The Conversation: Speaking the international language of leadership

Photo by Sabrina Hyde

 

Now based in her adopted home of Wellington, Jane Diplock AO FIML is a professional director of some renown. The Australian has chaired and been a member of many boards and committees in the public, private and not-for-profit sectors.

As a leader, Diplock’s influence extends far beyond the shores of New Zealand. She is currently Chair of the Regulatory Committee of the Abu Dhabi Global Market, a director of the Singapore Exchange, a director of Australian Financial Services Group, a member of the Public Interest Oversight Board, a member of the International Advisory Committee to the China Securities Regulatory Commission and a member of the International Advisory Board to the Securities and Exchange Board of India.

As if all that weren’t enough, she has also previously chaired the Executive Committee of International Organisation of Securities Commissions and chaired the New Zealand Securities Commission, following an executive career in banking and public service. She was awarded the honour of Officer of the Order of Australia in 2003. Diplock recently found time in her hectic schedule to pause and reflect on management and leadership with IML ANZ chief executive David Pich CMgr FIML.

DAVID PICH: You’ve worked closely with senior business leaders in several countries including Australia, New Zealand, the UK, Spain, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Singapore, China and India. Do leadership styles vary in these different nations?

JANE DIPLOCK: Actually, I think the globalisation of business has given many countries a shared understanding of leadership norms. The exceptional leaders I’ve encountered around the world have all had characteristics that they share. They include talent development, inclusiveness and being able to both lead from ahead and from behind. In other words, in some instances being able to inspire people who work with them and, in other instances, being able to encourage and mentor the people who work with them.


DP: I’m glad you said that because the ability of a leader to inspire people is often overlooked. You’ve been a director and committee member of the Singapore Exchange, the SGX. Singapore is often lauded as a hot spot for innovation. What do you think Australia and New Zealand leaders can learn from places like Singapore?

JD: When I look around the Singapore Exchange, we have board members and staff who come from other countries as well as from Singapore. But the culture there is one of high professionalism and, as you say, entrepreneurship – there’s a great capacity to think outside of the box. I think that those qualities are very important in the business model of Singapore’s Exchange.

But I would be reluctant to somehow say that one nation should be the teacher and another the student. There are plenty of different approaches to innovation out there. Some of those different approaches have to do with culture and history and context. One is not necessarily better than the other.

I often meet New Zealanders and Australians in leadership positions in Singapore, not to mention the UAE, the UK, and the US. Those people bring their own nation’s entrepreneurial flair to bear on their leadership, and they often do it extraordinarily well.


DP: IML ANZ recently collaborated on research called Match Fit, which concluded that many Australian businesses still aren’t ready and able to do business in Asia. You’ve worked in several nations across Asia. What advice would you have for Australian business leaders?

JD: I’d say: be very careful not to generalise. There are so many countries and regions in Asia with unique histories and unique cultures. Each one provides unique challenges and opportunities too. For example, if you’re dealing with a company based in Western China, you will face different issues to those you might come across with a company in Shanghai. You have to go back to what business model you’re working in and what you are trying to achieve there – then align that with the people in the particular country, region or city you are working in.


DP: You have enjoyed a long and distinguished career. Have you had any mentors along the way who were instrumental in your success?

JD: A number of people have been generous enough to take an interest in my professional career. Early on, I worked in the public service for a truly great public servant, the late Gerald Gleeson AC, who headed up the Premier’s Department of New South Wales. He was very constructively critical and positive about my work and gave me highly professional advice about how to refine my leadership skillset. Later, when I worked at Westpac, there were a number of senior women who I looked up to who role modelled what a successful, modern businesswoman could be.

Role models can be very influential. I worked with Dame Quentin Bryce AD CVO who I think most Australians would agree is a fantastic individual. I looked at her career and the leadership she showed. She was a great role model for me. I also admire NZ Prime Minister Helen Clarke who led the country with great ability and took outstanding female Kiwi leadership to the world when she led the UN Development Programme.


DP: You’ve worked extensively in regulatory roles in the financial sector, and as you know in Australia we’ve just had a royal commission into banking. The report was critical of regulators such as ASIC and APRA, suggesting they weren’t strong enough in dealing with misconduct. What did you make of it?

