Our Services

Social Engagement Strategist

We live in a connected and increasingly global world - a world in which we are impacted every day by people and events that seem far away. And our own actions, alone or with others, can often have a significant impact across the nation and across the world.

The challenges faced by business, government and community organisations and enterprises of all sizes in staying relevant, keeping in touch with stakeholders, understanding the world we live in and the people in it—and prospering at the same time—are significant. Failure to do so can be catastrophic, for our enterprises and for the world in which we operate.

It's hard enough understanding the complexities within our own enterprise—how the pieces fit together; how our systems and processes interact; how our people work together. Understanding our immediate stakeholders is more difficult again—they might be "like" us, but they're not the same. And understanding the people and organisations that are two, three or often many more levels removed from our inner circle can seem all but impossible.

Our response to this challenge has often been to take an "egocentric enterprise" approach to the world, focusing primarily on the people and things we know best—our own enterprise. Our connections with, and understanding of our immediate stakeholders is usually well developed, and we feel reasonably comfortable with the dynamics of the sector within which we operate. Further afield, our reach into the broader communities with which we operate and to our global society as a whole is often tenuous, particularly in those communities and societies that look different to us.


The Egocentric Enterprise View of the World

Perhaps this doesn't matter. Perhaps we only need to concentrate on ourselves and on those with whom we work directly. Perhaps the bigger world will take care of itself. Or perhaps it's all just too hard and we'll just do the best we can. Things have always worked out okay, haven't they?

Even if things have worked out in the past, this risks associated with this approach are increasing exponentially. Global events can't be ignored. We are all increasingly dependent on each other for our survival and prosperity. Businesses need to explore new markets, understand the needs of potential new customers, form new relationships, embrace different cultures. Governments are being expected to expand the services they provide, to deliver services in new ways to more people, and to deal with an unprecedented pace of change. Community organisations are under increasing scrutiny and are constantly challenged to stay relevant and vibrant in our rapidly changing world.

The most successful enterprises in our modern world are understanding and embracing the complexities of modern society. In particular, they recognise that they operate in a world of complex networks. Everything is connected to everything else. And those connections are not hierarchical: instead they form a complex web in which the actions of any one individual or enterprise are ultimately experienced—directly or indirectly—across our society. Global warming; global financial crises; terrorism are obvious and current examples. But changing relationships; shifting community priorities and expectations; demands for greater equality; the emergence of online communities; dwindling resources are all complex factors that, in one way or another, affect us all.


The Network View of the World

All of these factors increase the challenges and risks of leading a modern enterprise. No longer can we expect tomorrow to be the same as today. Understanding the complexities of our modern world and the diversity of perspectives of individuals, communities and societies is essential for modern leaders. Developing strategic responses to those imperatives is perhaps the most important and challenging responsibility we face.

Most enterprises today try to find the answers to the challenges they face from within the resources of the enterprise itself. Connections are made and discussions are had with external stakeholders mostly by functions and individuals who work within the enterprise. External consultants are sometimes engaged on specific projects but even they look and think more like the enterprise itself than some of the people and organisations with whom the enterprise needs to connect.

The result is often a dialogue that filters out the key messages that the enterprise needs to hear. Products are built that don't meet consumer needs. Services are delivered that don't produce expected outcomes. New opportunities are ignored. And threats emerge that we simply didn't see coming.

The innov8 Consulting Group is in a unique position to help those organisations who understand this problem and want to do something to fix it. It's Founder and Managing Director, Dr Mark Bagshaw, offers to a select group of CEOs and senior executives in the business, government and community sectors his unique life experience, his extensive and diverse global networks and his lifetime of strategic management experience and executive leadership across all sectors.

He offers his clients a different and powerful view of our complex world—a connected view in our modern networked world. Other consultants "talk the talk", claiming a capacity to operate at this level, but few are able to deliver.

His insights have helped businesses to identify new business opportunities in non-traditional markets and to develop products and solutions that work for those markets. His guidance has helped executive teams to establish new dialogues, create new partnerships, identify threats other enterprises never see coming. In IBM, for example, his work created a new structure for the company's international marketing operations and developed a new model for its emerging global Accessibility business. At Toyota his insights led to the identification of global market opportunities for accessible vehicles through the application of universal design principles.

He has worked with governments around the world in developing new strategic solutions to traditionally intractable social and economic challenges. He has worked with the United Nations and the International Labour Organisation across the Asia Pacific Region to increase employment of disadvantaged groups. He has led the development of national strategies in the training system and equity in Australia and New Zealand. And his work and leadership in the community sector has led to new approaches to community development, combining a deep understanding of the diversity of human nature and the complexities of the lives we lead with his capacity for strategic thinking and his track record of getting things done.

Complementing Dr. Bagshaw's expertise are the contributions of a broad range of colleagues, all highly regarded experts in their own fields, on whose expertise we can draw to develop recommendations and solutions that embrace the broadest possible perspective.

We choose carefully the people and organisations with whom we work. We purposely keep our client base small and select to ensure we maintain the personal relationships that we consider essential in fulfilling our role. We're not looking for one-off engagements—we're with you for the long haul. We work with individuals who are in a position to get things done, normally but not always C-Level executives—individuals who embrace the notion of a Connected Enterprise in a Networked World—who believe that the success of their enterprise depends on the success of our society.

Our business model is flexible and tailored to each client. We are partly mentor, partly devil's advocate, partly conduit to the outside world. We contribute to the development of and review key strategies and initiatives. We work directly with Boards and executive teams to supplement and enhance their decision-making processes. We bring to the attention of our clients key developments that we believe may affect them positively or negatively. We help the people within our client organisations to understand the world and we help the world to understand those organisations. And we also spend a substantial proportion of our time maintaining and developing our networks—an investment that benefits each of our clients.

This offering is not for everyone. It's probably not for those who believe their enterprise already embraces all of the perspectives it needs to. Nor will it appeal to those unable or unwilling to hear an alternative point of view.

But if you are one of those leaders who "gets it"—who is fascinated by our world and its complexities—by its people and their complexities … and who is excited about the possibilities of leveraging your personal leadership and the capacity of your organisation by embracing a broader world view, we are keen to talk with you about joining you on that journey.