Managing Millennials

By Sharon Ferrier, Director of Persuasive Presentation

In 1953 William L. Patty and Louise S. Johnson in their book “Personality and Adjustment” lamented about the youth of today and wrote about a quote attributed to Socrates

“The children now love luxury; they have bad manners, contempt for authority; they show disrespect for elders and love chatter in place of exercise. Children are now tyrants, not the servants of their households. They no longer rise when elders enter the room. They contradict their parents, chatter before company, gobble up dainties at the table, cross their legs, and tyrannize their teachers.”

Although a fabulous quote, it has now been debunked as a myth. But what is interesting, is that the youth they were referring to are the baby boomer leaders and managers of today.

Every generation sees the generation that follows them as less respectful, narcissistic and more easily distracted. And I have no doubt that in 20 years’ time Gen Y will be making the same complaints about Gen Z!

In 2009 Daniel Pink published his book Drive and introduced us to the idea of intrinsic motivation and the personal need for autonomy, mastery, and purpose. Dr Jason Fox, himself a millennial, expands on this idea in his book Game Changers and links motivation with gaming techniques: Goals, Rules and Feedback.

Fox explains that:

Goals – align with purpose and the inherent reward of the work.

Rules – calibrate challenge which contributes to mastery.

Feedback – enhances the simulation and keeps people working with autonomy.

So what can we do as managers and leaders? A manager recently lamented “If people would just do as their told life would be so much easier.” The reality is, is that the days of command and control are over and none of us like being told what to do. When we are told to do something without consultation, we react with our inner 10 year old that says “Yeah? Make me!”

We need another tactic. Pushy people cause resentment and if we’re passive nothing gets done. We do have a third alternative however, and that is persuasion.

Here are some ideas on how to apply it.

Align goals and vision

I have a friend Helen, whom I refer to as Midas Woman. Helen has the Midas touch with dysfunctional teams. She is flown around the country by her organisation and magically transforms low performing teams into exceptional teams that end up being the top performers in their field.

A few months ago I was determined to find out how Helen did it. After an excellent meal (and quite a bit of wine!) I cornered Helen and asked her how she did it. She replied with “I listen, ask about their dreams and goals and then tell them what they want to hear.”

What??!! Surely it cannot be that simple?

Helen went on to explain. “I focus on what gets them out of bed in the morning, why they chose to work in this industry and what they value in their work. I then align their values with the company values and smooth the path for them to succeed and enjoy their work. Sometimes values do not align and I highlight this and explain that they may never be happy working here and support them in finding a new position.”

If we accept the validity of intrinsic motivation, we need to make an effort to understand what our people want and need. Persuasion means ‘to win others over, not to defeat them.’ In order to do this, we need to link the organisational goals with the individual.

Rules and guidelines

According to McCrindle Research Millennials over their working life will have over 17 jobs and five different careers. Managers need to be ready to induct employees efficiently so they can be productive as fast as possible. Inductions programs need to focus on core skills and culture and then be supported by on the job coaching and mentoring. Millennials (Gen Y) are known for asking ‘Why?’ A strong company manifesto consisting of “This is who we are and this is what we do.” needs to be communicated constantly.

Feedback

When we think of feedback we automatically add a negative in front of it. And yet quality, meaningful feedback is essential for improvement and job satisfaction. We all like to be recognised and to see progress. MBWA (Management By Walking Around) still applies and when it comes to persuasive communication, there is nothing more effective than face to face.

Have fun

Generally, many baby boomers see work like a plate roast and three veg, where the meat and vegetables, like work and leisure, do not touch. Alternatively Millennials see work and play more like spaghetti bolognaise where everything is interconnected and interrelated.

I remember years ago visiting a fudge stall at the famous Quincy Market in Boston. The fudge was made fresh daily and as the staff were making it, they would break into song and encourage customers to sing along as well. It was fabulous and the queues went out the door. I was equally enamoured when I heard about the FISH philosophy which was founded in the Seattle fish markets.

Having fun and being effective are not mutually exclusive. Over the past decade we have seen a dramatic reduction in the formality of workplaces. Great teams are diverse and encourage inter-generational communication. We need to view both sides of the coin, to integrate the past but also view our organisation with the fresh eyes needed to prepare our company for the future.

