Work–life balance workshop: participant's guide

Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development

Plan, Prepare, Prosper

Personal and business effectiveness

Acknowledgments

This document is part of the Plan, Prepare, Prosper program that was developed under the Pilot of Drought Reform Measures (‘the pilot’), a joint initiative between the Australian Government and the Western Australian Government. The program aims to support businesses to prepare for drought, climate variability, financial and other challenges.

Plan, Prepare, Prosper is a strategic planning process that will help businesses to assess their business and determine the best course of action in response to known and projected challenges to business performance.

The Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development, Western Australia, would like to recognise and thank the Rural Business Development Corporation, Curtin University, the Centre for Entrepreneurship, Agknowledge®, Farmanco, Plan Farm, David Koutsoukis, Greg Barnes and others for their contributions in the development of this program and permission to use their intellectual property.

Adaptation of material for agricultural processing enterprises undertaken by Growing Australia Pty Ltd from base material prepared by Nancye Gannaway, Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development, Western Australia.

IMPORTANT DISCLAIMER

The Chief Executive Officer of the Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development and the State of Western Australia accept no liability whatsoever by reason of negligence or otherwise arising from the use or release of this information or any part of it.

Copyright © Western Australian Agriculture Authority 2017

Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development:



Contents

Introduction to the Personal and Business Effectiveness Workshop .................. 7

Section One: PERSONAL AND BUSINESS EFFECTIVENESS REFERENCE MATERIAL .................................................................................................................. 9

1 Work life balance ............................................................................................ 11

1.1 Work–life balance ..................................................................................... 11

1.2 My wheel of life ......................................................................................... 13

1.3 Work–life balance ..................................................................................... 16

2 Effective time management............................................................................ 17

2.1 Chunk, Block, and Tackle ......................................................................... 18

2.2 Prioritising Your Time ............................................................................... 19

2.3 Prioritising Your Goals .............................................................................. 21

2.4 Planning Wisely ........................................................................................ 22

2.5 The Glass Jar: Rocks, Pebbles, Sand, and Water .................................... 23

2.6 Apply Task Triage to All Tasks ................................................................. 24

2.7 Using Calendars ....................................................................................... 25

2.8 Dealing with E-mail ................................................................................... 26

2.9 Personal Energy and Focus ..................................................................... 27

3 Delegation........................................................................................................ 28

4 Culture ............................................................................................................. 29

4.1 Balancing Business and Culture ............................................................... 29

4.2 What is culture? ........................................................................................ 29

5 Let’s look at leadership .................................................................................. 35

5.1 What is a leader? ...................................................................................... 36

5.2 Employee engagement ............................................................................. 38

5.3 Additional leadership information .............................................................. 40

6 High performance teams ................................................................................ 46

6.1 Shared characteristics and behaviours of a high performing team ........... 46

6.2 Lencioni’s five dysfunctions of a team ...................................................... 48


7 Connecting with others.................................................................................. 50

7.1 Understanding and connecting with others .............................................. 50

7.2 Communication ........................................................................................ 52

7.3 Communication as a system .................................................................... 54

7.4 Active listening ......................................................................................... 58

7.5 Choosing our response ............................................................................ 59

8 Improved human resource outcomes........................................................... 61

8.1 Performance management....................................................................... 61

8.2 How to start a feedback conversation ...................................................... 65

8.3 How to mediate and resolve conflict ........................................................ 67

8.4 Workplace Safety ..................................................................................... 72

9 Resilience and managing stress ................................................................... 75

9.1 Stress ....................................................................................................... 75

9.2 What is resilience? ................................................................................... 80

9.3 Recovery rocket ....................................................................................... 83

10 Business continuity, progression and succession ..................................... 88

References ............................................................................................................ 100

Section Two: PERSONAL AND BUSINESS EFFECTIVENESS ACTIVITY BOOK ..................................................................................................................... 102

1 Work Life Balance .......................................................................................... 104

2 My wheel of life ............................................................................................... 105

3 Prioritising Your Time ..................................................................................... 108

4 What are my rocks, pebbles, sand, and water? .............................................. 110

5 My golden time is? ......................................................................................... 111

6 What do I want to change? ............................................................................. 113

7 Are there any tasks I should be delegating?................................................... 114

8 What is your workplace culture? ..................................................................... 115

9 Let’s look at leadership ................................................................................... 117

10 What do I want to change? ............................................................................. 121

11 Employee engagement .................................................................................. 122

12 High performance teams ................................................................................ 124

13 Connecting with others ................................................................................... 128




14 Improved human resource outcomes .............................................................. 129

15 Starting a feedback conversation .................................................................... 130

16 Understanding conflict styles .......................................................................... 132

17 Overall – What can I do to improve team performance? ................................. 134

18 Farm Workplace Safety ................................................................................... 135

19 What are my stress signs / symptoms? .......................................................... 136

20 My physical resilience ..................................................................................... 138

21 Resilience and Recovery Rocket .................................................................... 141

22 Stress and resilience – what do I want to change? ......................................... 144

23 Business continuity, progression and succession ........................................... 145

24 Preparing a progression plan .......................................................................... 147

25 What are you thinking? ................................................................................... 152

26 Working with your strategic plan ..................................................................... 153




Introduction to the Personal and Business Effectiveness Workshop

Getting the most out of this workshop

Outcomes

This workshop has been developed to help you to create a more effective business through:

evaluating your own desired work life balance

understanding the impact of your leadership on the business

understanding high performance teams and their contribution to business success

working performance management and conflict resolution processes

managing stress and work pressure

taking steps to stay fit and healthy

maintaining and building resilience

addressing continuity and succession needs.

How to use the program materials

This workbook is designed to support what you are learning in today’s workshop.

Throughout this workshop series, learning by participation, listening and sharing is strongly encouraged.

Questions throughout the day are very welcome.

Many of the activities will be completed throughout the day, but some are intentionally placed for you to explore outside of the workshop time.

Depending on the flow of the day and the group energy, the topics in this workbook might not necessarily be delivered in the order in which they appear in the workbook.

There is also more information in this workbook than can possibly be covered in the time available within the workshop. You are encouraged to explore this after the workshop.

These materials are yours. Please feel free to write all over them. Use them to catch incidental ideas or outcomes of discussions or to jot down actions that you might transfer to your strategic plan or simply to remind you of something from the workplace or home.

Time will be provided for working on your strategic plan today as well as involvement in activities and discussion throughout the day that will focus your thinking on the theme of this workshop.


Workshop Manual

To make it easier for you to review your ideas and thoughts that you collate during this workshop we have divided your manual into two sections.

Section One: Reference Material

This section contains the concepts and knowledge shared by your facilitator today. This section is very helpful as reference material after the workshop when you want to revisit an explanation of a concept.

Section Two: Activity Booklet

This section provides a place for you to record your ideas and thoughts as you progress through this workshop.

Context of today’s workshop

Success, regardless of whether it is categorised as personal success, business success, sporting success, academic success or parenting success (to name but a few), doesn’t just happen. It is a combination of many factors, some of which we are very aware of and some of which are less obvious.

Theories abound as to what drives business and personal success. While we are not going to explore particular theories today, we will explore a few common beliefs and some research outcomes as they apply to performance effectiveness.

In this workshop, ‘performance effectiveness’ means the environmental factors that affect people in your business. How people perform ultimately affects the success (or not) of your business.

If you are completing the Plan, Prepare, Prosper program in the previous workshop, we looked at finance and how this relates to the success of your business. In the next workshop we will explore branding and marketing, which again contribute to the success of your business. You will find the ‘people element’ woven through these workshops, too.

Make no mistake — performance effectiveness significantly affects your business deliverables and ultimately your bottom line. Like the quality of your product, it is within your control and it needs constant attention.

Today, most of our learning will come through discussions and exercises.

You will find space in the workbook to record some of these discussions and also ‘what are you thinking?’ pages, where you can record your thoughts and actions. As with all of the workshops, the notes you make will help you build your strategic plan.




SECTION ONE: PERSONAL AND BUSINESS EFFECTIVENESS REFERENCE MATERIAL




1 WORK LIFE BALANCE

Today we will be encouraging you to take a closer look at some areas of your business. Our first step is to look at how personally satisfied you are with the amount of time, effort and energy you are expending on your business relative to all the other things that you consider are important in your life. Do you need to adjust the balance?

1.1 Work–life balance

The term ‘work–life balance’ refers to the way in which we divide our time and focus across the various areas of our work and our life.

‘Work’ is anything relating to our ambitions and careers. This can mean our day job, our business, our projects, future business ventures, etc.

‘Life’ is anything relating to our wellbeing, leisure, family and home life.

Figure 1 Work life balance


Most of us at some point find ourselves focusing too much attention in one area at the expense of the other. It is important that we find the balance that works best for each of us as individuals.

By the end of this session you will:

● understand why work–life balance is important for your own success and the success of your farming business

● have looked at your own current work–life balance

● understand how conscious planning and effort is the only way to maintain a balance

● have developed a plan to create or maintain the right balance for you.

‘You will never find time for anything if you want time you must make it.’

– Charles Buxton




The costs of poor work–life balance

Having things out of balance in your life can have significant costs for your business and your family. In teams, brainstorm some of the possible emotional, financial and operational costs associated with not having the right work–life balance.

Striking the right balance

Work–life balance is all about what satisfies us. There is no magic formula or recommended balance.

Striving for a better work–life balance does not mean scheduling an equal number of hours for each of your various work and personal activities. The reality for most of us is that this is not practical. It may also be far too structured for your liking. Instead, we should be conscious of the signs that we don’t have the balance right, and consider building in more of the aspects we neglect.

Consider a time when you have not had the right work–life balance. What happened? What did it feel like? What happened to you? What were the warning signs?

Our needs also change over time. The right balance for you today will probably be different for you tomorrow. The right balance for you when you are single will be different when you marry, or if you have children; when you are starting out in your business versus when you are nearing retirement.

1.2 My wheel of life

The ‘wheel of life’ is a tool developed by Mind Tools. If you are participating in the five day Plan, Prepare, Prosper program, you would have completed the wheel of life activity in workshop one. In this section we will encourage you to relook at your wheel of life and while considering your work–life balance.

If you are completing this workshop as a separate workshop your facilitator will take you through how to create your wheel of life using the following steps as a guide.

The wheel of life tool is a quick and useful way to have a look at the things that are important to us, and whether or not we have the right balance. This then reveals to you the areas that require a conscious focus in order to strike a better balance. Follow these steps to get under way:

The following steps outline how to use the wheel of life tool.


Step one

Start by coming up with a list of things in life that are important for you, or feature heavily in your daily life. Different approaches to this are:

● The roles you play in life. Are you a husband / wife, father / mother, manager, colleague, team member, sports player, community leader, friend, etc.?

● Areas of life that are important to you. For example: Do you play sport, belong to community groups or public service organisations, have a positive attitude, develop your career, continue your education, love having family and friends around, desire financial freedom, enjoy physical exercise, know what gives you pleasure, etc.?

● Your own combination of these (or different) things. What are your priorities in life — being creative, reading, etc. Think of the things that bring you most pleasure.

Step two

Now circle or highlight the 6–8 items above which are the most important to you or which feature most prominently in your day-to-day life. When you have come up with 6–8 items, transfer them to your wheel-of-life template. You can position them at the end of each ‘spoke’ in the boxes provided.

Figure 2 Wheel of Life




Step three

Consider each ‘spoke’, and score on a scale of 0 to 5 the amount of time, effort and focus you are currently putting into each of these areas. Moving out on each spoke from the centre of the wheel, ‘0’ at the centre of the circle represents no time effort and focus and ‘5’ represents complete time, effort and focus. Highlight your chosen score by shading the square on the scale. (Another way to think of this is to score how satisfied you are with each of the elements of your life represented on the spokes, with ‘0’ being entirely unsatisfied, and ‘5’ being completely satisfied.)

Once you have completed all your spokes, draw a line between each of the highlighted squares, moving from spoke to spoke. You should end up with some sort of a ‘wheel’, but it could be a bumpy one.

Step four

Now consider each ‘spoke’ and tick the point in the scale to represent the amount of

time, effort and focus you would like to be putting into each area.

As for Step Three, now draw a line between each of these newly highlighted squares, using a different colour than you used for Step Three. Again, you will end up with some sort of a ‘wheel’.

Step five

Take a highlighter pen and mark along each spoke, highlighting the part of the spoke between your ‘as it is now’ line drawn in Step Three, and your ‘how you would like it to be’ line drawn in Step Four.

Step six

Now let’s identify the areas presenting the biggest gaps. The longest highlighted line on your spokes represents the biggest gap. The three areas presenting the biggest gaps for you are:

1. _____________________________

2. _____________________________

3. _____________________________

The biggest gaps may well be related to a work–life imbalance. Or they may be related to life areas where you need to make some changes (such as financial matters).


Step seven

Consider a goal that you can commit to address each of the three gap areas. Make some notes on the flowing page about what actions you may need to include in your strategic plan to ensure you achieve these goals. Here are some questions to help you generate some ideas:

● Is there any time-consuming task in your life that you don’t actually need to be doing?

● Is there anything you can do differently to free up time and energy for the things you would rather be doing?

1.3 Work–life balance

The following points are very important when considering your work–life balance:

● You, your family and the people who work in your business are the most important assets.

● Work–life balance doesn’t just happen; it needs to be considered and planned. We must make an effort.

● There are financial, emotional and operational costs for you, your family and your business if we don't get our balance right.

● It can be particularly difficult for business owner operators to separate work and life. It’s important to regularly consider the difference between the two.

● There is no recommended balance; it’s about what each of us needs in each phase of our life.

● We must learn to identify our personal warning signs that we don’t have the balance right, and respond.

● The wheel-of-life activity shows us what satisfies us, so that we can plan in response.




2 EFFECTIVE TIME MANAGEMENT

In terms of time management, many people operate on the mistaken belief that they really do have enough time for everything, if only they could organise their hours more efficiently. The result is often an attempt to change their behaviour by working faster at their tasks. They try to 'hurry up'. Of course, this strategy hardly ever works.

There are times when working faster makes sense. But normally, working faster produces problems. Under 'hurry up' conditions, people make more mistakes. They have less time to think, plan, and reflect before taking action on problems.

Working longer is a second strategy often adopted. Personal time disappears as work time increases. Fatigue becomes a factor - both physical and mental. Judgement is less clear. Hours may be spent trying to solve problems that a fresh mind could solve in minutes.

A third strategy is to work harder, but what does this mean? Can we really work harder; are we all really working below our capacity?

Time is a paradox - we never seem to have enough, yet really we have all the time there is. The solution to the paradox of time then, is to focus on the most important things first, realising that there is always enough time for the really essential matters – to work smarter.

Time cannot be increased in quantity. Your time is your time. Other people may make demands on how you spend your time, but it is still you who must do the spending. Only you can improve the quality of your time. Ultimately, you spend your time as you will.

