by Martin Kerr | | Asset Management, Culture & Behaviour, Decision-Making & Risk, Leadership & Governance
I have spent much of my career working with contracts from both sides of the fence. I have sat on the client side responsible for outcomes, performance, risk and value. I have also sat on the supplier side responsible for delivering against contractual requirements,...
by Martin Kerr | | Culture & Behaviour, Data & Information, Decision-Making & Risk, Frontline & Operations
The organisation creates a culture where either the system or seniority becomes unquestionable. When people are unable or unwilling to challenge data, professional judgement, or established assumptions, they can suppress conflicting evidence rather than investigate...
by Martin Kerr | | Asset Management, Data & Information, Leadership & Governance
Information continues to exist without clear ownership, maintenance or assurance long after its reliability has deteriorated. Because the information remains visible in corporate systems, decision-makers may assume it is current and authoritative, creating the...
by Martin Kerr | | Asset Management, Culture & Behaviour, Decision-Making & Risk, Frontline & Operations
The organisation unintentionally rewards behaviours that undermine enterprise value. Capable people make rational decisions against the targets, budgets, and incentives they have been given, but collectively those decisions increase lifecycle cost, shift risk between...
by Martin Kerr | | Asset Management, Culture & Behaviour, Leadership & Governance, Transformation & Capability
Critical operational knowledge becomes disconnected from strategic decision-making. Frontline employees may see emerging asset risks, deterioration patterns, and practical constraints long before they appear in corporate reporting, meaning investment and lifecycle...
by Martin Kerr | | Asset Management, Culture & Behaviour, Data & Information, Leadership & Governance
The organisation creates sophisticated data governance structures without changing the behaviours that determine data quality. Poor information practices then become institutionalised inside apparently compliant processes, giving decision-makers confidence in...
by Martin Kerr | | Asset Management, Culture & Behaviour, Data & Information, Organisational Change Management, Transformation & Capability
The organisation invests heavily in technology but continues to operate through old behaviours, processes, and decision structures. The EAM system then becomes an expensive recording tool rather than an Asset Management capability, while expected improvements in...
by Martin Kerr | | Asset Management, Culture & Behaviour, Decision-Making & Risk, Transformation & Capability
Thousands of seemingly minor operational decisions can progressively alter the organisation’s exposure to cost, risk and performance without ever appearing in formal governance. Individually, these decisions may appear reasonable; collectively, they can create...
by Martin Kerr | | Asset Management, Culture & Behaviour, Leadership & Governance, Transformation & Capability
The organisation develops a false sense of maturity because its frameworks, policies and processes appear complete while actual behaviours remain unchanged. Leadership may believe Asset Management capability is embedded when critical decisions are still being made...
by Martin Kerr | | Asset Management, Culture & Behaviour, Data & Information, Decision-Making & Risk, Frontline & Operations
The organisation removes the workaround without understanding the operational need that created it. In doing so, it can unknowingly remove an informal control, information source or decision mechanism that employees have developed to compensate for a weakness in the...
by Martin Kerr | | Asset Management, Culture & Behaviour, Data & Information, Leadership & Governance
The organisation begins making decisions outside its governed information environment. When people stop trusting formal asset information, they replace it with local spreadsheets, personal experience and informal sources, creating multiple versions of the truth and...
by Martin Kerr | | Asset Management, Frontline & Operations, Maintenance & Reliability
One of the biggest misconceptions in modern Asset Management is that it sits above Maintenance as a purely strategic discipline. While Asset Management provides governance, direction and lifecycle decision-making, its success is ultimately determined by what happens...
by Martin Kerr | | Culture & Behaviour, Leadership & Governance, Organisational Change Management
Why Organisational Change Management is essential for sustainable Asset Management maturity One of the most common misconceptions surrounding organisational transformation is that people naturally resist change. In reality, most people do not resist meaningful...
by Martin Kerr | | Asset Management, Decision-Making & Risk, Leadership & Governance
Asset Management Is About Decisions, Not Assets When people hear the term Asset Management, they naturally focus on the assets themselves: roads, railways, water infrastructure, manufacturing equipment, buildings, utilities, or technology. Yet one of the biggest...
by Martin Kerr | | Asset Management, Culture & Behaviour, Organisational Change Management
The Problem Is Rarely the Asset Management Framework One of the most common misconceptions in Asset Management is the belief that poor organisational performance is caused by the absence of a framework. When organisations experience inconsistent decision-making,...
