, according to the standards of your clients, internal employees, and suppliers.

While evaluating the importance of innovation we must ask ourselves that, will pursuing a strategy of incremental improvement through innovation allow us to meet our business objectives, and can we avoid having our products and services become commodities?

If they do become commoditized, the ability to price effectively will decrease, and so will the profitability.

Supply chain innovation is important for companies of all sizes. It means looking at the way a company applies its assets, operating resources, and capabilities to develop new ways to satisfy customer needs. Companies should measure the value of innovations by how well they help meet customer demands. 

While few companies are implementing breakthrough or “leapfrog” innovations, nearly every company today is looking to innovate in some way or the other. 

Some key areas of activity upon which innovation in logistics have taken place involve the following:

Adapting: 

This involves putting in place the necessary technology, people, and global operating models keeping in view global demand, alongside a global supply chain process to cater to that demand.

Collaborating: Collaborating with trading partners.

Instead of operating within one’s own boundaries, we must look beyond our boundaries, collaborating with our trading partners so as to collapse the time between sales and replenishment. This holds especially true for a Supply Chain orientation. 

Integrating:

Breaking down silos and integrating functions to develop creative solutions.  

To transform through innovation we need to have a strong desire for internal and external collaboration. This transformation should cut across departments and areas of focus within a company and it should also link the extended enterprise, such as key suppliers, customers, and channels.

Innovation Teamwork:

Innovation isn’t only about new technology; instead innovation should be an integral part of the entire operation.

Apart from product innovation we need to talk about value process innovation and execution innovation.

The seeds of innovation can be sown by any member from within the organisation, or from outside the organisation. We as managers should enable ourselves to derive from these through creative imagination and develop a portfolio of feasible innovation approaches, work upon each idea through a strategic orientation, plan and provide the required resources, such that Innovation can be executed in the best possible way and its outcome can be measured vis-à-vis the defined benchmarks.

A creation of a centralized repository of best practices in Innovation will be most desirable at an Organisational Culture level. 

Measuring Results

Needless to say that many organisations which are driven hard by technology, have come a long way in streamlining an automated process, which reduces errors and saves time along with real time visibility of cargo movement, however through this we have somewhere lost out on the human front, and ironically it is the human touch which relates to service; in this direction our communication needs to be impeccable, such that we can coordinate in the most efficient and amicable way – understanding the needs of each other!   

We should be prepared to advice our innovators on how to take ideas to the next level, in terms of assembling a team, developing a plan, and securing a patent (If need be.)

The most critical step in innovation is to measure that we have indeed delivered the desired results, in terms of Customer Satisfaction, and our own Profitability.

—–>>>

HOW FAR HAVE WE COME IN OUR JOURNEY IN INNOVATION 

1. We have been working towards being an Integrated Logistics Solutions provider.

   Note: A Solutions provider is a service provider who innovates.

2. Product Innovation – We offer multi products – LCL, FCL, AIR , Project cargo , warehousing , inland , over border , end to end offering (A question we need to ask – “Are we getting Commoditized here ?”

3. Collaborative Supply Chain Innovation and Specialization – Focusing on Industry Vertical – NGO / Automotive and Pharma 

4. Network and Route Innovation – With our presence in the main gateways we are providing logistic solutions to our clients to use the corridors of Mombasa, Dares Salaam, Beira , Durban 

5. Making Inroads into the Frontier Economies – First Mover advantage needs to be coupled with Innovation, such that we stay a differentiated Solutions Provider, in our quest to command market leadership, through Brand Value.

6. We have invested in technology – we have launched a warehouse management program in Morocco to cater to the global names and we plan to extend this to Egygt , Tunisia , Algeria and other locations as well.

———, AND WHERE DO WE NEED TO GO FROM HERE

We need to imbibe an Innovative Culture at our regional levels (Some Innovations may work at regional levels and not at global level, while some may fit into a global scenario, however the Collaboration and Integration needs to be global)

We need to invest in developing “Innovation Think Tanks” involving Fresh Management graduates especially, to compile and collate data,……so as to create an “Innovation Portfolio”

We at the helm of Management can guide and derive from the ‘PORTFOLIO’ thus created and work upon its Strategic viability, and Implementability.

We also need to have the Benchmarks in place, so as to measure the results of our Implementation.

And all this while we need to be nimble, and keep ourselves ahead of change,……in other words we need be not just the Change Leaders,……but we need to become Innovation Leaders !!

I would like to sum up my thoughts by saying, “Our customers will come to us with their problems, and we need to be the solution to their problem…and this is what Innovation means to me”     

I would like to know your thoughts, such that together we can Adapt, Collaborate, Integrate into an organization which believes that Innovation is at its Heart…

Written by Shantha Martin: View her short bio

In your company, HR people are (almost) useless!

It is true! HR are a cost center: you have to pay the members of the team and to allocate them offices and equipment.

HR are a pain in your neck!

There too, it is true! HR think of applying the law and the best practice and they ask you to fill in dozens of formal documents. The survey named “Radioscopie of HR” led in 2016 by Cegos, the international leader in training, underlines the growing weight of the administrative and law constraints.

HR, one doesn’t know what that is used for!

Again, it is completely true! The survey confirms that the HR profile holds the most uncomfortable position within the steering committee.

And you certainly do agree with a famous survey led in 2015 by ADP, leader in the outsourcing of HR processes: only 24% of the employees are “extremely or very satisfied” with the HR function in their company.

