A Few Home Truths On The Future of Work

 

IBM and Yahoo say get back in the office but advocates of remote working are adamant it’s the way to go. By Kate Jones

 

 

Remote work has been hailed the way of the future, yet leading tech companies are starting to swing away from the trend.

IBM, a pioneer in the work from home movement, is the latest organisation to summon its employees back to the office. The tech giant had allowed its staff to work from home since the 1980s and had long touted the benefits. Between 1995 and 2008, the company said it had reduced its office space by 7 million square metres and sold most of that space of $2.4 million (AUD). By 2007, 40 per cent of IBM’s 400,000 global staff was working remotely.

But in a statement to staff, IBM management said bringing staff to the office would foster more powerful and creative teams. They denied it was a cost-cutting measure.

IBM is not the first big name to reverse its remote work policy. Yahoo axed its work from home program in 2013, with CEO Marissa Mayer copping widespread criticism for the move. Other US-based firms Best Buy and Reddit have also recalled their employees back to the office.

Supporters of traditional office working say pulling employees together results in more collaboration and ultimately, innovation. Yet critics say giving employees the freedom to work where they want allows them to be more productive and engaged.

 

 

“Being outside the office is really linked to creativity because you’re not disrupted by that work environment.”
– Ush Dhanak, Collaborate HR

 

 

One in three Australians now regularly works from home – a 10 per cent increase in 15 years, according to data from the Australian of Bureau Statistics.

Collaborate HR’s Ush Dhanak says the pros of working from home definitely outweigh the cons.

“There’s the time you’re not spending on travel to and from work – people I’ve spoken to have said they’ve gained up to two-and-a-half hours a day,” she says.

“I think another pro is to be in an environment outside of the office. That’s really linked to creativity because you’re not disrupted by that work environment.

“The biggest benefit is building better relationships with your leader or your manager because there has to be an element of trust if you’re going to be working from home.”

Employees feeling isolated or tempted to procrastinate are downfalls of remote work, but these can be managed, Dhanak says.

“Have expectations, clearly communicate those expectations and have measures in place and also balance it out by making sure they’re still part of the team,” she says.

“They’ve still got to have a touch point for employees and managers.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

Helping People Achieve

Written by Tony Burns FIML, CEO of HPA Incorporated “Helping People Achieve”

 

At a young age my parents instilled in me the mantra that giving back is the best reward in life. Taking their advice, I have dedicated my time to making life easier for others, and as the Chief Executive Officer of HPA – Helping People Achieve, I am very humbled to have the opportunity to lead such as amazing team.

Our vision as a company is to empower people. Supporting them through development of confidence, independence and life skills to lead a fulfilling everyday life in a world where there are no barriers. The HPA team are the only motivation I require to continue our journey and remain focused on our commitment to be an innovative employer.

But high-performance cultures don’t just appear, I understand that and have pushed towards finding what motivates people throughout the organisation. I have lived and experienced all types of leadership over my years working with people including in my amazing current role. I feel these experiences have really given me the tools of the trade to be a great example of leadership and how it can help others achieve.

Below are some of my personal leadership qualities in relation and processes with “Helping People Achieve”.

 

Define Your Culture

Company culture is the personality of a company. It defines the environment in which employees work. Company culture includes a variety of elements, including work environment, company mission, value, ethics, expectations, and goals.

Its important to all our employees, because our workers really enjoy their time in the HPA workplace when they fit in with the company culture. What I have found is that people tend to develop better relationships with all coworkers, and are even more productive to help get buy-in and align the organisation behind our strategy.

 

Mentoring

Mentoring is also an essential leadership skill. In addition to managing and motivating people, it’s also important that I can help others learn, grow and become more effective in their roles and responsibilities.

Below are 12 quick tips to remember when approaching mentoring, to help make sure both you and your mentee get the most out of your session.

1) Approach each mentorship differently
2) Set expectations together in the very beginning
3) Take a genuine interest in your mentee as a person
4) Know when to wait before giving advice
5) Improve your emotional intelligence
6) Don’t assume anything about your mentee — ask
7) Be really forthcoming about mistakes you’ve made
8) Celebrate their achievements
9) Give more than you ask for
10) Seek out classes or projects related to skills your mentee wants to develop
11) Solve for the long-term
12) Lead by example

 

Helping-people-achieve
Tony and his HPA team accepting the 2016 Northern Territory Charity Award at the Telstra Business Awards.

