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Showing posts with the label Change Management

Dirty Consultant: Part 6 - Getting Dirty with Change

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At Orchan, we’ve seen consulting at its best - and at its glossiest. Dirty Consultant is our no-nonsense series calling out the theatre, the buzzwords, and the shiny distractions that get in the way of real change. Because true consulting isn’t about polished decks or clever algorithms - it’s about rolling up sleeves, getting into the grit, and facing the messy human reality head-on. Change looks glamorous on stage. Keynote speakers talk about it with perfect slides, smooth metaphors, and big promises. But behind the curtain? Change is chaos. It’s messy conversations. It’s sleepless nights. It’s mistakes, do-overs, and awkward silences in meeting rooms. It’s resistance from people who don’t want their world turned upside down. Real change isn’t clean. It’s dirty. It’s uncomfortable. And it demands more than lip service and buzzwords. But here’s the thing: dirty doesn’t mean impossible. Dirty means real. And real is where transformation happens. At Orchan, we don’t shy ...

Revisiting Again | Change or Evolve in 2025?

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Commentary by Farrell Tan Back in 2020, I wrote about the tension between “change” and “evolve.” We were all staring down the disruptions of the big “C,” trying to figure out whether real progress comes from forcing change or letting ourselves evolve. I’d shared this small anecdote i.e., a teenager insisting his parents had changed him, while they countered that he had simply evolved : picking what to adopt, what to ignore, and how to apply it. It was a family debate, but the truth of it stuck with me. People rarely change because someone tells them to. They evolve because the environment nudges them and because they choose to. Fast forward to 2025. Different buzzwords, new fires to put out. Yet the same question keeps creeping back in: do we change , or do we evolve ? Change is noisier than ever You don’t need to look far. AI is rewriting job scopes faster than HR can keep up. Hybrid work -- once the great hope -- now means half your team’s on mute and the other half’s halfway to bur...

Dirty Consultant: Part 3 - When Algorithms Replace Empathy

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At Orchan, we’ve seen consulting at its best - and at its glossiest. Dirty Consultant is our no-nonsense series calling out the theatre, the buzzwords, and the shiny distractions that get in the way of real change. Because true consulting isn’t about polished decks or clever algorithms - it’s about rolling up sleeves, getting into the grit, and facing the messy human reality head-on. Data is sexy. Dashboards glow. Algorithms hum. Today’s consultants sell you the dream: “real-time insights” into how your people feel. Red dots for disengaged. Green dots for high performers. Charts that promise to decode human behaviour. But here’s the problem. People aren’t data points. They’re messy. Irrational. Emotional. And no algorithm in the world can tell you what it feels like to drag yourself into a night shift after a 90-minute commute. Numbers tell you what . But only people tell you why . When consultants replace empathy with algorithms, they miss the heartbeat of the organisation....

Dirty Consultant: Part 2 - Death by PowerPoint

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At Orchan, we’ve seen consulting at its best - and at its glossiest. Dirty Consultant is our no-nonsense series calling out the theatre, the buzzwords, and the shiny distractions that get in the way of real change. Because true consulting isn’t about polished decks or clever algorithms - it’s about rolling up sleeves, getting into the grit, and facing the messy human reality head-on. Some consultants think their job is to build slides. Endless slides. Perfectly formatted, pixel-perfect decks. Buzzwords stacked higher than the Petronas Towers. Slide 12: Vision. Slide 27: Mission. Slide 43: Engagement Strategy. Slide 89: "Key Takeaways.” By the time they’re done, your people are asleep - or worse, politely nodding while thinking about lunch. Because here’s the problem: No slide has ever fixed a culture issue. No chart has ever built trust. No bullet point has ever sparked a movement. Real change doesn’t live in PowerPoint. It lives in conversations. It lives in unc...

How to Choose the Best PR Agency in Malaysia: A Practical Guide for Brands

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When you search “best PR agency in Malaysia ,” you’ll find endless lists, awards, and glossy websites. Every agency claims to be the most creative, the most connected, or the most “integrated.” But the truth is: the best PR agency for your brand depends on more than hype or a clever tagline. At its core, public relations is about trust, reputation, and relationships. Choosing the right partner can make the difference between a campaign that fades after a press release, and one that builds lasting credibility. So, how do you separate the buzz from the substance? 1. Look Beyond the Hype A slick website or big client logos don’t tell the full story. Ask: What measurable impact did the agency deliver for those clients? Are there long-term relationships, or just one-off projects? Do they have sector-specific experience (e.g., fintech , lifestyle, NGOs) that matches your needs? The best PR partners don’t just chase headlines. They help you build brand equity over time. 2. Test Their Crisis...

Are You a Dirty Consultant? She Was! (Part 1)

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At Orchan, we’ve seen consulting at its best - and at its glossiest. Dirty Consultant is our no-nonsense series calling out the theatre, the buzzwords, and the shiny distractions that get in the way of real change. Because true consulting isn’t about polished decks or clever algorithms; it’s about rolling up sleeves, getting into the grit, and facing the messy human reality head-on. Are you a dirty consultant? She was. Back then, she didn’t sit behind a shiny desk. She pulled night shifts. She rode shotgun with truckers. She sweated it out in the warehouse. She asked the tough questions: to managers in ties, and to workers in boots. She refused to give advice until she knew what the advice meant for the people who had to live with it. That was consulting. Now? Consultants stroll in polished and perfect. Designer suits. Fresh slides. Laptops glowing like neon signs. They sell “platforms” and “solutions” and “engagement dashboards.” But they won’t get their hands di...