Remember - time is life. The way you spend your time defines your life - who you are. Your time is your own and your commitment to time management is really a commitment to yourself, and what is important to your life.

Time is not adaptable but fortunately people - including you - are. Managing time means adapting ourselves to its passage in some satisfying manner. It means managing ourselves, if time seems to be out of control. To bring ourselves back under control, we need to change, to adopt new and more appropriate habits.


2.1 Chunk, Block, and Tackle

Large projects can sometimes be so overwhelming it is difficult to even plan to start them. This time management technique is ideal for taking on these jobs. Simply break down the project into manageable chunks, block off time to work on the project, and then tackle it with a single-minded focus.

Chunk: Break large projects into specific tasks that can be completed in less than 15 minutes.

Block: Rather than scheduling the entire project all at once, block out set times to complete specific chunks as early in the day as possible. This should allow you to ignore most interruptions and focus on just this task.

Tackle: Now tackle the specific task, focusing only on this task rather than the project as a whole. Once completed, you will feel a sense of accomplishment from making progress on the project.

‘You will never find time for anything if you want time you must make it.’

– Charles Buxton




2.2 Prioritising Your Time

Time management is about more than just managing our time; it is about managing ourselves, in relation to time. It is about setting priorities and taking charge. It means changing habits or activities that cause us to waste time. It means being willing to experiment with different methods and ideas to enable you to find the best way to make maximum use of time.

The 80/20 Rule

The 80/20 rule, also known as Pareto’s it Principle, states that 80% of your results come from only 20% of your actions. Across the board, you will find that the 80/20 principle is pretty much right on with most things in your life. For most people, really comes down to analysing what you are spending your time on. Are you focusing in on the 20% of activities that produce 80% of the results in your life?

The Urgent/Important Matrix

Great time management means being effective as well as efficient. Managing time effectively, and achieving the things that you want to achieve, means spending your time on things that are important and not just urgent. To do this, you need to distinguish clearly between what is urgent and what is important:

Important: These are activities that lead to achieving your goals and have the greatest impact on your life.

Urgent: These activities demand immediate attention, but are often associated with someone else’s goals rather than our own.

This concept, coined the Eisenhower Principle, is said to be how former US President Dwight Eisenhower organised his tasks. It was rediscovered and brought into the mainstream as the Urgent/Important Matrix by Stephen Covey in his 1994 business classic, The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People. The Urgent/Important Matrix is a powerful way of organising tasks based on priorities. Using it helps you overcome the natural tendency to focus on urgent activities, so that you can have time to focus on what's truly important.


Figure 3 Urgent / Important Matrix

A. Urgent and

Important: Activities in this area relate to dealing with critical issues as they arise and meeting significant commitments. Perform these duties now.

B. Important, but Not Urgent: These success-oriented tasks are critical to achieving goals. Plan to do these tasks next.

C. Urgent, but Not Important: These chores do not move you forward toward your own goals. Manage by delaying them, cutting them short, and rejecting requests from others. Postpone these chores.

D. Not Urgent and Not Important: These trivial interruptions are just a distraction, and should be avoided if possible. However, be careful not to mislabel things like time with family and recreational activities as not important. Avoid these distractions altogether.

You can use the above matrix to code your priority list. For example, A1, A2, A3, B1

etc.




2.3 Prioritising Your Goals

Achieving challenging goals requires a lot of mental energy. Instead of spreading yourself thin by focusing on several goals at once, invest your mental focus on one goal, the most important goal right now. When you are prioritising, choose a goal that will have the greatest impact on your life compared to how long it will take to achieve. A large part of goal setting is not just identifying what you want, but also identifying what you must give up in your life in order to get it. Most people are unwilling to make a conscious decision to give up the things in their life necessary to achieve their goals.

Visualisation

Emotionalising and visualising your goal will help you create the desire to materialise it into your life. One of the best visualisation tools is a vision board. Simply find a magazine, cut out pictures that resonate with the goal that you want to achieve, glue them onto a piece of poster board, and place that board somewhere that you can view it several times a day.

In order for visualisation to work, it’s necessary that you emotionalise your goal as much as possible. Create a list of the benefits you will see when you achieve your goal and concentrate on how that will make you feel.


2.4 Planning Wisely

The hallmark of successful time management is being consistently productive each day. Many people use a daily plan to motivate themselves. Having a daily plan and committing to it can help you stay focused on the priorities of that particular day. As well, you are more likely to get things accomplished if you write down your plans for the day.

Essentially, planning is nothing more than writing down and prioritising the tasks and associated steps that you need to take throughout the month, week and day to ensure that your goals and tasks are completed.

Personal development expert Brian Tracy believes that when you write down your prioritised task list the night before, your subconscious mind focuses on that plan while you sleep. By planning the night before, you will also start fresh and focused on the most important tasks for the day. Of course, you will want to review your list in the morning, but you will have a head start on your day.

Always have your task list with you during the day to avoid becoming side-tracked. Crossing off completed tasks will give your subconscious mind a tremendous amount of satisfaction. This will also help to maintain your motivation to complete the remaining items on your list.

If you find yourself moving uncompleted tasks over into the following day, and the day after that, then you need to ask yourself why that task is on your list in the first place and what value it has in your life.

Table 1 Sample task list

Item Priority Time Needed Notes Done

Electronic calendars such as Outlook provide task list and scheduling functions.




2.5 The Glass Jar: Rocks, Pebbles, Sand, and Water

There is a story about time management that uses a glass jar, rocks, stones, pebbles, sand, and water to illustrate how to plan your day. The glass jar represents the time you have each day, and each item that goes into it represents an activity with a priority relative to its size.

Rocks: The general idea is to fill your glass jar first with rocks. Plan each day around your most important tasks that will propel you toward achieving your goals. These represent your highest priority projects and deadlines with the greatest value, often important, but not urgent tasks that move you toward your goals.

Pebbles: Next, fill in the space between the rocks with pebbles. These represent tasks that are urgent, and important, but contribute less to important goals. Without proper planning, these tasks are often unexpected, and left unmanaged, can quickly fill your day. Working to reduce these tasks will give you more time to work toward your goals.

Sand: Now add sand to fill your jar. In other words, schedule urgent, but not important tasks, only after important tasks. These activities are usually routine or maintenance tasks that do not directly contribute to your goals.

Water: Finally, pour water into your jar. These trivial time-wasters are neither important nor urgent and take you away from working toward high return activities and your goals.

If you commit to this approach to planning your days, you will see as time goes on that you are able to achieve more in less time. Instead of finishing things in a mad rush to meet deadlines, each day will be organized and become more productive and profitable. You will also notice yourself spending less time on activities that are of little to no value. And because you have a clear vision for dealing with competing priorities, the level of stress in your life will diminish, which will allow you to become even more focused and productive.


2.6 Apply Task Triage to All Tasks

1. Ensure you have listed all tasks that compete for your attention. This will

most likely be recorded in your form of time management system” or created when

you first implement your system.

2. Prioritise All Tasks

i) Ask yourself, is this task related to my “Overriding Purpose” or my “Goals”?

ii) Use Pareto’s Principle; 80% of the outputs result from 20% of the imports.

Tim Ferris Questions:

Which 20% of sources are causing 80% of my problems and unhappiness?

Which 20% of sources are resulting in 80% of my desired outcomes and

happiness?

3. Set Realistic Time Limits for All Tasks. Parkinson’s Law – work expands so as

to fill the time available for its completion.

4. Schedule Time to Complete Tasks.

5. Complete One Task at a Time. Focus on one task at a time based on your

prioritisation and ensure you aim to keep to your time limit and avoid or decrease

interruptions.

Source: David Allen, Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-free Productivity, 2015

Figure 4 Time triage




2.7 Using Calendars

To manage all of the things that you have to do, it’s important to organise your tasks and reminders into a single or small number of calendars and lists that can be reviewed regularly. A calendar (paper or electronic) is the obvious place to record meetings, appointments, and due dates.

People with multiple responsibilities, an annual calendar organised by areas of responsibility (e.g., budget, personnel, schedule, planning, and miscellaneous) may be especially valuable. For each of these areas, one can list the major responsibilities month by month and thereby see at a glance what tasks must be completed in a given month of the year.

Your prioritised task list within Outlook can be a valuable tool for organising tasks, identifying patterns, improving workflow, and recording work completed.

Time Management System Rule:

1. If tasks are 5 minutes or less batch them into a scheduled calendar time.

2. If tasks are larger than 5 minutes they should be scheduled individually into your calendar.


2.8 Dealing with E-mail

Electronic communication can be managed just as easily and as quickly as paper with the four D’s that we just discussed. However, there are some other key ideas that will help you maximise your e-mail time.

1. Like other routine tasks (such as returning phone calls, handling paper mail, and

checking voice mail), e-mail is best handled in batches at regularly scheduled

times of the day.

Morning – 1 hour

Lunch – ½ hour

End of day – 1 hour

2. Ask your e-mail contacts to use specific subject lines, and make sure to use

them yourself. This will help you to determine whether your incoming mail is

business or personal, urgent or trivial.

3. Read it once and action on it. Decide what to do with each and every message

as soon as it arrives – 4 D’s model:

1. Delete it

2. Do it - Can I do this in less than 2 minutes?

3. Delegate it – Is this message really meant for someone else to handle?

4. Defer it

4. Use your e-mail system to its fullest potential. Create folders to support your

time management system. Create Quick Steps and Rules to increase the

efficiency of this process.

a. Set up a simple and effective folder system - Action, Read, Archive

b. Assign useful categories to organise email messages (see snapshots

next page)

c. Automate your most repetitive tasks

d. Apply a decision making model to manage your inbox

e. Create Categories to Sort Your Action List:

Urgent – Actionable within 24 hours

When Possible – Actionable but not immediate

When Response Arrives – Actionable but only after I receive a

response




2.9 Personal Energy and Focus

A. Identify and protect your most effective time of the day to use for complex and high priority tasks.

B. Do not multi-task, commit your individual attention to one thing at a time.

C. Work according to our natural ultradian rhythm, our bodies operate in 90 minute intervals.

D. Enhance and maintain your physical energy levels; good nutrition, regular exercise and sleep are vital.


3 DELEGATION

Delegation can be defined as “appointing someone else to act on your behalf”. It means you are asking another person to do something that is normally part of your responsibility.

It can be a useful tool to reduce your workload and/or when you do not have the required skills to complete a task.

When delegating you must give the person three things:

1. Accountability for completing the task

2. Authority to make necessary decisions and take appropriate action to complete the task

3. Freedom to complete the task properly in their own way.

You do not delegate responsibility. What you delegate is authority to act.

When delegating it is very important that everyone involved understands their:

Role

Responsibility

Reporting

Monitoring

When delegating ask yourself the following question.

Does the person have the skills, knowledge and time to carry out the delegated task?




4 CULTURE

4.1 Balancing Business and Culture

Figure 5 Balancing and culture

4.2 What is culture?

Culture is largely the shared beliefs held by a group of people. It is a mind thing. We notice what the culture is by the thinking and behaviours expressed by the group. In an organisation or business, culture is demonstrated by many things including: how people treat each other; what they say to customers; their commitment to work safety and the environment; how people are recognised; how decisions are made; and peoples’ attitudes to work. The list goes on. In a nutshell, it is everything we say and everything we do. It is what we see and hear when the boss is out of the room.

Cooke and Lafferty (Human Synergistics, 2010) describe organisational culture as:

The shared norms and expectations that govern the way organisational members approach their work and interact with others. It is how people believe they are expected to behave in order to ‘fit in’, ‘get ahead’ and at times simply ‘survive’.

With that definition, it is easy to imagine that our personal values may at times be compromised by workplace culture and vice versa. Imagine coming into a new workplace where theft is common. Stealing certainly won’t be a stated value of the business but it will be an accepted part of the culture. It is a shared belief of ‘what happens around here’: it is OK to steal. Now, if your family believes in honesty and or trustworthiness, this workplace culture will create a personal dilemma for you. Do you

CULTURE

Traditional concepts

Family Elders

Responsibilities

Values

BUSINESS

Ability to make money

Efficiencies

Effective decision making

Cultural / Social benefits


leave because of the disconnect, or do you blow the whistle (and then probably leave later) do you live with it or even become part of that culture?

Culture determines how well a business copes with change, uncertainty and pressure — both from inside and outside of the business. Leaders have considerable impact on the way employees believe they are expected to behave.

So what are the common factors that contribute to the culture of your business and the ultimate success of your business?

Human Synergistics Australia / NZ produced the success model below. We will visit elements of this model throughout this workshop.

Figure 7 Performance model by Human Synergistic Australia / NZ




In the following extract, Phil Haussler (2010) describes culture as ‘what we value most’.

There are two important words in this definition. First, the term WE. Culture is only relevant in a group. That might be your family. Or it might be a school, a church, a job, or a nation. Wherever a group of people function as a collective, you’ll find culture. Second, the term VALUE. When you value something, an appraisal of its worth is built in. Life is full of trade-offs and we often knowingly or unknowingly make choices among the things we care about.

Let’s think about a few examples:

1. Safety systems and quality systems are given a high profile in businesses as things that must be done and there may be consequences to that not being done properly. At the same time, getting product off the line and delivered on time is also given a high profile. Which value becomes the most important? If it is getting product out on time, then it is easy for a culture of safety shortcuts to grow.

2. In most families, parents value both fun and discipline. But these two are often in competition. In the instances where they are at odds, which wins? When a child misbehaves and you threaten to cancel an agreed treat, like a trip to the park, do you choose discipline and follow through or do you choose fun and cave in?

3. Academic achievement and sporting prowess are often both valued in high schools by students, teachers and parents. But the two are often at odds. To be focused on one and to be very successful often means the other gets less attention. So, which gets chosen or appears to have the greatest value? Is it sports or is it academic achievement?

4. In most businesses, management and employees value procedural and process efficiency and zero defects or errors. Many of those same organisations claim to value innovation. But the two are often competing values. Creating something is a messy business. It includes mistakes and often outright failure. Innovation, in many cases, is the antithesis of efficiency and quality.

So, what gets valued most? Is the dominant culture of your family discipline or fun? Is your school primarily a sports culture or an academics culture? In your business, does efficiency or innovation win?

Now consider why this matters for your business. There is no ‘right answer’ when it comes to culture. An ‘innovation culture’ isn’t necessarily better than an ‘efficiency culture’. If you’re McDonald’s, efficiency and quality / no defects probably should be highly valued. But if you’re Google, without an innovation culture, your days are numbered.


What’s critical about culture is that it grows whether you like it or not. Like a vine, you can attempt to guide it up a trellis. But if you’re not purposefully creating a framework for it to grow around; it’s going to grow and develop on its own.