Transparency

I’ve never bought into the concept of ‘wearing the mask.’ As HPA’s leader, the only way I know how to engender trust and buy-in from my team and with my colleagues is to be 100 percent authentically me—open, sometimes flawed, but always passionate about my work.

 

Inspiration

Leaders aren’t self-made; they are driven. A lot of people have given me inspiration over the years and great inspiration and fantastic advice, and I was fueled by my beliefs and an internal drive and passion to do great things and inspire along my journey. That’s why I’m always willing to offer motivation—to friends or strangers. I know the power of inspiration.

 

Networking Is Working

I have found that Networking is one of the most important professional skills you can develop. It is defined as ‘exchanging information, contacts and experience for professional or social purposes’. It’s about building two-way, mutually beneficial relationships—one person at a time. I truly believe that people who build strong internal and external networks within their organisation are often better positioned to:
– work collaboratively
– be aware of greater opportunities for our company
– be in touch with the right people to get ‘things done’

 

Passion

You must love what you do. In order to be truly successful at something, you must obsess over it and let it consume you during your process of achieving greatness. No matter how successful your business might become, you are never satisfied and constantly push to do something bigger, better and greater. My passion and drive to make a difference and create possibilities for others is how I live my life every day. I am truly living my purpose to ‘Help People Achieve’.

 

Innovation

In any system with infinite resources and infinite expansion of population—like HPA, or like all of humanity—innovation is essential for not only success but also survival. The innovators are our leaders. You cannot separate the two. Whether it is by thought, technology or organization, innovation is our only hope to solve our challenges and speed bumps along the way.

 

Tony will be one of many speakers at our upcoming Sydney Conference on the 5th October 2017. Book Now to hear Tony and many other specialists in their respective fields discuss attributes of successful leaders at this full day event.

 

 

 

 

‘You Must Have Passion and You Must Care’

 

Stephanie McConachy MIML has very strong ideas on what makes a great leader and she plans to practice what she preaches. By Carolyn Boyd

 

Pounding the pavement training for half-marathons, Stephanie McConachy has a ritual. She arranges a three-stage music playlist in advance. “It’s all about the race strategy; you can’t go too fast too soon,” she explains.

McConachy chooses her music based on beats per minute, focusing on getting her running rhythm just right for different stages of the race. The methodical approach is not so different to how she has charted her career – recognising that during the early years she had to lay the foundations, take the time to get involved and gain broad experience.

The Adelaide marketer has recently been appointed to the Institute of Managers and Leaders’ board after spending seven years on the organisation’s committees, including South Australia’s Young Professional Group and the Young Manager Advisory Board.

Growing up as the daughter of two self-employed business people — her mum is a dentist with her own practice and her dad is a geologist — McConachy saw first-hand that a strong work ethic can take you places. They taught her, she says, that you need to work hard to get things done.

Throughout her early career, the 29-year-old has had a string of role models. One quality has stood out to her about each of them. And it’s this single, impossible-to-measure quality that McConachy says makes a great leader.

“They were really passionate about what they were doing, they were enthusiastic, they had really strong belief and purpose,” she says.

McConachy has always been fascinated about what makes people tick. As the third of four children, she played the role of the “agitator and disruptor — that annoying third child, but also the mediator”. At university she started studying psychology but switched to marketing as it seemed a more interesting career that was still about getting inside people’s heads.

In her role as a marketing manager for global consultancy PwC, McConachy leads a team across Australia. She tries to live by the mantra of “just do it” — even if everything she does isn’t perfect. And she tries to be the type of leader she admires.

“It’s incredibly important that they care about the team that they’re leading,” she says.

It’s about taking the time with people. “It’s not just a ‘Hey, how is it going?’, but actually connecting with everyone on a one-on-one and asking them, ‘How are you today? What’s going on?’ And actually wanting to know the answer.

 

“If you don’t understand the people you’re leading, you can’t effectively lead them. That care and that curiosity is really important.”

