Driving Growth from Two Fronts

Maximising the potential of people and optimising cost and process efficiencies drives growth and profitability

Ithaka Leadership Development and EPI International announce a strategic partnership to work together to on selected client projects.

EPI works with organisations to identify and eliminate waste, improve efficiency and reduce costs. Their software and consultancy service is called iCEO or Intelligent Cost and Efficiency Optimisation. iCEO combines EPI’s proven expertise and consulting methodology in an innovative software platform called CEOportal. This was developed in collaboration with Warwick University and it has achieved impressive results. For example Computer 2000 saved more than £1.3 million, dabs.com £500,000 and TNT Logistics more than £180,000.

The EPI team consists of vastly experienced business improvement consultants with many years global experience working at IBM, AT&T and Profit Focus Group. They also have a strong track record in Finance, Supply Chain, Manufacturing, Retail and the Public Sector.

Managing Director Peter Sturrock said “We like the EPI approach because it’s based on decades of proven experience and we feel it will add significant value to our clients.  Because it’s a holistic process, iCEO considers business process efficiencies and cost reduction strategies as part of an overall programme of continuous business improvement. This has many parallels with the Ithaka model and we share similar values on how to drive and sustain improvements in an organisation.”

 Ithaka has a unique approach to developing excellence in organisational leadership, management, sales and marketing. Their Leadership Development Model is based on decades of experience, and it defines the best practice processes and strategies that deliver  exceptional results. Ithaka provides coaching and training to clients across all sectors.  Their key programmes are ‘Leading a Business Through Growth” and “Drive Sales Growth”. This is complemented by “The Leaders Forum” a group for Managing and Senior Directors to share experiences, ideas and resolve issues in a confidential environment. 

EPI Managing Director Nick Close said “Ithaka has a very impressive track record. Their work on leading a business through growth and their holistic approach to sales and marketing development is unique. The fact that they are also approved coaches under the GrowthAccelerator* scheme makes their services even more attractive to some of our clients and we look forward to developing this partnership.”

More information:

Nick Close (nick.close@epi-international.co.uk)

Peter Sturrock (peters@ithakaleadership.co.uk)

(* GrowthAccelerator is a scheme that offers matched funding for management training and coaching to organisations in England who employ fewer than 250 people and have a turnover less than £40m)

Is Leadership and Management the same thing?

These terms are often used interchangeably but they really are distinct and very different.

• Leadership is about creating a vision and strategy which inspires and attracts Followers. 
• Management is the process of taking action to achieve results.

Every organisation needs Followers who can be clients, citizens, students, patients or anyone else defined as your audience. And you attract Followers by being a “Thought Leader” - someone with a unique viewpoint which makes you stand out from the crowd. 

But attracting Followers is the first step; you really want to create Advocates who continue to follow you and spread the word, because this attracts even more Followers.

Leadership must be woven into the fabric of an organisation, because it covers everything from how you create the environment to attract the brightest talent, to the way you develop products and services and how you describe and communicate these to your audience.

Some Leaders also have the capacity to be great Managers, but are the best Leaders really good at the detailed stuff? Some are, but the best of the best know what they are good at and they leave the detail to others. They delegate and make it their primary goal to attract Followers - or at least they should!

Maybe we need a new metric of performance, a new KPI called the Fi or Follower Index? It may sound slightly odd but that's the basis on which many businesses were built. In the dot-com era that I was intimately involved in, it was all about attracting 'eyeballs'. Maybe it wasn't such a crazy idea after all!