The onus is on leaders to create safe and respectful workplaces

By David Pich FIML

 

The nature of the workplace has changed. We no longer tie ourselves to a nine-to-five schedule, we work from home – even feel ‘at home’ when we’re at work. It’s not surprising then that in IML ANZ’s 2018 National Salary Survey, we found an increase in the number of workers who left jobs due to a lack of flexibility. It’s now an expectation and simply the way the modern workplace operates.

What that then means is in many cases, the lines that separate the workplace and home become blurred. The home can become a workplace or people may start to see the workplace as a home. Here lies the direct link to safety.

As a leader, we put measures in place to maintain safety in the workplace – physical or psychological. But the changed nature of work means you must go beyond that. Ask the question: “Are the homes of the people in my team a safe environment?” Not to pry, but to know if this requires your attention as their leader.

It matters because if one in five people who’ve experienced harassment say that this is a common occurrence in their workplaces, and they also experience some form of abuse at home, where do they go for respite? We spend a lot of time and invest a lot of effort in the workplace, therefore we all deserve to feel safe there.

Of course, safety isn’t just about the absence of danger but also involves feeling safe enough to speak up if a situation occurs. Robust whistle-blower policies can help in a couple of ways. First, it maps out exactly what actions people can take to combat abuse and harassment in the workplace. More importantly, it sends a strong message of what your organisation considers to be acceptable and unacceptable behaviour. A policy is only as good as the people who implement it. Whilst policies are a must, you need to lift it off the page and live it.

Any form of harassment, whether it occurs at home or at work, is damaging and must be stopped. Organisations must be proactive and take the lead in preventing abuse. Are your managers prepared to act if an incident arises? Do they know how to support victims? Are they role models of the type of behaviour you’d like to see everyone displaying in your organisation?

Our actions as leaders set the tone for all those around us. When I interviewed Alan Joyce for IML ANZ’s book, Leadership Matters: 7 Skills of Very Successful Leaders, he spoke of the fundamental role leaders play in achieving buy-in and influencing the workplace culture: through actions, decisions, and messages we send. However, the culture that I’m talking about here isn’t limited to boosting engagement and results – it’s about a culture that highly values a safe and respectful workforce.

To be clear, abuse is not something the majority of us face daily. Naturally, it’s important to equip ourselves as people leaders on how to handle bullying, harassment and abuse, regardless if it occurs at home or in the workplace. I invite all managers and leaders to seek out ways to understand the reality that abuse, harassment, domestic violence and bullying is real and more common than you might think. Arm yourself with strategies, plans and a deep awareness of how to effectively handle what will most likely be a delicate situation.

Beyond all our other targets, goals and results – we are responsible for people. They give a significant amount of their time, effort and commitment to ensure targets are hit, goals are achieved and results are delivered. We owe it to our teams, as fellow workers – as human beings – to provide an environment where no one must look over their shoulder in fear of abuse. The time to act is now. Waiting until an event occurs is no longer good enough (if it ever was!).

David is the Chief Executive of IML ANZ. Learn what you can do as a leader to create a safe and respectful workplace at IML ANZ’s Leadership Outlook series 2019.

Bullying, harassment and abuse are workplace hazards too

By Karyl Estrella MIML

 

Genuine human concern and a duty of care means for most managers maintaining a safe workplace is a must. Hence offices are fitted with fire systems, first aid kits and evacuation plans are set out. We do everything in our power to eliminate safety hazards. However, if we think about what a workplace hazard is it’s really anything that could cause potential harm, injury and illness to your people. So, beyond trip, slip or electrical hazards, psychological and emotional risks should also be removed.

Compared to most common hazards, psychological and emotional threats, such as bullying, harassment and abuse result in more severe damage to the employee’s wellbeing. Even more of a concern is that it may not always be easy to detect.

Managers and leaders play a crucial role here. According to Safe Work Australia, one of the central reasons for the occurrence of bullying and harassment in workplaces is the lack of managerial regard for creating an emotionally and mentally safe work environment. Clearly, this is a significant concern for all managers and leaders.

 

A danger hidden in plain sight

This issue is magnified when we consider the impact of the workplace on an employee’s life. In the 12 months preceding March 2018, the figures reveal Australians spent 20 billion hours at work.

