Are You Prepared To Be Less Of A D*ckhead To Be A Better Leader?

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As usual, the annual Conference on Culture and Leadership presented by Human Synergistics Australia earlier this week delivered the goodies, with some great speakers sharing their personal leadership and workplace culture experiences with an enthusiastic Sydney audience.

One of the many things on the day that resonated strongly with me arose out of a performance piece by the talented corporate dramatists from Coup, which successfully highlighted the challenges and opportunities typically presented by leadership and workplace culture change.

In the piece, one of the dramatists playing the role of “the Ghost of Business Future” (with all due respect to Charles Dickens), asked the struggling CEO if he wanted to become a better leader in order to save the business from its projected downward spiral. Of course he said yes, to which the Ghost of Business Future responded quite simply “Great…. so are you prepared to be less of a d*ckhead?”

The laughs from the audience suggest that I wasn’t the only one for whom this comment resonated. As much as we might typically use more accepted corporate language, structured models and frameworks to diagnose and improve leadership effectiveness, I couldn’t help but think that this phrase, as undiplomatic as it might be, provides some fundamental truths. Read more →

Enhancing Employee Performance

Thinking About Thinking – Enhancing Employee Performance

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We all know that effectively managing employees is fundamental to the success of our business. We variously rely on our employees to serve our customers/clients, to market and sell the goods and services of the business and to implement the processes and systems that keep the business flowing.

As business owners or managers, we can’t be there all the time, so it’s absolutely critical that our employees clearly understand what is expected of them. This in turn means that our ability to effectively communicate with our employees can have a direct and significant impact on the performance of the business.

Read more →

Workplace Bullying Laws – Progress Report

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With the workplace bullying provisions of the Fair Work Act having now been in place for over 12 months, it’s timely to reflect on the changes, how they are working in practice and the associated costs and responsibilities.

The Legislation

Under the legislation:

  • bullying at work is deemed to occur when “an individual or group repeatedly behaves unreasonably towards a worker or group AND the behaviour creates a risk to health and safety”. Bullying does not include one-off instances of insensitivity or rudeness, or reasonable management activities carried out in a reasonable manner
  • a worker who believes that they have been bullied, and anticipates that the bullying will continue, can apply to the Fair Work Commission for an order to stop the bullying
  • “Worker” has a broad definition and includes, for example, employees, contractors and subcontractors, an employee of a labour hire company, apprentices, trainees, students gaining work experience and volunteers
  • the Fair Work Commission is required to start to deal with an application for an order to stop the bullying within 14 days of it being received
  • courts can impose significant penalties on individuals and/or businesses that fail to comply with an order to stop the bullying
  • the Commission can also refer the matter to Work Health and Safety regulators which could ultimately result in the imposition of fines or a prosecution for a breach of WHS laws.

Read more →

HR Consulting

Why are Position Descriptions A Lot Like Politicians?

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Q. WHY ARE POSITION DESCRIPTIONS A LOT LIKE POLITICIANS?

A. THEY ARE BOTH BORING BUT NECESSARY!

I probably don’t need to spend too much time convincing you that they are both pretty boring as far as topics of conversation go, but you may need a little more convincing that they (position descriptions at least), are necessary.

Put simply, a position description is a document which outlines the key purpose, relationships and responsibilities of an individual role within the business. In most cases it also details the skills and experience that would be required of a person in order to competently perform the role.

So just what goes into a well-written position description and why are they important for your business?

In terms of their benefits, position descriptions (or job descriptions as they are sometimes referred to) provide:

  • an opportunity to consider and ultimately be clear about important aspects of all positions within the business, including reporting relationships, key task requirements and expectations relating to behaviour/attitude;
  • a good safeguard for you and your business in the event of grievances, disputes, claims of unfair dismissal etc…;
  • clarity for staff and supervisors around just who does what within your business, therein reducing confusion and also providing opportunity for greater efficiency and ultimately profit;
  • opportunity to reduce the risk of non-compliance with employment-related legislation including Work Health and Safety;
  • a sound basis for recruitment and selection, ensuring you get the right person for the job based on their mix of skills, qualifications, experience and demonstrated behaviours/attitudes, and;
  • a sound basis for effective performance review and training and development.

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Here’s an I.D.E.A. – Provide Effective Feedback!

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A common challenge for many supervisors and managers when it comes to managing people is providing effective feedback. This is particularly the case where they need to give feedback to a team member who is presently not meeting expectations and/or where they have done something wrong.

