Gary Thompson
Driving business change into your organisation to prepare you and your company for the disruption of the next decade.
How do I bring value to you?
The Strategy Consultants have left you with a dependency.
Congratulations!
You are now the proud parent of a half inch thick strategy deck on process optimisation, written in a language only Top 4 consultants understand and with the added bonus opportunity of a huge bill when you ask them to help bring it to life...
(a request, may I add, that they are expecting you to make.)
Now who you gonna call, Ghostbusters?
No, call me.
.jpg/:/cr=t:16.49%25,l:0%25,w:100%25,h:67.02%25/rs=w:1209,h:605,cg:true)
My role is to be your transformation business partner, helping you drive meaningful change across your business,
engage and energise your workforce and
strengthen your organisation’s resilience for the future.
So I aim to empower leaders to
be bold and ignite innovation
across their organization to deliver
proactive, opportunity-driven transformation,
not reactive, crisis-fueled change.
Rokaboat is focused on business transformation, innovation enablement and emerging tech advisory and training, based just outside of London but operating in the UK, Europe and the MENA region. It's an organisation committed to helping you bring that strategy deck to life by engaging your workforce to get involved in shaping and delivering that much-needed change.
As opposed to traditional consulting approaches, embedding teams of three year post-grad “consultants” into your organisation running amok while attempting to deliver change, we believe
YOUR WORKFORCE should be fully equipped with the ability and agility to deliver the changes needed for your organisation to ride the disruption of the next decade, ensuring you keep the skills and experiences in-house for you to call on time after time.
Now, you are probably thinking
"how does this good-looking lad from Yorkshire do all of that?" Good call!
Fortunately, I am proud to be a member of a number of collaborative groups of consultants, comprised of many different talents who I have worked with before, or who are highly recommended by the same, and who can provide me with the right type of resource needed.
It's great to have friends...
What's behind the name...
Thought processes are quite strange when it comes to naming a company, and my journey is no different.
When I was a kid, there was a song that was often on the radio and I loved it due to the beat and rhythm and in particular, lyrics that caught my attention - those same lyrics that resonate with me to this day.
That song was "Rock the Boat" by The Hues Corporation
with the classic lines
"So I'd like to know where you got the notion?"
and
"Rock the Boat, don't tip the boat over!"
Its my job to guide you generate those "notions,"
helping you uncover those
ideas, views, perceptions and thoughts
from within your business that will make what you do and the way you do it better, through a culture of innovation.
And as for the "notion of the motion" (gosh, how very retro)
that you need to
rock that boat without tipping it up,
I help you change and transform in an objective methodical way!
So that's exactly what I do and how I do it...
...and now you know why my personal services company is called
ROKABOAT Advisory
Who am I?
Gary Thompson FCMA
Let me tell you a little bit about me...
I am a transformation veteran, having been on the front line of business change since 1999 after exiting QSS, the company I co-founded and the developer of the DOORS requirements handling tool, the previous year.
Since then I have worked with business leaders and their management teams helping them translate their strategic vision into a clear blueprint of transformation activity, then implementing that change throughout their organisation, using a hands-on, pragmatic, approach to business change.
This experience comes from working in B2B / B2C Commercial, Operational, Industrial and Financial Services organisations across many business sectors & organisational cultures in the UK, West / East Europe, Middle East, Asia, and North America.
During that time, I have successfully delivered change focused on:
- Business & Technology Transformation
- Innovation in the Workplace
- Organisational & Target Operating Model development and transition
- Operational Efficiency, Process Optimisation, Improvement & Automation, and Cost Optimisation
- Process consolidation through Activity & Functional Carve Outs, Back Office Consolidation, GBS/Shared Service development, Outsourcing and Offshoring
- Development of continuous improvement, process improvement and automation centres of excellence
- Regulatory Change and Remediation.
In addition to consulting experience with the Hackett Group and through my own consulting company I operated in the GCC, I have worked with wide array of clients across financial services and commercial industries including Barclays Bank, National Bank of Abu Dhabi, Bank of Ireland, DS Smith, Holcim, First Group, Emirates Nuclear Energy Corp and the Big Innovation Centre.
And for my sins, I am a Prince2 practitioner and hold Fellowship of the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants.
But who am I really? What makes me tick?
Being a business transformation expert wasn't my first choice of career. I always wanted to be a lawyer. But I'm lucky that it turned out this way, because it got me heavily involved in two areas I am passionate about
- Ensuring companies use their greatest asset - the workforce - for their best advantage and
- Ensuring that workforce has the support and tools needed to do their jobs to the best advantage.
This has been my outlook since I started in the workplace. All too often I see employees who are just disinterested towards their employer and in what they do, and that is usually due to a lack of engagement. It's a shame, because those employees can bring a diversity of views and thoughts into what a company does and the way it does it.
And that can be the difference between growth or oblivion in a market that moves faster than a Katy Perry on-stage costume change!
As you probably now realise, for me successful transformation is more than just changing structures, improving processes, or adopting new technologies. It is about people... the management and employees who play a crucial role in delivering and adopting change and making the company work better. Successful transformation involves guiding them to work together, take ownership of what they do and collaborate with customers, suppliers and colleagues.
Implementing any kind business change can be a traumatic and frightening time for employees. There is always a fear that accompanies any workplace upheaval of “am I going to lose my job?” Although what you may see as solving a simple problem or driving an efficiency gain, could be interpreted totally differently by an office worker with a rent bill to pay each month.
That’s why I am very hands-on when implementing change and transformation, ensuring it is delivered with understanding and with an approach that is inclusive across the workforce.
Remember, organisations don’t change. People change! I’d like to take credit for that statement, but I can’t. All consultants, from the major players to the boutiques, say the same thing – and it’s true.