About the author:
Sharon Ferrier is the Director of Persuasive Presentation. Sharon’s background is in sales and marketing and along the way has studied business administration, marketing, management, journalism as well as more eclectic skills including comedy, improvisation and the art of persuasion. As an award winning speaker and salesperson Sharon uses her skills to help people become persuasive and influential speakers.

 

 

Sharon will be speaking at the Adelaide Masterclass on Engaging the work force – how leaders engage and inspire people to prepare for change on the 31st of October 2017.

Book today

 

How you present can impact staff buy-in

By Emma Bannister 

 

A powerful presentation is our most critical tool in an organisation today. We use them to build buy-in with our team members, to communicate our big ideas and connect with employees to inspire them into action. Yet the majority of the time our presentations are bland, boring and the only impact they have is to get staff running for the doors (if they haven’t already fallen asleep in their seats).

Our important and urgent messages are hidden in badly designed slides, complex paragraphs of information, and screens of bullet points that have no clear purpose or call to action. While you may not be able to magically transform a poor presentation into a powerful one overnight, to truly educate or inspire your team to leap up in their seats with glee (not to flee) then here are some small changes you can start with.

Pick one key message

When you present, pick one clear message to structure your presentation around and then repeat that message throughout to make the message stick. It is that one idea, purpose or point that is the glue that holds everything else together. Once there is a clear bumper sticker message then it’s easy to figure out what the key take-home message is for the audience and what it is they should do as a result. Anything else in the presentation that does not align to this message should be deleted, stripped out and banished. What gets left out of a presentation is more important than what goes in.

Make it emotional

I know, I know, in business we’ve traditionally been taught to do the opposite, to just present the facts. But these days, the best presenters are those who can use a combination of facts and emotion to explain a future place that everyone in the organisation wants to work towards.

Use images that match your words and make your team feel an emotion, whether that’s excited, happy, angry or sad. I’ve seen clients use video in place of static images to make their message more memorable. Remember, people buy from people they like. We buy based on how we feel about something – or someone. It’s your passion and authenticity that will help you to bond with your team, so they feel like you’re all in this together, instead of you just barking out orders of what they need to do. That emotional pull is what will impact your team’s decision to ‘buy in’ to what you are saying.

Be honest

It’s important not to try and hide or cover up negative information or numbers. Nothing turns your team off more than when you lie about your financial position. You need to treat your team as equals. Provide your employees with confidence going forward. Be future focused and take ownership of the problem. Explain the steps you’re implementing to turn things around to minimise loss, and how your team can help with this too.

You need to be open and honest about where you are at right now, and what is involved in the journey to get where you are going – together. Leave them inspired, not deflated like it is their fault. Bad slides and presentations are used like a security blanket to hide things under. So start with small changes to your content and attitude, and stop hiding and hoping for the best. Your team will respect you for that.

Emma Bannister is the founder and CEO of Presentation Studio, APAC’s largest presentation communication agency.

 

Escape To The Country: Are Your Skills Portable?

What do employers need to do to get good people from metro areas to relocate to regional areas? By Nicola Heath

Scott Timmins AFIML never wanted to move to Townsville.

“I thought ‘it’s a small country town . . . and I won’t get much out of my life up here,’” he recalls. Twenty years later, the people solutions specialist at TP Human Capital says he’s now considered a local.

Australia is a heavily urbanised nation. According to figures from the Grattan Institute, three-quarters of Australians live in cities with a population above 100,000.

We also live in a knowledge economy, where highly educated people gravitate towards inner cities – “where knowledge-intensive activities are clustered, and where demand for knowledge workers is highest,” states Deloitte’s 2015 report, The Purpose of Place: Reconsidered.

The challenge for employers in regional areas traditionally reliant on declining primary and secondary industries is to attract skilled workers from the cities.

They are up against significant anti-regional bias. Like Timmins before his move to Townsville, most Australians are reluctant to relocate to a regional area for work.

A survey by SEEK found just two out of five Australian workers would consider relocating to a regional area.

What skilled workers want

Nearly half the survey respondents said they would relocate for a pay increase to the tune of $20,000 to $30,000 a year.

Timmins recommends regional employers carry out a market analysis of metro wages to come up with a competitive remuneration package, and consider offering perks like a car or rent assistance.