 

For McConachy, communication is key to being a great leader: “Having that big-picture vision is incredibly important, but more important is how do you actually communicate it? Without communication, you can’t lead effectively, because no-one actually knows what we’re trying to do. Half of us are trying to go to the North Pole, the other half to the South, which just doesn’t work.”

McConachy says the leaders she admires are excellent communicators. “They often have that charismatic edge, but they can communicate really effectively and get their vision across so they take you on the journey with them,” she says. “They’re not just pointing and saying, ‘Go there’. They’re saying, ‘OK, we’re going to go there and this is how we’re going to do it and here’s a paddle for you’, so they bring you on that journey with them. And you want to follow them. You want to get on board.”

 

Trust is also an important factor and it goes both ways.

 

“I need to be able to trust my leaders,” she says. “I want them to trust me and to give me that space, because without that trust, I can’t do it all on my own; you can’t do it all on your own, we need to work together. You need to have that trust that if you fail, you fail and we can work it out. And I trust you enough that we don’t need to be in each other’s line of sight every single second to make it happen.”

While she agrees some people take to leadership more naturally, McConachy argues leadership skills can be learnt. “Some leaders just have this X-factor and you go: ‘How can I bottle that? What actually even is that?’ But soft skills can be developed. EQ [emotional intelligence] can be developed as well. Self-awareness is very important for leaders and sometimes it takes people a little bit more digging and listening and wanting to take on that feedback to get there, but it can be learnt.”

Having recently joined the The Institute of Managers and Leaders’ board, McConachy hopes to bring a unique perspective to the role, but stops short of saying she can inject a ‘youth voice’. The 29-year-old can certainly provide insight about the issues facing younger managers and leaders.

“I’m just really excited,” she says. “Looking around the table and talking to everyone it’s such an amazing group of people.”

McConachy has her sights set on further board roles in the future. “I see that as a real aspiration to be a non-executive director with a portfolio of board appointments,” she says. “I’m currently on a few other committees and would love to get involved with more boards in the future.”

Outside of work, McConachy can be found helping her furniture-designer husband in his business. Or out and about enjoying the top-class food and wine that the lush regions around Adelaide produce. And she is also focused on her next half-marathon. But that’s OK, she has a game plan.

“A strong beat can get you through,” she says.

 

 

FIVE PEOPLE STEPHANIE WOULD INVITE TO LUNCH

“First, I need someone who could bring the lunch, so a chef. Heston Blumenthal (pictured) has really challenged people’s perception of what food is and can be. So Heston to bring lunch and also to challenge us. Then Seth Godin. He’s a marketing genius and he’s just such an inspirational person and all throughout my marketing career, Seth’s been my go-to. I’d also choose Louis Theroux, the British documentary maker who’s forever curious. He’s disarming, he tackles any type of topic. He would ask really interesting questions, so probably get the best out of that group dynamic. Then I need a fictional character – Yoda. I love his quote: ‘Do. Or do not. There is no try’. He could bring a bit of wisdom to the group. And then Madonna, the queen of rebranding and reinvention. She would add a bit of a wow factor and bring some fun stories.”

 

 

Building a Culture of Positive Disruption

 

Leaders can help create a culture that encourages employees to question the status quo to benefit the company. By Nicola Heath

 

Albert Einstein made a strong case for disruption decades before it became a buzzword.

“We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them,” said the famous scientist.

In other words, if you want to upset the applecart, you need a culture that values creativity and questioning the status quo.

Disruption is a key component of success in today’s business landscape. “In an environment where things are changing very rapidly and where new opportunities are coming up all the time… it’s the quick or the dead,” says Anya Johnson, Senior Lecturer in Work and Organisational Studies at the University of Sydney Business School.

The link between culture and performance has also been firmly established. According to a report in the Wall Street Journal, “[a] positive corporate culture—one that engages and motivates employees—helps a company’s bottom line.”

 

“Being a good listener is absolutely critical to being a good leader. You have to listen to the people who are
on the front line.” – Sir Richard Branson

 

 

What does a culture of disruption look like?

“Workplace culture can inspire disruption,” writes Leanne Hoagland-Smith in the Chicago Tribune.

A culture of disruption is one “in which people feel psychologically safe to speak it out, to say things that perhaps are not popular or that perhaps go against the norm,” says Johnson.