JD: I’ve been both a banker and a regulator so I have seen it from both sides. Unless you’ve been involved in regulation, it’s hard to appreciate the complexities of regulation. There is a balance to be struck between the punitive side and also trying to guide the right behaviour. That said, the misconduct revealed in the royal commission has been quite shocking and was rightly condemned. The client or customer must always come first in banking and financial services.


DP: The royal commission appeared to say that personal greed was overriding any concerns for the customer. It found that workplace culture was an important contributor to that. Now the banks have to put things right. As a leader, what can one do to change a culture like that?

JD: I’d start with the remuneration policy, because fundamentally if greed is driving out customer consideration, then you start with the greed. So I would focus on the remuneration structure of the bonuses and salary increases. That’s one element.

I think the second element has to be training and the leaders themselves. Because if a person came through a culture for, let’s say, a decade of their career, where the primary motivation was the bottom line – the return for the bank – which is then reflected in their personal remuneration, then it’s very hard to turn that around. There can be a situation where some people have had that culture so ingrained that they find it hard to switch to a more appropriate way of doing business.


DP: Many IML ANZ Members aspire to be board directors in all kinds of sectors and industries. Many moons ago, you made that step from management to board level. What advice do you have for Members seeking to make that same transition?

JD: While in a management role, I recommend getting some exposure to governance in a supportive environment where you can learn from people around the board table. I worked with a number of very senior people in those kinds of roles and I learned an enormous amount about how a board director operates and behaves; including the difference between operational involvement and looking from a more strategic perspective. Watching someone who is a master at that was incredibly helpful for me. The other thing I recommend is to get some formal training. IML ANZ, for instance, does a great job in providing Members with an intellectual framework to operate at a leadership level. I think continuing professional education helps to inform your thinking about what practical approaches you might apply in leadership situations. So I’d encourage Members to seek relevant professional development activities to prepare them for directorships.

This article originally appeared in the June 2019 edition of Leadership Matters, IML ANZ’s quarterly magazine. For editorial suggestions and enquiries, please contact karyl.estrella@managersandleaders.com.au.

Diversity, Inclusion and Performance Under the Spotlight

Contemporary corporate culture in Australia presents managers with many different demands. Of increasing relevance is the challenge to ensure we foster inclusion and contribution from an increasingly diverse workforce.

How are successful organisations tackling this challenge and what can managers and leaders do to make a difference?

To look into this, Australian corporate learning and development specialists, Team Management Systems (TMS), recently hosted a series of forums, assembling leading practitioners in the field of diversity and inclusion (D&I). TMS recognises that organisations must identify a discernible performance improvement from the collaboration teams comprising diverse individuals.

Seven major themes of diversity and inclusion

In distilling the outcomes and content from the forums, TMS identified several key issues and recurring themes that emerged.

  1. Organisations must understand and work with differences

Diverse thinking and different perspectives are needed if organisations are to solve some of today’s most challenging and complex problems of the future. Establishing common ground is a crucial factor in this process – once we achieve this, we can improve connections exponentially. We can build our understanding of diverse perspectives by using different lenses and feedback tools.

  1. A focus on the individual is essential

Every individual needs to feel included and valued, which requires acknowledging the whole person and all that they bring to their workplace.

  1. A top-down approach is needed if these initiatives are to succeed

Senior leaders need to personify diversity, which means doing more than just endorsing a policy. All levels of the organisation need to be involved, with passionate advocates developing and implementing the plans across the broader organisation.

  1. Increased self-awareness is central to addressing unconscious bias

Organisations have many initiatives to improve performance, all of which require dedication and resources. Nevertheless, self-awareness and emotional intelligence training is critical to helping people understand each other and communicate more effectively. A key insight is that leaders’ competencies need to be developed to create greater self-awareness so that conflict can be addressed constructively.

  1. Notions like intersectionality also need to be considered

When we look at multiple elements of diversity in combination – e.g. ethnicity, gender and age – we need to be mindful of the compounding impact on an individual’s experience and identity. Our programmes work best when we consider how complex attitudes towards diversity can impact all areas of an employee’s life.

  1. D&I programmes need to foster compassion in corporate life

We must think about the personal impacts beyond policy and initiative, by encouraging a culture of compassion to develop within organisations. There is no place in any corporate culture for ignorance or discrimination. At the same time, we need to be sensitive to lifestyle factors and how they can impact on some of our more significant initiatives.

