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and eliminate any team bias, and to steer
clear of any form of ‘group think’. She
observed that, of course, luck – or,
better, serendipity – will also play a role
in the results of making a particular
choice of decision; but solid groundwork
and discipline in establishing a default/
baseline statement, and using checklists,
are essential aids to achieving the
desired outcome.
Strategic leadership in a company is
critical for its success, and is centred on
matching company resources to market
opportunities. Implementation of
change in a business context is also
complex and often difficult. Dr Welpe
observed that people are reluctant and
resistant to change, so successful change
leadership necessarily involves wide-
ranging training of a company’s
workforce.
‘Leadership’, Dr Welpe underlined, ‘is
influence. If you lead, others follow.’
ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT
POLICIES
FOR
THE
LABEL
INDUSTRY
Another major topic
in every sphere
today is
environmental
sustainability. Label
industry guru Mike
Fairley, Director of
Strategic
Development,
Labels & Packaging Group, Tarsus
Exhibitions & Publishing (UK), set out
in detail the options for creating and
maintaining an environmental
management policy appropriate for the
packaging and labelling industry that
also makes economic and business
sense. It must also, crucially, partner
the policies and published
environmental aspirations of the major
brand owners, 70-80% of whom rate
environmental concerns ‘highly’. Mr
Fairley listed all the primary
environmental standards, from ISO EN
14000 to individual brand owner and
retailer scorecards. ‘All are based on the
entitled ‘Navigate the future: Next
generation or new generation?’ from
Renate Kenter, strategy consultant,
facilitator, and teacher with De Ruijter
Strategy (NL). ‘Being stuck in today’s
thinking can be expensive!’, she said.
‘The neutral territory of the future is a
good place to look when you’re thinking
about innovation.’
Employing the metaphor of navigating a
ship, she described how sailing towards a
desired goals, your chosen destination,
involves a combination of looking back
(using the experience and knowledge of
the older generation) and looking
forward. Beforehand, you must ‘define
what is your core business, and why you
are successful in it. If you cannot do that,
you cannot look at
the future’, she
adjured. Ms Kenter
then explored in
depth the challenges
and obstacles a
company might
encounter on the
way to the future –
and presented options for implementing
risk assessment and actions plans for all
eventualities, and here creative ‘scenario
thinking’ – ‘what if…?’ has a place
alongside the traditional disciplines such
as knowledge sharing and forecasting.
same principles’, he said. ‘You should be
working within one of these standards!’
He told delegates that end users visit
their suppliers’ websites today to check
out their environmental credentials and
so, he emphasised, ‘it’s important to
put details of your company’s policy on
your website – it is a definite marketing
tool’. The ultimate aim must be to
achieve at least the same standards as
the brand owners. Mr Fairley also
highlighted the business benefits.
‘Reducing energy usage also, of course,
reduces your costs in the business.
Being sustainable improves your
company’s bottom line and
profitability,’ he said.
Once an environmental management
policy is established, its infrastructure
needs to be developed. ‘That,’ he
underlined, ‘demands commitment
from the top and implementation by
the line managers, and the best results
are achieved as a team. Then you need
to conduct a review, and institute
continuous checking and improvement
procedures.’
NAVIGATING
TO
A
SUCCESSFUL
FUTURE
The first day’s proceedings concluded
with a presentation and workshop
Renate Kenter
Mike Fairley
FINAT seniors mentoring the YMC congress
52
FINAT YEARBOOK
2013
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