Without it, “the people at the top of the organisation are the ones that drive the agenda,” she says. “Often they’re not the people who are… in contact with the market in the most direct sort of way.”

Subtle cues that an organisation doesn’t value questioning of the status quo can shut down dialogue and stifle innovation, says Johnson. Often these organisations become “monoliths”, driven in one direction by a single overarching view until they are usurped by a more agile competitor.

Peter Wilson, Chairman of AHRI, says that to create a culture of disruption, CEOs must get out of the executive suite and spend time at the coal face, talking to the employees who serve the customers.

It’s an approach favoured by Virgin CEO Sir Richard Branson, one of the leading disruptors of his generation. “We encourage all of our companies to seek feedback from their staff and implement great ideas where possible,” Branson wrote in a 2015 blog post giving examples of ideas proposed by Virgin Trains employees that had been adopted by the company.

Wilson also cites David Thodey, who was famous for his use of Yammer during his tenure as Telstra CEO. A 2015 HBR article reported that Thodey used the tool to cut through layers of management to directly engage with the telco’s thousands of employees. It gave him “an immediate and intimate look into what wasn’t working at Telstra” and “demonstrated that employee participation made a difference,” notes the author.

Wilson agrees. “[Thodey] said he learnt a lot more about what was going on than the traditional performance reports that headed their way up to the CEOs office.”

What leadership qualities help create a culture that invites disruption?

Johnson says as a manager or a leader it’s important “to have intellectual humility, to be willing and open to having your ideas questioned, to being non-defensive when others perhaps are critical of a particular direction [in which] you’re moving… your team.”

 

Learn more leadership tips at the Institute of Manager and Leaders events

Meet The Innovator

Pepper Financial Services whiz Matthew Tinker isn’t one to have a ‘lend of you’ when defining innovation. By Susan Muldowney

 

“Innovation” is a popular word in business circles but many leaders hesitate to define what it actually means. Not Matthew Tinker FIML. As head of innovation at Pepper, he’s in the business of developing ideas to attract more customers to the ASX-listed financial services group. “I define innovation as change that adds value,” he states.

In 2015, Pepper sought to expand its model beyond broker networks directly to consumer. Tinker, who has been with the company since 2011, was made head of innovation and was charged with finding out exactly what consumers wanted from a financial services product. “We also spent a lot of time trying to make data-driven decisions around what our product should look like or what service offering we can provide to customers,” Tinker explains.

Pepper also worked with a global innovation network that connects start-ups with expert mentors, the market and finance. “We partnered with 1776, so we can be exposed to innovations around product experiences that are being built by start-ups,” Tinker says.

Tinker then helped create a local start-up incubation program late last year, called Free Money. The program was a partnership between Pepper and Australian pioneering start-up consultancy Pollenizer. The aim of the program was to encourage start-ups to build new financial technology (fintech) solutions. The winner received 12 weeks of training and financial support to further develop their ideas.

 

“You have to be heavily focused on your customer and you have to challenge the status quo”

 

Exposure to innovative fintech solutions spawned many new ideas for Pepper. One involves mining data to give customers what they want before they know they want it.

“In one of our business lines, customers call us for statements once every three months. We’re using data and machine learning to predict those requests before they happen so we can provide a ‘wow’ moment for customers. It’s also a cost efficiency for our business because that’s a phone call we don’t need to answer,” Tinker says.

Tinker and his team help to foster innovation at Pepper through programs such as Spark Box, which encourages employees to nominate customer challenges that they would like to solve.

“We take them through a series of workshops to help them design solely for that customer challenge. We provide the framework for them to conduct interviews with consumers and we also give them access to the right people, whether it be lawyers or compliance people, so they can check things before they go further with their ideas. Then we help them execute the idea.”

Tinker says innovative solutions are formed when you put your customer’s needs at the centre of your business. “You have to be heavily focused on your customer and you have to challenge the status quo. You will be told ‘no’ a lot. I always follow up a ‘no’ by asking ‘why?’ That’s probably something that frustrates a lot of people about me. Around 99 per cent of the time, they end up saying ‘Tell me how we can do it’.”

