Beyond fulfilment: How to keep teams motivated

When employees reach a peak of self-fulfilment and growth, how do you help them to stay motivated? Could there be more to fulfilment than simply achieving personal bests? More importantly for managers and leaders, how does keeping your employees impact your business?

Motivated employees are undeniably valuable. Findings from IML ANZ’s latest National Salary Survey (NSS), show that keeping engagement and motivation levels up is vital. NSS respondents revealed that the single most important human capital challenge they believe would add the most value to their organisation is motivating employees (53%).

Compound that with the fact that the NSS shows a slightly upward trend in voluntary staff turnover. Moreover, what’s the top reason for leaving a job? Employees are looking for a new challenge (72%). So, keeping your teams motivated is not just about getting them to be their best; it is also best for your business.

However, when an employee has achieved much on their own, is it still possible to keep them challenged, excited about the work and motivated to do their best?

Here are some ways to achieve this:

 

Maslow’s sixth level of motivation

Most of us are familiar with Abraham Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. At the apex of the five-stage peak is self-actualisation or the realisation of self-fulfilment and peak personal achievements. What is not as widely known is that later in his life, Maslow added a sixth level to his hierarchy of needs – intrinsic values. This involves supporting a cause beyond individual success.

How to harness it: Leaders must help all employees, including high-achievers, to understand how they play a part in the greater purpose of the organisation. Who does your organisation help? How does it contribute to society? Keep them focused beyond self-actualisation to help them stay motivated.

 

The value of teamwork

Staying motivated after achieving much as an individual doesn’t mean high-performing employees won’t appreciate team-led wins. Never underestimate the power of collaboration and great working relationships between colleagues. As social beings, humans always enjoy the sense of working together to overcome an obstacle, reach a goal or even assisting each other when times are tough.

How to harness it: Encourage open communication between teams and within teams. Use technology to open up lines of communication by starting a team chat group. Help your employees get to know each other not just as colleagues but as people – develop real connections by organising social activities. Celebrate successes as a team too.

 

Empowering others

A sense of motivation can be sapped if one feels that they are held back from making decisions. To help keep good performers engaged, display trust in their abilities.

How to harness it: Let your team members make the call on decisions that they know best. Avoid crushing their motivation by making them feel they are powerless when it comes to their own projects.

By emphasising how they contribute to the organisation’s purpose, fostering a healthy team environment and empowering your team members, you’ll keep even the highest achievers motivated to give their best.

Sources:

IML ANZ Members can access these articles via Leadership Direct.

The need for greater trust in recruitment

By Kara Atkinson

 

In the digital era, fast-paced, competitive business environments reward those who are quick to respond to new opportunities and market challenges. Trust plays a vital role in the success of these initiatives, providing a cornerstone for building strategic partnerships, establishing a reputation, embracing digital transformation, and more.

Today, this once-stable foundation is crumbling under the pressure of royal commissions, and large-scale data breaches faced en-masse by organisations in every industry, and we’re quickly losing our footing. This sobering trend is made apparent in a new survey conducted by Harvard Business Review, in which nearly two-thirds (63%) of senior executives at large enterprises throughout the world stated that trust among people, businesses, and institutions has declined over the past two years. Further, after 20 years of research, the Great Places to Work Institute found that experiencing a high level of trust, between leaders and employees, is the primary defining characteristic of the very best workplaces.

 

The challenges

When looking at recruitment, if the process for joining a workplace is engineered through a broken vehicle, then trust is difficult to establish.

Leaders deal with subjective candidate vetting; their recruitment firm only shortlists the people on the market at that time rather than a shortlist of the best people.

On the other side, the candidate deals with unreturned calls, the black hole of resume submissions, and last-minute internal candidate competition and an emotional minefield of career guidance from short term relationships with inexperienced recruitment consultants.

The recruiter deals with outdated, generic job descriptions, usually supplied by their clients. The market is corrupted by over promotion of the same roles. Also, everyone competes in a time-stamped environment where speed wins over quality.