Concerns about career progression is another issue. More than half of those surveyed said they felt that moving to a regional area would limit their career.

But Timmins says employers can sell roles in regional areas as good experience. Whereas a career in the CBD often leads to specialisation, in the regions, jobs are often multi-disciplinary.

A manager in a government department in outback Queensland may require skills across three or more different industries, says Timmins. “That can be really beneficial for them in the long term.”

The breadth of experience they gain in such a role can assist their career progression, whether they want to stay in regional Australia or return to the CBD.

What makes a region attractive?

Lifestyle is a big factor. Australians love living by the sea – 80 per cent of Australia’s population lives within 100 kilometres of the coast.

Jock Collins, Professor of Social Economics at UTS Business School, singles out transport infrastructure and an effective broadband network – “not one that goes through copper wires but one that’s very fast” – as critical measures to attracting people to regional Australia.

Investment in regional universities is crucial in both generating employment and stemming the flow of young people moving to the city to work or study.

Migration can drive economic growth, bringing “skills, experience, tastes and preferences that contribute vitality and vibrancy,” states the Deloitte report.

Employers, particularly in non-coastal areas, are increasingly looking to foreign workers to fill skills shortages, says Collins, who surveyed 1000 skilled migrants in regional Australia about their experiences. “Most said they had a warm welcome in the bush,” he says.

Regional cities can also build prosperity by enhancing their connections to inner cities and developing tertiary industries that employ knowledge workers.

One way to achieve this is “for governments and industry to locate significant knowledge-intensive activities in regional cities,” states the Deloitte report.

This worked in Orange, NSW, where the Greiner government moved the NSW Department of Agriculture (now the Department of Primary Industries) in the 1990s, at a time when traditional manufacturing jobs were in decline.

Today, Orange is thriving. It has a university campus and a new hospital that has cemented its position as a regional health centre. Unemployment remains low at 4.1 per cent, while property prices have risen 11.8 per cent in the 12 months to June 2017.

Back in Far North Queensland, Timmins has come to love Townsville, a city with “a country feel about it.”

“I never thought I’d see myself living in Townsville for the rest of my life, but I don’t see myself going anywhere else.”

Scott Timmins AFIML is a speaker at IML Leadership Matters Conference: 7 attributes of very successful leaders at Rydges Southbank Townsville on October 17, 2017. Book tickets here.

The Importance of neurodiversity in the workplace

By Candice Chung

 

When it comes to attracting diverse talent, most companies tend to think of this in the context of improving gender or ethnic diversity. In recent years, however, the concept of neurodiversity has emerged as an area of growing interest on the HR frontier.

Put simply, neurodiversity refers to the idea that workplace inclusivity should extend to neurological differences. This means finding a way to hire and retain talents with conditions such as ADHD, dyslexia, Tourette’s syndrome, or those who may be on the autism spectrum.

In Australia, over 80 percent of people with autism are unemployed or underemployed. Neurodiverse candidates often get left behind in standard hiring processes, with some struggling to fit in with typical corporate culture or missing social cues.

And yet according to a 2015 study by Drexel University, many high-functioning autistic job seekers have the kinds of skills, focus and problem-solving abilities that are highly sought after in specific industries.

“Technology-related work resonates for many on the autism spectrum, with many excelling at mathematics, cryptography, and programming,” says Andrew Ramsden, Founder and CEO of leadership development firm, Alpha Transform.

Companies that are currently leading the charge in hiring neurodiverse workers include accounting firm EY, software company SAP, Microsoft, and Hewlett Packard Enterprises, which pioneered the highly successful Dandelion program in Australia. Launched in 2015, it’s a holistic pilot program that includes on-the-job and life-skills development training, matching candidates with autism with roles in testing, analytics and cyber security.

“Research tells us time and again that diversity in all its forms will galvanise a company culture, so long as the culture doesn’t perpetrate silos,” says HR expert Nathalie Lynton from Shared and Halved Consulting. “The more diverse and inclusive a workplace, the better and faster problems are solved. Innovation will occur at a greater rate, too.”
To improve workplace neurodiversity, Lynton suggests being open and transparent in everyday recruitment practices. This means incorporating taglines like, ‘Our company supports diversity in all its forms, neurodiverse candidates are encouraged to apply’ in job ads.
Also, don’t hire purely on ‘cultural fit’, says Ramsden. “This can too easily become a ‘gut-feel’ excuse to reject those who are different.”