The trick is getting intentional about culture. Because this we do know: companies that ‘get culture right’ win. ‘Getting culture right’ means successfully matching the right cultural elements to your business strategy. And — just as important — it means finding people that fit the culture you’re trying to create or maintain

Source: http://go.quantumworkplace.com/blog/bid/50742/What-is-Culture

If we were to look at three kinds of workplace culture presented by authors Cooke and Lafferty, we would see some of the behaviours identified below. Research shows that constructive cultures achieve better business outcomes measured in dollars: sales, profit, more engaged and committed employees with an investment in the success of the business, greater employee satisfaction and wellbeing, increased innovation and outstanding customer service.

Table 2 Constructive culture behaviours

CONSTRUCTIVE CULTURE BEHAVIOURS

Encourage growth and development Shows concern for others

Achieve goals Strong commitment to the business

Accepts and shares responsibility Creative problem solving

Takes on challenging tasks Self respect

Believes individual effort is important Receptive to change

Cooperative and friendly Involves others in decision making

Motivates by role modelling




Table 3 Aggressive culture

AGGRESSIVE CULTURE BEHAVIOURS

Wants to control everything Opposes new ideas

Has little confidence in people Resists change

Seldom admits mistakes Critical of others

Competing rather than cooperating Looks for mistakes and fault

Strong need to win Sets unrealistic goals

Believes in force Has to personally take care of everything

Creates self-induced stress

Table 4 Defensive culture

DEFENSIVE CULTURE BEHAVIOURS

Difficulty decision making Be a good follower

Non committal Aim to please everyone

Rules more important than ideas Sets goals to please others

Sets predictable goals and objectives Support those with the most authority

Follows policies and practices regardless

Agree with everyone

Hopes that problems take care of themselves

Reluctantly deals with conflict

Rely on others for direction

All business owners have in mind the ongoing sustainability of their business. Sustainability is about managing and building the business in such a way that it will continue to operate in an effective, profitable and socially and environmentally responsible way into the next generation and beyond. It is the ability to endure.


Culture contributes significantly to sustainability principles and vice versa. Sustainability often forms one of the values that contribute to constructive cultures.

From this model — as well as that previously described from Human Synergistics — you will notice that leadership contributes significantly to both culture and the ability for the business to continue to exist in a useful and healthy way.




5 LET’S LOOK AT LEADERSHIP

Figure 8 Wheel of business sustainability

Source: http://www.comparisonintl.com/products/sustainability/probe-sustainability-business-changeagency.php

Earlier, we compared behaviours in constructive, defensive and aggressive cultures and (not surprisingly) noted that the qualities and behaviours of the best leaders fitted with the behaviours of the most constructive cultures.

This tells us that leadership and culture are interwoven.

http://www.comparisonintl.com/products/sustainability/probe-sustainability-business-changeagency.php

http://www.comparisonintl.com/products/sustainability/probe-sustainability-business-changeagency.php


5.1 What is a leader?

Let’s first describe what leadership is. According to the Business dictionary:

Leadership is the activity of leading a group of people or an organisation, or the ability to do this.

Source: www.businessdictionary.com/definition/leadership.html

Leadership can occur at any level of an organisation and the leader can even be a person who has the ability to influence others but who is not in a recognised leadership position. This might be someone influential on the shop floor, but who is not employed as a team leader or manager. This suggests that many leaders have natural skills that inspire others to follow them. While this may be true, leadership can also be learned through experience. Organisations need leaders at all levels, but a business leader goes one step further and sets an organisation’s strategy and culture. This involves setting the pace and direction of an organisation, attracting the right people to develop the business, and inspiring people at all levels of the business to greater achievements

An article (author unknown) posted on the Institute of Leadership and Management website says:

‘Good, effective leaders have a knowledge and understanding of a range of types and methods of leadership, sensitivity to the environment within which they are working, and a self-awareness and understanding of others that allows them to moderate their leadership behaviours appropriately.’

Source: http://www.i-l-m.com/about-ilm/business-leadership.aspx

What then seems to be the tried and trusted roles of an effective leader?

A shopping list of effective leadership roles might look something like the following slide. There are certainly common traits that researchers identify as essential to leadership and some that are evident in the best performing businesses throughout the world.

When you think of your own business, how many of these roles does the leader assume? It is likely to be ‘all of them’, with emphasis on different roles at different times, depending on who you are working with, the level of knowledge they possess, their technical skill, how long they have been with the business, the degree to which you trust them, how self directed they are, and whether they are part of a smaller team or work in isolation.




You will also no doubt have many management skills that support these roles. The most common of these include performance management, recruitment, retention, reward and recognition, and monitoring and measuring.

It is also usual for leaders to also have some technical background, perhaps in finance, product development, sales, negotiation, production, transport, packaging or human resource management.

It is not usual for a business leader to have the skills needed to run the entire business at his or her fingertips. They then have to rely on others to assist them in the leadership role, or — at the bare minimum — in other business roles that get the job done.

Effective leadership roles

Table 5 Behaviours displayed by effective leaders

EFFECTIVE LEADERSHIP ROLES

Create an inspiring vision and shared values

Communicate openly

Lead change Empathise, listen and support

Lead by example Involve everyone /team

Demonstrate confidence Coach – bring out the best in others

Inspire and energise Encourage group decision making

Empower Monitor progress


We have talked about leadership and culture, and their role in business. Soon, we will be looking at what makes an effective team.

Currently in Australia and elsewhere, employee engagement is getting a lot of airplay. It is of particular interest because the workplace is moving from the dedicated, steady and consistent work ethic of the ‘baby boomer’ generation who are now approaching retirement to the next generations of employees who are motivated in other ways.

5.2 Employee engagement

Employee engagement does not mean employee happiness.

Someone might be happy at work but that does not necessarily mean they are working hard or productively on behalf of the business. While company recreation rooms, social clubs and team gatherings are fun — and may be beneficial for other reasons — making employees happy is different from making them engaged.

Nor does it mean employee satisfaction.

Many companies conduct ‘employee satisfaction’ surveys, and executives often talk about ‘employee satisfaction’, but this sets the bar too low. A satisfied employee might show up for his or her daily shift without complaint. But that same ‘satisfied’ employee might not put in any extra effort and will probably be lured away by a 10 per cent pay increase. Satisfied isn’t enough.

But it does mean emotional commitment the employee has to the organisation and its goals.

This emotional commitment means engaged employees actually care about their work and their company. They don’t work just for a pay packet, or just for the next promotion, but work in support of the organisation’s goals.

When employees care — when they are engaged — they use discretionary effort.

This means the engaged computer programmer works overtime when needed, without being asked. This means the engaged farm hand This means the engaged retail clerk picks up the rubbish on the shop floor, even if the boss isn’t watching. This means the engaged quality control person in the factory will check the last run, even though it’s close to knock-off time.

Engaged employees lead to better business outcomes. In fact, according to Towers Perrin research, companies with engaged workers have 6 per cent higher net profit margins, and according to Kenexa research, engaged companies have five times higher shareholder returns over five years (cited in the ‘2012 global workforce study: engagement at risk in a volatile global market,’ by Towers Watson).




Engaged employees lead to:

higher service, quality and productivity, which leads to …

higher customer satisfaction, which leads to …

increased sales (repeat business and referrals), which leads to …

higher levels of profit, which leads to …

higher shareholder returns (i.e. stock price).

As former Campbell’s Soup CEO, Doug Conant, said: ‘To win in the marketplace you must first win in the workplace.’


5.3 Additional leadership information

The next few pages explore leadership further — leadership styles, positional leadership, leadership theories, functions and qualities. They are not required reading but may provide some useful insights into what you are doing and how you are going about it.

‘Leadership models and theories’ is a summary, which acknowledges the works of authors Maxwell, John Adair, Daniel Golman, Peter Senge and Stephen Covey, and leadership centre I-Change. It was written by a world authority on leadership, John Adair, of the University of Surrey & the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, with some adaptation.

‘You can be appointed as a manager, but you aren’t a leader until people choose to follow you.’


Department of Agriculture and Food, Western Australia:


Leadership models and theories

Leadership additional information — In the next four pages, further information is provided about leadership; styles, positional, theories, functions and qualities. It is not required reading but may provide some useful insights into what you are doing and how you are doing it.

Leadership Models and Theories — A summary (acknowledgement to the works of Maxwell, John Adair. I-Change, Golman, Senge and Covey) This summary is written by John Adair of the University of Surrey & Sandhurst with some adaptation.

There have been literally thousands of books written on this subject and, while it is always useful to learn from others, leadership is a factor of much more than theories. Each person has to find a way of leading that is congruent with who they are, so it comes over as authentic. However, it might be helpful to summarise some of the more important ideas about leadership in one place.

In the past 60 years, there has been a revolution in leadership from ‘command and control’ to ‘business leadership’. A great deal of money is being invested in this by government, organisations and learning institutions. The change in the understanding of leadership is as significant as the fall of communism. Change is at the root of it.

John Adair, of the University of Surrey and Sandhurst, described three levels of leadership:

team leadership (control of a single team)

operational leadership (control of a number of teams which make up a complete operation)

strategic leadership (control of the entire business / organisation).

Leadership is required at all levels of an organisation, and teamwork is required to bind the teams together.

A leader needs to:

define the task

plan

brief / communicate

control

evaluate

motivate

organise

set an example.


As a leader moves up this pyramid, they also need to:

set a direction

align peoples’ efforts

bring out the best in people

act as a change agent

handle uncertainty and crises.

An interesting question is: ‘Why it is that one person is accepted as a leader in a group (and not someone else)?’

A leader needs the following qualities:

He / she must personify the key qualities required in your field (be technically competent)

Enthusiasm

Integrity (required to generate trust)

Toughness, fairness and demanding

Warmth, humanity and tact

Humility (arrogance means you don’t learn).

These days most people recognise that there are three distinctly different types of leadership:

Positional: That comes from your position in the organisation

Situational: That emerges from what is happening on the ground (think of the person soldiers actually follow under fire)

Knowledge: That derives from being technically knowledgeable and competent (‘knowledge is power’).

A leader, to be effective, needs to derive his or her authority from all three sources.

In the 1960s, the US military tried to analyse and understand leadership. They observed two types of behaviour:

actions to achieve the task

actions to look after the ‘people’ issues.

They noticed that the effective leaders met three sets of needs:

The needs of the task

The needs of the team undertaking the task

The needs of each individual within the team.




Situational leaderships looks at the needs of the people to achieve the task. An effective leader understands the needs of the situation in these three key areas and draws upon relevant leadership behaviours to achieve the outcome. This may range from coaching to ‘telling’, with varying degrees of empowerment in between.

Each group, team and organisation has its own unique culture. A leader needs to establish a real partnership with the rest of the organisation to meet its aims and treat people as partners; they will respond accordingly.

There are seven qualities of a strategic leader:

Direction (purpose and aim of the business)

Strategic thinking (bridging the gap between now and the future)

Making it happen (details)

Relating the whole to the parts

Establishing allies and partners outside the business

Releasing corporate energy

Developing leadership in others.

Adair observed that there are ‘four paths up the mountain’.

What you are

What you know

What you do

What you believe.

In the 1990s, Peter Senge at MIT Sloan School of Management, said that leaders needed to address five key areas:

Developing everyone’s view of the bigger picture through systems thinking

Developing personal mastery at all levels

Challenging the mental models and beliefs of the organisation

Developing teams that captured their learning

Promoting a shared vision throughout the organisation.

Covey sees leadership as ‘a choice to deal with people in a way that will communicate to them their worth and potential so clearly they will come to see it in themselves’.

Yet another way of describing leaders is to describe what they do as either:

transactional: people do what they do because they are paid to or transformational: where the leader inspires them, and creates and shares his or

her vision.


It used to be rather simplistically thought that leaders were one or the other. In real life, most will be able to use both styles to some degree. However, the better the leader, the more they have access to both. To move from a transactional to a transformational style, a leader needs to develop the following five skills:

Perceptual: Being able to see things from many different perspectives; seeing others’ points of view, seeing the ‘big picture’.

Communication: Being able to persuade, listen and present well.

Displaying conviction: Being passionate and committed to the agreed course of action (in times of change, people need certainty … even if it is sometimes illusory).

Empathy: To be able to see things from others’ points of view.

Resilience: The ability to keep at it, to overcome the inevitable problems along the way, and — once you have arrived — to make everyone realise that the journey isn’t over!

Some academics estimate that the untapped potential of some organisations is as high as 80 per cent. Clearly, the job of any leader is to marshal assets and resources as effectively as possible. And it really is true that people are your greatest asset. This is why modern leaders are now required to demonstrate high Emotional Intelligence (EI) as opposed to IQ.

The key attributes that Daniel Goleman identifies are:

self awareness

self management

motivation

social awareness

social skills.

In reviewing various management styles, the four most effective ways to build positive emotional capital are:

using cross-functional teams

creating a shared vision

coaching

using democratic decision-making processes.




Of course, this overview is by no means exhaustive, but it is hoped that you find it useful. It does capture some of the key themes that leaders need to focus on. Adair’s personal summary of leadership would be:

create and share a clear compelling vision

focus on the customer

bring in the best people and bring out the best that they have to offer

communicate regularly and clearly, always making as much time to listen as to speaking

be honest; people already know three quarters of the truth

be positive and enthusiastic

plan and measure the things that will make a difference

be sensitive in choosing when you need to be supportive and when you need to be hard on people

recognise that sometimes you need to stop, regroup and even to retreat a little — but you never stop moving forward

people will go much further with a little bit of honest praise and recognition, so never ‘hog the glory’

make change a permanent feature of your culture.


6 HIGH PERFORMANCE TEAMS

There is no doubt that working cooperatively and collaboratively with one or more other people helps with maintaining enthusiasm for the job, momentum, direction, focus and certainly accountability. It can also at times lead to tension and dissatisfaction if effective problem-solving mechanisms are lacking.

In a team that is performing very well — whether a management team, a production team or a sales team — and regardless of what level the team is within the business, there are common characteristics or traits that lead to high performance teams.

A highly performing team in a business is an absolute asset. It can be relied upon to consistently deliver high quality results, to look for improvement opportunities and to be modelling the values of the business. Who wouldn’t want one of these?

It is helpful to identify what makes the difference between a high performing team and an ordinary one. Successful teams share a number of characteristics and behaviours.

6.1 Shared characteristics and behaviours of a high performing team

Common purpose: They are all working to achieve the same ends.

Effective measures: They know when they are on track, and when they need to do something more or different.

A shared plan: They understand not only what to do but how to do it. The plan has enough detail to guide them, and enough flexibility to enable them to cope with changes in circumstances, to incorporate new knowledge, skills and capabilities, and to compensate for difficulties encountered.

Clear roles and responsibilities: They all know what they should be doing, they understand their strengths and weaknesses and compensate accordingly. They value and use their differences and build on them.

Regular, quality, two-way communications: This is the life blood of a real team and can never be ignored. It involves both speaking out honestly and listening attentively. It binds them together and facilitates action (whether on plan or to compensate for changes). It is used to:

support and encourage

question

challenge

direct

bond.




