Thinking

Introducing The Killing Complexity Canvas

January 3, 2018
Complexity

  Whatever your Organisation needs to do next, start by stopping. We’re excited to share The Killing Complexity Canvas, a 1-day intervention designed to help organisations solve the growing pr... read more

How AstraZeneca created 2 million hours a year from simplification

November 1, 2017
Complexity

  In 2016 AstraZeneca launched a ‘Million Hour Challenge’ – a programme to save the business 1 million hours a year which could be reinvested. AstraZeneca recognised that internal complexit... read more

Are you a saboteur at work? How the CIA made organisations ineffective

October 11, 2017
Complexity

Picture the scene. It’s 1944 and the world is at war. The United States’ Office for Strategic Services (now the CIA) deployed undercover agents in occupied countries such as France and Norway. Age... read more

GE Work-Out: Insights from the world’s most acclaimed simplicity programme

September 28, 2017
Complexity, Innovation

    What is the Work-Out? The Work-Out is a problem solving, change acceleration process which removes BAU organisation bureaucracy. It was named Work-Out because it identified work that sho... read more

What did 7,000 HBR readers say about bureaucracy (complexity)? And what should you do about it?

September 22, 2017
Complexity

  Professor Gary Hamel and Michelle Zanini recently published the findings of a study where they asked 7,000 HBR readers for their thoughts on organisation bureaucracy.   Context For simplicity,... read more

Simplicity reading list

August 13, 2017
Research

  “Summer reading had me a blast Summer reading happened so fast…“   It’s that time of year where most of us take some holiday. A chance to recharge, see loved ones, reflect on 2017 ... read more

4 Mindsets, 5 Behaviours and 4 Habits which will simplify your organisation

August 6, 2017
Leadership, People, Simplicity

  It’s in our DNA to both want simplicity, yet to also create complexity. We are successful because of an ingrained desire to: Advance, Adapt, Create, Control, Improve, Progress, Secure and Sur... read more

PODCAST: Introduction to killing organisational complexity (20 mins)

July 6, 2017
Events

  A few months ago, Adam Howe, Founder of Stop. was interviewed by Andy Reid, Founder of TheGeniusBox. In the podcast you’ll learn more about: The latest trends on organisational complexity... read more

What Are the Behaviours of Great Simplifiers?

May 26, 2017
People

  Leaders can bring simplicity to life as an idea, by mirroring the behaviours of people who are great simplifiers. How can your leaders start to change the behaviours of their people, so that si... read more

BREAKFAST 25th May: Croissants, Coffee & cutting through Customer Complexity

May 10, 2017
Events

  Over the finest French croissants, we’ll share an exciting new proposition from TheGeniusBox and Stop. “COMPLEX-RAY” (you’ll gather we’re not branding consultants), is a process to s... read more

Stop. Complexity Survey

April 20, 2017
Research

  We appreciate you’re busy. This survey will take 10 minutes to complete. Within 48 hours we’ll send you a complexity report for your organisation. All responses will be treated as confi... read more

The psychology of simplicity: Just why do we make things complex?


People

The psychology of simplicity: Just why do we make things complex? Because it’s in our nature. Humans are successful because of our creativity and ... read more

Why it’s HR’s job to kill organisational complexity

April 6, 2017
Complexity

An interview between Jamie Lawrence, Editor, HRZone and Adam Howe, Founder, Stop. on why HR must take ownership for removing complexity...... read more

A summary: Simplicity, Edward de Bono

March 23, 2017
Insights

Below we have summarised De Bono’s suggested 10 rules of simplicity. For more in-depth insights, we thoroughly recommend the book... read more

A simplicity lesson from Winston Churchill

March 14, 2017
Leadership

The problem: Bloated, complex and lengthy reports: “To do our work, we all have to read a mass of papers. Nearly all of them are too long. This wastes time, while energy has to be spent in looking f... read more

The business case for simplicity: complexity research summary

March 2, 2017
Complexity, Research, Simplicity

There’s an increasing amount of research on organisational complexity. Below we have shared a selection of the most relevant. From every way you look at it, being simple pays more than being complex... read more

Be like Richer Sounds: Get a Cut the Crap Committee

May 14, 2016
Simplicity

Richer Sounds was setup by Julian Richer in 1978. From a single shop near London Bridge, the business has grown to 53 stores and an eCommerce website, selling TVs, home cinemas and high end audio equi... read more