“Remember that for many roles, job-hunting skills are very different from the on-the-job skills required. Allow applicants opportunities to show you the work they’ve achieved and what they’re capable of. On-the-job tests and trial periods allow a better assessment of what people are actually capable of.”
In the end, just as some employees will be introverts and some extroverts, some will be neurodiverse. ”Part of a leader’s tools box is learning how to interview and communicate with different people and understand [the opportunities they may bring to the company],” says Lynton.

 

 To gain further insight on Emotional Intelligence, Self Awareness and Neurodiversity, be sure to book at one of our upcoming Conferences on the 7 attributes of successful leaders today.

Business Innovation in 10 easy steps

By Leann Webb  FIML, Managing Director of Aurora Marketing 

 

When I think of successful entrepreneurialism, I see it as intricately connected to innovation. Innovation is at the heart of successful business, so as an entrepreneur you need to know how to innovate. And not just once, but over and over again so that you can stay in front of your competitors.

So let’s start with a simple definition: what is innovation? It is a new idea, device or process. And behind every successful entrepreneur is just that: a new idea, device or process.

But how do we purposefully innovate? Sometimes an idea just pops in to your head… but that is not much of a strategy for a sustainable business. We need to be able to purposefully create new ideas, products and devices.

 

Here’s my 10 step process for making it happen:

 

1. Clear your mind of logic and limits

As Walt Disney said, “It’s kind of fun to do the impossible.” Don’t constrain yourself with pre-conceived ideas of what is possible or sensible. This is especially true if you are looking for a disruptive idea. Let go of your perceived limits. Anything is possible.

2. Dream the preferred reality

Imagination is more important than knowledge so use the power of your imagination to create a vision of your preferred reality. What would you love? What would you prefer for how things operate? What would be the magic solution? And remember: all ideas are good ideas. No idea killers allowed.

3. Write it down

I’m a fan of the traditional notebook and I carry mine with me everywhere I go. This has been a habit of mine since my first day in my first career job. Every meeting, every discussion, every action item gets documented. This way, no ideas are ever lost or forgotten.

4. Research and explore

This is a crucial step. Once I’ve got the idea, I start researching how it would work, if there is a gap in the market at the moment, does it meet a need, what it would cost, how much could we charge, etc.

5. Colour it in

This step is where the idea starts to become real and the vague vision starts to become refined and detailed. If it is a new business or product, I start brainstorming brand names, logos, colour palettes, developing flowcharts and diagrams, selecting locations, etc. Here, I start to get a real feel for the business and product and how people will interact with it.

Leann Webb will be one of many speakers at our upcoming Brisbane Conference on the 2nd November 2017. Book Now to hear Leann and many other specialists in their respective fields discuss attributes of successful leaders at this full day event.

 

 

6. Share your idea with trusted partners

This step is the one I believe to be the toughest. I am very protective of my new ideas and I don’t like negativity. So when it comes to sharing an idea, especially if it is a bit fluid, it is really important to share with the right kinds of people. If you can’t find those people, my preferred approach is to discreetly share little bits of information in an informal way and see what reaction you get.

7. Set a deadline

Once you’ve decided you are going to do it, set a deadline. Most people flop around like fish out of water unless they have a deadline, so mark a date on the calendar and commit.

8. Develop an action plan

And now, write a list of everything that needs to be done and work out what is on the critical path. Who is going to do it? When does it need to be done? How much will it cost? Put together a detailed action plan and allocate responsibilities. Get it done.

9. Launch (and shoot the engineer if you have to)

In new product development, there is a saying “Sooner or later, you have to shoot the engineer and put it in to production.” The ‘engineer’ refers to the product engineer who wants to release a perfect product. While this is a noble principle, the longer you take to get the product to market, the more it costs and the more market advantage you sacrifice. It is far better to launch the first version and continue improving the product through subsequent version releases. So launch the product, even if it isn’t perfect.

10. Listen, adapt, persevere

And the last step is continually listening, adapting and persevering. When I think of my businesses, each of them is so totally different to how they started. Different business models, different delivery models, even different services. As business operators, we’re in a constant state of evolution.