Adaptability and creativity: Times change, teams evolve, new challenges arise, old strengths wane. No plan is perfect or fully complete (you don’t know what you don’t know). A winning team can respond to these changes in a creative and appropriate manner.

Effective leadership: This is different from having a strong leader. In the best teams leadership is flexible and situational and shifts to the person best placed to offer leadership at that point in time. Leadership is more about capabilities than position.

Common values: There needs to be a shared underpinning of what is really important to the team and what is peripheral. When the going gets tough (and it always does at some stage) you need to make sure that everyone is not only focused on the same goal, but is being directed by the same 'compass'.

Effective tools and processes: It is really tough to turn out good work with shoddy tools.

Effective problem solving and dispute resolution: These are linked but not the same. Problem solving tends to related to tasks and dispute resolution is about relationships. Eventually, you are bound to encounter both and the team needs to have the tools and skills, and motivation to deal with both and not lose its way.

Shared rewards: If there is no balance in terms of how the team is rewarded then sooner or later the wheels will fall off. Everyone ultimately acts on their own agenda (What is In it For Me? or WIFM). We sublimate our own drives and goals to those of the team only when we get more of what we want by doing so. This goes back to the days when cave dwellers hunted mammoths; if they got more food by hunting as a pack, they continued to do so.

Source: Richard Derwent Cooke (2007) High performing team


6.2 Lencioni’s five dysfunctions of a team

A functional, cohesive team can become a competitive advantage for a business looking for a powerful point of differentiation.

Functional teams get more accomplished in less time than other teams because they avoid wasting time on the wrong issues and revisiting the same topics again and again. They also make higher quality decisions and stick to those decisions by eliminating politics and confusion among themselves and others. Functional teams tend to keep their team members longer because "A" players rarely leave organisations where they are part of a cohesive team.

A useful model to improve team effectiveness is Patrick Lencioni’s Five Dysfunctions of a Team. Lencioni (2002) explains five very common behavioral challenges all teams must continuously work to avoid in order to be effective teams.

The Five Dysfunctions

Dysfunction #1: Absence of Trust

This occurs when team members are reluctant to be vulnerable with one another, and are thus unwilling to admit their mistakes, acknowledge their weaknesses or ask for help. Without a certain comfort level among team members, a foundation of trust is impossible.

Dysfunction #2: Fear of Conflict

Trust is critical because without it, teams are unlikely to engage in unfiltered, passionate debate about key issues. This creates two problems. First, stifling conflict actually increases the likelihood of destructive, back channel sniping. Second, it leads to sub-optimal decision-making because the team is not benefiting from the true ideas and perspectives of its members.

Dysfunction #3: Lack of Commitment

Without conflict, it is extremely difficult for team members to truly commit to decisions because they don't feel that they are part of the decision. This often creates an environment of ambiguity and confusion in an organization, leading to frustration among employees, especially top performers.

Dysfunction #4: Avoidance of Accountability

When teams don't commit to a clear plan of action, peer-to-peer accountability suffers greatly. Even the most focused and driven individuals will hesitate to call their peers on counterproductive actions and behaviors if they believe those actions and behaviors were never agreed upon in the first place.




Dysfunction #5: Inattention to Results

When team members are not holding one another accountable, they increase the likelihood that individual ego and recognition will become more important than collective team results. When this occurs, the business suffers and the team starts to unravel.

Figure 9 Five Dysfunctions of a Team – Patrick Lencioni


7 CONNECTING WITH OTHERS

Some of the following information was covered in workshop one of the Plan, Prepare, Prosper program, however we have included the information in this workshop as refresher and reminder of the importance effective communication has in achieving success in business.

7.1 Understanding and connecting with others

As a leader and/or business owner it is very important to build effective relationships and communicate well with others. One very useful tool to help us understand people better is to use the ‘Click! ColoursTM’ tool. We used this tool in workshop one however, hear is a refresher.

How to build great relationships quickly – or four colourful characters

The following article was written by David Koutsoukis, co-author with Greg Barnes of the book, Why you click with some people and others drive you crazy! David is a director of Click! ColoursTM International — a company that shows you how to build relationships quickly, by understanding what makes people tick.

Do you find there are some people you get along with straight away? Are there others you find very frustrating or annoying? And have you ever wondered why you ‘click’ with some people and others drive you crazy? Read on and find out why.

Most people would agree that good relationships create the foundation for success, but how do we build relationships with people we don’t seem to get along with? In the words of Stephen Covey, we need to: ‘Seek first to understand, then to be understood’.

Human behaviour is very complex but psychologists have been able to identify some patterns of behaviour. Recognising these patterns helps us to understand what makes people ‘tick’, and what we need to do to communicate effectively with them.

These patterns can be represented as four colourful characters that guide our behaviour — a bit like the devil and angel on each shoulder that ‘whisper’ in our ear. One or two of these characters ‘shine’ more brightly than the others and becomes our dominant sub-personality. You ‘click’ with people like you, and those who are not can drive you crazy! Knowledge of these characters within yourself and others will help you to understand what makes them tick.

Human behaviour is, of course, much more complex than four colourful characters, but the Click! ColoursTM are a great start to help you build relationships and boost success by understanding people who are not like you.




Click! ColoursTM

Are the people in your business ‘analysers’ (blue), ‘players’ (yellow), ‘safekeepers’ (green) or ‘carers’ (red)? Figure 3.6 shows you how best to match your communication style with each type. Figure 3.7 shows you how to interpret yourself and others. Develop the habit and skill of checking on your perceptions of others, and on how you come across to them.

Left brain Right brain

BLUE

Analysers

✓ Explain the logic behind your words

and actions, and back it up with data if needed.

BE LOGICAL

YELLOW

Players

✓ Make it fun, exciting and energetic

for them.

MAKE IT FUN

GREEN

Safekeepers

✓ Be clear, organised and punctual,

and take into account possible risks.

BE ORGANISED

RED

Carers

✓ Be friendly and genuine, express

your feelings, and show empathy for others.

SHOW EMPATHY

Figure 10 Four Click! ColoursTM characters or sub-personalities that make up every individual

Source: www.clickcolours.net


7.2 Communication

How we communicate with others

We know that communicating effectively is key competency for a leader and business owner. Often we each think that we are communicating clearly and that, if there is a misunderstanding, the other person must be at fault. In fact, when we look at communication as a system, it is a wonder that we understand each other as often as we do.

Communication is not simply a matter of one person talking, the other listening and then reversing roles. Communication is certainly about taking turns, listening and talking, but this does not guarantee shared understanding.

Each of us comes pre-programmed with ‘filters’ as to how we think and interpret information. New information, through communication (verbal and non-verbal) is run through these filters without us even being aware. The message, after being filtered, is what we each respond to. But even that is not a simple process as our responses are also subject to the same type of filtering.

How often have we listened to our children or noticed our own communication and thought … wow, that sounds just like me or just like my mother or father. You can be delighted at that thought or find it scary, especially when it is not something you are consciously doing.

What contributes to the filters?

There are many things — including our belief system, which is largely established at a young age and strongly informed by our family of origin. Our family values, what gets attention, what type of communication is displayed, how conflict is played out, hidden messages, euphemisms, irony — the list is endless.

It is further affected by what we have learned from experience — the ‘what happened when ...’ scenario. We make connections about cause and effect and link these with new experiences as the brain recognises a pattern, even if, in fact, the intention is quite different. In this way, without conscious thought, we become a product of a system that reacts to stimulus based on previous information or a fight-flight mechanism. Unconsciously, we manipulate the new information to fit a pattern we already know.

Consider the following example:

You are delayed at the factory dealing with a breakdown and time escapes you as you repair it. You have no choice but to stay because deliveries will be delayed as a result of the breakdown. You head home tired, looking for some sympathy about the horrible end to your day and just wanting to enjoy some quiet uncomplicated time with your partner.


What greets you at home? An angry partner who has shovelled the meal that was carefully prepared for you earlier into the bin. All hope of a contented evening has gone rapidly south.

How do you respond? Do you ask questions to try to understand what has happened or do you react according to previous experience (your ‘filter’)? Maybe it taps into the story of your partner being heartless, jumping to conclusions, only concerned about themselves.

Perhaps another story is playing out for your partner … why couldn’t he ring me and let me know, I have been waiting for him, I was looking forward to dinner with him, it’s always like this, work is more important than me …

7.3 Communication as a system

Figure 11 Communications loop adapted from Schramms’ model of communication (1954)

Communication and shared understanding is clearly much more than just taking turns at listening and speaking.

It is about bringing skill and awareness to both the intention and the interpretation of the communication.


Andrew Horabin (Andrew Horabin Bullshift) says ‘The inability to talk straight and be open costs us time, energy, money and morale. How much more effective could we be if our team members, customers, managers and suppliers were all able to be open with each other and talk straight?’

Applying the principles of Bullshift contribute to better problem solving and decision making, more effective meetings, increased engagement in the workplace, more objective analysis and a performance management process that is meaningful and real.

The principles described by Andrew are neither new nor innovative. What they define in very simple language is the behaviour that gets in the way of good communication and relationships and the change in behaviour that is required to move past this block. For example ― being defensive is a behaviour and is mostly around defending our ego. If we were to let go of our ego and instead ‘be curious’ and ask questions to understand (an alternate behaviour) it is likely that we will have a more open discussion and be less ‘entrenched’ in our thinking.

Get to know your BULLSH!fT (Horabin 2011).

The 14 Principles of honest and straightforward communication

1. Don’t be defensive

Be curious

2. Don’t make excuses

Say what happened and take responsibility

3. Don’t waffle

Use less words

4. Don’t use corporate speak

Use real words

5. Don’t have an opinion if you don’t need one

Stay open

6. Don’t express opinion as fact

Express opinion as opinion

7. Don’t get too emotionally invested

Detach and reflect

8. Don’t gossip

Be respectful

9. Don’t pretend you do if you don’t

Be authentic

10. Don’t act without awareness

Know your motivation

11. Don’t mutter

Speak up

12. Don’t leave out the truth

Say the important stuff

13. Don’t hide your judgments in jest

Say it straight or don’t say it

14. Don’t expect truth without safety

Make it safe to be honest


Department of Agriculture and Food, Western Australia:



7.4 Active listening

Active listening is an important part of communicating effectively. It is a tool that confirms the understanding of both parties. The tool employs ‘feedback’ strategies that allow the listener and speaker to establish a shared understanding of what has been said.

Active listening ensures that the ‘listener’ is not ‘waiting to speak’, which can be a barrier to effective communication. Active listening is a discipline that adds an action to a normally passive process.

The four ingredients

Repeating

Occasionally repeat what the speaker said exactly. This will confirm precisely what was said and might also help you remember what was said.

Paraphrasing

Instead of repeating what the speaker said exactly, try rephrasing what they said in your own words. Use similar words to those used by the speaker. This will demonstrate that you were both listening and understanding what they said. You may begin by saying:

● So you feel that the most important thing in this matter is …

● I feel that what you are saying means that …

● If I’m understanding you ...

Questioning

Open-ended questions can illicit more information about the topic under discussion. Open questions are phrased in such a way that the answer cannot be just ‘yes’ or ‘no’. Examples include:

● What did you mean when you said …

● What else might happen if …

● What did you consider when you came to this …

● Describe the alternatives you have thought about …

Reflecting

Put the speaker’s comments and observations in your own words. This is like paraphrasing, but in this instance use your words entirely.




Communication do’s and don’ts

Non-verbal gestures

● Always face the other person

● Be open and inviting

● Watch your body language (e.g. crossed arms can suggest self-importance or disagreement)

● Be on time

● Don’t look at your watch

● Use some facial expressions (e.g. nod or smile)

Verbal gestures

● Be respectful

● Keep your questions short

● Be non-judgmental

● Be objective

● Listen to the entire message before speaking

Source: www.communication-skills-4confidence.com/active-listening.html

7.5 Choosing our response

The principles discussed on the previous pages are largely present in other methodologies and programs such as crucial and difficult discussions, they underpin effective performance management, social and emotional intelligence and leadership programs.

By applying these, both to your business and to your personal relationships, one would expect to notice an increase in ‘real communication’ around the business, increased enthusiasm, people focused on the right things at the right time and in the right way and an improvement in the emotional safety around communication. This all contributes to building an achievement focussed and aligned business.One of the uniquely human skills we have that helps is illustrated below by the equation:

S + T = R

Stimulus (S) plus Thinking (T) = Response (R)

You may have heard of the famous behaviourist Pavlov’s experiment with a dog. Through training, the dog came to associate being fed with the sound of a bell. Stimulus–response. The bell would ring and the dog would be provided with food.

http://www.communication-skills-4confidence.com/active-listening.html


Later, the bell would ring but the food would be absent. The dog would still salivate as it continued to associate the bell with food.

Unlike Pavlov’s dog, we have the opportunity to choose our response by applying thinking to a situation. If we are phobic about snakes and see one, the immediate response would probably be to ‘get the hell outa here!’. If we apply thinking, we look at the risk, the danger, and then decide what to do. Similarly, in the scenario of arriving home late from work, there is a choice — respond angrily or adopt an enquiry line by asking questions.

Stephen Covey lists ‘Seek first to understand and then be understood’ as one of the eight habits of highly effective people and it is certainly a way in which we can both start to understand our filters and bring consciousness to our communication.

Figure 12 Choosing a response helps to manage consequences




8 IMPROVED HUMAN RESOURCE OUTCOMES

8.1 Performance management

Performance management processes and systems, staff appraisal processes ― call them as you will ― have been around since time began. Some were developed with a view to rewarding exceptional performance through bonus schemes, others were developed to ensure that everyone knew their roles and responsibilities and others were simply developed to keep the troops in line. Some processes were very formal and explicit and some were very explicit but informal ― for example ― gladiators in Roman times were very clear of their role and the consequences for not performing it to an outstanding level!

Performance management is usually linked with employee development and the discussions are interwoven.

It is sometimes linked closely with substandard performance and disciplinary action and can be tarnished with negative overtones. Substandard performance processes may be an outcome of continued poor performance but generally does not sit centrally within the performance management model.

Exploring what makes performance management work is a logical link with our discussion on communication. After all, setting and agreeing performance expectations and providing feedback are 100% centred in verbal communication.

The key aims of a performance management system are to:

align the employees’ efforts with the business objectives recognising that the achievement of these objectives depends on the contribution and performance of all staff

ensure employees know what is expected of them in their role and how their performance will be evaluated

provide opportunities to receive coaching and feedback on performance and work related issues

facilitate development through discussing learning goals, career aspirations and establishing.

An effective performance management process should:

define the roles and responsibilities of the staff member

outline the key activities of the staff member

agree the standards required for the job

have regular face to face discussions between the staff member and their supervisor. Nothing takes the place of face to face discussion

identify training requirements and explore development needs and career advancement if appropriate


have built in feedback and review opportunities so that any performance feedback is relevant and timely. There is no point keeping feedback for weeks after the an issue has arisen as this builds resentment

help the employee understand the boundaries of their job, including decision making and authority.