Then, well: prompt the change!

Recruit an HR Director and, while requiring of him a strong participation within the steering committee, check thathe/she has phobia of HR offices.

From then, it is easy! Establish a “live my life” program and make sure he will be invited to the business meetings.That done, ask him to use a problem-solving methodology: no receipts, not easy solutions, no magic wand. Instead, get into the habit of co-designing with him what the problem is, defining objectives, listing the solutions you have tried to implement in vain. Thus, you will be able to co-create relevant and durable HR solutions for your company.

Yes, make your RH the guarantor of legal and good practices. But do more: make him the solid support of yourbusiness.

And you will see: he will re-examine the HR processes from a customer point of view, he will see mandatory agreements as many opportunities to create managerial tools, he will be an ambassador of your company when facing candidates, he effectively will represent you with the staff representatives, the trade unions and the labour authorities.

Naturally, it will be a little painful. The HR Director will want to understand the business and he will ask all kinds ofstupid questions. He will require to be part of some meetings. He will analyze the figures in his way. And, more than that, he will make funny and contradictory suggestions and will propose kinky action plans. But don’t panic: he won’t take any offense if you don’t adopt them.

In short, he will really sit at your strategic steering committee, considering the business requirements and the stakes of the field. His belief: performance and corporate social responsibility. His behavior: both humble and charismatic.

Your RH will then be your true partner. And he will have the satisfaction to really take part in the creation of added value and performance within your company. He will experiment the joy of not being seen more like a pure cost center or a necessary evil.

Backstage, he will be obliged to make the splits between operational and legal requirements which he must implement as best as possible not to disturb the operations.

Please note that this kind of positioning is much more exposed and difficult to hold than the “hidden in my office” one. It will then be your job to support your HR director. And thus, to give the lie to the Cegos inquiry: the roadmap of your HR will be a little less fuzzy, a little less contradictory.

Your HR is there to support you! Count on him! Let him be at your side and let him “stick his nose in everything”. Please do not confine him within the space of his office. He will support you even if he doesn’t understand you all the time and even when he slightly disagrees.

Dear leaders, by recruiting an HR Business Partner, you’ll recruit your loyal and useful fellow worker.

Don’t hesitate!

Click here to view Michele’s Short Bio

Women currently represent 36% of European MBA students and 42% of US MBA students.

However, when they enter the business world, they’ll notice just 22% of board members, and 7% of board presidents, are female. 

Are business schools doing enough to push and prioritise gender diversity? For some, the answer is ‘not yet’.

Breaking down enrollment barriers

Without a steady stream of qualified female MBA students, the landscape of senior management is unlikely to change. Some international business schools are working hard to attract more female applicants each academic year.

Barriers begin to form before women even reach enrollment. 29% of women turn down MBA offers because of “financial concerns”, whereas the main reason male applicants rejected offers was because they chose an alternative university. In response, top business schools in China, Singapore, and Europe have launched MBA scholarships exclusively for women, ranging from €8,000 to full tuition costs.

The University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School pairs prospective female students with current female students, funds outreach programmes, and even “hand-write congratulatory postcards to successful female applicants” to invite them to their MBA programme. 44% of Wharton students are female, making them one of the most diverse MBAs in global rankings.

Building the right campus environment

London Business School has cited increasing the number of female applicants as one of its main diversity goals. Currently, 39% of LBS MBA students are women, but 52% of the school’s senior management are women, so their initiatives are informed by first-hand experiences. 

LBS regularly hosts female speakers, and its Women in Business Club is one of the largest on campus. Many of their female alumni have gone on to become CEOs, company presidents, and found their own startups.

The power of donors, awards, and mentorship

As educators and enablers, MBA programmes and universities need to focus on improving gender diversity beyond their programmes and within businesses.

One university taking this particularly seriously is international business school INSEAD. Ninety-eight percent of INSEAD alumni have mentored other women – including 89% of male graduates. 69% enable other female leaders within their own organisations, and 91% are heavily invested in increasing the representation of women in business leadership generally.

INSEAD graduate Helen Pitcher OBE is now the Chairperson of Advancing Boardroom Excellence, and committed to mentoring other women in business. “I have been supported and challenged by mentors – both female and male – at key points in my career, and it’s important for me to pass this on.”

Developing connections

A highly regarded study published in the Academy of Management Journal found “career development for women is tied more to attachment and relationships”. Whether this is true for everyone or not, building connections is essential when it comes to reaching senior leadership positions.

71% of Fortune 500 companies in the US have mentoring programmes, but networking groups with women from different sectors can sometimes be more valuable. Having access to a group of other professional women can create new employment opportunities, help women negotiate pay increases, and trade skills when they create their own businesses and brands.

For company founder and CFO Sophie Eisenmann, who finished her MBA in 2009, “Studying, working and sharing my life with so many amazing and inspiring fellow students helped trigger my decision to become an entrepreneur. INSEAD gave me a network and credentials that opened up doors.”

Driving the gender diversity agenda through education

Some business schools nurture their environment, some prioritise diverse admissions strategies, and others develop valuable scholarships and awards. The most successful focus on all three.

Back in 2017, the European commission pushed for company boards with more than 60% male members to prioritise recruiting more women. If MBA programmes and universities are determined to produce even more savvy, skilled, and determined female graduates, parity surely can’t be far away.