  1. D&I initiatives cannot be tokenistic and must deliver a performance gain

Inclusion programmes should work at the grass-roots level and be designed to empower people genuinely. Skills training in areas like hosting effective meetings can encourage people to call-out non-inclusive language and behaviour, which helps to create safe, supportive workspaces.

There is plenty of evidence that organisations with diverse leadership have recorded impressive returns and, without assuming causality, we have to ask, ‘why wouldn’t you foster diversity?’ It’s possible to see a change in the bottom line when people are hired who look, think and make decisions like your customer base.

Diversity and inclusion – moving forward

As the Australian workforce recognises the importance of creating inclusive teams, this topic becomes ever more relevant for managers and leaders. The Institute of Managers and Leaders Australia and New Zealand has a suite of diagnostic and development tools designed to improve the ability, of your leaders, to better communicate with a wide range of unique individuals.  Thus addressing the unconscious bias issue through improving self-awareness. If you would like to like to know more about the range of People Analytics tools available, please call 1300 362 631, email corporate@managersandleaders.com.au or visit managersandleaders.com.au/people-analytics.

How remuneration data is enabling success in the disability sector

As markets change and jobs adapt the pressure on HR decision makers increases. You are the ones relied upon with the complex task of designing jobs correctly to ensure they attract, engage and retain the best person for the role.

This is the tough reality for Australia’s disability sector who’ve seen a major employment shake-up following the introduction of the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS). According to the Australian Disability Workforce Report, turnover rates are trending upwards, and recruitment difficulty is forcing many employers to hire unqualified staff. So while 70% of employers filled their vacancies, it might come at the cost of candidate suitability.

It’s an issue that human resources consultancy, PeopleAdvantage, want to solve. Since 2002, they’ve created job design, performance management and remuneration solutions for a wide range of organisations.

One of the tools of their trade: remuneration surveys, such as the National Salary Survey (NSS). As executive director, Dallas Burgess notes, it’s essential to back their services with useful data. “We’ve been using the NSS for many years, and we know that it is as comprehensive as remuneration surveys go.”Burgess shares key ways that good salary data enabled them to help clients, design jobs correctly, boost recruitment and improve employee retention.

Challenge: Human resources shake-up in the disability sector

With the introduction of the NDIS, Burgess observed the increased importance of understanding individual job roles. “There’s been a move to person-centred care and support. What that means for disability service organisations is that they need to grade jobs more accurately and pay accordingly.”

Burgess explains, “A disability service organisation must understand and capture the complexity level on each of the standard roles. At the same time, they must use relevant language to market each of the positions.”

When disability service organisations get this wrong, they not only run the risk of hiring the wrong person for the job but also presenting clients with inaccurate descriptions of the service their people offer. “So the challenge comes with being able to compare apples with apples as far as roles are concerned,” said Burgess.

Solution: Using job level information from remuneration surveys

PeopleAdvantage turned to a tried and tested methodology. Burgess explains, “We designed a capability framework based on sound job design and work value principles for the disability sector in NSW.”

Organisations across the disability sector now use Their role requirements framework. “The framework is based on our role requirements methodology whereby we use standard levels of complexity of work.”

Burgess uses engineering to explain. “The engineers were the first professional discipline back in the 1970s to identify five to six levels of professional work. What we’ve found over the years is those five to six levels apply to all professions.”

“What we do is we standardise the NSS against our job evaluation points. This allows the client organisation to match the survey data to their roles,” explains Burgess.

He adds, “We then use the NSS to build a comprehensive picture of the market, eliminating outliers and statistically smoothing the data. Our use of the NSS provides an opportunity for our clients to compare apples with apples.”

Results: Good job design creates competitive employers

One organisation that PeopleAdvantage has helped is Cerebral Palsy Alliance (CPA), who also contributes regularly to the NSS. CPA’s general manager, people and culture, Frank Sedmak, recognised that the NDIS significantly changed the HR landscape. “Now, the disability sector has so many roles that didn’t exist prior to the NDIS. It’s become even more imperative to really understand – objectively not subjectively – what role we need, what level of competency is it, and what is the market asking. Or else we can’t compete with other employers.”