Waste Not, Want Not

 

Why toilet paper market disruptor ‘Who Gives a Crap’ is on a roll.
BY GLENN CULLEN

 

With a company name of Who Gives a Crap (WGAC), it would initially seem incongruous that the first lesson many of its staff will learn is one of perseverance. A self-proclaimed market disruptor of the toilet paper industry – which donates 50 per cent of its profits to improve sanitation in third world countries – the business only really got legs because one of its co-owners refused to get up off his seat.

Founded by Simon Griffiths, Danny Alexander and Jehan Ratnatunga in 2012, WGAC needed to raise $50,000 in pre-orders to start production of its toilet paper range. Griffiths (pictured) came up with the idea of sitting on a toilet in the warehouse and not getting up until they met the target, all the while filming an ad and livestreaming his, ahem, movements. There were scenes reminiscent of Danny Glover in Lethal Weapon and some numb buttocks but 50 hours later the mark was met and Who Gives a Crap got wings.

“The idea that you can sit on a toilet for more than two days and start a business through sheer belligerence says a lot about the company,” explains Phil King, head of production and sourcing.

Five years on and WGAC has moved millions of toilet rolls, donated about $500,000 to its charity partners and employs 28 people in an operation that’s expanded into the United States, Philippines and now England.

The gist of the operation is this: WAGC sources its forest-friendly toilet paper, tissues and paper towels and has them manufactured in China. They’re shipped to Australia and distributed to seven warehouses around the country, ordered almost entirely online and then sent direct to the consumer. Most employees work in the ‘customer happiness’ department, that is sorting out orders and ensuring people get their product.

“On the inside, we look and operate like many start-ups,” King says.

“We’re really de-centralised; there is no office and while we do have hubs like the Inspire 9 work space in Melbourne where a few of us gather, most of the team work remotely. We have customers, team members and warehouses across three different countries and that makes communication really important.”

To wit: this year marked the first time the full team actually all met in person.

Smart use of technology has thus become key to operations. WGAC uses platforms such as Slack (group messaging), Trello (project management) and Zendesk (customer service).

“We have some structured, standard meetings, but we are [the corporate structure] very flat and, typically, people take a lot of ownership for their piece and get their heads down. We’ve gotten really good at being succinct in our communication with each other. Our days aren’t bloated with internal meetings because they just don’t work.”

The hybrid model of splitting profits with donations is core to the operation, with Griffiths maintaining that if there wasn’t the prospect of financial return for some of WGAC’s early backers they may have struggled to get the level of interest they did. King also feels pure not-for profit ventures can get more political.

“In the NGO world there are multiple stakeholders in terms of your philanthropists and I suspect that takes more time, takes you away from what your core vision is,” he says.

For the staff it is also a vital plank — they can earn a wage, take shares in the company and contribute to an organisation that is making a difference.

 

“Employees want companies that give them a reason to get out of bed to feel that they are doing something positive,” King says.

 

“Everyone has a common bond around why they are here, yet it’s rarely spoken of. We all enjoy toilet humour, but really the given is that we all enjoy being part of something bigger than ourselves.”

While King maintains that mix can provide a best-of-both-worlds scenario, giving money away is not always as easy as it sounds and often comes with an extra level of scrutiny.

Griffiths discovered this first hand with the Shebeen Bar in Melbourne, an establishment he ran where profits from the exotic lagers and wines were slated to fund overseas aid projects.

But because it didn’t make cash profits for three years and was ultimately shut down, largely through complications arising from regulatory issues, there was no scope to fund anything. It resulted in some media barbs but Griffiths was unrepentant, saying he would do it all again.

WGAC appears to have no such woes with their key beneficiary, Water Aid, delighted with the amount of money that is now being raised for them.

“I think that there is extra responsibility in being a social enterprise, because so many consumers place their faith in us and will us to succeed on their behalf,” King offers. “But the positive energy around that is the best of that world, not the worst.”

 

The disruptors

Who Gives a Crap is in good company in shaking up its field, joining the likes of Uber, Airbnb and Deliveroo in changing the industry paradigm. Here’s a few other market disruptors you may not have heard of:

Quid: Big Data is everything these days and Quid is making waves in the information platform sphere with its Internet scouring tools to create trend maps that tell its customers what is getting media traction.

Shoes of Prey: An Australian company that allows you to design your own shoes at a sensible price while guaranteeing their fit. Carrie Bradshaw would be proud.