 

The environment

Hiring is never easy. According to a study by Leadership IQ, 46% of newly-hired employees will fail within 18 months, while only 19% will achieve unequivocal success. This lack of vision keeps companies from achieving the holy grail of business outcomes: Trust. This is what keeps teams drowning in a sea of mediocrity and what derails once-promising leadership careers. And this stops trust from developing.

Career ladders are long gone – where once a person signed onto an organisation at 21, followed the rules, were incrementally promoted along the way and retired with a gold watch. As companies have thinned out, leadership positions have disappeared, not to be seen again.

Career pyramids have replaced the ladders. The further up the pyramid people move, the hotter the competition for the top spot and the failure rates are staggering. Harvard Business Review puts the failure rate among management hires at 60% and the consequences of failure derail a once-promising career and cost the organisation time, money and trust.

 

The way forward

It is time for the recruitment industry to rewrite the rules of recruitment. Not just improve it, but, just as Uber did to the taxi industry, they need to transform and disrupt it. Every recruiter is an ‘expert non-transactional specialist with a proprietary search methodology who has access to deep global networks.’ Where is the recruiter who builds their business, and yours, on a foundation of competence, bespoke communication and trust?

Leaders must understand that a true employee value proposition is not only written in the first line of a job ad but is permeated through every touchpoint their prospective employee has.

Kara Atkinson is an executive recruitment expert with 18 years’ experience in helping people continue to build and transform themselves throughout their careers.

Why connection is the key to talent retention

By Michelle Sales

 

Think of the last time you had to deal with some kind of performance issue. Maybe an individual had stopped working cooperatively or seems less engaged in their work.

We think these individuals are being uncooperative or unreasonable, which leads to performance management to try and fix the issue.

This then spirals out of control: employee engagement continues to decline, performance issues become more challenging and the divide gets even larger, often leading to employee resignation or, worse, firing of potential talent.

The real issue here is not the individual themselves. It is the lack of connection that individual feels.

Studies show there is a connection deficit in workplaces today. For example, employee research completed by the Pew Research Center and the Ken Blanchard Companies reports 81% of people say their leaders don’t listen, and 36% rarely or never receive performance feedback, while 67% wish they did.

Most people, however, would rather leave a job than have a conversation to address a workplace issue. That’s a real shame – not to mention a real problem!

So what to do?

 

Digital detox

The ability to connect in our selfie-obsessed society has never been easier – at least online – so often organisations see the solution to strengthening connection as a technology issue.

Online tools like Yammer are implemented to try to make people converse and share more. Online conferences and ‘catch-up’ meetings are held across different time zones. Sure, many technology enablers are helping us to collaborate more effectively and connect differently.

In reality, though, these one-on-one meetings with people are really just a mechanism for managing work performance rather than getting to really know each other. For example, we prefer to use email to communicate rather than talking face-to-face or even by phone.

Technology is an enabler, but it is never the solution to a human issue. We must learn the art of cultivating real connections in our organisation to truly thrive.

 

Cultivate connection

Prolific author and researcher Brené Brown describes connection as ‘the energy that is created between people when they feel seen, heard and valued – when they can give and receive without judgment’.

When we feel a real sense of connection we trigger neurochemicals that make us feel good. Dopamine, oxytocin and endorphins give us a sense of wellbeing; they make us want to engage and work with others; collaboration happens and performance thrives.

On the flipside, when we experience disconnection, the reaction is as real as physical pain. Cortisol and adrenaline increase in our body, triggering the ‘fight’ stress response. This makes us respond to our environment as if it is hostile, like we’re out of place – which results in the behaviours and impact previously mentioned.

It’s a fact that companies that are voted ‘best place to work’ or an ‘employer of choice’ value and foster connection among their teams and organisations. As Sylvia Vorhauser-Smith, senior vice president of research at PageUp People, puts it, these companies are ‘meeting the more altruistic and basic human needs of feeling connected and being an important part in something bigger’.