However, Sedmak believes that these changes reinforced the importance of good job design. “Everything starts and finishes with the client’s needs. Once you understand client needs, you then start to anticipate what roles will meet those needs. Then you need to learn the level of complexity for that role. Only after fully painting this picture should you go out and start recruiting.”

The result is that CPA is one of the most desirable employers in the industry. Sedmak explains, “We needed to dispel the paradigm that working for a not for profit meant a drop in dollars.”

“What surveys like the NSS tells us time and time again, is that CPA is more than competitive when it comes to pay. Job applicants are regularly surprised at how close the remuneration we’re offering is to what they’re expecting. In some cases, we’re paying more than commercial organisations,” Sedmak added.

Remuneration surveys: A vital tool for HR decision makers

When it comes to employment success, Burgess has a simple mantra: get the jobs right. “Retention starts when you have properly designed jobs and therefore pay people correctly. If the jobs are not suitably designed, it leads to conflict around expectations between managers and staff, which leads to frustration and losing good performers.”

That’s why Burgess relies on only the most reliable information sources. “As far as published remuneration surveys go, the NSS is a robust survey, and certainly it should be on the shelf.”

Sedmak agrees, adding, “Some question the ROI on annual remuneration surveys. People shouldn’t disregard it. Some surveys that cost little or nothing. For these I say as always, you get what you pay for.”

If you want to improve the way you design jobs to increase employee retention, order the National Salary Survey now.  

Cahoots reveal the keys to success in a turbulent environment

By Anthony O’Brien

 

By any estimate, a camping organisation that increases its annual number of camping experiences from 20 in 2015 to 50 three years later has enjoyed phenomenal business growth. IML ANZ Corporate Member organisation Cahoots achieved this stunning business growth and for its achievements earned the 2018 Sir John Storey Catalyst Award for Business Innovation.

The mission-driven, profit-for-purpose organisation Cahoots, and its team of 20 carers, manage a variety of weekly programs, training, and camps throughout the year, catering to children and young people of all abilities. However, in truth, Cahoots’ achievements extend beyond camp numbers. In 2016, Cahoots, formerly known as Kids Camps Incorporated supported 150 families in Western Australia. Today, the registered NDIS provider assists 600 families annually. It also provides disability consultancy and training services to the corporate and government sectors.

Moreover, Cahoots has been able to evolve and thrive in an environment where large numbers of NDIS providers are struggling to remain solvent. Almost one in three (28%) of organisations reported operating at a loss, according to the latest State of the Disability Sector Report from the National Disability Services (NDS), Australia’s peak body for non-government disability service organisations. Of the 44% who made a profit, many said this wasn’t meaningful in relation to CPI.

Cahoots, says CEO Jess Karlsson, has achieved its success by developing new and purpose-aligned revenue streams to create income through fees for services. This income is reinvested in the children, young people and families supported by Cahoots.

“Our mission is to provide opportunities for children and young people with disability and other exceptional challenges, with friendship, skills, and confidence. Moreover, our tagline is ‘connect, learn, celebrate’. So, we break down everything we do into those three words and connect people by bringing them together in camps and programs,” explains Karlsson.

Cahoots also caters to people without disabilities. “We consider ourselves an inclusive recreation and camping organisation, as opposed to a disability service provider. We run some family and carer camps as well.”

Karlsson continues, “We spent much time working on our strategy and realised that disability doesn’t have the same definition. So, a person with a disability isn’t just a person sitting in a wheelchair or isn’t just a person who’s got autism. It’s a lot of people – there’s learning difficulties, social anxiety, or depression. Mental health concerns. People who have trouble socialising.

“We also came to the point where anybody who would experience a challenge accessing the community, or has got some social barrier, those are the people we want to support. This also includes siblings of people with disability. It does include carers and yes, many, many people.”

 

INNOVATING FOR CHANGE

While Cahoots is ramping up its camp and program activities, the Perth-based NDIS provider wasn’t always such an award-winning success. When Karlsson, who has a Bachelor of Applied Science from Central Queensland University and various business diplomas from the UNSW Business School, arrived at the organisation in 2015, it only had two staff members and was offering a fraction of the camps it organises today. Karlsson, also a former CEO of the YMCA of Central Australia based in the Northern Territory, says, “The board recruited me specifically because of my background and commercial knowledge of the broader nonprofit sector and possible funding models.”

