Radically Challenge
the way you think about your business
Delivering high value change projects since 1990
About Us
We believe sustainable business improvement is achieved through integration of People, Process and Asset strategies.
TARIBON has a proven track record in delivering high value change projects. Our domestic and international clients span many industries including mining, telecommunications, government, finance, education and manufacturing. We have worked with success in both private and public sectors in Australia, New Zealand and South Africa.
The TARIBON approach will radically challenge the way you think about your business. Taribon bring a fresh perspective and enable you to look at your business with new eyes.
TARIBON uses established tools and principles to identify and eliminate variation and business impediments.
Services
We know that businesses operate within changing and often unpredictable environments.
Leadership Programme Business Improvement
TARIBON improvement initiatives blend the ‘technical’ with the ‘cultural’ to achieve sustainable improvements to business value. Existing business systems and entrenched cultures are challenged and realigned to lock in the improvements.
TARIBON uses lean principles and well established tools, to identify and maximise value opportunities. Our approach to assignments encompasses a multi-dimensional view of the workings of the whole of business including:
- Organisational design and leadership development
- Culture mapping
- Organisational system design and review
- Business improvement using ‘lean manufacturing’ principles
- Team effectiveness
- Executive coaching and mentoring
- Career Path Appreciation
Taribon works with clients to build effective leadership capability at all levels to enable the organisation to deliver on its strategy.
Taribon Leadership Programme
A lot of attention is paid to individuals who are great leaders. Biographies of charismatic leaders fill the shelves in airport bookstalls, and most organisations run development programmes to build leadership skills. The connection between business performance and leadership is accepted as self-evident.
Team Leadership
Many organisations we work with have allowed themselves to become ‘muddled’ and confused about the role of a leader. It is not uncommon for us to find that the process, authority and accountability for important decisions is unclear.
Often, this lack of clarity extends into structures, projects, processes and roles. Symptoms of this malaise often include slow decision-making, unnecessary committees, torturous consensus processes and (ironically) knee-jerk autocratic decisions.
Often, at the heart of this lack of clarity, is a poor understanding of the role of a leader, and how teams should function. Taribon uses a proven model of Team Leadership and Team Membership and a powerful, experiential intervention to re-set the understanding across the business of these critical roles.
Crucially, Taribon builds internal capability in the business, so that leaders can take over ownership of these tools, and avoid dependency on external consultants.
Organisational Leadership
In their book “Built to Last”, Collins and Porras discovered that long term success comes when senior leaders pay attention to what they call “Clock Building”, and what we are calling Organisational Leadership. In essence, this means working on the organisation rather than in it.
In a large organisation, this is the core role for the Executive Team. All too often, senior managers fail to recognise this as their work. Design and development of the organisation is left to chance, or delegated to ‘experts’, who often lack the context and capability for the work.
Brilliant speeches, well crafted values statements, and saturation training will have an impact, but probably not what you are hoping for. Ultimately the culture you get will be a consequence of the organisation you design (or allow to evolve).
The 7S model above illustrates the interconnected elements of an organisation. If we work hard on just one aspect of an organisation – say through a vigorous training campaign, our work will be undermined by systems and symbols which contradict the messages we communicated so well in the training.
To break this unproductive dynamic, senior leaders need to be doing the right work for their level in the organisation. Before leaders can focus on the right work, they will need to appreciate just what that work is.
Programme Design
All leaders at any level of a business need Team Leadership skills to build and lead a team. Senior leaders need to build these skills, but also need the skills necessary for Organisational Leadership.
Taribon uses two, nested development programmes to embed a core set of models in the business.
- Executive Programme: The purpose of the Executive Leadership Programme is to enable executives to do their work of role by providing them with a powerful set of models to help them understand how organisations work, and how to use these models to shape culture and deliver value.
- Team Leadership and Team Membership Programme: The purpose of the Team Leadership and Team Membership programme is to embed a coherent model of leadership, which enables the organisation to perform.
The programmes use a thoughtfully designed combination of theory sessions, simulations, exercises and case studies to enable participants to experience and make sense of the appropriate level of work for an executive team.
The programmes integrate practical interpersonal leadership skills development with a comprehensive set of models for organisational leadership.
Participants use current workplace issues as a practical test bed for applying Organisational theory.
A coherent and proven set of models will be explored encompassing:
- Leading and contributing to teams
- Systems thinking
- Understanding and shaping culture
- The role of Mental models and dialogue in organisational learning
- System design and the role of systems in culture
- Requisite structure – Levels of work and Value chain theory
- Role design, accountability and authority
For Executive Teams, we run a five-day residential programme with twelve participants which would normally represent the immediate reports to the MD/Chief Executive, and a number of highly capable managers from the next tier.
Our experience has shown that a direct role for the MD/CE in co-facilitating the programme lends weight to the material and offers the opportunity to role model positive leadership behaviour.
Similarly, we advocate a role for senior leaders in co-facilitating a shorter, two and a half to three day event for all staff.
These programmes are designed and run in such a way that delivery is handed over to the client, further embedding the models into the business.