In the bestseller, Good to Great, Jim Collins discovered that, ‘the good-to-great companies continually refined the path to greatness with the brutal facts of reality.’

And, in his recent autobiography, Jack Welch reports that he spent about half of his time on people: recruiting new talent, picking the right people for particular positions, grooming young stars, developing managers, dealing with under performers, and reviewing the entire talent pool.

Says Welch, ‘Having the most talented people in each of our businesses is the most important thing. If we don't, we lose.’

Why is it that many of us put off giving feedback to our employees even though we intuitively know that giving and getting honest feedback is essential to grow and develop and to build successful organisations? Maybe it is because there are so many ways to screw it up.

Here are ten common feedback mistakes (Judith Lindenberger)

1. Speaking out only when things are wrong. ‘Praise to a human being represents what sunlight, water and soil are to a plant ― the climate in which one grows best.’ ― Earl Nightingale

2. ‘Drive-by’ praise without specifics or an honest underpinning ― ‘Great job!’

3. Waiting until performance or behaviour is substantially below expectations before acting on it.

4. Giving positive or negative feedback long after the event has occurred.

5. Not taking responsibility for your thoughts, feelings and reactions. ‘This comes straight from the boss.’

6. Giving feedback through email messages, notes, or over the telephone.

7. Giving negative feedback in public.

8. Criticising performance without giving suggestions for improvement.

9. No follow up afterwards.

10. Not having regularly scheduled performance review meetings.

Giving and receiving clear and constructive feedback requires courage and skill, and is essential to building good relationships with and motivating peak performance from your team.




Setting the scene for agreeing performance expectations and standards

If we all managed our employees well, the reduction of lost time and conflict within the business would be significant yet we know that managing some employees can take considerable resources.

Generally, the ‘rules’ for making performance effective are simple but require time up front to set and agree the expectations.

Performance links strongly with your recruitment process, in particular, how much attention do you pay to ‘choosing the best cultural fit’ for your business and what emphasis you place on recruiting for attitude as well as technical skills. Each business will have a uniqueness to their recruitment and labour needs and some will have more staff selection opportunities than others.

If performance starts with the staff selection, it is quickly reinforced by the induction and probation period. It is important that new staff are inducted into the business, their reason for being, and that what is expected of them is clear.

Expectations and work tasks are ideally agreed between the worker and the supervisor at a face to face meeting. Expectations that are jointly developed and agreed are powerful contributors to employee engagement, satisfaction and good performance. It is important to ask questions to confirm there is clear understanding.

The 14 principles of Bullshift previously noted, will help with providing effective feedback. Most importantly, feedback needs to be given in a safe environment, in a respectful, empathetic way. It is especially important to ask questions to achieve clarity and to gain commitment to the behaviours and work standards you require.

And finally, giving feedback that people can hear

If you manage people, work in Human Resources, or care about your friends at work, chances are good that one day you will need to hold a difficult conversation.

People dress inappropriately and unprofessionally for work. Personal hygiene is sometimes unacceptable. Flirtatious behaviour can lead to a sexual harassment problem. A messy desk is not the sign of an organised mind. Unreturned cool drink do draw ants.

Vulgar language is unprofessional. Revealing cleavage belongs in a club, a party, or on the beach. Leaving dirty dishes for others to wash is rude.

Have you encountered any of these examples? They're just samples of the types of behaviour that cry out for responsible feedback. These steps will help you hold difficult conversations when people need professional feedback.

Steps to provide feedback in a difficult conversation

http://humanresources.about.com/od/glossarys/a/sexualharassdef.htm


Seek permission to provide the feedback. Even if you are the employee's boss, start by stating you have some feedback you'd like to share. Ask if it's a good time or if the employee would prefer to select another time and place. (Within reason, of course.)

Use a soft entry. Don't dive right into the feedback ― give the person a chance to brace for potentially embarrassing feedback. Tell the employee that you need to provide feedback that is difficult to share. If you're uncomfortable with your role in the conversation, you might say that, too. Most people are as uncomfortable providing feedback about an individual's personal dress or habits, as the person receiving the feedback.

Often, you are in the feedback role because other employees have complained to you about the habit, behaviour, or dress. Do not give in to the temptation to amplify the feedback, or excuse your responsibility for the feedback, by stating that a number of co-workers have complained. This heightens the embarrassment and harms the recovery of the person receiving feedback.

The best feedback is straightforward and simple. Don't beat around the bush. I am talking with you because this is an issue that you need to address for success in this organisation.

Tell the person the impact that changing his or her behaviour will have from a positive perspective. Tell the employee how choosing to do nothing will affect their career and job.

Reach agreement about what the individual will do to change their behaviour. Set a due date — tomorrow, in some cases. Set a time frame to review progress in others.

Follow-up. The fact that the problem exists means that backsliding is possible; further clarification may also be necessary. Then, more feedback and possibly, disciplinary action are possible next steps.

You can become effective at holding difficult conversations. Practice and these steps will help build your comfort level to hold difficult conversations. After all, a difficult conversation can make the difference between success and failure for a valued employee. Care enough to hold the difficult conversation.




8.2 How to start a feedback conversation

Often starting a feedback conversation can be difficult and if we don’t start the conversation well it can go off track easily and not achieve the desired outcome. It’s always s a good idea to plan out what you are going to say and the following outline of how to start your conversation is a good planning template.

How to start a feedback conversation – 60 Second Start:

Name the issue

Give specific evidence

Describe your emotions and story - “I feel... when... because”

Clarify what’s at stake

Identify your contribution

Communicate intent for win / win

Invite response.

Figure 13 How to start a feedback conversation


An example:

Hi Jacob, thank you for taking the time to have a chat with me today. I’d like to chat about how we can ensure your start times are consistent with the rest of the team. I’ve noticed during the last two weeks that you’ve been late to work on five out of ten days and the minimum time you’ve been late by has been half an hour.

I feel frustrated when you arrive late to work because you are missing our start up meetings with the team. This means that you miss out on vital information that effects your work decisions and we miss your input during team discussions to solve current problems.

In the past I may not have communicated how important I feel these team start up meetings are. In the future, I’d like to ensure you are able to attend the start up meetings. How can we ensure this happens?

Example broken into stages:

Name the issue I’d like to chat about how we can ensure your start times are consistent with the rest of the team. Give specific evidence I’ve noticed during the last two weeks that you’ve been late to work on five out of ten days and the minimum time you’ve been late by has been half an hour. Describe your emotions and story - “I feel... when... because” I feel frustrated when you arrive late to work because you are missing our start up meetings with the team. Clarify what’s at stake This means that you miss out on vital information that effects your work decisions and we miss your input during team discussions to solve current problems. Identify your contribution In the past I may not have communicated how important I feel these team start up meetings are. Communicate intent for win / win In the future, I’d like to ensure you are able to attend the start up meetings. Invite response. How can we ensure this happens?




8.3 How to mediate and resolve conflict

The choices we make in conflict resolution

Conflict abounds in the workplace. Each of us will spend some time each week (maybe 2–3 hours) involved in some way in conflict. In many of the cases, the outcomes are unsatisfactory and lead to fall-outs, disharmony, and distractions from the real purposes of work. The cost in lost productivity and human pain is considerable. That's why models of conflict resolution, such as the Thomas-Kilmann model, are vital to learning how to manage conflict more effectively.

Figure 14 Conflict resolution: The Thomas-Kilmann Model

The Thomas-Kilmann model was designed by two psychologists, Kenneth Thomas and Ralph Kilmann, to illustrate the options we have when handling conflict. There are two dimensions in the model. The first dimension, the vertical axis, is concerned with conflict responses based on our attempt to get what we want. Thomas and Kilmann call these the Assertiveness options. The other dimension, the horizontal axis, is concerned with responses based on helping others get what they want. Thomas and Kilmann call these the Cooperativeness options. This creates 5 basic types of response.


The five options of conflict resolution

These are the five options in conflict resolution in the Thomas-Kilmann model.

These two basic dimensions of behaviour define five different modes for responding to conflict situations:

1. Competing is assertive and uncooperative — an individual pursues his own concerns at the other person's expense. This is a power-oriented mode in which you use whatever power seems appropriate to win your own position — your ability to argue, your rank, or economic sanctions. Competing means ‘standing up for your rights,’ defending a position which you believe is correct, or simply trying to win.

2. Accommodating is unassertive and cooperative — the complete opposite of competing. When accommodating, the individual neglects his own concerns to satisfy the concerns of the other person; there is an element of self-sacrifice in this mode. Accommodating might take the form of selfless generosity or charity, obeying another person's order when you would prefer not to, or yielding to another's point of view.

3. Avoiding is unassertive and uncooperative — the person neither pursues his own concerns nor those of the other individual. Thus he does not deal with the conflict. Avoiding might take the form of diplomatically sidestepping an issue, postponing an issue until a better time, or simply withdrawing from a threatening situation.

4. Collaborating is both assertive and cooperative — the complete opposite of avoiding. Collaborating involves an attempt to work with others to find some solution that fully satisfies their concerns. It means digging into an issue to pinpoint the underlying needs and wants of the two individuals. Collaborating between two persons might take the form of exploring a disagreement to learn from each other's insights or trying to find a creative solution to an interpersonal problem.

5. Compromising is moderate in both assertiveness and cooperativeness. The objective is to find some expedient, mutually acceptable solution that partially satisfies both parties. It falls intermediate between competing and accommodating. Compromising gives up more than competing but less than accommodating.

Likewise, it addresses an issue more directly than avoiding, but does not explore it in as much depth as collaborating. In some situations, compromising might mean splitting the difference between the two positions, exchanging concessions, or seeking a quick middle-ground solution.




Each of us is capable of using all five conflict-handling modes. None of us can be characterised as having a single style of dealing with conflict. But certain people use some modes better than others and, therefore, tend to rely on those modes more heavily than others — whether because of temperament or practice.

Your conflict behaviour in the workplace is therefore a result of both your personal predispositions and the requirements of the situation in which you find yourself. The TKI is designed to measure this mix of conflict-handling modes.

These are the steps you want to take to help with conflict resolution in your workplace.

Create an encouraging atmosphere. It is important to choose the right time and the right place and set some ground rules around how the meeting will run. It is important to neutralise emotions as much as possible by concentrating on the issue rather than the person where possible.

Meet with the antagonists together. Let each briefly summarise their point of view, without comment or interruption by the other party. This should be a short discussion so that all parties are clear about the disagreement and conflicting views. Intervene if either employee attacks the other employee. This is not acceptable.

Ask each participant to describe specific actions they’d like to see the

other party take that would resolve the differences. Three or four suggestions

work well. An example is, ‘I’d like Mary to send the report to me by Thursday at

1 pm so I can complete my assignment by my due date of Friday at noon.’ A

second example is, ‘I would like to have responsibility for all of the business

development and follow-up with that client. The way the work is divided now

causes Tom and I to never know what the other person is doing.’

It is also important to address what the following questions as this helps with finding common ground, and building goodwill and positive energy:

What Do I Want?

What Do They Want?

What Do We Want?

Sometimes, as in the second example above, you, as the supervisor, must own some of the responsibilities for helping the employees resolve their conflict. Always ask, ‘What about the work situation is causing these staff members to fail?’

If the situation needs further exploration, use a process adapted from Stephen Covey in which you ask each participant to additionally identify what the other employee can do more of, less of, stop and start. You may even have


to look at some cause and effect diagrams to really understand the situation. It is really useful at this stage to explore the benefits of resolution to start building a willingness to change or forgive

Generating options. It is important to take the time to look at options that will solve or at least diminish the level of conflict. Generate ideas without evaluating their worth in the first instances, be creative, dig deeper into what the options might look like.

Building a solution. It is useful to visualise what a solution will look like, feel like, etc. What will I notice, you notice, they notice in behaviours? If there are several potential solutions, create a shortlist and develop some criteria to help with making the decision.

All participants discuss and commit to making the changes necessary to resolve the conflict. Commit to noticing that the other person has made a change, no matter how small. Commit to treating each other with dignity and respect. It is okay to have reasonable disagreements over issues and plans; it is never okay to have personality conflicts that affect the workplace. Write your agreements into an action plan so they can be revisited.

Let the antagonists know that you will not choose sides, that it is impossible for a person external to the conflict to know the truth of the matter. You expect the individuals to resolve the conflicts proactively as adults. If they are unwilling to do so, you will be forced to take disciplinary action that can lead to dismissal for both parties.

Finally, assure both parties that you have every faith in their ability to

resolve their differences and get on with their successful contributions within

your shared organisation. Set a time to review progress.

Mediating a conflict is challenging, but as a manager or supervisor, the role of mediator comes with your territory. Your willingness to appropriately intervene sets the stage for your own success. You craft a work environment that enables the success of the people who work there. Conflict mediation is an example of ‘practice makes perfect.’




Table 6 Conflict resolution: The Thomas-Kilmann Model Styles and when to use them

STYLE WHEN TO USE IT

COMPETE When you are determined to get your needs met, or the issue is something that you aren’t prepared to compromise on, and you are not concerned about marinating the relationship.

ACCOMODATE In situations where the relationship takes priority. For example, if your partnership is looking fragile, you might decide to postpone getting your needs met in order to placate the other person.

COMPROMISE When time is short and you need to agree a practical resolution that you can both live with.

AVOID When the costs of discussing the topic outweigh any likely benefits. There are some issues which might not be open to resolution, and even discussing them can create bad feelings on both sides.

COLLABORATE When you will be having an ongoing relationship with the other person. You will be working closely together and it is important that both of you get your needs met.


8.4 Workplace Safety

An important point for us to discuss related to ourselves and our team is workplace safety. Ensuring that your workplace is a safe place for you, your family and your employees to work is an essential task as a leader. It is a large area for learning, and you are encouraged to do some research in your own time about this.

A great place to start is by looking though some of the existing resources provided government departments and agencies. For example:

1. Work Safe WA (www.worksafe.wa.gov.au). Is an excellent resource for all aspects of workplace safety.

2. Farm Safe WA (www.farmsafewa.org). The Farm Safe WA website contains resources to help you think about the different types of safety risks that exist on your farm, as well as guidance about how you can minimise them.

3. Agricultural Workbook for safety (https://www.commerce.wa.gov.au/sites/default/files/atoms/files/agricultural_workboo.pdf). This workbook is a great tool for working through in detail the physical risks in your business and links to national standards for safety that all businesses must comply with.

‘I cannot imagine any

condition which would cause

a ship to founder. I cannot

conceive of any vital disaster

happening to this vessel.

Modern shipbuilding has

gone beyond that.’