Following Karlsson’s appointment, she spent a year with the board on strategic planning, figuring out what Kids Camp Incorporated wanted to be. This process included much consultation with members, staff and volunteers, and the collaboration resulted in the name change to Cahoots, announced in February 2017.

“The traditional meaning of cahoots is about collaboration and working together,” explains Karlsson. “Our mission is about bringing people together. Whether it’s people with disability, or children, or Aboriginal families, or corporate groups, it’s all about just that kind of sense of teamwork, and cahoots is a word that goes with anything. So, it could be Cahoots Consultancy, Cahoots Camps, Cahoots Childcare. Using Cahoots just gave us more commercial opportunities.”

 

SURVIVING AND THRIVING

As mentioned earlier, many NDIS providers are struggling to remain solvent at present. Karlsson believes Cahoots is blossoming in the post-NDIS environment for several reasons. “The fact that we are small has given us the opportunity to build an organisation from the ground up, as opposed to tearing one down.”

The NDS State of the Disability Sector Report 2018 found significant merger activity in the disability sector, with almost three out of 10 organisations saying they had held merger discussions over the past 12 months, mainly to improve efficiency and broaden services. Thirteen per cent discussed winding up in 2018.

Karlsson continues, “Many organisations in the disability sector are known for having reasonably high overheads, and quite a lot of middle management. We’re really lean. As the CEO for example, I was doing things like creating Facebook pages and updating social media. For at least the first year it was me, with only two staff members, who did everything in the organisation.” In other words, the early days of Cahoots mirrored a small business start-up. Karlsson also relied heavily on the theories of management and business guru, Michael Porter.

“Porter talks about strategy being either everything for a very small target market or doing one thing for a large target market,” says Karlsson. “Camping is our core business. We do a few things around it, but camping is what we do. Moreover, we can do that for a large target market whereas most disability organisations tend to go for the opposite strategy, which is to do everything for a small target market. So, all of their revenue is dependent on NDIS funding.”

In contrast, Cahoots has a diversified revenue stream, separate from camping experiences, which includes training and consultancy services to businesses, other non-profits and government organisations. “We show businesses how they can become more accessible and inclusive. Moreover, we’ve had some big wins doing that. We’re expanding that area.” Some of Cahoots clients include Bankwest, the City of Perth, WA’s most significant local government area, as well as other local councils.

If like me, you’re wondering what consultancy and training services Cahoots would offer Bankwest or the City of Perth, Karlsson good-naturedly explains it doesn’t involve instructing bank tellers or council workers about ways to assemble camp tents. “We talk about disability standards and building codes and so on. However, it’s more about giving people hands-on experience about what it feels like to be excluded or have a disability. So, putting people in wheelchairs, or giving people visual glasses that replicate having vision impairment. It gives people the opportunity to know what it feels like to have an impairment, and build their empathy, resulting in a more inclusive business.”

Cahoots also partners with several organisations wanting to offer occasional camps for their clients, which are known as coordinated or ‘contracted camps’. “This is a significant part of our business model and allows for activities and outcomes to be directed by a client organisation, with Cahoots managing logistics, staffing and risks associated with camp delivery,” explains Karlsson.

 

RECOGNITION AND AFFIRMATION

Winning the Sir John Storey Catalyst Award for Business Innovation has proven to be very positive for the team at Cahoots. Karlsson, who recently began studying for IML ANZ’s Chartered Manager (CMgr) designation says the award is a very positive acknowledgment. “It’s good to receive a recognition that we are doing well from an external, accredited peak body such as IML ANZ.

“It’s also good to receive recognition from someone else because we think, internally, we’re doing pretty well. However, it’s good to receive that affirmation, and it also is a great opportunity to continue to develop our staff. There is a handful of our staff who are going to do the professional development that’s available through IML ANZ.”

Karlsson believes Cahoots won the Sir John Storey Catalyst Award for Business Innovation for “its ability to innovate its way through the NDIS, where others are having to go through acquisitions and shutting down”.

“Many organisations are making big, big groups of people redundant. However, we can’t even keep up with recruitment. We’re constantly hiring,” she confirms.

At the same time, Cahoots is heavily focused on staff retention and development, which in combination are major contributors to the NDIS provider’s business success. Karlsson explains, “We’ve done much development with the staff, and we’re generous. We spend about 5% of our overall expense budget on staff development when many companies would spend closer to 1%.”