Space X: Rockets to Mars are not just a Hollywood fantasy for Space X, the aerospace disruptor that aims to get people to the red planet in the coming decades. Started by Elon Musk, founder of electric car company Tesla.

Temple & Webster: Taking on IKEA and department chains may sound foolhardy but Temple & Webster has found quite the niche with its subscription-based homeware offerings.

Social Intelligence: A human resources company that uses next-level social media scanning to determine whether there are any red flags attached to that would-be employee.

 

 

Did you know . . .

  • 2.4 billion people across the world don’t have access to a toilet.
  • More people have a mobile phone than a toilet.
  • WGAC boasts that its production method has saved 47,968 trees and 101,170,933 litres of water, while 8060 tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions have been avoided.
  • Almost 900 children under five die every day due to lack of adequate toilets and diseases associated with poor sanitation.
  • There are no inks, dyes or scents in WGAC products and they’re ‘tree free’, whereas more than 98 per cent of toilet rolls sold in Australia are made from virgin fibres (non recycled and typically from trees).
  • Since 1990, nearly a third of the current global population has gained access to an improved sanitation facility (that’s 2.1 billion people).
  • A World Health Organization study in 2012 calculated that for every $1 invested in sanitation, there was an economic return of $5.50 in lower health costs, more productivity and fewer premature deaths.

 

How IBM Crowdsourced Its Own Personality

 

It’s been four years since strategist Megan Dalla-Camina left IBM, but she can still rattle off the company’s three defining statements without hesitation.

“They were: dedication to every client’s success; innovation that matters – for our company and the world – and trust and personal responsibility in all relationships,” she recalls from her days as head of strategy for IBM Australia and New Zealand.

Now a consultant, coach and writer, Dalla-Camina (pictured) says those values became part of the DNA for employees of the company, making it a highly regarded training ground for leaders.

This is a real advantage for IBM alumni: “When I’m at a client meeting or a speaking event and [another alumnus] knows that I’m a former IBMer, they still feel that connection — even if it was their dad, or brother or sister that was an IBMer.”

Dalla-Camina says the defining statements were very much part of the conversation when developing strategy.

“In some other organisations, values are an afterthought. With IBM, they were always at the very front,” she says.

Dalla-Camina joined in 2004, just after the company had gone through an exhaustive process of inviting every employee to contribute to writing the statements.

IBM had already transformed its business model to survive a crisis, switching through the 1990s from being a manufacturer of computers to a services and software-based company.

It was a near-death experience, following combined losses of $US15.9 billion over the three years to 1993.

In the aftermath, it was decided to replace the old three “beliefs”: Respect for the individual, the best customer service in the world, excellence.

Around 50,000 employees came together over 72 hours in 2003 in a “values jam” to come up with the words that would encompass IBM’s new vision.

Once those values were established, IBM’s then-CEO Sam Palmisano charged a senior executive with the task of identifying gaps between the values and company practices, collating all the emailed feedback from employees.

“Some of the comments were painful to read,” Palmisano told the Harvard Business Review at the time.

“I printed all of it out — the stack of paper was about three feet high — and  took it home to read over one weekend.  On Monday morning, I walked into our  executive committee meeting and threw it on the table.

“I said, ‘You guys ought to read every one of these comments, because if you think we’ve got this place plumbed correctly, think again’.”

Palmisano told HBR the assessment sparked improvements to business practices, such as the way prices were set. Leaders already knew this needed to be done, but nothing was done until the values-discovery process forced them to confront the issue.
– By Fiona Smith

 

Improving Employee Engagement

By Andrew Messer AFIML, Manager of the Application Services Unit at the Queensland Curriculum and Assessment Authority (QCAA)

Every leader wants, or should want, an engaged team of people. Much has been written about how employee engagement is the key to customer engagement, because engaged employees care about their customers.

But engagement is not a switch you can flick. Employee engagement actually starts with leader engagement – people just won’t engage with a leader who has clocked off.

As leaders, we have to be intentional about this. We’ve got to be active and take the first step.

That’s why I make a point of asking my people these two questions, and not just once, but as often as it takes. These two questions are simple but they are empowering. They prompt people to think – sometimes about things they haven’t thought about much or enough.

