No More Consultants : We Know More Than We Think (Hardcover)

Foreword. Preface. 1 Introduction - Why No More Consultants? Five Key Questions. How to Read No More Consultants. Chapter by Chapter. 2 Discovering the River. Forming the River. Beating Consultants at Their Own Game. Spotting the Potential for Learning and Sharing. Examining the Distribution of Performance. Watching the River Over Time. 3 Building the Framework. Deciding Who to Involve. Identifying and Selecting the Practices. Deciding the Variables. Defining the Levels. Developing our 'Effective Meetings' Example. Story 1 - Using Self-assessment to Unite a Consortium of Companies. Story 2 - Helping UK Government Departments to Develop and Learn. The Benefits of Global Rather than Local Frameworks. Defining the Strategy. 4 Applying the Approach. It's All About the Conversations. Involving the Procrastinators. The Environment. Story 3 - Responding to AIDS in Brazil. Sharing Experience Within a Framework. It is Subjective, and De-personalises the Emotion. It Challenges Our Assumptions. The Focus for Improvement. Finding Ways to Close the Gap in Performance. Story 4 - Developing Professional Communities in Oracle. Story 5 - Assessing Knowledge Management in UK Regional Government Offices. Story 6 - Linking the Supply Chain. Launching and Going to Scale. 5 The Role of the Facilitator. What Are the Attributes of a Good Facilitator? What Does a Facilitator Do? 6 Creating the River. Constructing the River Diagram on Paper. Innovative and Practical Ways to Visualise a River Diagram. Creating the Stairs Diagram. Story 7 - Developing a Knowledge Culture in the National Health Service. 7 Learning from Experience. Offers and Requests. Learning from Experience Through a Peer Assist. Story 8 - Organic Rice Farming in Thailand. Story 9 - Peers in Unexpected Places - When Great Ormond Street Hospital Met Ferrari! Barriers to Sharing. Tall Poppy Syndrome. Shrinking Violet Syndrome. Not Invented Here Syndrome. Real Men Don't Ask for Directions. 8 Improving and Sustaining. Measuring Progress. Leading and Lagging Indicators. Modifying the Framework. Local Customisation. External Benchmarking - Towards Level Six. Story 10 - The Sustainable Development of Cities. 9 So What Do We Do Now? Appendices. Appendix A Self-Assessment Framework for Effective Meetings. Appendix B Learning and Development Self-Assessment Framework. Appendix C Creating a River Diagram with Excel. Appendix D Knowledge and Organisation Development in the NHS. Further Reading. Index.