Creating a safe environment becomes even more critical given the current state of Australian workplaces. Alarmingly, the Australian Human Rights Commission reports that 23% of women and 16% of men have experienced sexual harassment at work.

If employees are spending the majority of their time in an environment where they do not feel safe, it will no doubt affect their engagement, productivity and loyalty to an organisation. Even worse, is that the effects of bullying, harassment and abuse have far-reaching impacts on how they function within society.

 

A solution is imperative

There are some ways workplaces can respond to these severe hazards. These include:

  • Setting clear guidance. Implement a zero-tolerance approach when it comes to bullying, harassment and any form of gross disrespect in the workplace. Your policies should support this through clear guidelines and consequences for offenders.
  • Offering information and support. Supply all employees with clear information on what they should do if they observe any form of abuse in the workplace. Provide support services for employees who have experienced bullying, harassment and violence – regardless if it’s at home or work.
  • Walking the talk. Leaders in the workplace must be role models of respectful behaviour. By setting the tone from the top, you build an environment where people feel they are safe from abusive behaviour.

 

Embrace the right outlook

Empowering managers and leaders with the skills, knowledge and courage to create a positive influence on our workplaces – and society – is at the heart of what we do at IML ANZ. That’s why we’ve focused our Leadership Outlook 2019 series on creating safe and respectful workplaces. We’ve partnered with White Ribbon to deliver a national series of thought-provoking and practical workshops.

During each session, a panel of local leaders will share real-world experiences and discuss:

  • Best practice approaches to support employees who are experiencing domestic violence, bullying or harassment in or out of the workplace
  • Knowledge and skills in applying a strategic, evidence-based methodology drawn from White Ribbon’s work with organisations on the Workplace Accreditation Program
  • Strategies to support staff which minimises risk and promotes a supportive workplace culture
  • Resources and tools to assist in creating a safe and respectful workplace
  • Practical case studies to work through key learnings from the sessions

We all deserve to feel safe. Join us for an event that will help transform workplaces, leadership and society.

Visit managersandleaders.com.au/leadership-outlook-2019/ for locations, dates and to book.

Karyl is IML ANZ’s content producer. Contact her for queries regarding the IML ANZ blog and quarterly magazine, Leadership Matters.

Culture Club

Chair of the Canberra Raiders, Allan Hawke, says leadership and culture are critical to the club kicking goals.

By Anthony O’Brien.

Allan Hawke AC FIML is a former senior public servant and diplomat. He served as Chief of Staff to Prime Minister Paul Keating, led three major government departments including the Department of Defence, and was High Commissioner to New Zealand from 2003 to 2006, later adding Chancellor of the Australian National University to his list of credentials. For the past five years, Hawke has been Chair of the Canberra Raiders National Rugby League (NRL) team, where his unique brand of leadership is galvanising players, fans and the Canberra community to share a culture of success.

A winter’s night in Canberra can be inhospitable. But it takes more than sub-zero temperatures to dampen the spirits of the 12,000 Raiders fans who have turned out to barrack for their team. The gate count amounts to more than one in two of the club’s 20,000-plus membership, a figure that has doubled since Hawke took the helm and which he credits to the Raiders’ administration.

Hawke is justifiably proud of the growth in member numbers, and puts it down, in part, to culture. “Culture simply describes the way we do things around here,” he says. “It involves developing a set of shared and lived values about what it means to be a Raider.”

Results through people

Culture comes from the top, and the Raiders’ board has bucked the trend of most other NRL clubs by helping to crack the glass ceiling. Hawke, a long-time advocate of women in executive roles, explains; “One thing that has changed during the course of my five years as Chair, is that we now have two women on the Board. One is former group accountant, Yvonne Gillett. The other is former elite athlete and lawyer, Bronwyn Fagan.”

Combined with other leaders in their field on the current board, Hawke says he has “a good group of people”. Nonetheless, he is aware that having women on the board sends a clear message of inclusion to the broader community, and this, he believes, has helped to bolster the club’s female membership and participation. He’s recently been looking at the board’s composition and renewal and expects to add another female in the not too distant future, based on a particular skill set and aims in the longer term to achieve a ratio of 40 to 50 per cent women on the board.

