Frank O'Connor  MSc Reg Psychologist (Associate) Frank O'Connor delivers organisation development and business performance management. A supporting focus is on performance and development of people. Having worked in a variety of industries in fifteen years of consulting, Frank has continued to develop detailed understanding of human behaviour in the workplace, especially during times of risk and change. He works with organisations to develop and build on existing professional and technical skills to increase the value employees and directors contribute to their organisations. The "soft skills" which can do this economically are easy to describe but harder to acquire. Frank facilitates work with directors, managers and senior staff to develop and apply practical skills that have considerable leverage on business outcomes, through clearer alignment of people's actions to secure performance against business goals and strategies. Typical results include: Clarity in senior managers' use of the links from shareholders' and customers' expectations, to better align management plans and staff actions, through which services and products are delivered and competition is matched or beaten Improvement to processes of communication, leadership and focus on return to shareholder and customer through better use of staff effort - an asset easily squandered in circular debate and inconclusive discussions Coaching on specific behaviour at senior levels of the organisation where that behaviour is a major determinant of the quality of the products or services provided, and, therefore, the sustainability of the business Without leadership, for example, organisations have no means of lifting the standards of staff who would otherwise produce unsatisfactory work. Other outcomes of this area of work include increased effectiveness of action toward common objectives, better communication among workgroups leading to reduced cost of quality, and focus on performance of the human side of the enterprise. Frank gets involved in practical planning and measurement of performance, at enterprise, business unit and workgroup level, using methods which assist managers and staff to understand the consequences of their actions and decisions, drawing in the perspectives of economic value added, business process flows and customer expectations. Particular experience and interest in publicly accountable service organisations and utilities required to balance tensions between regulatory compliance, returns to industry participants, economic returns to investors and development of sustainable customers. Frank has been a management consultant since 1986, working in business improvement and managing organisational change. He has had particular experience and interest in reform processes and consequences for performance of core services by public service organisations and utilities and a variety of commercial industries. Clients come from the public and private sectors in New Zealand, the Pacific and Asia, including major organisation change programmes in infrastructure, commercial and service sectors. Major country experience includes New Zealand, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Pacific Islands with smaller involvements in Australia, Hong Kong and Vietnam. Industry experience: finance and insurance; transport; energy; healthcare; telecommunications and computer services; core government services (land information, Parliamentary services, social security). Frank has been involved in selecting personnel and coaching performance in the field for extended assignments in: Tokelau, Cook Islands, Niue, Tuvalu, Kiribasi, East Timor, Bougainville, Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand, Myanmar, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal, India, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, China, Zimbabwe, Tanzania, South Africa, Ghana, Somalia, Ethiopia. RAP Consulting grew out of Rodgers and Partners, which Frank joined in 1998. Prior to this, Frank worked with PA Consulting Group from 1990, assisting a similar range of organisations to improve overall performance through high-leverage areas of human performance and finding practical ways for organisations to make change happen. Prior to 1990, he was an organisational psychologist with responsibility for setting up the Wellington office of a smaller consultancy, achieving planned profitability. This work involved selection, recruitment and individual skill development, putting to work an MSc in Psychology from the University of Canterbury. Frank's interest in purposeful human behaviour has always focused on everyday activities involving more than one person, with special attention to the relationship between individuals' motivators, performance expectations and comprehension of the organisations around them. A Registered Psychologist, he is a member of New Zealand Psychological Society and deputy chair of their Industrial / Organisational division. He is also a member of the advisory panel for the Organisational Psychology Research Unit at Swinburne University of Technology, Victoria, Australia.

Send Frank O'Connor an E-mail