Captain Edward Smith

Captain of the Titanic

http://www.worksafe.wa.gov.au/

http://www.farmsafewa.org/

https://www.commerce.wa.gov.au/sites/default/files/atoms/files/agricultural_workboo.pdf

https://www.commerce.wa.gov.au/sites/default/files/atoms/files/agricultural_workboo.pdf




For today, let’s look at one of the biggest risks on a farm — ‘complacency’. No doubt, most of you have been touched by some kind of farm injury story. We have all come into contact with someone who has been hurt at work at some point. But on a daily basis, it’s easy to think ‘it will never happen to me’.

Have you ever taken time out to ask yourself, ‘What might go wrong when I’m unloading the truck?’ Detailed planning will allow you to prevent an accident from occurring or limit its impact to your business and may even be a strategy to reduce the costs of your insurance.

‘I have to do this. How am I going to do it safely?’ Dale Sutton, Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development, Western Australia, Technical Officer, survivor of three back operations as a result of handling sheep – 2014

Critical to the success of your safety planning is communication. Who in your business needs to know about the physical risks in your business and your safety planning?

Have a look at your internal and external stakeholders’ lists you developed in introduction to strategic planning. What do these people need know about safety in your business? What is the best way to communicate to your stakeholders? How often should discuss safety with your stakeholders?

Have you ever taken time out to ask yourself, ‘What might go wrong when I’m unloading the truck?’ Detailed planning will allow you to prevent an accident from occurring or limit its impact to your business and may even be a strategy to reduce the costs of your insurance.


OHS Responsibilites & Obligations

Hazardous Substances

Training & OHS Information

Manual

Handling

FireEmergency Evacuation

Accidental

Injury & Disease Reporting

First Aid

Essential OHS Policy Areas

Figure 15 Essential OHS Policy Areas

Source: Commonwealth of Australia, Workplace Safety Policies 7




9 RESILIENCE AND MANAGING STRESS

So far today we have talked about culture, teams, leadership, HR systems and communication, and how these impact upon the health of the business and ultimately the success of the business.

In this section, we look at what affects your health — both physical and emotional but particularly emotional, so that each of you can takes steps to arm yourself, each other and those in your employ with positive strategies that promote your health and wellbeing.

Let’s begin by looking at stress.

9.1 Stress

According the World Health Organisation (WHO):

Health is a state of complete physical, mental and social wellbeing, not merely the absence of disease.

When we think about health and wellbeing, it is easy to think only about our fitness and physical health. Considering our total wellbeing is equally critical. Something that everyone in business faces from time to time is stress. Stress can affect our physical health, in the short term and in the long term, and it can also affect our ability to do a good job and make quality decisions about our business.

Research indicates that a little bit stress is actually good for us. It is what keeps us on our toes and helps us to get things done. This is positive stress. Negative stress is when we are left feeling like we can’t cope or are overwhelmed and feel like things are out of control.


Figure 16 Yerkes Dodson Stress Curve

The long-term effects of stress

Business life is busy, hectic and often stressful. Everyday issues like balancing budgets, dealing with machinery breakdowns, family pressures or solving difficult problems can cause stress.

There are several physical effects that ‘negative stress’ has on our body. Stress releases adrenaline in our body. Positive stress means that we have enough adrenaline to keep us motivated, but when we move into negative stress, we have too much adrenaline. High levels of adrenaline increase our heart rate, raise our blood pressure, have negative effects on our respiratory system and can almost shut down our digestive system.

What is stress?

Stress is a natural human response to pressure when faced with challenging and sometimes dangerous situations. That pressure is not only about what’s happening around us, but often also about demands we place on ourselves.

Experiencing stress is part of being alive and some stress helps increase our alertness and energy to meet challenging situations.




If stress lasts a long time or overwhelms our ability to cope, it can have a negative effect on our health, wellbeing, relationships, work and general enjoyment of life.

Stress doesn’t have to control our lives. We can improve our knowledge about stress and increase our resources to become more resilient. Here are some tips about what to look for and how to help yourself or get help.

How does stress affect us?

Stress is helpful when it increases our ability to be alert, energised, switched-on and resourceful in facing challenges we enjoy or have to deal with. But stress becomes unhelpful when it leaves us feeling fatigued, tense, anxious, burnt out or overwhelmed.

The tipping point between helpful and unhelpful stress is different for each of us and can also depend on what’s happening in our lives.

Stress is unhelpful when we:

can’t switch off — feeling alert and anxious even when we want to be resting

can’t cope — even small things get us down, leave us exhausted

withdraw from relationships, work or fun activities or become irritable

have difficulty concentrating

have aches and pains unrelated to exercise or any medical condition

have difficulty eating or sleeping properly.

Sometimes stress builds up and takes on a life of its own — so that we feel anxious, even when not facing difficult situations.

What causes stress?

Everyone responds differently to stress depending on personality, cultural background, social circumstances, past experiences, stage of life, support networks and the situation we find ourselves in. A situation one person finds stressful, another person may consider normal or even fun. For example, flying in a plane may be terrifying for one person and pleasurable for someone else.

Sally might not be bothered by a heap of deadlines piling up, and just thinks: ‘That’s OK. It’ll all get done eventually’.

Fred, on the other hand might feel really worried about the same heap of deadlines and thinks, ‘I’ll never get through this mountain of work’.

In a different situation Sally might become extremely stressed about a relationship problem while Fred is able to shrug it off as ‘one of those things’.


How you react to stress can depend on many things, including:

how anxious you feel generally

whether you’ve experienced something similar before

how much you feel you can control what is happening

how long the situation has been going on for

how important the situation is to you

whether you have mates and family around to help.

Causes of stress can include:

relationship problems

personal or family illness

conflict, e.g. bullying or harassment

death of a relative or friend

work or study pressures

traumatic events

financial problems

concerns about life direction

job loss or job insecurity

pressures from competing demands

a combination of the above.

Signs you may be stressed

Lack of motivation

Sleeplessness or oversleeping

Moodiness

Headaches

Lack of concentration

Feeling overwhelmed or anxious

Reliance on alcohol or other substances to cope

Increased eating, drinking or nervous habits

Not coping with demands or responsibilities.




How do you know when stress is becoming a serious problem?

You know that stress is becoming harmful when it causes a feeling of distress and discomfort. It can change the way you feel, how you think, how you behave, and your physical wellbeing.

What helps?

Be aware — monitor your levels of stress and ask whether they are helpful or getting you down.

Take stock — think about things in your life or pressures you place on yourself that may be increasing your stress.

Take charge — deal with unhelpful sources of stress before they build up and become a bigger problem.

Make choices — look at areas in your life where you could manage your situation better or change the way you respond.

Learn about some good ways to deal with stress. For example:

talk to someone you trust

call a friend

phone Lifeline.

Have a health check with your GP.

Get regular exercise.

Eat a healthy, balanced diet.

Make time for things you enjoy.

These are ways to help you bounce back and become more resilient. Sometimes, it can help to see a counsellor to talk about stressors in your life and find better ways to cope.


9.2 What is resilience?

Resilience is our emotional ability to bounce back or move forward when we are faced with adversity or challenging situations.

It is the recognition that life can be tough but that we can also make choices about how to deal with it in a way that keeps us safe, maintains our energy for living and does not compromise our decision-making ability. It is what keeps us from giving up.

Tips on resilience

1. Learn to look after yourself. If you can’t look after yourself, you can’t look after your mates, you can’t look after your family and you certainly can’t look after your business.

2. Understand that we are all going to be challenged sometime.

3. We are all going to react differently.

4. It is not about how others see you; it is about how you see yourself.

5. Recognise the signs and symptoms of when your resilience is slipping.

6. Recognise that sometimes bad things happen to good people, and that you are still a good person.

7. The best way to ride the ups and downs is to stay well, energised and in control.

— Dennis Hoiberg (2012)

Resilience is not just something we tap into when things are not going right for us. It is a way of being, a way of thinking and a way of talking, especially to ourselves. When we are confronted by difficult times, we are able to draw upon this resilience to manage ourselves and the situation at hand. We are able to access problem-solving behaviours rather than our instinctive fight or flight responses that we have previously talked about.

Connection between physical and emotional resilience

Our physical wellbeing and emotional wellbeing are interconnected – one effects the other. Have you ever noticed that when you are physically unwell it’s much harder to be emotionally resilient and vice a versa? Have you ever noticed that when your physical resilience is high that it’s much easier to be positive and emotionally resilient?

As part of our emotional resilience it’s very important to ensure our physical resilience is high. There are three main elements that contribute to our physical well being:

1. Our diet – nutrient intake

2. Exercise




3. Sleep

Think of your body as a machine. As a business owner you know that it’s important to maintain and look after your business assets such as vehicles and machinery. It’s a simple way of ensuring that business operation continues, on an ongoing basis, without hiccups like waiting on mechanics during important times.

When busy managing day-to-day operations, it’s easy to fall into the trap of neglecting our most important asset — ourselves and the people involved in our business. Sometimes, the people in a business are referred to as ‘human capital’. This is a great way of thinking about the value that you, your family, your employees and business partners bring to your business.

Like physical assets, poor management of human assets can present the same kind of strategic risks for your business. This can mean problems with day-to-day operations as well as the long-term future of your business.

So what a does a resilient mindset look like?

A resilient mindset is largely a mindset of awareness. It is an understanding of what pushes your buttons and how you respond to these situations.

It is an awareness of the self-talk that happens in your head and the ability to use the self-talk in a healthy way. Resilient people learn or have the art of ‘reframing’ self-talk that allows them to change how they are thinking about a given situation, particularly in moving from pessimistic to more optimistic thinking.

Accepting yourself for who you are rather than who you would rather be or what you think others want you to be is very important, as is the ability to have empathy for others.

Resilient behaviours allow you to deal both with success and mistakes in a pragmatic way. You know what to focus on to be successful by setting goals, practising, making changes, harnessing the positive self-talk and reframing the negative self-talk.

It is important to build your resilience and make it part of your everyday life.

So how do you build it?

Tune into your self-talk. Listen to the messages. Note the patterns. Decide to change.

Look for opportunities of reframing events or situations to be more optimistic.

Learn to discuss your feelings.

Connect with others — your mates, your colleagues. Care for them.

Build on your strengths. Notice when you are ‘in the zone’. Enjoy that feeling, remember it — you may need to remind yourself sometimes about feeling good.


Keep connected with your community, the business, your friends, your family.

Practise dealing with those ‘pushed buttons’ and choose your response.

Don’t underestimate the need for regular, good quality sleep.

The following figure highlights why building resilience is important.

So what?

Lifeline 2004

Depression affects 1 in 5 people in their adult life — similar rates to diabetes, heart diseases and cancer

11% of population experienced mental illness From ABS 2011

2130 died by suicide in Australia in 2009

More than traffic deaths and homicides combined

1 in 17 people think about suicide at any time

More females attempt suicide but

More males (80%) complete suicide than females

Figure 17 Impact of depression in Australia




9.3 Recovery rocket

The following information has been kindly shared by Andrew May. For further information visit his website at www.andrewmay.com

Andrew May has worked with many people to build resilience and recover from burn out. His work with elite athletes has led him to develop the Recovery Rocket, which is based on reviewing our lifestyles and building in regular periods to recharge, revitalise and renew in order to ensure we sustain performance and avoid burning out.

He advises us to grab our calendar for the next 12 months and make ourselves accountable by following his model the Recovery Rocket.

The Recovery Rocket model is based on the following diagram.

Figure 18 Recovery Rocket Model (May 2008)

http://www.andrewmay.com/


As illustrated in the previous figure the Recovery Rocket model is broken down into five compartments represented by the numbers 1 – 3 – 30 – 300 – 365. How does this work?

It’s easy:

Every year you should take one proper holiday, or at least an off-season.

Aim to get three mini-breaks throughout the year, preferably one mini-break every three months.

For thirty weeks of the year, aim to get 100 recovery points.

On three-hundred nights of the year aim to get a full, restorative night’s sleep where you wake up the following morning feeling totally refreshed and recharged.

And 365 days of the year go SLOW for at least ten to fifteen minutes every day.

1 Holiday or Off-Season

A recent article in the Australian Financial Review reported a Tourism Australia survey highlighting the fact that the Australian workforce collectively has more than 70 million days of accrued annual leave. This equates to 14 million weeks or nearly $11 billion. Close to 60 per cent of Australian workers do not use their full annual leave.

Remember, leisure time is time off work and holidays should include prolonged periods of relaxation, free from work. We know that it’s imperative for elite athletes to take regular time out to recover and recharge, as this not only keeps them in the sport longer, but also dramatically decreases their risk of injury and burnout. So why do we try and play a five-day ‘corporate’ test match week in, week out?

The key to performing at your peak is high-intensity effort interspersed with regular time-outs for recharging and renewing. Lock in a proper holiday at least once a year, preferably for 10 days to weeks.




3 Mini Breaks

I’d like you to try and lock in at least three of these during the year.

I recently returned from a three-day mini-break with my wife. We travelled north of Sydney and stayed at Nelson Bay. We both took Friday off work and escaped the city early to avoid any traffic congestion on the way. No computers, no weekend working conversations on the mobile, no reading anything remotely related to work material. Just pure R&R.

Back at work on the Monday, I received a phone

call from Nina around 10 am. ‘I feel so relaxed it’s amazing. It feels like we’ve been away for weeks

and weeks!’ she glowed. And I felt exactly the

same. That Monday morning, everything felt so much clearer, and I’d already worked out solutions to a few problems I’d been stuck on for the last few weeks.

Have you had a similar experience? I’m sure you have. Forcing yourself to have

proper time out allows your body to slow down. You are effectively hitting the reset button.

Plan a mini-break in your diary every three or four months. The best way to do

this is to lock the time in and stick to it. I’m always amazed that when I commit to

having a break by locking it in my diary, it always happens.

30 weeks of 100 recovery points

David Misson introduced a recovery system with the Sydney Swans where players accumulate 100 points each week to ensure they are recovering properly for the upcoming game. An ice bath or a massage might be 20 points, yoga scores 25 points, an easy stretch 10 points and so on. During the pointy end of the season, Misson gets the players to double their weekly targets and aims for 200 recovery points each week.

The Corporate Recovery Toolbox is based on a format similar combining both indoor and outdoor activities, with the total goal being 100 points a week. For the sake of this exercise, only count each activity once in the scoring system.

IDEAS FOR MINI-BREAKS:

• go camping

• book a place on the

coast

• buy three new

books and housesit

for a friend

• travel to the country

• book an old-style

B&B (and have

huge, relaxed

breakfasts!)

• hire a houseboat

• tour the wineries


I’d like you to accumulate points from a range of activities. You’ll notice these activities are predominantly ‘slow’ tasks. Fitness enthusiasts often feel ripped off when they first see this scale. Fitness junkies do everything hard and fast – but the simple fact is that going to the gym and belting out a Pump Class, or riding your bike up a mountain for four hours, while great for strength and cardiovascular fitness, doesn’t really help you recover and press the ‘reset’ button.