So far, so good?
On the personal side, I live by the views on life and work set forth by
- Herb Keller, the ex- CEO of Southwest Airlines and a visionary who believed that humour together with a positive attitude amongst his workforce, putting people first, both employees and customers alike, would feed through to increased customer happiness and increased revenues and would be the key to long-term success. He was right, guiding Southwest to become the most successful company in American aviation history.
- Mark Twain, who once said "find a job you enjoy doing and you will never have to work a day in your life,"
- and my Dad, (bless him) who always said "if it ain't fun, don't do it."
Just put them all together and you get a sense of me...
(and can I just point out that they didn't actually know each other!).
Thoughts from the Frontline...
I really enjoy writing articles, posts and blogs, based on my insights and observations drawn from over 25 years at the frontline of business change. Hence, "Thoughts from the Frontline."
Adorned with a splattering of case studies from the files of the good and the great, together with real life case studies from my own career, I try to offer deep insight into the world of transformation and innovation. I believe they could also be a great cure for insomnia.
I often use quotations in these works, taken from the ponderings of authors such as Terry Pratchett and Douglas Adams, together with more business-like thoughts of numerous industry leaders and historical visionaries ranging from Steve Jobs and Henry Ford to Archimedes. If there is a point to be made, let them emphasise it as they are better known than me!
Some works are published on this website. Others are posted on LinkedIn - www.linkedin.com/in/innovation-transformation I always welcome feedback from readers providing its constructive and full of praise :-)
Continuing on the communication theme, I have also had the great pleasure of presenting at public and private conferences, webinars and speaking on radio shows in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, waxing lyrical on topics such as Innovation in the Workplace, Operational Excellence, Process Automation, and developing Shared Services for back office tasks. All are important topics that have an impact in the business arena, especially given the disruptive, fast moving, digital world we live in today, but I do try to inject a sense of humour and levity into what could potentially be another patentable cure for sleeplessness.
It is this involvement in the world of conferences and hors d'oeuvres that gave me the opportunity to become a member of the Global Advisory Board for the Shared Services and Outsourcing Network (SSON) representing the MENA region, a role I undertook for 5 years providing input to content and themes for IQPC SSON and OPEX conferences.
What can I do for you?
Fractional Chief Transformation Officer
Fractional Chief Transformation Officer
Fractional Chief Transformation Officer
Wherever you are in your transformation journey, leadership can always benefit from access to an experienced and impartial outside perspective to accelerate change and growth in the organisation.
As a transformation business partner, I work with you to drive change and transformation across your organisation and foster an approach to innovation and change from within - bridging the gap between recognizing the need to innovate and change, and making that transition into a tangible, actionable pursuit throughout the business.
A Framework for Change
Fractional Chief Transformation Officer
Fractional Chief Transformation Officer
Leading multiple dispersed or interconnected initiatives and associated implementation teams whilst maintaining pace and speed in change without losing control or direction is challenging, but it's what I do for a living.
So when it comes to delivering change, I take responsibility for delivery strategy, work prioritization, project delivery & optimization of financial performance, whilst being proactively involved with and supportive of individual team activities and tasks, ensuring projects and programs stay on track within agreed timeframes, meet high quality standards and your needs and requirements are understood and met.
A Framework for Innovation
Fractional Chief Transformation Officer
Change and Transformation Team Building and Support
From serving as a trusted ally to your leadership to helping you establish an entirely new approach to innovation and venture-building, I work with you and your organization to unlock the power of your workforce, managers and employees alike, helping them navigate complex challenges in fast-changing environments, and supporting your people to become more agile, innovative, and resilient.
I help you create and embed a supportive yet agile framework for innovation management, encompassing processes and tools, governance, structure, clear objectives, and well-defined individual roles.
Change and Transformation Team Building and Support
Change and Transformation Team Building and Support
Change and Transformation Team Building and Support
Rather than embed teams of “consultants” into your organization to do the work, I believe your workforce should have the ability, opportunity and willingness to deliver the changes needed to shape the organisation, ride the disruption of the next decade and take advantage of new and emerging technologies.
That's why I support and upskill them, developing your internal change and innovation capability through, training, knowledge transfer, lessons learned, experience sharing and good old on-the-job exposure, using a sleeves rolled up, pragmatic and participative approach.
The objective is to help you build transformation delivery teams from internal (and if required, external) resources, ensuring the widest possible diversity to reflect differing views and ideas, and to leave with a legacy not a dependency.
Training, Workshops, Clinics and Coaching
Change and Transformation Team Building and Support
Training, Workshops, Clinics and Coaching
My Training and Workshops are designed to expand awareness and understanding of change delivery, together with innovation and ideation techniques and frameworks, achieved through tailored content, on-the-job intensive focus workshops, and ongoing leadership mentoring.
One specialist workshop I love to run is a Zero-to-Hero innovation sprint, where I work with your team to guide them in defining a core problem or new business opportunity, ideate solutions, conceptualise and get them to present back to stakeholders within a 2 to 4 week period, diving in and out to guide them along their journey.
I also offer 1-2-1 and 1-2-Group clinics and coaching, designed to help overcome challenges with personalized support to help both teams and individuals break out of unhelpful patterns and tapping into their unused potential.
The Ways I Work
Change and Transformation Team Building and Support
Training, Workshops, Clinics and Coaching
I undertake assignments in most formats - full time or part time, on site or remote, domestic or international.
And all training, workshops, clinics and coaching are offered in-house or online, dependent on organisational need and requirement.
So, whether you need
- a 1-hour-per-week or “as needed” fractional Transformation Director to evaluate and accelerate delivery of an existing business strategy or
- an extended deep-dive engagement to define and lead a change project or program,
I can help set your organization on the path to innovation, transformation and growth.