Cahoots staff are offered interstate exchanges and an annual leadership camp focused on skills development. There are internal workshops for business planning, communication, and sessions devoted to organisational culture. “We did much work on our culture in 2018 and fixed a few problems. A key part of the strategy when it comes to culture and cultivating business acumen has been our decision to recruit from outside the disability sector.

“We’ve got people with backgrounds in early education, recreation, business management, government and who have a diverse range of qualifications,” says Karlsson. “We’ve got a librarian as our office manager, who is very organised, and a fantastically inclusive teacher as a volunteer coordinator. We look for those personal qualities and always consider what type of person we need for a role, and then employ or recruit accordingly.”

 

A LOT MORE THAN MONEY

Working with IML ANZ provides Cahoots with the opportunity to increase the profile of the organisation and the profile of the disability sector. “In community services, whether the organisation is working with a disability or young people, it’s essential that businesses and larger organisations understand what we’re doing, and there are opportunities by working with us and things that we can learn from each other,” contends Karlsson.

“Sometimes large organisations or corporates might think charities don’t know what they’re doing, and that’s why they never have any money. However, it’s not that at all. There’s a lot of brilliant people working in charities because they believe in the purpose.”

Finally, Karlsson advises a manager or leader considering a career in community services to “let go of your salary expectations”.

“Rather, think about the richness that can be added to your life as opposed to how rich you can become financially.” She continues, “I know there’s no reward financially that would take me out of Cahoots right now. I am surrounded by amazing people who share my commitment to our mission, and I don’t think that you can pay for that.”

This article originally appeared in the June 2019 edition of Leadership Matters, IML ANZ’s quarterly magazine. For editorial suggestions and enquiries, please contact karyl.estrella@managersandleaders.com.au.

Steadying the ship: How to lift team performance when morale is low

By Nicola Field

 

The mark of any great leader is to continue delivering the goods during times of uncertainty, pressure and flux. Leadership Matters caught up with three award-winning IML ANZ Members, who each lifted their teams’ spirits when the going got tough.

 

FACTORS THAT IMPACT MORALE

Plain sailing never lasts indefinitely, but the factors that can impact team morale are not always clear cut.

Cindy Welsh MIML, General Manager, Health and Wellbeing at St John Ambulance Victoria, says, “Morale can be impacted by things like corporate downsizing or gearing up for a new contract. Or poor morale may simply have been allowed to fester for some time.”

Paul Hughes FIML points to another way that morale can be sapped. Reflecting on his experience with the Australian Air Force Cadets, he explains, “One of the key reasons people join an organisation is because of its vision and its values. Any deviation from those values can impact morale.”

In Hughes’ case, the challenge of declining morale was the result of stagnation. He recalls, “When I came to 3 Wing (NSW and ACT) Australian Air Force Cadets, nothing had really happened for 10 years. People had lost their way and lost their sense of wanting to deliver an experience that our cadets deserved. There had been no growth, no innovation, and no real sense of direction and purpose.”

 

WATCH FOR WARNING SIGNS

In order to manage flagging morale, it’s necessary to recognise the warning signs.

Welsh explains, “A drop in morale can manifest itself through an increase in sick leave, higher staff turnover or poor performance. Or human resources personnel may be noting an increase in behavioural issues – perhaps more employees treating each other or their managers inappropriately. This can be a sign of underlying frustrations.”

She cautions that leaders and managers may ignore the warning signs because the company or department is performing well. Welsh notes, “This can be a sign of the ‘A-team’ syndrome, where competence and results are high. But they are not sustainable over the long term because people are unhappy.”

 

Welsh adds that business leaders don’t always pick up on how low morale has sunk. “They may ignore the warnings that their senior people have highlighted, or may base their opinion of staff morale purely on their own interactions within the workforce,” she says. “But not all staff are comfortable giving direct and frank feedback to the CEO or business leaders. It’s important to listen to your managers and, if you’ve been given consistent feedback, it needs to be explored.”

 

BE THERE. BE IN THE MOMENT

Leadership during challenging periods hinges on being visible. Welsh says there can be a “propensity to retreat from people during times of change”. But she adds, “Transparency with your employees is incredibly powerful. Don’t hide things from your staff.”