However, one issue the board doesn’t touch is player selection. “You hire the Head Coach and the CEO to do that,” says Hawke. “You don’t second guess them by doing the job for them; it’s not the USA model where the Chair is also CEO and President.” This notion of giving employees the scope to effectively perform their role is at the heart of Hawke’s leadership philosophy. “I call it ‘results through people’,” he explains. “It’s based on a fundamental belief that unless you get the people side right, you cannot deliver and sustain high performance on the results side of the equation.”

Hawke’s views were formed early in his career when he moved from being a subject matter expert to having others report to him. Hungry for guidance on what it meant to be an effective leader, Hawke read widely and attended seminars. But it wasn’t enough. Finding the answers lay in self-reflection.

“I started looking for ways to maximise and optimise people’s performance and contribution to the job,” recalls Hawke. “I realised my role as a leader was to mentor, coach, and help people strive towards their potential and a continuing high level of performance. It’s all about bringing the best out in people; lighting the fire inside them rather than the all too prevalent control freak approach of lighting a fire underneath people.”

Indeed, Hawke is unwavering on the value of nurturing people: “If you get the people, the results will follow. If you spend all your time worrying about finances, results and the like, you’re just spinning your wheels; you won’t get the best out of people and you can’t create and sustain a high performing organisation.”

A sense of community

Hawke’s mantra on the value of people has seen player welfare become a cornerstone of the Canberra Raiders. Considerable support is given to help players invest in their future. However, they are expected to give back: “We’re interested in turning out good people,” Hawke says. “So our players are heavily involved in community-based activities, and that’s been very well received by the local community.”

Over the course of the season, the Raiders raised more than $70,000 as part of their game day charity fundraising for 12 local charities. And one of their first-grade squad, Sam Williams has been nominated for the NRL’s community award, the Ken Stephen Medal, in recognition of his ongoing role as an Ambassador for Ronald McDonald House as well as his personal fundraising and support for a young person in his home town, who was left a paraplegic after a backyard trampolining accident.

However, “community” can also be a very personal concept at the Raiders. Hawke cites the example of debutante Emre Guler, the first person of Turkish origin to play professional NRL. “His mother was given the honour of presenting him his first Raiders jersey,” says Hawke. “Anybody who saw that video clip would have been touched by the emotion of the moment. It was just extraordinary. It garnered so many positive responses, even from fans of other NRL clubs.”

Part of being a Canberra Raider is an expectation that players will embrace the club’s culture. Hawke notes, “I was a young player once and it’d be fair to say that I was no angel. And sometimes our players misbehave too. We have a reputation for helping people through their mistakes. But, if we feel they’ve really breached our culture, we move them on even though that has sometimes worked against us in terms of results on the field.” Despite this, Hawke believes the Canberra community supports the club’s disciplinary actions because “they can see that we are acting for what is right, not who is right”.

As head of the green machine’s board, Hawke admits it is a challenge steering the ship through Australia’s crowded sporting market. “We face competition, particularly from Australian Rules and soccer, which drives us to engage with the broader district to identify, recruit and develop talented kids through our junior development system.” He also  continually looks at ways the club can make a difference to its supporters – a focus that has yielded results. Hawke says:
“We are currently in the best position
we’ve ever been in, in terms of sponsorship, membership and financials, which should deliver us an assured future.”

An independent report pinpoints the value delivered by the Raiders to the ACT in the 2017 season at almost $15.5 million. According to Hawke, “The Raiders give back to the Canberra and district community in a way that no other sporting club does in the ACT.” That concept of giving back is broad. “If you look around the Rugby League, there’s a disproportionate number of coaches, administrative people and media commentators, who have all come out of the Raiders,” says Hawke. “We’ve also made a big contribution in identifying and developing talent that goes on to play with other clubs. Maybe there’s something in the Canberra water; maybe they leave us with lime green in their bloodstream and an imprint of the Raiders DNA.”

Sticking to a game plan

Being inside the club at a high level has changed Hawke’s own experience of being a Raiders fan. “I figure it increases your blood pressure,” he quips. Though he adds, “When you can see clearly what this team is capable of and you try and rationalise this against some of the close losses we’ve had in 2018, it’s a bit of a conundrum.”