For thirty weeks of the year I want you to make sure you focus on recovering properly. Each week your goal is to get 100 recovery points. Why not buy a notebook and fill out your recovery points every week so you ensure that you make it up to your goal of 100 points, thirty weeks a year? Set yourself a four week period and see how your scores add up.

Table 7 Weekly recovery activities

INDOOR RECOVERY OUTDOOR RECOERY

Massage 50 Relaxing swim 25

Stretch/yoga 40 BBQ/picnic 25

Meditation 40 Golf 25

Social catch-up 25 Gardening 20

Dancing 25 Easy cycle 20

Sex 25 Slow walk 20

Warm bath 15 Sightseeing 20

Relaxing music 15 Festival 20

Read fiction 15 Fishing 20

Movie/theatre 15 Amusement park 15

Television 5 Shopping 15




300 nights of quality recharging sleep

The plan is to get 300 nights every year, or six nights each week, of quality sleep. Switching on to restorative quality sleep is one of the major keys to maintaining and improving performance. Research has shown human motor performance and cognition reduce exponentially with lack of sleep. Reducing your average sleep by just one hour per night over a week-long period will result in a 20 per cent reduction in daily alertness and ability to perform.

The key to maximising the benefits of sleep is to ensure you are getting quality restorative sleep. What that means is that you need to have an adequate

amount of time asleep (usually 7–8 hours), and that sleep needs to be deep, uninterrupted sleep.

365 days a year – go SLOW

Every day of the year I want you to spend at least ten or fifteen minutes taking it easy, going slow. Going slow is all about stimulating the relaxation response, the exact opposite of the stress response.

SLOW ACTIVITIES:

• walking at a gentle pace

• relaxing bath

• listening to quiet music (sorry

… ACDC, Wolfmother and

Metallica don’t count!)

• relaxing in the outdoors

• meditation

• sitting in a chair closing your eyes and

relaxing

• gentle stretching, or

• floating in the ocean.


10 BUSINESS CONTINUITY, PROGRESSION AND SUCCESSION

We have spent considerable time exploring communication and performance at a personal level to ensure the success of the business and the retention of good staff.

We need also to look at the broader needs and activities for the business that will continue to maintain growth and business success even in the absence of key people drivers. Enter continuity and succession planning!

Unless your strategic plan is all about speculating (e.g. perhaps buying a business that is in receivership, running it simply to show potential to make a profit, then selling it in the shortest possible time frame), succession and progression planning will probably be important considerations for your business and especially important if your business is a family business.

Continuity planning is the ongoing process of planning for all of the factors that need to be in place to ensure that your business would continue operating well if you were suddenly and / or temporarily not a part of it. This is often also called contingency planning.

Progression or succession planning is the ongoing process of planning the long-term ownership, leadership and success of your business, with the expectation that at some stage there will be the need to transfer management and perhaps ownership of the business into new hands. The term ‘succession planning’ is most commonly used when referring to the transfer of management or ownership of a family business to someone else within the family. For our purposes, we will refer to both progression and succession planning as simply progression planning.

Continuity and progression plans are closely related because the activities you will need to undertake for one may also be of use for the other.

For a number of reasons that we will explore in this session, many businesses do not have strong continuity or progression plans in place.

Continuity planning

Here is a checklist for continuity planning. It assumes that your business involves more than one member of your family. However, many of the considerations apply equally to a non-family business. Take a moment to complete this short assessment.




Progression (or Succession) planning

Progression (or Succession) planning is the ongoing process of planning the long-term ownership, leadership and success of your business, with the expectation that at some stage there will be the need to transfer management and perhaps ownership of the business into new hands. It is also known as transition planning.

Progression planning addresses operational, legal and financial matters and may involve:

transferring ownership or management responsibilities to others (this may or may not be family members)

retaining ownership while employing an external manager

selling the business

winding up the business.

It is often difficult for managers, particularly the founders of family businesses, to move on and leave the management of their business to someone else. Developing a progression plan can significantly reduce the impact if it is done well in advance of the actual transition.

Development of a progression plan should begin by considering the owner's objectives and their personal and family situations, the objectives of the business and those of the family. It needs to look at the business as a whole, how it will grow and prosper during and following the transition, and how it will affect the family in the case of a family-owned business.

It is important to think of progression planning as an ongoing strategic process, rather than as one-off event. There are four important parts of the progression planning process: 1) prepare; 2) plan; 3) implement; and 4) review and amend.


Figure 3.12 Consecutive elements of progression planning

1. Preparing a progression plan

Answering the following questions will help you to prepare for the planning process.

Who is involved?

First, you need to think through and document all of the people who will be directly affected by the progression plan. This is likely to include:

family members — those involved directly in the business and those who will be, or think they should be, beneficiaries of any proceeds from the business

any business partners or investors

depending upon the scale and structure of your business, your staff.

A good way of thinking about this is by asking yourself the question, ‘Who would have an interest in this progression plan?’ Take a moment to think this through and write a list based on your initial thoughts.




Who else should be involved?

Second, you also need to consider who you will go to for advice and assistance with the planning process. Here are some people / services you can consider:

facilitator

accountant or tax adviser

bank manager

human resource management specialist

lawyer

financial adviser.

What are their goals? What are my goals?

Third, all of the people involved (those ‘stakeholders’ you have listed on the previous page) should work out what they would like from the progression planning process. What are their goals? This can be documented by all of the individuals involved or, if you are using a facilitator, the facilitator can gather this information.

What information do I need to gather?

Finally, there are several pieces of information you will need to gather to develop a progression plan. This includes information about:

the current financial position of the business

your future known financial commitments (housing, school fees, daily living expenses, etc.)

the structure of the business

transfer of ownership or issues relating to this (e.g. transfer of any licences, franchising agreements or intellectual property associated with the business).


To a lesser extent, career progression of employees may well form part of your progression plan. This process may include understanding their current competencies and the ‘stretch’ required to achieve the next level. Your progression plan might include some of these stretch activities as well as coaching and mentoring of current company talent.

2. Creating the plan

Hold a first meeting

It is important that all the relevant people (‘stakeholders’) come together to discuss their needs and develop the plan together. In a small family business, this might only involve family and any business partners. In a larger business, this might also involve key staff members, such as managers or key technical specialists.

In order to create the plan, an initial meeting should take place. This initial meeting should be about everyone sharing their goals and setting ground rules.

It is important to realise that it is highly likely that all those sitting around the table will have distinctly different expectations and desires for the progression planning process and the progression plan, and that it is critical to allow these different opinions and expectations to be expressed and heard by all.

Allowing all those involved to state what they would like to get out of the plan does not imply that everyone’s desires can be met, but it helps all at the table to understand where everyone else is coming from.

Engaging an experienced facilitator for this initial meeting could be very valuable, particularly if there are existing tensions or strongly held disparate viewpoints among the stakeholders.

Here are some sample ground rules that may be of use for your initial meeting:

Have all parties agree that this is a business meeting, which should help to guide people’s behaviour.

We should all act in the best interest of the business, as well as considering our own and others’ needs.

We should have a structure or agenda for the meeting and stick to it.

(Family) relationships are the highest priority; we should be open to hearing others’ points of view without taking offence.




Develop a few options

When developing any plan, coming up with a few ideas for different ways of achieving the same goal is a great way to go.

Come up with a few ideas for each of the following:

Ways that all parties will work in the business together. That is, who does what, etc.

How will decisions be made? Will a single person be a final decision maker or will a consensus need to be reached by everyone?

How and when will the management of the business be transferred and to whom?

Who owns the assets now; when will ownership of the assets be transferred; and to whom?

What are the contingency plans for the death of a family member, injury or divorce?

Document the agreed plan

Ensure that the ideas have been captured in writing and documented. Make sure that everyone gets a copy.

3. Implementing the plan

Get a professional to review the ideas

It is a sensible practice to have a lawyer, financial planner and accountant to review your ideas and help you ultimately select the best one from a legal and taxation perspective.

Put the plan into action

When you are clear about your course of action, the plan should be formalised in writing and all relevant people should get a copy.

You should set dates by which key actions need to be taken or milestones achieved, and honour these dates. In order to ensure that all parties remain loyal to the plan, if circumstances mean that key milestones cannot be met, all involved parties should be informed and new milestone dates agreed.

You should also then ensure that legal documentation about your business is in keeping with your progression plan. Will you need to make changes to your will? Will you need to make changes to your superannuation arrangements?


Set review points

Make a decision about how often you should meet as a group to review the plan. This should depend on how much information may still be unknown. For example, perhaps a young adult involved has not yet made a decision about the role they would like to play in the business.

4. Reviewing and amending the plan

Your progression plan should be continually reviewed. The types of things you should consider include:

Has anybody’s needs changed?

Are there any changes to the family? Deaths? Marriages? Divorces?

Has the financial state of the business changed significantly, or is it likely to change significantly in the foreseeable future?

Is the current plan still workable?

Make amendments with everyone’s agreement, and distribute.




A succession case study

‘Handing over the company is hard to do, but you must’ by CEO Online (<ceoonline.com.au>).

The Tobin Brothers funeral directors have seen a lot of death — and they have tried to avoid the problems it can cause family companies.

Entrepreneur Des Tobin, Executive Chairman

Company Tobin Brothers Funerals

Business type Funeral services

Founded 1934

Head office Malvern, Victoria

Contact details +61 3 9576 0433


The Tobin Brothers Funerals story

Family business advisers have a simple exercise for the owners of businesses. They get them to close their eyes and imagine being dead. As US family business adviser Marto Vago says: ‘Once they come to terms with the fact they will die, they can then start planning.’

Des Tobin, a second-generation member of Tobin Brothers, has never been faced with this problem. He has always been involved with death and has seen firsthand the chaos that comes from poor planning.

Tobin began planning the succession at 55. He admitted that he wanted a Tobin family member for the job. But, he says, if the right person could not be found within the family, the net would be cast wider.

A list was drawn up that included a description of the qualifications the successor needed: tertiary qualifications in a business-related area, leadership qualities, skills in human relations, motivation, and a lot of energy and enthusiasm.

The company also wanted someone who had the capacity to handle many issues at once, excellent communication skills, who was a team player, able to motivate others, could read the market, and had the ability to remain calm in times of crisis, according to Tobin.

Family members were then ruled out or ruled themselves out. In the end Martin Tobin, Des’s only son, was identified as the person who most fitted the required skill set. Des says: ‘Luckily, the decision was very well accepted by all family members.’

Martin, who was working for a city law firm, joined the company in 1993. His development plan, which included working in all parts of the company for 10 years, was shared with all the staff.

Key learning points

Plan – in writing

Develop a written plan at least 10 years before you plan to retire. Include criteria against which your next successor should be chosen. Be prepared to appoint an outsider to the job if a family member does not fit the criteria.

Expert advice

Consult with financial advisers, tax consultants, and even psychologists. Make sure you have non-executive directors on the board.

Transition

Leave plenty of lead time for the development of the incoming successor, and mentor and support them as they grow into the job. Make sure there is an escape plan for both the successor and the company if things don’t work out.

After succession

Makes sure there is a meaningful position for the outgoing patriarch or matriarch.


As part of his business training, he was to do an MBA at the Australian College of Management. Tobin says: ‘These days, experience needs to be underpinned by formal training.’

The 10-year succession plan was halved once Martin proved that he could handle the job and in 1998 Des Tobin became executive chairman, appointing Martin as managing director. Des says: ‘People asked if I was sure Martin was ready and I said probably not. But when is ready and how long do you wait? Better to give someone a chance than have them waiting five years past the time they are ready.’

As the transition occurred, Des took advice from professional advisers in accounting firms as well as the Family Business Association. He then told the extended Tobin family, clients, friends, colleagues and businesses about the transition.

Once Martin was managing director, Des took the role of executive chair and relocated to the Malvern offices where the funeral plan office had been relocated. Des says: ‘The successor should move out so that the transition is seen to have taken place.’

Des and Martin still confer daily and the business is continuing to grow. Des says: ‘I know the succession is successful because I can sit back, not interfere, don’t feel I have been pushed out and am happy with the direction the company is taking.’

Author credit: Case study by Performing Words, <ceoonline.com.au/case_studies/succession_ipos_acquire/pages/1_16_64.aspx>.

Table 3.1 Useful sources on progression planning

Name Description Website

Business.gov.au Fact sheets and succession planning templates specifically geared towards businesses

https://www.business.gov.au/info/plan-and-start/templates-and-tools/succession-plan-template-and-guide

Queensland Government Business and Industry Portal

Useful guide to succession planning, related information and links to templates and fact sheets

<business.qld.gov.au/business/exiting-business/succession-planning/develop-succession-plan>

CPA Australia Comprehensive guide on important considerations for exiting a business

https://www.cpaaustralia.com.au/~/media/corporate/allfiles/document/professional-resources/business/exiting-your-business.pdf?la=en


References

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d-e51a-4256-9f7a-340545a076c3/ims/unit_psc/concepts/psc_0102.htm

Computer Communication Skills, Active Listening, viewed 2012, www.communication-skills-4confidence.com/active-listening.html

Cooke RA & Rafferty JC 2010, Human Synergistics cultural model, Plymouth, MI: Human Synergistic International.

Cooke RD 2007, High performing teams, http://www.i-change.biz/modelsandtheories.php.

Covey S 1989, 2004, The 7 seven habits of highly effective people, Turtleback books, US, ISBN 1863500294.

David Allen, 2015,Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-free Productivity, Revised Edition, New York.

Ferriss Tim 2009, The Four Hour Work Week: Escape the 9-5, Live Anywhere and Join the New Rich, Crown Publishers, New York.

Goleman D 2006, Emotional Intelligence: why EQ can matter more than IQ, Bantam Books.

Haussler P, ‘What is culture’, http://go.quantumworkplace.com/blog/bid/50742/What-is-Culture, accessed 3 September 2010.

Hoiberg D 2012, ‘Emotional resilience’, webinar, Darwin, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5tRJk2t40rs.

Horabin A 2011, ‘Bullshift – get more honesty and straight talk at work', andrewhorabin.com.

International Institute of Directors and Managers, ‘Handing over the company is hard to do, but you must’, http://www.iidmglobal.com/case_studies/case-study-categories/cs-growing-your-business/succession_ipos_acquire/1_16_64.html

https://nationalvetcontent.edu.au/alfresco/d/d/workspace/SpacesStore/529c922d-e51a-4256-9f7a-340545a076c3/ims/unit_psc/concepts/psc_0102.htm

https://nationalvetcontent.edu.au/alfresco/d/d/workspace/SpacesStore/529c922d-e51a-4256-9f7a-340545a076c3/ims/unit_psc/concepts/psc_0102.htm

http://www.communication-skills-4confidence.com/active-listening.html




Institute of Leadership and Management City & Guilds of London Institute, ‘Business leadership’, http://www.i-l-m.com/about-ilm/business-leadership.aspx.

Kilman T, Conflict modes, http://www.kilmanndiagnostics.com/catalog/thomas-kilmann-conflict-mode-instrument.

