Patches of Perkiness! and the Time for Lasting Change

Harvey Nash plc, Impact Executives’ parent company were once again a headline sponsor of the Annual CBI Conference and what a conference it was, with the IMF Chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn warning of the danger of withdrawing financial impetus early. Followed by Gordon Brown, Nick Clegg and David Cameron, I will not comment on politics in this journal, but the CBI Micro Site will give some insight and photos.So moving swiftly on, the conference was then treated to an afternoon session and panel debate led by senior executives from some of the world’s most recognisable companies. Jeffrey Kindler, Chief Executive of Pfizer Inc who was joined by Chris Hyman, Chief Executive of Serco Group plc, Sir Stuart Rose, Chairman of Marks & Spencer and Stephen Hester, Chief Executive of Royal Bank of Scotland. Their discussion focused on how they had led large businesses through the recession and they were asked a number of questions by the audience about the tactics they had adopted in the last 12 months. The CBI recently published The Shape of Business; this was alluded to in summary:    * Finance will be harder to obtain    * Demographic change will have a big impact on employers, as will concerns around climate change    * Unforeseeable technological change and innovation will change the game    * Debt financing will be less popular, new forms of liquidity such as supply chain finance will be deployed    * Much greater awareness of risk will ensure organisations put in more robust structures    * Volatility in the oil price over the next 10 years will be disruptive for business    * The pace of technological change and how fast new technologies are taken up will continue to accelerateRead the full copy of the report "The Shape of Business - The Next 10 Years".November also saw the CIPD Annual Conference, in its new home of Manchester; the joint CBI/Harvey Nash Employment Trends Survey and the CIPD November Surveys both make rich and interesting reading and give a clear insight into how 2010 is going to unfold from an employment perspective. Read the surveys below:CBI / Harvey Nash Employment Trends Survey - November 2009 - Easing upCIPD Labour Market Trends Survey - November 2009 CIPD Performance Management Survey - November 2009 In summary, despite the growth in Western Europe likely to be subdued in 2010, there will be patches of what we would call perkiness, it is finding them that will differentiate the winners from the losers; organisations will start to revert back to longer term strategies. There will be more investment in innovation e.g: cheaper products for more frugal customers.Business must take a more sustainable approach. In reality the present downturn has done less damage to employment and business confidence and post an election, probably on May 6th but no later than June 3rd we will be rocking and rolling to a new beat. There will certainly be more new business models or collaborative ways of working. Once again we all have an opportunity to learn from the past 18/24 months and take the time in 2010 to make lasting change in our organisations and in our own lives. Good luck!This is my last journal in 2009, may I take this opportunity on behalf of all my colleagues at interim management company Impact Executives and the wider Harvey Nash Group of wishing you a very Happy Christmas and a successful, fulfilling, happy and most importantly - healthy 2010!