 

Trust us

Hence, feeling connected and trusted to be and do our best is the ultimate human condition.

Employees are able to be their best possible self and feel valued and rewarded for this. They feel understood at an individual level and they are clear on the contribution they are making to the performance of the organisation. They love what they do and they connect to each other, their customers, leaders and the organisation in a very human way.

This is when you start to bring out the very best in people. This feeling of connection builds a critical foundation of trust in which your employees feel they can have a voice and can make a difference.

When employees are encouraged to connect, communicate and collaborate better, this leads to an increase in productivity, not to mention happiness. This, in turn, has a positive impact on performance, company loyalty, and of course, retention.

Michelle Sales is a highly sought-after speaker, trainer, coach and author who helps senior leaders and their teams to build confidence and maximise their leadership and performance by consciously connecting with others. She is the author of the new whitepaper The Connection Deficit: Why leaders must bring both head and heart to work to build trust, lift engagement and accelerate organisational results.

How to tackle unconscious bias in recruitment

By Clare Edwards FIML

 

When it comes to making decisions about people, we all like to think that we’re objective, fair and impartial. The reality though is very different because, if we have a brain, we are biased.

Unconscious bias (UB), also known as implicit bias, happens automatically, is outside of our control and is triggered by our brain making quick assessments of people and situations, influenced by our background, culture and personal experiences. The clue is in the word ‘unconscious’. When we are being biased, we aren’t aware of it as the brain can’t reflect at the same time as it’s making a mental shortcut decision.

UB impacts every area of decision-making in organisations including who gets hired, fired, promoted and demoted. It impacts leadership and team effectiveness, the treatment of stakeholders and ultimately, culture.

One of the most common unconscious biases in recruitment is affinity or similarity bias.  This leads us to gravitate towards people who are like ourselves in appearance, beliefs, and background.  We have an unconscious belief – “I prefer people like me over those who are different”.  

When we were roaming the African savannah plains, out looking for lunch (or becoming lunch if we weren’t vigilant), different equalled dangerous, so we are programmed to consider people who are different to us as ‘foe’ before friend.

Unconsciously, when we first meet someone who appears different, (even for microseconds), our brain’s master error detector fires off subtle signals checking for safety, while consciously we are openly welcoming, curious and respectful.

Because most of our biases are unconscious, putting systems and processes in place can help to mitigate them.  Awareness training can also work, but it is most effective when supported by a conscious effort to have a culture of diversity and inclusion where bias is challenged.

Here are four practical strategies for mitigating unconscious bias:

 

1. Challenge existing processes

 

When crafting job advertisements, apps like Textio can help managers avoid gender-biased language and ensure the vocabulary they use is inclusive, gender-neutral and not influencing candidates subjectively.

Software company Atlassian put Textio’s software to the test by reworking the way in which it worded its job advertisements. In just one year, the company increased the number of women being hired for technical positions by 80 per cent!

 

2. Minimise our ability to revert to affinity bias

In first-round selections, consider removing a candidate’s name, tertiary education experience and all other factors that don’t directly relate to the attributes you are seeking in a successful applicant.

In auditions for symphony orchestras, screens were put in place between the musicians and the interviewing panel (and female candidates were asked to remove noisy heels). This increased the likelihood that a female musician would advance to the next round by 11 percentage points. During the final round, ‘blind’ auditions increased the likelihood of female musicians being selected by 30%.

 

3. Re-think decision making

When we make a conscious effort to slow down and reflect on the drivers behind our decisions, we can uncover hidden biases. This is even more effective when executed in a group environment because we don’t challenge our own biases because we’re not aware of them!

Actively welcome differing perspectives in recruitment decisions; the people don’t have to be from the same department to help shine a light you might not see.