 

Ask your people these two questions

    1. What do you want to achieve?
    2. How can I help you do that?

You’ll notice that the first question is not directly and specifically about what they want to achieve in their job – but the context of this conversation with a team member tends to guide their thinking this way.  It’s either about what they want to achieve in their job or in their career.

I get three main types of responses to this – “I don’t really know”, “I’ll have a think about that”, or a specific answer.  If they can’t provide a specific answer, then you can’t ask the second question – it just becomes a statement of intent.

It is our responsibility as leaders to help our people identify their goals and help them to achieve them. Sometimes people need a push to consider this, because it’s so easy for them to get comfortable.

But when your people get to a point where they can give a specific answer, it’s great to see how they light up when you ask the second question.

 

How does this help increase engagement?

These questions will help to increase your team’s engagement in three ways:

  • When people have thought about their goals and know they will be supported, their engagement is increased. They are going to come in to work more inspired by having a personal goal they can achieve and knowing they have a backer – you!
  • When you have offered to help people develop and you are sincere about following through, your engagement is increased. You can’t make this offer half-heartedly, you have to mean it and do it – but you will find it is one of the most rewarding things you can do as a leader.
  • And when you’ve done this process with your people, and you encourage them to lead the same way and do the same with their teams, their peoples’ engagement is increased. It’s incredible to watch this sort of thing move forwards and radiate outwards across a larger team.

And that is the beginning of developing an engaged culture, where personal and professional development becomes part of the DNA of your organisation.  And what leader doesn’t want that for their team?

 

 

Want to hear more on engaging and inspiring your team? Andrew will be speaking at our Brisbane Conference on the 2nd November 2017 about the ‘ability to inspire’. Book Now and don’t miss this insightful event!

 

 

 

A Battle Worth Fighting

 

Creating a resilient corporate culture takes time and effort, but you won’t regret it.

 

By Stuart Taylor, CEO Springfox

 

Stress. We all experience it. We all talk about it. Even seeing the word in print stirs at least a little discomfort in most.

Removing stress from the workplace sounds like a great idea in theory. In reality, though, a certain amount of stress can be beneficial and, in some cases, necessary to drive individuals and corporations to higher levels of performance. However, there is a tipping point at which pressure to perform has counterproductive effects.

The focus of modern cultural change programs shouldn’t be on removing stress, but rather on creating an environment where people are able to process, rationalise and view pressure as opportunity.

Employers don’t need to create stress-free organisations, they need to create resilient organisations.

Organisations exist for people and through people. It is true that modern organisations are increasingly characterised by technology, systems, processes and rules, but at the core they remain much like any other group of people or tribe. And just like any other tribe, members look to the chief to rally them in times of trouble.

A resilient corporate culture is one that is able to balance the drive for high performance with a focus on maintaining the safety, well-being and effectiveness of its people.

Resilient organisations understand that high performance is very different to sustainable high performance. And it all starts at the top.

Disruption, resulting from technological advances and geo-political shifts, personifies the modern corporate battle ground. This places people under increasing pressure and strain. The persistent change in the world and the pressures on us to transform and adapt require agility.

 

‘In a volatile, uncertain and complex world, resilience is a strategic asset’

 

To thrive in this environment, organisations must commit to a systemic approach to fostering a resilient culture where people feel respected, trusted and supported. Leaders must be role models. When they fail to engage, the tribe loses trust in its chief.

Our organisation’s study of 26,099 professionals over a six-year period revealed confronting insights about our modern workforce. More than half of those surveyed (55 per cent) worry excessively, 50 per cent are hyper vigilant, 45 per cent experience distress symptoms, and 30 per cent experience excessive work intensity, and/or have impulse control problems.

The research clearly demonstrated that the workforce is anxious and overloaded, contributing to a prevalence of absenteeism, presenteeism, conflict and attention loss in the workplace. The effect of absenteeism alone costs the Australian economy more than $44 billion a year.

Here are some simple steps leaders can can take:

Lead with compassion
 Resilient organisations are possible when you lead with deep care and the ‘greater good’ in mind. Sometimes this requires tough love, however, it will build trust and respect.

Show vulnerability
A powerful way to demonstrate your trust, compassion and respect for your people is to ask the same of them. Leaders who aren’t ashamed to show their shortcomings demonstrate that what is expected is commitment and effort, not perfection. This breeds a culture of accountability, where people are willing to admit they need help or have made a mistake.