Welsh recommends, “Sit in the lunch room with your people and talk to them. Just listen. Hear people out. And do not underestimate the power of peer-to-peer influence. It can see low morale quickly spread throughout an organisation – even across different geographical locations.

“Think about how you can tap into influencers,” advises Welsh. “Use their powers for positivity, encouraging them to champion your change or cultural initiatives.”

Hughes suggests a similar approach, saying, “A lot of building morale as a leader involves being prepared to listen and see what you can do about the situation. Be prepared to take action on what people say – it’s not a matter of paying lip service.” He too recommends identifying ‘champions’, who will actively support your cause. “They will help to dispel the cynics,” says Hughes. “After all, peer pressure is the best pressure of all.”

BEING COMFORTABLE WITH FAILURE

There is no one-size-fits-all solution to lifting team spirit, and the approaches of the different leaders interviewed for this article proves the importance of a tailored strategy.

Professor Scott Bowman FIML, recently retired Vice-Chancellor of Central Queensland University, believes the social element of workplace teams can have a significant impact. He says, “It’s all about pulling together a group of people, who really get along well so that you have a team that celebrates shared successes and commiserates when things don’t go so well.”

He adds, “Leaders can organise events that allow everyone to take time out for reflection sessions. It’s important to look at what went right, and what went wrong. These are not just planning sessions, they are true reflection sessions.”

Professor Bowman notes, “It’s critical for these sessions to have a social element. I quickly worked out for example, that my team were all incredibly bad karaoke singers but they were all prepared to have a go.”

Perhaps surprisingly, Professor Bowman also highlights the importance of making mistakes. He explains, “It’s important for the team to be comfortable with failure. I’m a believer in the 70:30 rule, which says you can expect success 70% of the time and failure 30% of the time. If you have a failure rate below 30% you’re doing something wrong – you’re not trying enough new steps or strategies.”

Of course, the 70% of successes have to compensate for the 30% of failures but Professor Bowman notes, “The key is to pass this appetite for risk-taking down the line through your team. I was always open with my team about the 30% failure rate, and yes, it is unnerving for some people. However, it pays off when you achieve that 70% success rate.”

Welsh holds a similar view. “Foster a ‘no blame’ culture in the workplace,” she advises. “If people think they’ll lose their job because of a mistake, they will never speak up. Employees need to feel psychologically safe and comfortable about admitting to a mistake. Just as importantly, they need to understand what they could have done better and what they have learned from mistakes. Organisations that embrace continuous improvement and adaptive leadership will be the future game changers.”

The ability to accept mistakes extends to leaders also. Hughes notes, “You can collaborate until the cows come home, but ultimately decisions have to be taken. As a leader it’s about not being frightened to make tough decisions.”

Moreover, Hughes says it is important to be able to say, ‘You know what, we didn’t get it right, so what do we need to do now to change this to get the right result?’

 

HARNESS THE POWER OF PEER REWARDS

For Cindy Welsh, a simple recognition program was instrumental in lifting engagement and workplace morale. She says, “Managers can recognise individual staff, but at St John Ambulance Victoria we introduced the FISH! methodology, which sees peers recognise the efforts of each other.”

As Welsh tells it, prior to the introduction of the FISH! program, St John Ambulance Victoria had peer-to-peer engagement of 52%. Three years later, the program has boosted employee engagement to 95%.

Welsh says, “Thanking and acknowledging peers has now become part of our culture but it has taken time for this behaviour to resonate across the organisation. Increasing peer engagement is a slow burn.”

 

CREATE A BRAND OR LOGO FOR BONDING

For Paul Hughes, leading a volunteer organisation called for a different response. “We set about identifying how people were really feeling, digging deep into the issues at heart.”

He says, “We found there was no visual identity for the Wing – no branding or logo. So we developed a new logo as a visual identifier, one that best reflected the geographical area we served, which was NSW and the ACT.”

From here, Hughes helped to create a sense of purpose with the mantra ‘Setting the standard, leading the way’.

Hughes was mindful of including all stakeholders wherever possible. “By involving various stakeholders throughout the change process we were able to win over the hearts and minds of our people. This in itself became an integral part of boosting morale.” He adds, “It was about getting everyone on board the journey”.