Being open to having our decisions respectfully challenged requires a culture of psychological safety.  This supports us in becoming more open-minded, less judgemental and more flexible to changing our decisions based on the feedback we get.

 

4. Proactively drive inclusion

Having a diverse workforce brings benefits – and investing in, and focusing on, inclusion brings even greater success. It makes sense to want your employee base to culturally, racially and ethnically reflect that of your customers/ stakeholders and to have these people feel fully included.

 

  • Encourage people to interact more with those traditionally outside of their ‘in-group’ to expand their awareness and appreciation of difference
  • Team-based psychometric profiling tools such as Team Management Systems (TMS) and DiSC are extremely helpful. These provide an objective insight into preferences of self and others, our key differences and how we can harness differing strengths to make the whole greater than the sum of the parts.

 

Recruiting people is the most important and potentially costly decision that organisations will make. It makes sense therefore to invest energy, focus and time in ensuring that the people we hire feel valued and included members of our community from the outset and for the duration of their career with us.

 

Clare Edwards is the Principal of BrainSmart Consulting. She is also a speaker, facilitator and author. She studied the Neuroscience of Leadership – how knowledge of our brains can help us to be more emotionally intelligent and effective leaders and managers. Clare now helps people effectively manage and lead themselves and others in complex and uncertain business environments. 

Doing more to beat unconscious bias
Keep an eye out for the next edition of IML ANZ’s quarterly print magazine, Leadership Matters, where Clare Edwards joins a panel of experts to delve deeper into unconscious bias and how to overcome it.

Five things Shakespeare can teach you about leadership

By Andy McLean MIML | Photo by Prudence Upton

 

Modern-day managers and leaders can learn a huge amount from the epic plays of William Shakespeare.

Here are just five lessons:

 

1. Bring your people with you

Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar is a military and political leader who has begun to believe his own publicity. He claims he is ‘constant as the northern star’ and his success to date makes him think his decision-making is infallible. Caesar’s failure to listen (to his Senate peers, his wife, a Soothsayer and others) proves fatal.

Leadership lesson: It can be lonely at the top – but it doesn’t have to be. By definition, a leader is someone who brings people with them. In business, that means taking time to consult with stakeholders and explain the reasons for decisions.

 

2. Take time to recognise people’s achievements

The Percy family literally risks life and limb to support Henry Bolingbroke’s battle to become King Henry IV. But, once in power, Henry is distracted by new priorities. He neglects his former allies and disregards their contribution to his success. This oversight almost costs Henry IV the crown when the embittered Percys later raise an army against him.

Leadership Lesson: In today’s market, where change is constant and time is short, it’s tempting for leaders to focus solely on the challenges ahead. But it’s essential to pause occasionally and recognise the achievements of individuals and teams. Rewarding the right behaviour helps to role-model the organisation’s values, foster loyalty and propel people to even greater heights in the future.

 

3. Give your people purpose beyond profit

In The Merchant Of Venice, everyone is consumed by the pursuit of wealth. There’s Shylock lending money, Antonio wheeling and dealing, Bassanio hustling to raise funds – and Lorenzo even wooing Jessica with one eye on the till. All of Venice’s most influential people are clamouring for cash and a toxic culture infects the city. Bell Shakespeare’s James Evans, who facilitated a Leadership In Action workshop, points out: “In one of the best opening lines of a play ever written, Antonio says: ‘In sooth, I know not why I am so sad’. He’s got everything that money can buy, but he’s still not content.”

Leadership lesson: When it comes to work, money is not the be all and end all – and your workforce knows that. As a leader, people will only follow you if you can articulate a purpose beyond profit.

 

4. Show empathy to inspire your people

On the eve of the Battle of Agincourt, King Henry V and his army know they are outmanned and outgunned by their enemy. Henry spends the night in disguise, listening to his soldiers’ hopes and fears. The next morning, before the fighting starts, Henry delivers a motivational speech that unites and emboldens his people, including the immortal lines: ‘We few, we happy few, we band of brothers; For he today that sheds his blood with me/Shall be my brother’.