 

Change With A Capital C: What Works?

We should all expect to go through upheavals during our working lives, which is all the more reason to become competent at dealing with it. By Professor Danny Samson FIML

 

 

Organisational change is hard and often unsuccessful because even seasoned managers can fall prone to underestimating organisational inertia. We often insufficiently attend to the concerns employees have about change, principally what will happen to them. Yet in these highly turbulent times, surely change management should be a core capability of every competent leader and every organisation that wants to sustain its survival and prosperity. So, what works and what are the pitfalls?

When change is radical, being “Big C” change as against incremental in nature, then the stakes and the risks are commensurately higher. By radical or Big C change, we refer to large transformations or makeovers, whether they are of culture, structure, size, technology, location, product range, distribution channel or any other core element of an organisation.

With radical change in particular, it’s critical to have a strong and compelling vision that motivates and justifies the change. Otherwise, when the going gets tough (and it will), the doubters will emerge and get a strong voice.

The next step is communicate comprehensively the necessity of such a change. Deal openly with the naysayers, and get quickly into the implementation phase. This brings us to the crucial and proven element of successful implementation of major change: create a solid project plan and drive it with tough, hard accountabilities expected from all participants. The project plan is the guiding ‘change map’ that overcomes the chaos that would otherwise result.

Otherwise we’re asking for chaos through ‘ad hockery’. If difficult decisions need to be implemented, such as downsizing and redundancies, then these need to be anticipated as part of the plan, and implemented in a thoroughly professional and precise manner. All employees will want to know their future, so the sooner this can be resolved, the better.

Successful change management is planned and executed in a fast and decisive manner so that the organisation can settle and stabilise.

This approach works much better than the “death by a thousand cuts” approach of multiple incremental steps in an attempt to get to the same end point. I saw this major contrast in New Zealand when both their Post and Telecom businesses were going through major restructuring and downsizing, with one doing a radical change process and the other announcing a five-year downsizing process.

NZ Post was successful in doing it fast and hard, then rebuilding its systems and culture, introducing new technology and renewing almost every aspect of its operations and service levels.

 

“It’s critical to have a strong and compelling vision that motivates and justifies the change.” – Professor Danny Samson

 

 

Similarly, when I served on the board of the TAC (Transport Accident Commission) in Victoria, we chose to implement new e-business technologies, even though it meant that many jobs would change and some would disappear in our pursuit of higher levels of productivity and client service.

Perhaps the hardest thing to change in an organisation is people’s behaviour and culture. As a young engineer (many years ago) working at ICI in Sydney, I was amazed at the negativity of the industrial culture, and the gulf in attitude between managers and the workforce, along with the many insipid managerial attempts to chip away incrementally at the unproductive culture there.

Finally, with necessity being the mother of invention, the need for radical change was realised. A new site manager was brought in to overcome the deeply resistant and negative situation that had built up over decades. He brought sincere, yet firm, intentions, restructuring the workplace arrangements very substantially, enduring personal threats from militant resistors.

When the going got tough during a six-week strike he even had to deal with second thoughts from head office, which was ready to buckle on some of the core issues. He showed a huge amount of personal courage to see through the changes and implement the visionary plan to bring the company out of the industrial dark ages.

Executing radical change needs a vision and a plan, and the ability to demonstrate and communicate benefits of change to the business the. But tying it all together is the leadership team with the determination — let’s call it the stiff backbone — to see the journey through.

 

Trust: Hard To Earn But Easy To Lose

 

If there’s one thing that ensures team success, it’s trust.
By Kate Jones

 

Trust is the key that unlocks the door to more innovative, agile and productive organisations.

Yet it barely rates a mention in boardrooms across Australia, reflecting an even more worrying trend – society’s growing mistrust of institutions.

Declining trust is a problem for governments, banks, the media and even non-government organisations. Research shows flagging trust means the majority of people think societal and economic systems are working against them.

The 2017 Edelman Trust Barometer, which samples more than 33,000 respondents from 28 countries, found people’s concerns centre around corruption, globalisation, immigration, an erosion of social values and the pace of innovation.

Across the four institutions of government, business, media and NGOs, business was viewed as the only one that can make a difference. Three out of four respondents agree a company can take actions to both increase profits and improve economic and social conditions.