Business Improvement
Taribon works with clients to build their internal organisational capability by aligning and optimising business processes to deliver real value. The following is an example of Taribon’s business improvement intervention methodology. It has been used with many of our clients to achieve sustainable breakthrough improvements.
TARIBON improvement initiatives encompass multi-dimensional perspectives of the workings of the whole of business.
Directors
TARIBON bring a fresh perspective based on wide industry experience and enables you to look at your business with new eyes.
TARIBON directors partner with you and ensure their comprehensive experience as general managers and business consultants is fully utilised by personally leading the change team on the ground. This ‘hands on’ operating model ensures you have direct and ongoing access to the director’s expertise.
John Clark B. Ind. Eng.
John joined TARIBON as a director after establishing himself as a business improvement specialist and strategist at Telstra, Comalco and CRA. John’s proven track record in re-engineering initiatives that yield significant business benefits for organisations is valued by clients. His hands on experience together with his ability to integrate people dimensions into the business improvement approach, ensures sustainability of initiatives.
David Aitken B. Elec. Eng.; M.Phil.
Dave has held a variety of engineering, general management and business improvement roles before consulting in the mining, manufacturing and education industries. Coupling his extensive operational experience at Telstra with his strong affiliation with ANU, Dave ensures organisations create an environment ready for change to deliver successful improvement initiatives. Utilising contemporary organisational theories and system dynamics Dave works with clients to execute successful business improvement strategies.
Joe Landro B. Elec. Eng.; M.B.T.
Joe has worked in a number of operational leadership and general management roles in manufacturing, mining, mineral processing and telecommunications. Drawing on his broad experience and professional background, including engineering, operations and strategic human resources, Joe has designed, directed and implemented many major corporate change strategies that have yielded significant productivity improvements. Joe applies a blend of organisational models and lean principles to business problems, whilst ensuring sustainability of solutions through the engagement and coaching of people at all levels.
Justin O’Connell B.Soc.Sci.; G.M.Q.
Justin has worked across the mining, manufacturing and telecommunications industries in both strategic human resources and senior operational management roles. Justin’s direct experience in reforming entrenched workplace systems ensures organisational effectiveness strategies and behavioral/cultural change are integrated with system design and improvement initiatives. Clients value Justin’s ability to directly partner with senior executives on effective change leadership and implementation.
Alan Moloney B. Mech. Eng.
Alan’s career has been in the centre of organisational change, leading large operations and maintenance units in both manufacturing and mining businesses. Complementing this line management experience, Alan has led the HR and organisation development function at site and whole-of-business level for a multi-national aluminium producer. During this period Alan played a significant role in the transition from a conventional workplace to an ‘all staff’ workforce which continues to outperform its competitors. In recent years, Alan has worked as an organisation development consultant, contributing to the work of chief executives and senior mangers in mining, financial services and the public sector.
TARIBON improvement initiatives blend the ‘technical’ with the ‘cultural’ to achieve sustainable results.
Clients
Taribon clients span many industries including mining, government, telecommunications, finance, education and manufacturing.
Typical client responses include:
“We’ve had training on lots of tools in the past with little to show for it. TARIBON’s approach is unique, it’s about more than teaching tools. The hard part is the doing and TARIBON helps your business learn how” Transferring skills and building in house capability is a priority for TARIBON. It contributes to an environment for change essential for sustaining improved business results. “Some of TARIBON’s ideas make you uncomfortable, others make you want to kick yourself, but every one of them makes you smarter – smarter about your people, smarter about your systems & processes, and smarter about delivering more business value.” TARIBON directors partner with you and ensure their comprehensive experience as general managers and business consultants is fully utilised by personally leading the change team on the ground. This ‘hands on’ operating model ensures you have direct and ongoing access to the director’s expertise. “TARIBON demonstrated an amazing ability to cut through all the complex inter-workings of our business until we could see what really needed to be done. Using data we were able to distinguish symptoms from the real root causes and initiated improvement strategies that delivered huge benefits that continue today.” TARIBON apply proven system diagnostics and simulations that cut through the business improvement clutter, to discover exactly what needs to be fixed in your business.
Real Results
“We’ve had training on lots of tools in the past with little to show for it. TARIBON’s approach is unique, it’s about more than teaching tools. The hard part is the doing and TARIBON helps your business learn how”
Transferring skills and building in house capability is a priority for TARIBON. It contributes to an environment for change essential for sustaining improved business results.
Real Experience
“Some of TARIBON’s ideas make you uncomfortable, others make you want to kick yourself, but every one of them makes you smarter – smarter about your people, smarter about your systems & processes, and smarter about delivering more business value.”
TARIBON directors partner with you and ensure their comprehensive experience as general managers and business consultants is fully utilised by personally leading the change team on the ground. This ‘hands on’ operating model ensures you have direct and ongoing access to the director’s expertise.
Real Data
“TARIBON demonstrated an amazing ability to cut through all the complex inter-workings of our business until we could see what really needed to be done. Using data we were able to distinguish symptoms from the real root causes and initiated improvement strategies that delivered huge benefits that continue today.”
TARIBON apply proven system diagnostics and simulations that cut through the business improvement clutter, to discover exactly what needs to be fixed in your business.