The reward for Hughes has been a steady increase in the retention rates of cadets and staff over the past four years as well as increasing numbers of people wanting to join Australian Air Force Cadets.

With a keen eye for how your people are feeling, and some tailored strategies, it is possible to steer your team through challenging times.

This article originally appeared in the June 2019 edition of Leadership Matters, IML ANZ’s quarterly magazine.

The Info: Books on resilient leadership

By Sarah McDuling

 

When it comes to resilience in business, the simple truth is that it isn’t all that different from resilience outside business.

Resilience is defined by the ability to recover after a setback, to adapt quickly to change and persevere when faced with adversity. Learning how to view failures as opportunities, to remain calm in stressful situations, to build a supportive social network and take the time to clarify your goals… these are all important life skills that everyone should have both in their professional and personal lives.

The components that help make a person happy and successful in their personal life (self-assurance, life goals, friends) are the exact same components that help make people successful in business. For example, most strategies to build resilience in business tend to revolve around four key elements: Confidence, Purpose, Social Support and Adaptability.

When you consider those four key elements, it starts to become clear that in many ways, a ‘resilient’ person is really just an optimistic and emotionally stable person. Or in other words, a happy person. If you want to build your resilience, you need to work towards increasing your self-confidence and maintaining a positive outlook.

The reading list on this page contains an inspiring selection of books about resilience. Here you will find some of the best ‘how to’ guides, full of useful tips and strategies to help you build the skills you need to improve your business life, as well as your personal life.

Reading these books will help you develop skills to cope with a stressful work environment, manage time effectively, deal with sudden upheavals and adapt to change. Most importantly, these books will teach you the importance of looking after yourself so that you are better equipped to deal with whatever problems and setbacks may come your way.

When we hear the word ‘resilience’ we so often associate it with being strong, tough and determined. The books on this list will help you to understand that ‘resilience’ isn’t really about strength. It’s about emotional intelligence, positive thinking and self-care.

A resilient person is a happy person… so happy reading!

 

Books to inspire resilience

RESILIENCE BY HARVARD BUSINESS REVIEW

This book reveals the traits of those who emerge stronger from challenges. It also provides advice on training your brain to withstand the stresses of daily life and presents an approach to an effective career reboot.

 

DIGITAL RESILIENCE BY RAY ROTHROCK

This powerful guide provides the digital resilience-building strategies you need to prevail – no matter what strikes.

 

RESILIENCE AT WORK BY DEBORAH M KHOSHABA, SALVATORE R MADDI

Why do some people remain so calm and collected in the face of looming deadlines, combative meetings, impending layoffs, and turbulent changes? And why are these seemingly unflappable people the ones who consistently get ahead in their lives and their careers? This book provides the answers.

 

HOW TO BE HAPPY BY LIGGY WEBB

You can make the decision right now to be happier if you really want to be, says author Liggy Webb. Life is what you make it, she says, so learn how to be happy, effective and energetic.

 

OPTION B BY SHERYL SANDBERG, ADAM GRANT

From Facebook’s COO and Wharton’s top-rated professor, this powerful, inspiring, and practical book is about building resilience and moving forward after life’s inevitable setbacks.

 

FLY! BY RICHARD DE CRESPIGNY

In Fly!, Richard de Crespigny shares the insights and techniques he built up over decades in the high-pressure world of military and civilian aviation. Covering leadership, teamwork, risk assessment, decision-making, crisis management, lifelong resilience and more.

 

POSITIVE THINKING BY GILL HASSON

This book gives readers the tools to view life with a positive outlook and charge ahead in achieving goals that once seemed out of reach.

 

TRAIN THE BRAVE BY MARGIE WARRELL

Train the Brave is a handbook for being more courageous. Written for busy people on the go, its short, focused chapters provide practical tools and empowering perspectives to help you build your ‘courage muscles’ in work, relationships and life.

 

THE PURSUIT OF HAPPYNESS BY CHRIS GARDNER, QUINCY TROUPE

The astounding yet true rags-to-riches saga of a homeless father who raised and cared for his son on the mean streets of San Francisco and went on to become a crown prince of Wall Street.

 

Sarah McDuling is the Senior Content Producer for Booktopia and the Editor of the Booktopian Blog.

This article originally appeared in the June 2019 edition of Leadership Matters, IML ANZ’s quarterly 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.