WEBINAR: Uncovering the root causes of everyday complexity

October 28, 2016
Events

Giving you a starter toolkit to understand what is really driving everyday complexity in your organisation. In 30 mins you'll learn: The common mistakes people make when diagnosing everyday complexity... read more

“Why structural simplification will only get you so far…”

October 24, 2016
Events

On Thursday 15th September, 19 Senior Leaders gathered for the first ever Stop. breakfast seminar. Mike Campbell, Executive Director, easyJet led a debate: “Why structural..... read more

What the techies teach us about re-designing work


Intrapreneurship

It is easy to dismiss hackathons as a fashionable management fad. But allow yourself a moment to re-consider, and it’s clear they can be a very useful approach for challenging and re-designing... read more

Why complexity collapsed the Roman Empire

September 29, 2016
Complexity

When setting up Stop., I didn’t ever imagine a scenario when I’d be researching and writing about Constantine The Great. But bear with me. This is a (very brief) history and economics lesson leade... read more

WEBINAR: Building simplification capability

September 22, 2016
Events

Simplification is an organisational capability that the CEO, CFO and Heads of Business will thank you for building. Smart organisations are going beyond simplifying their strategies and structures.... read more

8 behavioural indicators of everyday complexity

September 12, 2016
Simplicity

Here’s a simplicity idea for you. It requires no budget, can be done as part of your day job, doesn’t need a small army of well-heeled management consultants (… phew) and you might even have... read more

Creating a simplicity culture. Breakfast with Mike Campbell

September 1, 2016
Events

Join Mike Campbell and 25 Senior Change Leaders from the likes of Asda, Barclays, BUPA, GSK, Royal Mail, Transport for London, Telefonica and Vodafone to discuss: “Why structural simplification... read more

Time. Should we zero-budget it?

August 23, 2016
Strategy

Time is a precious resource, and yet it’s not given the same attention by organisations as money. There are lessons we can learn from zero-based budgeting to be fundamentally smarter about how organ... read more

11 Examples of Disruptive Simplification

August 11, 2016
Simplicity

The business world is increasingly talking about simplification. Research from the likes of Deloitte and The Economist suggest it is moving up the Executive agenda as organisations seek to reduce cost... read more

Why small bets make the biggest difference

July 20, 2016
Innovation

Making small bets gives you a low risk, highly engaging process to make changes that stick. Adapt quickly, or die fast. As the much quoted work of Richard Foster from Yale School of Management showed... read more

How to do: Decision-first meetings

July 12, 2016
Meetings

If you were to ask your leaders and managers to analyse how they spend their working days, the single biggest time commitment would likely be internal meetings. Most of us can identify with that and h... read more

It’s time to innovate what prevents you innovating

July 4, 2016
Innovation

Yes, another blog post on innovation. Yawn. We all know ‘innovation is the lifeblood’ of any organisation. We also know there are many factors that determine whether your organisation creates... read more

How is your fear creating complexity?

June 23, 2016
People

  While many factors create complexity in the workplace, some of the hardest to face up to are the things we do to protect ourselves – and inadvertently make life difficult for us and those aro... read more

The power of reduction. Get people turned on.

June 9, 2016
People

Minimise complexity Business leaders are rightly concerned with how their people feel at work. And if they aren’t, they should be. The evidence is unequivocal. Better engaged people drive better ser... read more

Why so many management reports?

June 8, 2016
Reporting

  There is an absurdity in being simultaneously overwhelmed with data and yet struggling to access the information we need to do our jobs. Our experience shows that there are some relatively easy... read more

Before simplicity, be clear where you win

April 4, 2016
Complexity

As organisations grow, processes, systems, management reports and the volume of meetings grow too. Some complexity is needed. Some complexity should even be embraced. Complexity allows organisations. ... read more

Why stop is the best answer for simplicity

December 15, 2015
Simplicity

  Growth equals complexity As organisations grow revenues, headcount and related activity increase too. An organisation which grows headcount by 25% from 10,000 people in 2015 to 12,500 people in... read more

Managers are the biggest hope for simplicity

February 26, 2016
Leadership

In the vast majority of organisations, the further ‘down’ the organisations you go, the more people there are. The more people there are, the more activity there is. The more activity there is, th... read more