KRP CONSULTANCY
KRP Consultancy works almost wholly in the public sector. It exists to help you make a real difference for our fellow citizen taxpayers in this most demanding of times.
It is a small company with one big idea. The idea is that almost any organisation already has the talent and potential to achieve what it wants to. As long as it sees itself as a single system where single ‘good ideas’ will probably not succeed – and provided that it is determined to lead and own its progress – any organisation can do great things.
Collaborating with a broad range of colleagues – mostly also specialising in organisational development – KRP Consultancy can help you develop a compelling view of where you want to go; a single view of where you are; and the confidence and the realistic plans to make the journey.
Our approach is highly engaging and deliberately generous. Although we use a large number of tools and techniques, we work only with open source material and methods
A few principles guide all our work:
People tend to support what they have helped to create – co-design is part of everything we do and we believe that collaboration has intrinsic value
Professionals demand the right to build on evidence, not hope – establishing a solid basis of fact is essential in all our work
Change is supposed to deliver benefits – we like to be clear what the benefits are and we plan to realise them
Only people will make the journey – so they deserve to know why it’s happening, how they will cope and what’s in it for them
Curiosity is always a good thing – especially when you are surrounded by demanding plans and schedules
It is possible to enjoy and learn from almost everything – provided that you know why you are doing it and are committed to success
KRP Consultancy believes that professional advice should be the ‘spice’ in transformational programmes. It should not, and cannot, be the main course. You should demand great impact, as well as reliable skill and knowledge, from those you choose to support you in your most difficult ventures.
Organisational Development
Helping a business to adapt all the components of its business model systematically, so that it can achieve its strategic intentions in a way that is consistent with its identity and ethos.
Portfolio and Programme Management
Leading and managing complex change initiatives where goal-directed planning and effective benefits realisation management are crucial components of real delivery.
Board and Leadership Development
Helping Boards and leadership teams to build the skills, knowledge and confidence to take difficult decisions; to survive the experience; and to learn from it.
Facilitation
Bringing the best out of people under pressure by using scarce time and resources efficiently and with impact, whether in small groups or in large cross-discipline, multi-professional meetings.
Performance Improvement
Supporting organisations to deliver improved performance; understanding how to realise benefits in difficult environments; and managing the value and limitations of methods like Lean and Six Sigma.
An introduction to Keith Pople, Director of KRP Consultancy
Keith Pople is an experienced, imaginative and well-connected leader, manager and consultant, specialising in advising clients on strategic change and helping them to develop their organisations. He has an extensive background in large consulting companies. His manner and knowledge make him a valued colleague and a welcome adviser to senior clients. He is able to form trusting relationships very quickly. Keith is able to make a considerable impact in those areas that link strategy to business operations, particularly business development, organisational development and change leadership. Keith manages stakeholder relationships well and supports colleagues in doing so too. Keith has an excellent reputation for energy, an inspirational style and good people skills. Keith works in and with healthcare, social care, welfare and the third sector because he wants to. He is very much a values- and conviction-led consultant in his second career. Having been a large company director himself and worked with many organisations in his consulting career Keith knows how good businesses work. He applies this hard-won experience in the support and advice he gives to clients as they strive to improve their own performance. He also knows that people tend to support what they have helped to create – co-design and co-creation underpin everything that he does. He gives people the confidence to learn quickly. Keith thoroughly enjoys his work and wants colleagues and clients to enjoy themselves as well. Keith brings the following ‘hard’ skills to all his work:
Keith brings the following ‘hard’ skills to all his work:
Expertise in organisational design and development. Keith gives clients confidence that they take their business – and all its components – from an unsatisfactory design to one that predisposes success in achieving ambitious strategic objectives, taking care of its people on the way.
Excellent portfolio, programme and project management. Keith teaches PPM and provides programme management Master Classes for his clients.
Deep knowledge and experience of how to make performance improvement work. Keith builds all his work on knowledge of how to realise benefits in difficult environments and in a deep understanding of the role that methods like Lean and Six Sigma can play.
Current Projects
Keith is currently working with three clients. He is supporting a PCT as they continue their multi-year organisational development programme. He is advising a mental healthcare Trust on changing their culture. And he is working with several acute Trusts in a southern county to create a more efficient health economy, so that economies of scale can be achieved while patient safety, quality, and appropriate organisational autonomy are improved and sustained.
County-wide Acute Services
Keith recently directed a review of 10 acute services, provided jointly by three acute Trusts in a South of England county. The purpose of the review was to find means by which improvements in safety and quality could drive down costs. The project established a common data and information platform across the Trusts; researched international, national and local good practice; developed long and short lists of opportunities; and made recommendations for action in the short and medium term.
Transforming Health Economies
Keith recently directed the definition and launch of a county-wide health economy transformation programme. In a complex commissioner / provider stakeholder environment, Keith’s small joint team not only aligned and engaged the major stakeholders but ensured that the programme was focused on benefits for patients, communities and the health system, rather than for health institutions. The economy was worth £1.8B and was seeking a quality-led transformation that removed significant cost while improving patient safety and quality of care.
Organisational Development
Keith recently directed a major organisational development programme for a high performing PCT. The year-long programme took a whole system view of the PCT and not only sought to design and implement a business model that would best deliver the Trusts’ ambitious strategy, but would also equip the PCT to develop itself in the future, requiring only specific and minimal external support.
Improving Performance
Applying lean and driving efficiency: Keith recently led a change programme in a large private sector company that was under considerable cost pressure. One of the programme’s required strategic outcomes was ‘a consistent and coherent set of lean processes that reflect the needs of the business’. One of the projects in the programme was designed not only to eliminate waste from company processes, but also to implement a company culture that fully supported and exploited the use of Lean and Six Sigma.
Helping Leaders and their People Innovate
Keith was involved in designing, building and running an Innovation Centre for the Pensions Group of the DWP, at a time when it faced huge expectations, from both HMG and its customers. He helped the Board to understand how innovation and creativity can be built into a business model so that they play a reliable and dependable role; both in solving problems, and in continually re-designing the business. Even though the process and urgency used in the Centre were uncomfortable to many, the early results surprised both the leadership and workforce.
Building Key Skills
Keith led a project that designed and implemented a Programme Management Academy for a large private sector company. Within 6 months the Academy was open and its development programme was training more than 1000 staff a year in portfolio, programme, project and technical management skills.