Leadership lesson: If you know what makes your people tick, then you can help them achieve extraordinary things. Use surveys, forums and informal feedback to gauge the mood of your staff. Incorporate what you’ve learned when you communicate with your people. And never underestimate the power of public speaking!

 

5. Plan your succession carefully

Shakespeare wrote that, ‘All the world’s a stage, and all men and women merely players, They have their exits and their entrances’. Time and again, his plays remind us that – no matter how great the leader – their tenure is only temporary. Yet too often, those leaders fail to ensure a smooth handover of power. Rome is plunged into civil war because there is no prearranged Plan B after Julius Caesar falls, and King Lear pays a bloody price for leaving his kingdom in the hands of his two devious daughters.

Leadership lesson: Ultimately, it must be a leader’s mission to leave their organisation in a better position than when they found it. That means always keeping an eye on the long term and identifying the right talent to lead in the future.

On stage near you

Bell Shakespeare’s national tour of Much Ado About Nothing continues across Australia until 24 November. Their production Titus Andronicus will be staged in Sydney in August and September.

About the author

Andy McLean MIML is the Editorial Director of Leadership Matters magazine.

Managing the business vision

There’s no shortage of talk about strategy. But behind every good strategy, there must be a clear vision – after all, we all need a destination before mapping out our journey’s route. So, on top of managing the day-to-day and adjusting the strategy, how can leaders ensure they don’t neglect to manage the vision?

An organisation’s vision should be its North Star. It needs to be the aspiration that everyone strives to meet.  In other words, it needs to help managers think beyond the daily details and think ahead to the type of future they wish to achieve.

So essential is a leader’s vision that many CEO’s are either marked by their lack of it when they fail or they are exalted for it when they succeed.

At any stage of your leadership career, managing the vision and ensuring that it remains the guiding light is vital. So, here are three ways leaders can manage the organisation’s vision:

 

Align everything to your vision

The Golden Thread Model provides an excellent visual on how to practically align all activities to the organisation’s vision. It represents the link between vision, analysis, systems and people, amounting to a shared understanding of how the vision, goals and values of the organisation relate to daily work.

By using this model, leaders enable the development of clear metrics which align business goals with measures of success and ensures that individuals are aware of and accountable for their contribution. This makes it easier to drive business success as everyone in the organisation is heading in the same direction.

 

Motivate through the vision

In addition to drawing direct relationships between the vision, strategy and metrics for success the model also encourages the creation of team and individual objectives that tie back to the vision. This is important for maintaining lasting motivation. Unlike hitting targets, aiming to move the organisation closer to the vision takes incremental steps and the cooperation of all. That means your teams will aim to complete a marathon rather than running a sprint.

Leaders should, therefore, be conscious of providing their teams with an update on how their individual or team efforts bring the whole closer to its vision.

 

Tell compelling stories about the company’s future

The reality for leaders is that not everyone will be driven by metrics or inspired by stats. Vision-focused leaders appreciate the importance of shaping a powerful and compelling story of their companies’ futures. Beyond crafting an inspiring narrative, it also serves as a powerful engagement builder. Stories have the power to turn aspirations into reality – even if it’s just in the mind. That, in turn, gives employees the clarity they need to visualise something that often can be too abstract and feel out of reach.

Sources (these articles are available to IML ANZ members via Leadership Direct):

Why leaders should make time for strategic thinking

One of the most important remits of top leaders is the strategy. However, if 96% of leaders admit to not having the time to think strategically (as they are pulled into managing the day-to-day tasks), is it really as vital as most claim it to be?

 

Keeping strategy front of mind

An organisation’s strategy should never be treated as ‘set and forget’. Today’s business environment is engulfed in a constant stream of subtle discontinuities that may undermine an organisation if they aren’t watchful. Since these are unexpected and irregular, dealing with it requires being attuned to existing patterns, yet able to perceive important breaks in them.