Business leaders play an important part in rebuilding trust and it all starts in-house.

Today’s fast-paced advances mean there is a greater emphasis on explaining the impact of innovation to employees and what it means for their jobs. There is the ongoing need for businesses to pay employees fairly, constantly improve benefits and provide job training.

Being a trustworthy leader is all about establishing credibility, says business psychologist Sebastian Salicru, author of Leadership Results: How to Create Adaptive Leaders and High-performing Organisations for an Uncertain World.

 

“Leaders need to be fair by displaying consistency in decision-making . . . and sharing their influence and power appropriately”

 

“This means acting with integrity and being role models of the principles, values and behaviours they uphold,” he says.

“More specifically, building credibility entails enhancing or repairing their psychological contracts with their people by fulfilling the expectations employees have of them, building trust by communicating openly, keeping their promises, demonstrating competence and good judgment.

“They also need to be fair by displaying consistency in decision-making, providing opportunities for others to share their views, share their influence and power appropriately, and provide ongoing feedback to their teams.”

Winning a team’s trust is a marathon and relies on being respectful, welcoming feedback and admitting mistakes, Salicru advises. Losing it can be a sprint.

“Don’t assume people know what you expect from them, don’t pretend that you know everything, don’t blame others when things go wrong, don’t display favouritisms, don’t bully, abuse your power or discriminate against others, don’t avoid conflict and don’t try to be liked or seek approval from others,” he says.

Restoring strong team trust will translate to consumers, giving them confidence to do business with an organisation and recommending that organisation to others. Flowing from this are healthy customer relationships, which fast-track business growth and build sustainable brand equity.

“It manifests in increased sales, repeat business, customer loyalty and brand ambassadorship,” Salicru says.

“In turn, this affords you and the organisation brand differentiation, good reputation, and greater competitive advantage. In the longer-term, this means increased market share, sustainability and business growth.”

Maintaining trust has and always will be crucial for business leaders. Leaders can do this by working towards putting people, their employees and customers, at the centre of everything they do.

 

Being decisive and winning the dog fight

Written by Paul Mead – Performance Consultant, Paul Mead Consulting

As leaders, we understand that having a strategy is an essential part of success. But a strategy without action is just a pretty piece of paper. The strategic leader needs to be able to turn this plan into action, understanding how it is to be used in the current environment and bring along the rest of the organisation with them.

 

According to some recent research, an adult makes up to 35,000 decisions per day. Many of these decisions are minor impulsive type decisions (we make over 200 decisions each day about food choices), but others, especially for leaders are critically important ones. So, as leaders, how do we take decisive action when it is required?

 

As an ex-New Zealand Army Officer, I like to look towards my military education to find insights for leaders. One lesson that has stuck with me and rings true for strategic leaders of all persuasions is the OODA Loop.

 

Colonel John Boyd, a US Air Force Fighter Pilot introduced a concept in the 1950’s called the OODA Loop. Observe, Orientate, Decide, Act.

Paul was the National Winner of the 2016 ALEAs Emerging Leaders award

Col. Boyd noted in the Korean War, that despite the US aircraft being less maneuverable than the Russian made MIG’s, they were winning the majority of the dogfights.

Part of the reason being, the US F-86’s had a better field of vision and hydraulic controls that enabled faster maneuverability. This ability to observe and then orientate themselves faster, meant they could disrupt the actions of their enemy.

He emphasised to his pilots the need to observe and orientate faster than their enemy in order to make superior decisions that ultimately would save their lives.

This concept of the OODA loop can be directly applied to the process that exceptional strategic leaders display, in taking decisive action around those important decisions, within the 35,000, they make every day.

 

Observe – The strategic leader is constantly observing the environment in which they operate. They can identify what is a risk to their organisation and where opportunities to exploit lie.

 

Orientate – The strategic leader orientates their organisation into a position to either mitigate the risk or take advantage of the opportunity.

This ability to orientate the organisation should not be underestimated. This is where the strategic leader earns their title. A failure to correctly orientate will spell disaster in the next two stages.

 

Decide – The strategic leader is decisive in their decisions. They know when they have enough information and when the timing is right to take action. They decide on a course of action and launch into it with full force.