Some supervisors and managers become paralysed by fear that the recipient of the feedback may not take it well – they might be upset, your current good relationship might be damaged or, even worse, they might argue against the feedback and become openly hostile toward you. Other supervisors and managers have no trouble telling people exactly what they have done wrong and what they need to do to improve, but they deliver the news in a way that causes people to react negatively, with the result that their efforts to improve the situation result in the recipient becoming angry and/or disengaged. Read more →

Leader or Manager?

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To quote Peter Drucker, “Management is about doing things right, Leadership is about doing the right things”.
A leader provides direction (short and long range focus) and answers the “What and why?” (a manger answers the ‘how to’). Leaders provide the strategic direction of an organisation (where to play and how to win) and establish the all-important culture and environment of an organisation. Without direction, focus, clear communication and the right culture, businesses struggle to succeed in today’s market.
Throughout my career in sales, management and consulting, I have regularly witnessed examples of good and poor management; and I have also found all good leaders share similar traits. Good leaders are/have/do:
  • results oriented
  • not accepting of the status quo
  • strong inter-personal skills
  • know their own strengths and weaknesses
  • creative and innovative
  • set goals that are clear, challenging and realistic
  • empower others

Read more →

Lean Myths & Realities – People

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LEAN Misconceptions – Part 2

In Part 1 we debunked the myth that Lean is all about cost reduction. In this article we explore the myth that to be Lean a business has to cut staff.

Misconception # 2: Lean is a process to reduce the number of employees

As discussed in “Misconceptions # 1”, reducing the non-value added components or waste, capacity is increased (diagram 1), and increasing capacity is the REAL purpose of Lean.

Lean Misc Image #2

Diagram 1

By creating this additional capacity, the organisation now has the opportunity to either:

a) Reduce the number of employees.
Using this approach will invariably result in the following:

  • The process of continual improvement which is fundamental to Lean, coming to an instant halt. After all, which employee wants to reduce waste and make improvements to the organisation if it means that either he or his peers will then be without a job?
  • A huge decrease in employee morale.
  • Stagnant/declining productivity with the possibility of implementing any future improvement program/s being slim.
  • Stagnant growth and process improvement, thereby allowing the competition to catch-up and finally overtake the organisation.
  • Distrust between management and the employees, perpetuating the “us vs them” culture.

b) Utilise the employees to increase output and/or add greater customer value.
Using this approach will have the exact opposite effect to that of (a) above. Read more →

Engaged Employees = 27% Higher Profit!

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Engaged employees = 27% higher profit, 50% higher sales and 50% higher customer loyalty. (Gallup Study)

Is Your Business Set to Achieve Success Through People? Our FREE diagnostic tool will help you find out!

Consider for a moment the total value of your investment in the employees within your business -basic wage and salary costs, leave provisions, workers’ compensation and other insurances, training costs, incidental costs, accommodation and technology costs, recruitment and induction costs, the cost of casual staff to relieve employees on leave etc…. Think also about the time involved in recruiting employees and having them perform at their best, the time you might need to invest in addressing poor performance, conflict, customer complaints etc….

If yours is like most businesses, you’ll find that the total investment in your employees is significant, and in many cases it’s the single-most significant cost of doing business. With this in mind, it simply makes sense to ensure that your business is managing employees in a manner which generates the maximum possible return on investment. Read more →

Is staff training worth the financial risk?

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CFO to CEO: “What happens if we invest in developing our people & then they leave?”

CEO to CFO: ‘What happens if we don’t, and they stay?”

From SMEs to MNCs and as far back as you would like to think, this conversation, in one form or another, is regularly occurring.

One of the biggest worries for business owners and managers is training and investing in quality employees and then losing them to a larger company, or worse a competitor, that might be able to offer more money, greater perks or better career opportunities.

Curiously, a business will regularly put more thought into what capital equipment to buy than whom to employ. And they will ensure there is a maintenance schedule for plant and equipment. When you look at the annual cost of a staff member, they represent significant investment…and cost. Read more →

HR Consulting

Getting Started with Performance Management

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I was asked by a business owner the other day “How often should I be talking with my staff about their performance?”. It got me thinking about performance management and how it’s an important but frequently neglected area. Indeed, I would argue that an effective performance management process is absolutely critical to setting clear expectations of staff and building a culture of accountability within the business. For those business owners or managers looking to get serious about managing performance, here are a few tips to get you started: Read more →