Leaders must also guard against complacency. As success may trick you into becoming content, therefore risking the chance that you lose the edge and intensity that led you to the top.

 

That’s why leaders must make the time to seek out new opportunities, guard against looming threats and take advantage of untapped strengths. That’s why strategies should never be left static.

Although staying flexible in strategic terms doesn’t mean jumping from strategy to strategy. What it requires is continuous incorporation of new ideas to maintain the effectiveness and relevance of your strategy.

 

In Leadership Matters: 7 Skills of Very Successful Leaders, IML ANZ chief executive, David Pich walks leaders through the crucial skill of setting strategy. Here are three things we learn from Pich about why leaders require strategic thinking time:

 

1. To recognise when the strategy needs adjusting

According to Pich, successful leaders can detect when the strategy needs to be tweaked or changed. He warns, “there is a tendency for today’s leaders not only to believe that they have all the answers but to believe that these answers must be the right answers, every time.”

To fight against what Pich calls ‘strategic stubbornness’, it’s important for leaders to pause from time to time (and not just during the allocated ‘strategy day’) to gauge where the strategy is at and what adjustments must be made.

 

2. To involve others in strategic planning

Pich also cautions against setting strategy in a vacuum. He points out the need for buy-in from those who need to support and implement the strategy.

It’s imperative that leaders make time to meet with relevant stakeholders when assessing the fitness of the current strategy. Resist the temptation to go at it alone because that might be the quicker route. Involve others to ensure you receive the support you need to deliver the strategy.

 

3. To avoid feeling daunted

For Pich, setting strategy is the equivalent of eating the proverbial elephant. You need to cut it down to manageable chunks rather than trying to tackle it as a giant whole.

In his experience taking the helm at IML ANZ, Pich said, “We sliced and iced the big hairy elephant! Over the course of two full days (and with very significant pre-work), we arrived at what we called [IML ANZ’s] four strategic pillars.”

There are no shortcuts to a great strategy. Invest the time and keep checking in on yours to ensure that it sets you on the path to success.

Sources (these articles are available to IML ANZ members via Leadership Direct):

Finding the balance between getting things done and getting to know your people

By Shelley Flett

 

As leaders, we are influencers – and as influencers, we must encourage, enable and empower others to perform in a way that leads the business to success. We must do this while fostering a healthy workplace culture and to do it efficiently requires a different kind of balance. The most effective and successful leaders are those who can balance getting things done while nurturing their relationship with their people.

Take a look at Howard Schultz who is a great example of a leader who has perfected this balance. Schultz took charge of Starbucks in the 1980s and turned a regional coffee company into one of the world’s top brands. Howard’s net worth today is $4 billion so he’s clearly capable of getting things done and yet his focus has always been around people and building a company that “honours and respects the dignity of work and the dignity of all men and all women”.

 

Imbalance is the enemy

So why do so many leaders struggle to find this balance? Naturally, each of us have a preference of either getting things done or getting to know people and will gravitate to one or the other without giving it too much thought. And while both focuses are equally important, an over-focus in one area is often to the detriment of the other.

When a leader over-focuses on task and under-focuses on people it can result in:

  • Short term and unsustainable results driven by control, consequence or rewards (like overtime or bonuses)
  • Unrealistic pressure on the team and elevated stress on individuals which can increase absenteeism
  • Disengagement or the loss of trust by employees who may believe their leader doesn’t care
  • Impatience and frustration with conversations that aren’t task focused
  • Struggle for employees to connect with their leader who appears to be super-human with no weakness, vulnerability or fear of failing

 

Similarly, when a leader over-focuses on people and under-focuses on task it can result in:

  • A fear of upsetting others and therefore avoiding conflict or having vague conversations with implied consequences that are often misunderstood by employees
  • Saying yes and agreeing to unrealistic expectations – often to their own detriment
  • Being perceived as ‘soft’ or not serious about delivering results
  • Taking too much responsibility and justifying poor performance with peers and senior leaders

