The field of Organisational Development (OD) dates back to post-World War 2 and has traditionally focused on planned and systematic change in organizations. Successful OD ultimately helps shift mindsets - the beliefs, attitudes, and values of employees, for individual and organizational growth. As a movement, OD’s contribution enables organizations to better respond and adapt to industry/market changes and technological advances, through their people. Organizations that succeed in using OD methodologies and tools have often gone on to exhibit higher levels of organizational change and learning.
Founded in 2017, KRK has been an emerging player in this space. KRK began as a bespoke consulting firm led by a principal consultant and supported by a skeletal administrative team. Over the past six years, the firm has grown its reputation successfully supporting leaders and organizations to navigate increasing disruptive transformation and change. The KRK team is led by Principal Consultant Dr. Karuna Ramanathan and includes three international associates and three Singapore-based associates, supported by a small administrative team of five members. The associates are experts in niche fields such as ethics, knowledge management, mindfulness, communication engagement, and more.
Several KRK associates are also certified leadership coaches. The KRK team’s combined experience ensures that clients receive the most needed consulting support, within a shorter engagement time and often at competitive and lesser cost, for maximum impact and demonstrated visible value. “As a team of external OD consultants, we are necessarily small, adaptive, and responsive to client needs, preferring to work “on the system” with key leaders “in the system”, says Dr. Karuna.
Delivering Measurement Based Services
KRK is fully committed to data-driven assessments, while designing, creating, and holding space for emergence and collaboration through leadership conversations. The KRK Team believes that while transformation change in organisations must be led from the top, successful shifts are unlikely when such change is directed, enforced or mandated. KRK consultants, therefore, work closely with Senior Leaders to forge a stronger change collective.
Following that, and adapting to data and insights, the KRK team supports leaders to engage the middle core of the organization to “unfreeze” the space for change and adaptive work. KRK’s Principal Consultant is personally involved with the Senior Leaders in every stage of the diagnostic effort to ensure design, shaping and evaluation of the planned interventions.
The key specifications of the range of services delivered by the firm include Supporting Senior Management Leaders to becoming a stronger collective by gaining strategy clarity, building system coherence, and maintaining strategic focus.
Raising Change Leaders to enable sensemaking and commencement of defined and agreed-upon change projects by helping them build and influence change teams on the ground, as they lead change execution into the organization. Then, training managers as Adaptive Team Leaders, boosting their confidence to lead cross-functional and more complex projects and work more relationally with peers and partners. Following that, sustaining organizational transformation by supporting the Strategy and HR Teams in developing shared consciousness and team empowerment, based on ground designed leadership practice reference frameworks and tools.
Dr. Karuna adds, “The two key aspects that distinguish KRK from other players in this segment is, first and foremost, KRK’s preference for dialogic OD approaches and practices over more traditional diagnostic methodologies and common set-piece change frameworks. KRK’s fundamental belief is that, while useful, these are increasingly dated and often ineffective in dealing with growing organizational complexities and uncertainties.
Second, unlike almost all other organizational development consultancies, KRK consultants are leadership-focused, and less group-centred, the latter being the traditional anchor for OD work (e.g., group process facilitation). Our KRK consultants prefer to work with, and through leaders, to support the execution of needed change in the organizational system.”
Over the last six years, the firm has maintained its specialization in assisting leaders and organizations to successfully navigate organizational transformation and change
The Path to Success
KRK started in 2017 by focusing on government agency work, given Dr. Karuna’s extensive prior work experience and knowledge of government system transformation and change. Over the years, KRK has increasingly found itself designing corporate leadership conversations, and being trusted to prepare and develop leaders within public and private organizations for change work especially during the last 3-4 years.
The firm’s successes with organizational change leadership and adaptive team leadership programs have resulted in repeat client requests and referrals. And, as it strives to achieve new heights, KRK is experiencing growing interest and demand for its bespoke change consulting services, not surprising given the increasing complexities and uncertainties that most organizations are facing. KRK is currently preparing for this growth by expanding its footprint in the region through partnerships and networks.
A first-of-type digital Human Capital Analytics platform, CHANGELEADER is currently undergoing testing for launch in mid-2023. CHANGELEADER will serve as the data-driven anchor foundation for KRK’s work with middle core leaders, as it seeks to support at much lower cost the growing number of managers and supervisors who will need help to become more adaptive and change-ready. “We are a small team of growth experts. We are committed to raising leaders from your supervisors, managers, and directors. We have proven and demonstrated this in our growing list of clients, many of whom are repeats and referrals. When you decide to work with us, we guarantee change success, measurable within 12 months,” concludes Dr. Karuna.
Dr. Karuna Ramanathan, Principal Consultant
Dr. Karuna Ramanathan has nearly three decades of experience in strategic organizational development, leadership development, and tacit knowledge creation. He has designed and facilitated over 2500 interventions, working with almost 20,000 leaders and managers from over 500 organizations and business teams. Dr. Karuna is a Certified Marshall Goldsmith Global Coach, GCG Certified Global Leadership Coach, Erikson Qualified Executive Coach, qualified NTL OD practitioner, and Certified Facilitator.
He is also a trained Performance Technologist (Chicago ISPI), and a qualified instructional, training, and serious games designer. He is the book author of “Navigating the Seas of Change (2020)”, and inventor of the 251 Storytelling Frame, (launched at KM World in 2009 and currently used by the United Nations).
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