Hawke says an area of focus has been the players’ resolve to stick with a game plan. “In the past, they were unsure about how to handle adversity, and they would do things they would never do in the other 70 minutes of the game. These days they are executing what everyone has agreed on. The players have really come of age in that area as we saw in their last three games of the season, beating two of the top four teams at home and narrowly losing to the eighth team in Auckland, while remaining committed until the final whistle blew.”

Although 2018 won’t be the year the Raiders take out the premiership, Hawke says he will be “completely flummoxed” if the team doesn’t make the top eight in 2019.

Hawke continues to be passionate in his belief that through good leadership one man or one woman can make an incredible difference to an organisation. He stresses too the importance of life-long learning and says becoming a Chartered Manager sits near the top of his “To Do” list. (See managersandleaders.com.au/chartered-manager for details.)

The Lowdown: Project delays and bust budgets

How can you minimise the risk of a project’s timeline and budget blowing out as you work through to completion? By being aware of the inherent biases in our brains, and examining the landscape for insights into similar projects. By Vanessa Mickan.

Sydney’s light rail expansion is – surprise, surprise – massively over budget and behind schedule. I’m trying to imagine the planning meetings at the outset of the project, which will (eventually) add 12 kilometres of track to the city’s public transport network. I think we can safely assume the discussion did not go:

 “Let’s dig up some main roads to cause chaos and bring retailers to their knees.”

 “Then let’s surprise them by doing it for at least a year longer than we said we would.”

 “Don’t forget to make it cost more too. Like a billion dollars.”

 “Are you sure about that, only a million?”

 “No, no, I said billion, with a b.”

 “Genius idea. Taxpayers love that! All in favour say aye.”

Like most of us when we tackle a big project, everyone probably went into the light rail project believing they could get the job done on budget and on time.

So why is it that despite our best intentions and planning, big projects inevitably end up costing more and taking longer than we think they will? And as a business leader, what can you do about it?

Be aware of optimism bias. Four out of five of us have brains that are wired to present a rosier view of what will happen to us, according to cognitive neuroscientist Tali Sharot. For instance, about 40 per cent of people get divorced, yet newly married people rate their likelihood of splitting up at zero per cent. Step one in stopping the optimism bias from derailing your next big project is to simply start being cognisant of it.

Don’t fall for the planning fallacy. This common psychological quirk means we’re usually confident our project will go according to plan, even though we know other similar projects haven’t. Almost half of Olympic Games go over budget by more than 100 per cent, and many struggle to finish construction on time. Yet still Games organisers get taken by surprise. The Rio Games in 2016 are a memorable example, but the Montreal Games in 1972 hold the record: they were 720 per cent over budget and workers were sweeping up building debris as the opening ceremony began. The solution? Study data from similar past projects, and learn from them.

Streamline your communication. Tech innovator Justin Rosenstein designed the collaboration software Asana because of his frustration with wasting so much time at Google making sure the left hand knew what the right hand was doing – or what he calls “doing the work about work” – rather than developing products. But if it makes you feel any better about your own big projects, it took Rosenstein three years to launch his software … which just happens to be three times longer than he thought it would.

Speaking Up Without Fear

Elizabeth Ticehurst and Hoda Nahlous investigate what part a ‘speaking up’ and ‘whistleblowing’ culture plays in rebuilding corporate trust.

 

In this current era where trust in corporations is low, there is demand for organisations to develop an ethical corporate culture to control and minimise, to the extent possible, corporate misconduct. As a result, organisations are focusing on better understanding and improving their internal culture and practices. As part of this process, an effective ‘speak up’ and ‘whistleblower’ culture is becoming a prominent benchmark in measuring whether an organisation has a good corporate culture.

The benefits of ‘speaking up’

An effective ‘speak up’ culture is one where employees are encouraged to raise concerns and feel comfortable in doing so without fear of persecution. This requires the board and senior executives of the organisation to clearly articulate to staff what is ‘good’ corporate behaviour, so that ‘bad’ corporate behaviour can be easily identified. In addition, it also requires an organisation’s leaders to encourage a culture of dialogue and openness so that employees feel that management is trustworthy, accessible and well-equipped to handle their concerns.

If ‘speaking up’ is embedded into an organisation’s corporate culture and is effectively managed, then it provides opportunity for the organisation to deal with employee concerns in advance of these concerns escalating into any form of crisis.

What is a ‘whistleblower’?

