Thinking on
your feet
Momentum has to be balanced with flexibility, and none of
the projects in this chapter were designed to a pre-determined formula. Clearly,
there are always constraints, but the ability to accommodate change at short
notice was a theme emerging from all the entries for the HR award. As one client
put it: ‘The need for increased flexibility to manage projects of this size and
scale was fundamental to success.' Indeed, it is harder to think of a process
more grounded in rules and regulations than that of transferring a group of
people from one organization to another. Yet Apache sought to cut through
potential bureaucracy by ensuring that its staff were briefed. It also used a
dedicated Internet site to keep people fully informed and to give them the
information to make decisions for themselves as much as possible.