 

Why finding the balance matters

When a leader can get the balance right and pay just as much attention to getting things done as they do to getting to know their people, they will:

  • Create deeper trust and stronger relationships – regardless of the current challenges
  • Communicate and consistently manage expectations of what success looks like for both the individual and the business
  • Experience more open and transparent conversations, robust debate, challenging of ideas and innovative thinking
  • Gain greater respect for differing perspectives and encourage curiosity about alternative ways of working
  • Empower others to make decisions – including where, when and how work is performed

 

Creating the balance between task and people starts with awareness, of your own preference, and then consciously shifting your focus evenly across task and people.

Once you find this balance it’s not something you unlearn or forget – it becomes your way of leading and even your way of living.

In Schultz’s departure message to employees, he maintained the balance between task and people, writing “success is not an entitlement; it must be earned every day through hard work and teamwork. Try to listen with empathy, respond with kindness, and do your best to perform through the lens of humanity”.

When a leader can generate a culture of accountability and deep trusting relationships then they move to a position of influence!

 

Shelley Flett is an expert in leadership development and team performance, with more than a decade of experience in operations and call centres across banking and telecommunications. She is focused on maximising efficiency and building high performance team cultures. Shelley is the Author of ‘The Dynamic Leader: Become the leader others are inspired to follow’ (Major Street Publishing RRP $29.95). For more information visit www.shelleyflett.com.

How does organisational culture shape your brand

Brands are much more than a name or symbol of a product. Leadership and people-management specialist and author, Karen Gately, believes that in a highly competitive world with the pressure on many organisations to lift their game intensifying, leaders are wise to define brand more broadly as the reputation that underpins consumer confidence and inspires buying decisions.

So how does organisational culture fit into this definition? Gately defines culture as the way things are done within an organisation. However, she cautions against believing that organisational cultures exist in a vacuum. “It’s entirely possible for an organisation to be confronted with behaviours from within their ranks, that are not reflective of culture. Once off, exceptions to the rule while problematic are not reason alone to ring the culture alarm bell.”

Gately knows that there are many examples of organisations who have failed spectacularly in maintaining trust in their brand because of a profit-centric culture. “Findings of the banking royal commission provides endless examples of a lack of integrity and poor behaviour,” she says.

“It’s evident the issues exposed were far from isolated incidents of poor decision making or selfish actions on the part of random individuals. In many instances, these behaviours were instructed, encouraged and rewarded by the organisations they worked for.”

As we’ve seen post-royal commission, distrust damages brands.

So how can leaders shape a culture that makes a positive influence on your brand? Gately lists three ways:

 

Set clear expectations around employee behaviours

Creating a powerful brand through people starts with being clear about what is expected and needed.  Leaders are wise to invest in ensuring every person on the team understands what successful behaviours look like. In other words, ensure a clear line of sight between how people go about their jobs and the influence that has on brand reputation.

 

Understand the touch points between your business and customers

Build understanding of the touch points between your customers and business, and the opportunities people have to influence trust and loyalty. Create awareness of the ways in which behaviour influences not only what people think, but also their subconscious reactions to your brand in the future.  Reflect on for yourself on when you have held an opinion about an organisations brand but have struggled to identify exactly why you feel the way you do.  Sometimes people don’t even bother to work out the answer. They simply move on to a brand they feel better about.

 

Get your hiring process right

Creating a great culture is unquestionably influenced by the quality of hiring practices. Getting it right from the start requires a disciplined and uncompromising approach to selecting people who are aligned with the organisation’s values. From there what matters most is that people are held accountable for the standard of behaviour they bring, and influence they have on your organisations brand.  Reward and recognise brand ambassadors and take decisive steps to address the attitudes and behaviours of those who are not.