‘Speaking up’ is sometimes fused with the term ‘whistleblowing’. Although a ‘speak up’ culture must also be a culture that encourages whistleblowing, ‘whistleblowing’ has specific meaning under law. In particular, ‘speaking up’ often involves an employee raising concerns with respect to their own personal circumstances within the organisation. By contrast, a ‘whistleblower’ is an insider within an organisation, who reports misconduct or dishonest or illegal activity that has occurred within that same organisation.

Whistleblowing has often been associated with negative connotations, most prominently that it is used as a tool by aggrieved employees to make a ‘nasty’ complaint against particular individuals, or that it is an act of disloyalty to the organisations (or ‘backstabbing’ of any relevant individuals involved in the whistleblower disclosure).  However, effective whistleblowing is key to eliciting trust among employees as it demonstrates that the organisation actually wants to know and cares about any misconduct or dishonest or illegal activity occurring within the organisation.

In any case, the proposed amendments to the whistleblower laws look to enforce the implementation by certain organisations of internal whistleblower policies, and to further strengthen whistleblower protections.

The law

Currently, a whistleblower is protected under law if they:

  • are a current officer, employee, contractor (or employee of a contractor) of the company that they are making the disclosure about;
  • disclose the information to any of: the company’s auditor (or a member of the audit team); a director, secretary or senior manager of the company, or a person authorised by the company to receive whistleblower disclosure; or ASIC;
  • provide their name to the person or authority that they have made the disclosure to;
  • have reasonable grounds to suspect a breach by the subject of their disclosure; and
  • make the disclosure in good faith.

Certain protections are afforded to whistleblowers under law, including protection of information provided by the whistleblower and protection for whistleblowers against litigation and from victimisation.

Proposed changes to whistleblower laws

Late last year, the federal government introduced a Bill aimed at improving protection for whistleblowers in the corporate, financial, credit and tax sectors. The Bill proposes various changes to the current whistleblower protection laws, including a requirement that public companies and large private companies implement internal whistleblower policies. Notably, it also proposes extending protection to a whistleblower who makes a report to a journalist or politician in circumstances where they reasonably believe there is an imminent risk of serious harm or danger to public health or safety, or to the ‘financial system’, if the information is not acted upon immediately, and a “reasonable period” has passed since the whistleblower first made a protected disclosure.

The whisleblower’s right to confidentiality is a key feature of the Bill. If enacted, these rules would potentially lead to significant civil penalties, and even criminal charges, for individuals and entities who breach the confidentiality of a whistleblower, or who engage in detrimental conduct towards an individual because that person has been, or is suspected of being, a whistleblower.

The changes were to take effect from 1 July 2018, however, the Bill is still pending in Parliament at the time of writing this article (August 2018). In any case, there is an expectation that most (if not all) of the proposed changes will be passed.

 

Hoda Nahlous is Director and Elizabeth Ticehurst is special counsel – Employment at KPMG Law.

 

THE BAD SMELL IN FINANCIAL SERVICES

MANAGERS AND LEADERS IN SOME OF AUSTRALIA’S MAJOR FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS ARE LEARNING SOME PAINFUL (AND VERY PUBLIC) LESSONS

 by Sam Bell FIML

IML’s general manager – corporate services and research

  

They say a fish rots from the head. If that’s true, the stench coming from the top of some of Australia’s largest financial services companies is overwhelming. As with many pundits looking from afar, I’ve been appalled by the findings unearthed by the ongoing Hayne Royal Commission into the financial services sector. Not that it should come as a shock; over many years the industry has repeatedly broken laws and acted immorally, from the bank bill swap rate scandal to the anti-money laundering case, lax compliance breaches, poor financial advice and criminal cartel charges – these are systemic problems across an industry rather than one-off bad eggs acting in isolation.

Of course, the tax payers of Australia would be pleased to know they offer the worst offenders – the four major banks – an implicit government guarantee over their deposit base. A luxury afforded to no other non-government private or public company.

It’s an indictment on the leaders of these organisations that they accept, or willfully ignore inside their organisations, a culture that permeates “poor financial advice, dubious lending practices, mis-selling of financial products, ongoing compliance breaches and an undermining of community trust” (The Australian Prudential Regulation Authority’s words, not mine). How did it come to this?

