We have to improve management practices – it’s a never-ending challenge. I focus on three themes: the management of unknown-unknowns, the creation of intelligence-led project management, and the creation of talent intelligence about workforce skills and intents. I also have an enduring fascination for how we turn visions into practice.

A poetic circle. I’m a creature of two worlds. My career over the last 25 years has been in management, handling ambitious and difficult situations. My fiction writing has focussed on espionage stories. Now the fiction has changed my work.

Manage unknown-unknowns

Unknown-unknowns are the surprises that we couldn’t realistically have predicted as potential problems.

That’s different to the risks which we can list and manage. It’s also different to the improbable risks which we optimistically hope won’t happen (the known-unknowns).

Unknown-unknowns can be detected, even though we can’t describe them. There’s a sequence for researching suspicions to see if they’re risks or false leads. For those that we discover are risks, then conventional risk management techniques apply, and the “unknown” becomes “known”.

Manage project crises using intelligence-for-action

Technical projects can hit crises when the number of problems and risks (and unknowns) is overwhelming, and action is needed “now”.

Conventional project management techniques don’t work at speed where key assumptions change almost every day. However the intelligence profession had built a technique for this. Intelligence-for-action fits neatly with agile project management techniques.

Build Talent Intelligence

Talent Intelligence is the discipline of understanding the talent (people) in an organisation. Talent intelligence goes beyond judging people solely on their competences (and failures) at a given job. It looks at the skills and potential, and how this could be developed. It also looks at their ambitions.

For line managers, talent intelligence provides an understanding of employees ambitions, skills and potential. It can be used to help develop employees, or guide them into exciting new roles. And with talent intelligence profiles for a complete team, managers can improve succession planning and reorganisation.

For employees, Talent Intelligence tools offer them a chance to demonstrate their potential and justify training and new opportunities.

For organisations, it’s about coping with skills gaps, improving their efficiency, handling transformational changes, and building resilience to withstand crises.

That’s why I co-founded https://metatalent.ai – to build the tools for talent intelligence, and the professional services to help organisations get the most from these.

Transform visions into practice

Business entrepreneurs have ambitions that need to be developed into a profitable reality. Intrapreneurs in large companies have visions of change that needs to be “operationalised”. Political leaders see structural changes that need to be incorporated into existing systems. And social visionaries use public opinion and existing systems to bring about change.

I’ve worked with entrepreneurs and intrapreneurs, converting their dreams to reality. And I watch the political leaders and thought leaders with fascination. The articles and stories coming here will explore visions, and how they’re converted into practice.