by Martin Kerr | | Asset Management, Culture & Behaviour, Leadership & Governance
For many organisations, Asset Management is viewed primarily as a technical discipline. It is associated with maintenance planning, engineering, lifecycle costing, asset information, reliability, and sophisticated management systems. While these technical capabilities...
by Martin Kerr | | Asset Management, Culture & Behaviour, Frontline & Operations
People don’t adopt Asset Management because they understand ISO 55001. They adopt it because they understand how it improves their work. Many Asset Management initiatives begin with the right intentions. Organisations develop strategies, establish governance...
by Martin Kerr | | Asset Management, Culture & Behaviour, Maintenance & Reliability
When organisations talk about improving reliability, the conversation usually begins with engineering. Maintenance strategies Condition monitoring Failure analysis Root cause investigations Reliability-centred maintenance Predictive technologies These are all...
by Martin Kerr | | Culture & Behaviour, Decision-Making & Risk, Frontline & Operations, Organisational Change Management
In my days on the tools and even in my more senior roles, it always felt like no one trusted my intuition. It wasn’t always spot on, but usually it was very close. No one understands the inherent risks as front-line workers do, yet unless it’s in the...
by Martin Kerr | | Asset Management, Culture & Behaviour, Organisational Change Management
Why the Future of Asset Management Depends on Organisational Change Management This topic has been extracted from the book “Organizational Change Management for Asset Management” – Martin Kerr 2025 Organisations across the world continue to invest...
by Martin Kerr | | Culture & Behaviour, Data & Information, Decision-Making & Risk
Building a Culture of Informed Decision-Making Before my world of Asset Management and Change Management, I was a software developer for an asset-intensive organisation. I was actually a Microsoft Certified Solution Developer (MCSD). This unique window still helps me...
by Martin Kerr | | Asset Management, Maintenance & Reliability, Transformation & Capability
Why the Future of Asset-Intensive Organisations Depends on Learning, Not Just Assets (This article is my personal view and one that I came across as a change practitioner – I hope you get something from it) For decades, Maintenance, Reliability and Asset...
by Martin Kerr | | ISO & Management Systems, Leadership & Governance, Transformation & Capability
For many organisations, management systems begin with good intentions. A Quality Management System is introduced to improve consistency. A Safety Management System is developed to reduce risk. Environmental, Asset, Information Security, or Business Continuity systems...
by Martin Kerr | | Culture & Behaviour, Leadership & Governance, Organisational Change Management
I want to share a story from one of the most complex projects I’ve ever led. A joint venture for an offshore manufacturing startup in South Asia. On the surface, it was a straightforward goal… Reduce production costs and expand our global footprint. But, as...
by Martin Kerr | | Asset Management, Decision-Making & Risk, Leadership & Governance
Context On any given day, around the world, the business functions of Commercial and Finance quietly tick along. Commercial seeking to get the best outcome from a contract, challenging variations, claiming extensions of time, and sometimes playing bad cop on behalf of...
by Martin Kerr | | Decision-Making & Risk, ISO & Management Systems, Organisational Change Management
Change Management and Risk Management (A Perfect Match?) Change is constant, and managing it well separates successful organisations from the ones that keep putting out fires. I usually default to ISO 31000, the international standard for risk management, as a...
by Martin Kerr | | Asset Management, Transformation & Capability
Explaining Asset Management with 3 Easy Questions In a recent workshop, there was a lot of confusion, mixed feelings (and emotions) on what Asset Management is and why it’s important. There was a wide variety of business functions, ranging from Finance,...
by Martin Kerr | | Asset Management, Leadership & Governance, Organisational Change Management
Every senior leader needs to know ISO 55000 and ISO 10020 In boardrooms and executive reviews across the world, asset management is high on the agenda. Organisations are under pressure to deliver more value, more sustainably, from the assets they already own, operate...
by Martin Kerr | | ISO & Management Systems, Leadership & Governance, Organisational Change Management
When I first got into change management, I was drawn to the popular change models such as Kotter’s, Lewin’s, and ADKAR. They’re practical, relatable, and provide a clear path. I still use them now. But I’ve learned over the years that change...
by Martin Kerr | | Asset Management, Decision-Making & Risk
In 2016 Harvard Business Review (HBR) published an article by Eric Almquist, John Senior, and Nicolas Bloch with the title “The Elements of Value”. It had the subtitle “Measuring-and delivering-what consumers really want”. I am going to draw a parallel to this HBR...