 

leaders asleep at the wheel

The recent APRA report that examined the frameworks and practices in relation to governance, culture and accountability within CBA was a particular eye-opener – and a must-read for all directors and management executives. It was scathing of a board asleep at the wheel, with inadequate oversight and challenge by board members, unclear accountabilities on executive committees, overly bureaucratic decision-making that favoured collaboration rather than effective outcomes, a poorly practised risk management framework that was under resourced, and a remuneration structure that offered little punishment for senior managers when poor risk or customer outcomes materialised. 

Interestingly, the APRA report found an organisation where everyone said yes to each other. While a collegiate and trusting environment was established, it appears there was little enthusiasm to constructively challenge decisions or raise alarm at matters going on inside the bank. As a result, the report concluded, “the senior leadership was slow to recognise, and address, emerging threats to CBA’s reputation”.

 

we can’t trust the cosy club

No wonder community mistrust of large business is so widespread. They see enormous salaries being paid (the former AMP Chair was on $660,000 per year) to some individuals who are seemingly unaware of commonly accepted moral standards. All this at the same time as wage growth is barely outpacing the inflation rate for the majority of workers.

There is also a perception of a “directors club” operating in Australia and a raft of senior board appointments selected from a small gene pool. As Federal Treasurer Scott Morrison put it, “the public sees a club that comes with directorships in Australia that creates a coziness that’s not very helpful”. While there’s community outrage, the public are not demanding blood on the streets just yet.

It might all be too late for the younger generation. The latest Deloitte Millennial Survey identifies some worrying views on business motivations and ethics. This year’s results show that fewer than half of respondents (45%) believe business has a positive impact on society. In other words, 55% of millennials believe business has a net negative impact on society. I’m in no doubt the headlines, scandals and rotting fish that’ve been widely broadcast recently have contributed to these disturbing results.

The belief that businesses behave ethically suffered a 19% fall in the survey. Deloitte also uncovered a 30% decline in the belief that business leaders are committed to helping improve society. This all coming from our next generation of leaders.

The final outcome of the Hayne Royal Commission is anyone’s guess. There’s no doubt that as the Commission traverses its way through winter and spring there’s going to be a lot more pain inflicted on what were once some of Australia’s most trusted brands. The revelations of customer mistreatment and illegality will continue to dominate the 24-hour news cycle and further erode the community’s confidence in many of our business leaders.

 

RADICAL RESTRUCTURE REQUIRED

Further unpacking APRA’s report into the CBA, it made 35 recommendations (all have been accepted by the CBA’s leadership team) including a more rigorous board and executive committee level governance of non-financial risks, embedding accountability standards, raising the authority of the compliance functions, and making two key changes to culture: asking the question of “should we” in relation to all dealings with and decisions on customers, and a cultural change that “moves the dial from reactive and complacent to empowered, challenging and striving for best practice in risk identification and remediation”. Sound advice.

So where to from here? Malcolm Broomhead, Chair of Orica and a non-executive director of BHP summed it up well when speaking to the Australian Institute of Company Directors, noting: “We need to somehow rebuild that trust and significant radical restructuring of boards and companies – particularly in relation to remuneration structures – is central to that process”.   

 

MAKE YOUR MARK. GO CHARTERED 

Chartered Manager (CMgr) is the internationally-recognised professional designation accrediting management and leadership excellence.
The highest status that can be achieved as a manager and leader, it allows managers to professionalise their leadership skills and stand out in a competitive global market.
Focused on Continuing Professional Development (CPD), Chartered Manager is awarded on experience, expertise and a commitment to management and leadership.

For more details visit Chartered Manager

Breathing new life into a regional community

By Nicola Field 

In country towns the local school is often a pivotal hub. So when the public school in Learmonth, located 130 kilometres west of Melbourne, closed its doors for the last time in 2012 the 400-strong community felt the pinch.

Fortunately, Rob Sorros FIML and his colleagues at Mapfort Consulting have now found a novel solution that will breathe life into the site of the former public school – and create a new hub for the community at the same time.

Part of this solution will be a small scale cidery with capacity for end-to-end production – from apples grown at the onsite orchard (currently the school oval), through to processing and retailing of cider and related products at various other facilities on the school grounds.

The other part of the solution, Soros explains “is the provision of vocational training, where students can learn a variety of skills from propagation to retail trades in a hands-on environment.”