 

Act – The strategic leader acts at the right time, always. Their action is well planned and they have contingencies in place for when the situation changes. Success is likely, rather than as a consequence of luck.

Strategic leaders know that the ability to orientate their organisation takes more than charisma. It takes the ability to clearly communicate the need to implement change or transform a business process through a clear vision. This vision is built upon observation that is rooted in research, analysis, experience and gut feelings.

When it comes time to make the decision, the strategic leader has motivated their team to adopt the vision as their own, knowing that the challenge is to ensure that the odds are stacked clearly in their favour. The strategic leader knows that their tactical leaders have the information they require to influence, lead and win their dogfights, contributing to the broader strategic plan.

 

This is the art of strategic leadership, one dogfight at a time.

Paul will be one of many speakers at our upcoming Brisbane Conference on the 2nd November 2017. Book Now to hear Paul and many other specialists in their respective fields discuss attributes of successful leaders at this full day event.

 

What Millennial Companies Get Right

 

Every generation brings with it a unique perspective and experience – otherwise why would people keep coming up with names to describe them? So what can business owners or potential startup founders from other generations learn from millennials? By Carolin Lenehan

 

MONICA Wulff is a statistician, a startup founder, and a Gen Y millennial. But once you strip the labels away, she’s a young Australian businesswoman receiving kudos and recognition around the world for her work developing a reliable statistical base of knowledge about Australian startup founders and the enabling environment they need to sustain them.

As CEO and co-founder of Startup Muster – Australia’s most comprehensive survey into this burgeoning growth sector – Monica’s views on what can be done to help new startup businesses grow and prosper are both insightful and innovative.

 

Do it with Passion

“We haven’t had the hard times faced by previous generations. We haven’t had to grit our teeth and say I’m just going to do this job, even though I hate it. For us it’s, ‘I’m going to follow my passion, I’m going to follow my purpose, I’m going to work somewhere or on something that is unique to me, and from that, I will be able to make an income and a living’,” Wulff says.

For Monica, this was easy – she loved statistics, then she fell in love with the startup world. Startup Muster is the marriage of the two and she has no problem putting every ounce of her being into making it work.

If you’re going to go through the hard slog of a startup life then you need to be doing something that you’re passionate about.

“One of the first things new startups are told is to find your story,” Monica says. “You’ve got to have a problem that you’re solving. Unless you’re dedicated and in love with the idea, you’re not going to succeed and you won’t be believeable [to investors, customers etc].”

Monica Wulff: co-founder and CEO of Startup Muster.

 

Get comfortable putting yourself out there: behave like a digital native

Living, eating and breathing your product and your brand 24/7 is essential – you never know where your next opportunity or investor might come from.

Millennials have an edge from growing up curating their personal brand on social media – with positive and negative personal consequences.

‘Go social’ with your business, but do it with purpose and integrity. Every post, every photograph, every event you report in from, all need to be carefully curated to leave an imprint of who you are, what you stand for and what you are achieving. The story you are telling through blogs, Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, Twitter and WeChat all need to evoke aspirational feelings in your customers and clients – particularly if you are targeting millennials!

 

It’s not Entitled. It’s Entrepreneurial.

In her 2017 book, The Millennial Myth, Crystal Kadakia seeks to redefine the labels into business strategies that harness the millennial mindset:
“It’s not lazy, it’s productivity redefined.
It’s not entitled, it’s entrepreneurial.
It’s not hand-holding, it’s agility.
It’s not disloyal, it’s seeking purpose.
It’s not authority issues, it’s respect redefined.”

 

She has described millennials as enabled by the internet, enabled by STEM, and driven by YOLO (You Only Live Once).

Millennials like Crystal and Monica were at university during the Global Financial Crisis, and the recession that followed. Their generation will be the first to be less well-off than their parents.

“What came out of it was the mindset that there’s no such thing anymore as a golden handshake after 40 years with one company… We are working to have more ownership of our future. I’ve got a mission, and some would describe that as ‘entitled’,” Monica said.

 

AND REMEMBER . . . DON’T FEAR FAILURE

Tackle your new business with passion, drive and integrity. Nurture its public image, curate it carefully. Don’t fear criticism, use it to hone your product and build your defences. If you do fail, learn from it and wear it as a notch on your belt. Soon it will be the new black.