Talk to your people
People perform best when they understand what’s expected of them. Make your strategic priorities clear and resist the urge to use corporate jargon.

Find out what people are good at
We all do best when we play to our strengths. A concerted effort should be made to help people understand what their natural strengths are. This can contribute to an organisation’s strategic priorities.

Consider diversity
Does your organisation accurately reflect the world outside? It is critical that people feel comfortable to be themselves at work, regardless of age, gender, sexuality or cultural beliefs. A considered diversity strategy is critical for any modern organisation.

 

What Makes The Leader of the Pack

 

Great leaders are workhorses, not show horses

By Sam Bell FIML
The Institute of Managers and Leaders  General Manager Corporate Services and Research 

 

In June ‘the suspended schoolboy turned disruptive CEO’ was finally removed from his post at CPA Australia. Alex Malley left the membership-based accounting body with a payout of $4.9 million of members’ equity, a board without a quorum and no obvious leadership succession plan.

It was a sad finale for Malley who, after seven-and-a-half years as CEO, arguably left CPA Australia in a sustainable financial position, with strong brand recognition and a growing international profile. No one should doubt Malley’s passion and commitment, although some may question his delivery method and other aspects of his leadership.

Malley also seemed to be able to do what others have failed to do – position the CPA qualification as a stepping stone to roles in management and leadership. And he was able to attract large cohorts of international students to the CPA brand. This undoubtedly propelled the organisation beyond its home market and gave many international students the hope of a job in Australia (even if the truth was that these jobs were rather more difficult to come by than they were perhaps led to believe).

Much of what Malley espoused about leadership related to his own experiences. Of course, it’s somewhat ironic then that his personal leadership style ultimately played a part in his untimely exit.

Leadership style is the way that a leader provides vision and direction, sets strategy and motivates people. This doesn’t mean that leaders should accept the status quo or shy away from change. Far from it. They must navigate choppy waters and create new directions in search of success. But this must always be about ensuring that the emphasis is on the organisation and not on them.

I can’t help but think that Malley’s leadership style falls short of what US business consultant Jim Collins would describe as that of a “Level 5 Leader”. Collins describes Level 5 leaders as those who espouse a “blend of extreme personal humility with intense professional will”.

What separates these leaders from the pack is, according to Collins, their “personality attributes”. There are the attributes that typify these leaders. They are self-confident enough to set up a succession plan; are humble and modest; show unwavering resolve and diligence — more plough horse than show horse. Last but not least, they give credit to others and take full responsibility for poor results. They also attribute much of their success to good luck rather than personal greatness.

Collins believed that for great leaders, leadership is more about who they are, rather than what they know. Contrast this with the now very public allegations of millions of dollars of CPA Australia funds being used for the promotion of a TV show and a book that didn’t seem to be too related to an professional membership body focused on accounting standards.

Whatever the truth of the CPA ‘case study’, I think that we would all agree that good leadership is not about the self-promotion of the leaders. Especially when it’s the leader who is making the decisions about the promotion. Indeed, Jim Collins found that it is precisely those CEOs, who create big public profiles, that tend to run the most unsuccessful companies.

This brings us nicely to the Institute’s new Chartered Manager designation, which assesses leadership qualities through a robust competency framework that doesn’t try to define a ‘preferred’ leadership style. It instead acknowledges that every individual has their own way of doing things. But the framework does capture the core competencies that are vital to developing your own leadership style and supporting your management skills. This is the thinking that lies at the heart of the new designation, which is sets out three core stages of management:

• How to manage yourself effectively — this should be learnt early on in your career and constantly developed.
• How to manage others and establish trust — these capabilities should be developed before you take on management roles ,but are typically developed at junior and middle management levels.
• How to manage the business and think strategically — this should be continually learnt and is most needed at senior levels.

I’m currently undertaking the Chartered Manager assessment and I’m finding the reflection process on my leadership style and skills to be extremely rewarding. It has also revealed the gaps in my knowledge and practice. It’s both extremely rewarding and personally challenging, as it should be.

Leadership isn’t supposed to be easy. In fact, self-promotion is the easy part of leadership. The real tough stuff is the actual leading.