The venture will be run as a social enterprise with a charitable foundation established to create social impact through social seed venture capital, advocacy and local economic development work. A total of $250,000 of direct social impact is expected to be realised locally (outside of the operation) in the first year of operations.

Not surprisingly, Soros describes the local community as “very supportive” of the project, which is still waiting on government funding to determine the scale of production.

For Soros, the project involves some unique challenges. “We’re effectively taking three businesses and putting them into one – a philanthropic foundation, cidery, and learning centre.”

The nature of the undertaking as a social enterprise brings its own set of hurdles. “I believe social enterprises need to be nimble and agile while striking a balance between purpose and profit,” notes Soros.

He continues: “A minimum of 50 per cent of our profits must directly address the social issues the foundation was set up for. That effectively means we need to be able to survive on the remaining surplus.”

In addition to juggling commercial viability and sustainability, Soros points out that social enterprises have quite different benchmarks compared to profit-based organisations.

“Profitability is key but we must also ensure our dual mandate to model replicable social impact and rejuvenate a regional community is met. This raises the question how we measure the success of the venture. We are measuring financial and social risk-adjusted returns using the latest social impact measurement frameworks developed at the Asia Pacific Social Impact Centre at the University of Melbourne. Having metrics that matter is very important to us.”

With production planned to kick-off in early 2019 one thing is for sure: the community has a brighter future ahead, and it’s a fair bet the townsfolk of Learmonth will be celebrating with a glass of the newly minted local drop.

MAKE YOUR MARK. GO CHARTERED 

Chartered Manager (CMgr) is the internationally-recognised professional designation accrediting management and leadership excellence.
The highest status that can be achieved as a manager and leader, it allows managers to professionalise their leadership skills and stand out in a competitive global market.
Focused on Continuing Professional Development (CPD), Chartered Manager is awarded on experience, expertise and a commitment to management and leadership.

For more details visit Chartered Manager

Sharing their vision is the way that leaders create the future

Written by Charles Horvath MIML, Professional Mentor and Decision-Making Facilitator

 

As a business mentor, I am passionate about succeeding.

We know and understand the principles for sound management and for succeeding. The rebranding of the Australian Institute of Management to Institute of Managers and Leaders (IML) is an excellent example of a successful undertaking. The right thinking took place at the right time and with the right execution, IML and its members are on the path to a successful future.

 

The August 2017 issue of Institute’s magazine, Leadership Matters, gave a very good description of Chief Executive, David Pich, went about the process of rebranding IML.

 

However, the fundamental reason for the success of the rebranding was only touched on coincidentally. The fundamental reason for the success of the rebranding was that someone had a vision of what IML would look like in the future. They shared that vision and a sufficient number of people bought into that vision for it to prevail.

 

A cursory review of management and leadership writings indicates that many characteristics are ascribed to successful managers and leaders, such as good planning, ability to communicate, selecting the right people to fill roles, to name a few. The one characteristic that is mentioned only in passing is that of a vision.

 

The foremost characteristic of a leader is to have a vision that captures the imagination. Nelson Mandela had a compelling vision. He shared it. People bought into it. South Africa is now free of apartheid.

 

Whilst a person becomes a leader for a number of reasons, the most important reason is having a vision and sharing it. David Pich is an excellent example of an effective leader. He had a vision for the Institute that was clear, compelling, comprehensive, soundly reasoned, supported by research and well presented to the target audience whose support was a key factor in the rebranding. People bought into it and the transformation to the IML took place.

 

The Institute is now a body of professional managers and leaders. This is great for its Members because they now have a new and an exciting credential with which to present themselves. However, at a bigger picture level, I would like to consider how our society as Australians will be affected by our newly qualified professionals.

 

The reason for focusing on vision as an important attribute of leaders is because leaders create the future. They do this by having a vision and sharing it with others. Leaders know how to bring the future into existence. So the question is, as a leader, “What is your vision for yourself, for others, and who are you sharing your vision with?”

 

Given that functioning with vision is an endemic and intrinsic part of our nature, we function with is subconsciously. My purpose in having broached the topic is to make conscious use if it.

 

Charles Horvath, B.Bus. (ACC.); FCPA; MIML.

Professional Mentor and Decision-Making Facilitator

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.”

 

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