Evolve Insights

Decision-making: Data and Gut Feeling?

As it appeared in the Daily Nation on March 21st, 2017 Every day we make many decisions at the workplace and beyond. Some of the decisions are as simple as shifting the cabinet in the office to a different corner. Others are tough decisions that could have a major impact and that require a thoughtful approach. Decision-making is recognized as one of the key functions of management and very vital in leadership. The main questions are - What informs the choice we make between alternatives? and should we use data to make these decisions or should we go by our intuition or gut feeling? I recall as a product research and development officer early in my career making a decision on just how sweet the flavoured milk needed to be. After subjecting product samples to a series of taste panelists, it was evident what percentage of sugar was just right for the target consumers. This was…
Dr. Lucy Kiruthu
March 21, 2017
Evolve Insights

Why not all training is impactful

As it appeared in the Daily Nation on March 14th, 2017 Every year, companies across the globe spend billions of dollars in training their staff. Staff training also dubbed as learning and development or capacity building is a key strategy in people management. Through training, knowledge is shared, competences are built and productivity is increased. At its best, training results to a change in behaviour and even change in attitude. To be considered effective, training must result to observable changes, only then can it be said to have had an impact. Here in Kenya, companies are using different methods to meet their training objectives or as some unfortunately say, to spend the training budget allocated. Some pay college fees for their staff, others send their managers to executive programs and their staff to relevant courses while others conduct in-house in training either internally or externally facilitated. Before determining the best way to fill the training gaps,…
Dr. Lucy Kiruthu
March 14, 2017
Evolve Insights

How organizations are transforming their Customer Experiences

As it appeared in the Daily Nation on March 7th, 2017 A great customer experience does not just happen! It takes time and effort to transform customers’ experiences from mediocre to delightful or even from good to great. Many organizations have gone through such transformations and most have had great success. Recently I was having a conversation with a CEO of one of Kenya’s leading organizations. He reiterated that they were working towards a full transformation of their customer experience. Their intention was that their overall customer experience would differentiate them.  Like many other global service leaders, this CEO has caught the customer experience bug. That is what I call very good news! Christine Crandell a Forbes writer on customer experience states that customer experience is a catalyst of transformation as it directly influences culture, strategy, structure and all parts of a business. Any organization that has gone through a successful customer experience transformation can confirm…
Dr. Lucy Kiruthu
March 7, 2017