 

Karen Gately, founder of Corporate Dojo, is a leadership and people-management specialist.  Karen works with leaders and HR teams to drive business results through the talent and energy of people. She is the author of The People Manager’s Toolkit: A Practical Guide to Getting the Best From People (Wiley) and The Corporate Dojo: Driving Extraordinary Results Through Spirited People.

Thinking bigger for business development

By Adrienne McLean MIML

Thinking bigger about what your business offers to customers can propel the business into areas of growth never imaged. It also keeps the business relevant, agile and in step with changing market forces locally and internationally.

But if something isn’t broken you don’t fix it, right? Sticking to the same way may seem reproducible and efficient, but is it limiting your business? While being able to offer a service or product well is of course good business, remaining stagnant in the way you do things means business efficiency could suffer. If you think of a wheel, it fundamentally hasn’t changed but its features have adapted to suit the needs of today’s modern vehicles.

It’s worth asking if there are new markets your business can go into. Or could you offer new products to your current market?

The business development process may simply involve implementing a culture of continuous improvement or it may require you to look for the next big growth step. Whichever stage the business is in, these five steps are important for thinking bigger about the business and focusing on what the business is offering customers and prospects.

1. Innovate

Coming up with new approaches and better delivery of the service/product to the customer are the driving forces for innovation and growth. Awareness of what is happening in the industry and the market is also essential. If you don’t keep track of these, beware – other companies certainly do and they can overtake you.

Thinking bigger about your business offerings drives innovation. Wanting to be the best, wanting to offer a brilliant service, wanting to reach more clients than ever thought possible – all these mindsets will help drive the innovation your business needs for business development.

2. Plan

Boldness and aiming high will get the business out of its comfort zone and propel it forward. However, change and improvement require more than just new ideas and aspirations – you must support it with a plan. Set goals against implementation timeframes. Whether these are long- or short-term periods will all depend on the size of the change and what you are trying to achieve.

Set down a pathway for growth that involves everyone in the business – from management to staff. Inform everyone of their involvement in the change to ensure a smooth process.

3. Set goals

This is about setting your focus and involves the following steps:

  • Set SMART goals – Specific, Measurable, Actionable, Realistic and Timebound
  • Keep goals easy to see as reminders
  • Check in daily and weekly to track whether you’re on target
  • Celebrate when tasks are completed, and goals are achieved
  • Reset to goals that will stretch you and the business further

4. Collaborate

Constantly search for strategic partners who can help you in the pursuit of your aspirations. You may (or may not) currently do business with them but always keep an eye out for those who can help you get where you want to go.

Building collaborations will also help with secure referral partners and affiliate marketing – therefore growing your connections and the opportunities to get your message out there.

5. Measure

Measurement is pivotal as it keeps the business honest. Select metrics that are relevant to your goals and what you are trying to achieve.

You can measure several metrics including:

  • Financial: Measure the impact on the profit and loss or cash flow statements
  • Sales and marketing: Track the number of leads in pipeline, website views or sales calls against acquisitions
  • People and teams: Set metrics to measure not only what your people are achieving but also if they remain motivated

Thinking bigger is a mindset of growth and development about your business offering. It’s the way to build the business and achieve your aspirations. Focusing actively in on innovation, planning, setting goals, collaborations and measurement will propel business development on a successful pathway.

Do an audit on your business and check where you are at with each of these five steps. This will highlight steps for the business to think bigger and look at growth strategies.

Adrienne McLean is the founder and principal marketing and speaking coach for The Speaker’s Practice – which runs workshops, coaching and events that help professionals to improve their marketing and communications.

IML ANZ Members in Sydney are invited to join Adrienne at the Professional Services Marketing Conference on August 17th, 2019. This information conference takes delegates on the business development journey starting with marketing and digital marketing, going through to sales topics with mindset topics covered throughout the day. IML ANZ Members who book by July 17th enjoy a 15% discount when they use the code IMLEB. To book or find out more, visit www.professional-services-marketing-conference.com.