Lencioni Patrick 2002, The five dysfunctions of a team, Jossey-Bass, San Fransico

Lifeline WA, http://www.lifelinewa.org.au/.

Lindenberger J, How to give employee feedback.

May, Andrew, 2008, viewed 2017, ‘Recovery rocket’, ilanz.org/dmsdocument/27

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https://www.mindtools.com/community/pages/article/EmailCommunication.php?

route=pages/article/EmailCommunication.php

Patterson K & Grenny J 2008, The Influencer: the power to change anything, McGraw Hill, US.

Towers Watson 2012, Global workforce study: engagement at risk in a volatile global market, http://towerswatson.com/assets/pdf/2012-Towers-Watson-Global-Workforce-Study.pdf.

World Health Organisation 1993, The ICD-10 classification of mental and behavioural disorders, Geneva: World Health Organisation.

http://www.i-l-m.com/about-ilm/business-leadership.aspx

http://www.lifelinewa.org.au/

https://www.mindtools.com/community/pages/article/EmailCommunication.php?route=pages/article/EmailCommunication.php

https://www.mindtools.com/community/pages/article/EmailCommunication.php?route=pages/article/EmailCommunication.php


SECTION TWO: PERSONAL AND BUSINESS EFFECTIVENESS ACTIVITY BOOK


1 WORK LIFE BALANCE

Having things out of balance in your life can have significant costs for your business and your family. In teams, brainstorm some of the possible emotional, financial and operational costs associated with not having the right work–life balance.

Emotional costs Financial costs Operational costs




2 MY WHEEL OF LIFE

What’s important to you?

List all of the areas that you can think of:

The ‘wheel of life’ is a tool developed by Mind Tools. It is a quick and useful way to have a look at the things that are important to us, and whether or not we have the right balance. This then reveals to you the areas that require a conscious focus in order to strike a better balance. For detailed steps to create your Wheel of Life refer to pages 12-14 in your reference material section of this manual.


Creating my wheel

Label each spoke in the following wheel with one of your important factors of life.

Consider each ‘spoke’, and score on a scale of 0 to 5 the amount of time, effort and focus you are currently putting into each of these areas. Moving out on each spoke from the centre of the wheel, ‘0’ at the centre of the circle represents no time effort and focus and ‘5’ represents complete time, effort and focus. Highlight your chosen score by shading the square on the scale.

Now map your desired wheel using a different colour.

Your gaps

Now let’s identify the areas presenting the biggest gaps. The longest highlighted line on your spokes represents the biggest gap. The three areas presenting the biggest gaps for you are:

1. _____________________________

2. _____________________________

3. _____________________________

The biggest gaps may well be related to a work–life imbalance. Or they may be related to life areas where you need to make some changes (such as financial matters).




What do I want to change?

Consider a goal that you can commit to address each of the three gap areas. Make some notes below about what actions you may need to include in your strategic plan to ensure you achieve these goals. Here are some questions to help you generate some ideas:

● Is there any time-consuming task in your life that you don’t actually need to be doing?

● Is there anything you can do differently to free up time and energy for the things you would rather be doing?


3 PRIORITISING YOUR TIME

A. Urgent and Important: Activities in this area relate to dealing with critical issues as they arise and meeting significant commitments. Perform these duties now.

B. Important, but Not Urgent: These success-oriented tasks are critical to achieving goals. Plan to do these tasks next.

C. Urgent, but Not Important: These chores do not move you forward toward your own goals. Manage by delaying them, cutting them short, and rejecting requests from others. Postpone these chores.

D. Not Urgent and Not Important: These trivial interruptions are just a distraction, and should be avoided if possible. However, be careful not to mislabel things like time with family and recreational activities as not important. Avoid these distractions altogether.




What are my items for each category of the important / urgent matrix?


4 WHAT ARE MY ROCKS, PEBBLES, SAND, AND WATER?

ROCKS

PEBBLES

SAND

WATER




5 MY GOLDEN TIME IS?

Record your average energy levels on the graph below.

What is your ‘Golden Hour’? ____________________




6 WHAT DO I WANT TO CHANGE?

Based on the information we’ve covered in effective time management is there anything you want to change?

STOP

CONTINUE

START


7 ARE THERE ANY TASKS I SHOULD BE DELEGATING? What is the Task / Work?

Who holds the responsibility for the task?

Who will it be delegated to?

How will it be monitored & reported?




8 WHAT IS YOUR WORKPLACE CULTURE?

a) How would you describe your own workplace culture?

b) Think about the ‘flavour’ of your business. Which parts of the culture that you have described above will help you achieve this?




9 LET’S LOOK AT LEADERSHIP

a) Think about the best leader you have ever had. It can be anyone — parent,

sports coach, manager, supervisor, pastor, etc. What did they do or say that made them your best leader?




b) What effect did their behaviour have on you?

c) Think about the worst leader you have ever had. It can be anyone — parent, sports coach, manager, supervisor, pastor, etc. What did they do or say that made them your worst leader?

d) What effect did their behaviour have on you?


e) What leadership roles, if any, do you need to practise more, or recognise more in others?




10 WHAT DO I WANT TO CHANGE?

Based on the information we’ve covered in leadership is there anything you want to change?

STOP

CONTINUE

START


11 EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT

What do you your employees value at work? What will keep them in your workplace?


12 HIGH PERFORMANCE TEAMS

How does your team stack up against the criteria discussed.

1. Score your team based on your observations using the ‘current score’ column in the following table.

2. What score would you like your team to be? Write the scores in the ‘future score’ column in the following table.

3. Identify your gaps. What parts of team building do you need to focus on? Develop some actions to address these opportunities and record your notes in the last column or on the following notes page.

Note, you could ask others in your team to do the same activity and then discuss similarities and difference, why and what you could do as a team.




BEHAVIOUR CURRENT SCORE

1= low 10= high

FUTURE SCORE

1= low 10= high

IMPROVEMENT ACTIONS

Common purpose

Effective measures

A shared plan

Clear roles and responsibilities

Regular, quality, two-way communications

Adaptability and creativity

Effective leadership

Common values

Effective tools and processes

Effective problem solving and dispute resolution

Shared rewards


13 CONNECTING WITH OTHERS

Take a moment to think and reflect on the principles of communication we discussed. What opportunities are there for you to improve the communication and honesty at work? Is there anything you want to change?

STOP

CONTINUE

START




14 IMPROVED HUMAN RESOURCE OUTCOMES

Are there any important ideas or thoughts you’ve had during our discussion on improving human resource outcomes?


15 STARTING A FEEDBACK CONVERSATION

Based on the model discussed plan the start of a feedback conversation that you may need to have.

How to start a feedback conversation - 60 Second Start:

Name the issue

Give specific evidence

Describe your emotions and story - “I feel... when... because”

Clarify what’s at stake

Identify your contribution

Communicate intent for win / win

Invite response.


16 UNDERSTANDING CONFLICT STYLES

Based on the Thomas Kilmann questionnaire activity and our discussion regarding conflict resolution strategies, take a moment to think and reflect. Is there anything you want to change?

STOP

CONTINUE

START


17 OVERALL – WHAT CAN I DO TO IMPROVE TEAM PERFORMANCE?

1. What have you done or could you do, to improve your team’s performance?

2. Is there anything you need to include in your strategic plan?




18 FARM WORKPLACE SAFETY

We haven’t spent very long today discussing workplace safety as you are encouraged to do some research in your own time about this topic.

Below is a section to record any of your thoughts, questions, ideas etc. on the topic that may have arisen for your today.


19 WHAT ARE MY STRESS SIGNS / SYMPTOMS?

Think about a time or situation when you have been stressed. It may have been because of a particular life event or stress may have gradually built up over time when you have been very busy and burning the candle at both ends.

When you have a time in mind, consider which of the following things happened to you. Highlight as many as you think apply.

I feel out of breath all the

time

I get a sore neck

and shoulders

and seem to be

clenching my

muscles a lot

more

I lose my temper

more easily

I get a bit

hyperactive and

talk a lot more

I withdraw and

don’t talk to my

family and

friends as much

I think my blood

pressure goes up

I feel far less

confident than

usual

I get sad and feel

really down

I have difficulty

concentrating

I get upset really

easily I sweat a lot more

I can’t remember

all of the things

that I need to do

and forget some of

them

I don’t seem to

make the best

decisions for the

farm

I grind my teeth or

clench my jaw in

my sleep

I have broken sleep or

nightmares

My heartbeat

seems to get more

rapid

I get really

negative and

pessimistic

I find myself

worrying about

things I don’t need

to worry about

I put off doing

important things

and they never get

done

I drink a lot more

alcohol

I smoke a lot

more cigarettes I eat a lot more I eat a lot less I get a bit anxious




My thoughts race

around I can’t get to sleep

I feel constantly

tired, even when I

have had plenty of

sleep

I find myself telling

people that I am

stressed


20 MY PHYSICAL RESILIENCE

1. Give yourself a rating out of 10 (1=poor and 10=high) for how well you believe you look after the three main elements of physical resilience. Record your score number in the ‘current score’ column in the table below.

2. What score would you like to be in each of the areas? Write the scores in the ‘future score’ column in the table below.

3. Identify your gaps. What parts do you need to focus on? Develop some actions to address these opportunities and record your notes in the last column or on the following notes page.

ELEMENT OF PHYSICAL

RESILIENCE

CURRENT

SCORE

1= low 10= high

FUTURE

SCORE

1= low 10= high

IMPROVEMENT ACTIONS

Nutrient Intake

Exercise

Sleep




21 RESILIENCE AND RECOVERY ROCKET

Based on Andrew May’s Recovery Rocket model complete the following activity.

1. Record in the ‘my current reality’ column in the table below, whether you currently meet the recommendations to sustain your resilience. Record what you do actually do.

2. Record in the ‘my preferred future reality’ column in the table below, what you would like to do in the future.

3. Identify your gaps. What parts do you need to focus on? Develop some actions to address these opportunities and record your notes in the last column or on the following notes section.


RECOMMENDED MY CURRENT REALITY

MY

PREFFERED

FUTURE

REALITY

IMPROVEMENT ACTIONS

Take 1 major

holiday each year

(minimum 10 days ideally several weeks)

Take 3 mini breaks each year

(minimum 3 days away)

Complete weekly recovery activities to total 100 points

(minimum 30 weeks each year)

Sleep

uninterrupted for

7-8hrs each night

(minimum 300 nights each year or 6 nights each week)

Go slow every day for at least 10 – 15 minutes


22 STRESS AND RESILIENCE – WHAT DO I WANT TO CHANGE?

Based on the information and our discussions about managing stress and building resilience, take a moment to think and reflect. Is there anything you want to change?

STOP

CONTINUE

START




23 BUSINESS CONTINUITY, PROGRESSION AND SUCCESSION

Continuity planning checklist

Do I have this in place? Yes No Last

reviewed

Fam

ily

Everyone has a clear idea of their role in the businesses operation and management, and knows all of the tasks that form that role.

The family goals for the business are clear.

Each family member’s individual goals are clear.

Fin

an

cia

l

We have Key Man Insurance (covers the cost to employ a temporary manager if required).

We have income protection insurance.

The right people in the business have access to and can operate all the bank accounts.

We have a business plan and / or a strategic plan.

We have life insurance.

A snapshot of the current financial position of the business is available to those who need it to make decisions.

Leg

al

We have the right business structure decided on and in place.

Wills exist.

We have enduring power of attorney (a trusted person or people have been appointed to make financial and property decisions on our behalf).

We have enduring power of guardianship (authorises a person of your choice to make important personal, lifestyle and treatment decisions on your behalf should you ever become incapable of making these decisions).

We have an advanced health directive (enables you to make decisions now about the treatment you would want — or not want — to receive if you were sick, injured and incapable of communicating your wishes.

The right people in the business have access to mortgage and land title documents.


Do I have this in place? Yes No Last

reviewed

There is a clear understanding of who owns ‘your’ business.

Op

era

tio

nal

At least one other senior person in the business knows and understands all the steps / recipes / processes / procedures to produce our product(s).

At least one other senior person in the business is known by, and is authorised to deal with, our suppliers, distributors and customers.




24 PREPARING A PROGRESSION PLAN

Answering the following questions will help you to prepare for the planning process.

Who is involved?

First, you need to think through and document all of the people who will be directly affected by the progression plan. This is likely to include:

family members — those involved directly in the business and those who will be, or think they should be, beneficiaries of any proceeds from the business

any business partners or investors

depending upon the scale and structure of your business, your staff.

A good way of thinking about this is by asking yourself the question, ‘Who would have an interest in this progression plan?’ Take a moment to think this through and write a list based on your initial thoughts.


Who is involved?

Who else should be involved?

Second, you also need to consider who you will go to for advice and assistance with the planning process. Here are some people / services you can consider:

facilitator

accountant or tax adviser

bank manager

human resource management specialist

lawyer

financial adviser.




What are their goals? What are my goals?

Third, all of the people involved (those ‘stakeholders’ you have listed on the previous page) should work out what they would like from the progression planning process. What are their goals? This can be documented by all of the individuals involved or, if you are using a facilitator, the facilitator can gather this information.

Take a moment to answer these questions to help with your own preparation for progression planning:

What are my long-term goals? What would I like to get out of the progression planning process?

Do I still want to be actively involved in the business in 5 or 10 years?

Will I be reliant on proceeds from the business in 5 or 10 years? If so, will the business need to be sold, or can it sustain my needs and still operate successfully?


How much money will I need to live? (You may not want to disclose this in the workshop but you will need to work through this in preparation for your progression planning process.)

What steps do I need to put in place to ensure the business can function without me? (e.g. This might include employing someone new to replace you, or training someone already in the business. It might mean renegotiating agreements or licences that are in your name or are dependent on your personal involvement in the business.)




What information do I need to gather?

Finally, there are several pieces of information you will need to gather to develop a progression plan. This includes information about:

the current financial position of the business

your future known financial commitments (housing, school fees, daily living expenses, etc.)

the structure of the business

transfer of ownership or issues relating to this (e.g. transfer of any licences, franchising agreements or intellectual property associated with the business).

To a lesser extent, career progression of employees may well form part of your progression plan. This process may include understanding their current competencies and the ‘stretch’ required to achieve the next level. Your progression plan might include some of these stretch activities as well as coaching and mentoring of current company talent.


25 WHAT ARE YOU THINKING?

Note the key points you got out of this session for you and your business. Is there anything you need to include in your strategic plan?

Keep in mind the steps to progression (or succession) planning which are:

1. Preparing a plan

2. Creating the plan

3. Implementing the plan

4. Reviewing and amending the plan




26 WORKING WITH YOUR STRATEGIC PLAN

Note the key points you got out of this session for you and your business. Is there anything you need to include in your strategic plan?

Planning point!

What might you include in your strategic plan?

Work–life balance workshop: participant's guide

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Transcript of Work–life balance workshop: participant's guide