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Archives for June 2021

I Love The Beach

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I love the beach (and career counselling)!

Swimming is my thing.  It maintains my mental and physical health and I do it all year round.  Never in a pool, mind you – it only works for me if it’s in the ocean.

While taking the plunge recently, it struck me how a visit to the beach in Winter can be a little like approaching a career change.

In the summer months, it’s easy…the mornings are very warm and the sea sparkles with an invitation to dive in.  During the colder winter months, it’s an entirely different affair.  The wind is chill, the shadow of the dunes on the beach make the sand cold, the sea has an ambient temperature of about 10oC and when the sky is grey and threatening rain, it just doesn’t look like fun.

However, it strikes me again and again, how, as I traipse down the ramp to the beach on a cold morning, rugged up against the inclement weather with my buddy, I’m cold, stiff and wondering why I’m not drinking a hot chocolate right now, I persevere.  The walk eventually starts to warm my limbs (although that did not happen this morning!) and, by the time we come back to strip off some of the warmer layers, I’m thinking about the next step – dipping my toes into that icy cold cauldron.

Every day, it surprises me how cold it is, how difficult it is to submerge my body with every ounce of my being wanting to step back onto the shore and replace the woolly jacket and head home to that hot chocolate.  Every day, I continue in (encouraged by my buddy) and take the plunge, many days inch by chilly inch, until I’ve finally submerged myself in the icy cold.  Swimming energetically, aware of every millimeter of skin exposed to the unforgiving elements, burning with the cold.

Then, after some time, something odd happens.  I acclimatize to the temperature of the ocean, I begin to regain feeling in my extremities, and I could almost imagine it’s a warm day in mid-February, despite it’s a cold morning in August.  My body adjusts and I start to enjoy the sensation of floating in the ocean, keeping my eyes peeled for passing dolphins.

Every day, I finish my swim, and come out again, feeling refreshed, revived and glad that I persevered and made the effort to come and submit.

I guess this is an allegory for life, or careers for that matter; it’s the agony before the ecstasy.  When we decide to do something, we know is good for us and will make us a better person, worker, etc.  But it’s the hard work at the beginning, intellectualizing the benefits before we can realise them in our future, that presents the challenge.  Staying the course, doing the hard work and persevering – these are the key ingredients in a successful (career) change strategy.  It isn’t about showing up on the sunny days, it’s about hauling yourself through the dark, dank, wet and cold days, that delivers success over time.

When you’re considering a career change, I encourage you to consider the end-goal – the new career, the better future, the improved earnings potential, the better fit with strengths, interests and values.   Visualizing what you want and identifying your “motivating why” is essential.

Then I want you to consider all the roadblocks that may present along the way – what’s going to stop you? What will slow you down and discourage you?  Identify it, own it and then commit to working through all the challenges, stay the course and keep your eye on the prize.

Believe me – it’s worth it.  Every day I’m surprised how much it’s worth it.  Every day the challenge is a new one, but every single day the joyful, exuberant feeling of accomplishment at the end is worth every ounce of difficulty at the start.

If you find that you need your own buddy on the journey, we’re here to help.  As Perth’s leading career advisors, we can provide the career guidance and coaching to support you in identifying what it is that you want and then help you develop a road map to get you there.  Contact us.

Women in Leadership in Mining & Resources

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Raising female economic participation by 25% would add a potential $7.5 trillion to the global GDP and it is well documented that diversified teams have consistently outperformed company average in growth and profitability by as much as 15%.  This is a strong economic argument for diversity and inclusion.

We’re heading to the Women in Mining & Resources Leadership Summit in Perth next week and are delighted to take our leadership coaching to the summit in delivering the Pre-Summit Leadership Workshop.  We welcome any and all women -and men supporting women – in this sector to join us for three days of frank and fierce discussions on inspiring, empowering and diversifying this sector to gain the benefits of a truly diverse workforce.

The conference will be concentrating on discovering the business value of diversity and inclusion, providing opportunities to expand networks, share stories and be inspired by those of others and to meet formal and informal mentors.

Our pre-summit workshop will concentrate on taking a reflective, internal focus on what you bring to your role as a leader within diverse organisations and those moving toward increased diversity.  We’ll be offering an opportunity to reflect on what you do well, where you could improve and offering insights and opportunities to build on the strong foundations you’ve already developed to ensure that every leader is contributing to respectful, inclusive and diverse teams.

Our Leadership Coaching comes from a growth mindset approach where we challenge you to look for ways to improve, be better, identify and develop new skills and take action to continuously improve on your leadership journey to engender teams with a focus on trust, empowerment and collaboration.

Come and share your stories of challenge and success and identify new approaches for authentic engagement in your leadership roles.

Join us at Women in Mining & Resources Leadership Summit and be inspired to do more, be more and bring more into these vital discussions.

Stay in Touch With Each Other at Work

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Article originally posted in The West Australian newspaper.

Reducing reliance on digital collaboration can drive positive workplace cultures, according to Strategic Career Management Director and Lead Career Strategist Kendal Drew.

“I think companies should look at how they communicate – not just through information and communications technology services and technology-based approaches, but make a return to picking up a telephone or face-to-face contact a priority within work teams,” Ms Drew said.

“We’re all very comfortable with emails. They’re convenient, we can write and read them when we’re ready and can order our thoughts before hitting the send button. But if we’re doing this and sending emails to the person sitting next to us, this is the biggest driver of loneliness in the workplace as we get to feel less connected in real time.”

While some may consider the solution lies with an open-plan office layout, Ms Drew said these were not a “one-size-fits- all” solution. “This needs to be balanced with opportunity to focus (for both introverts and extroverts) as open-plan can be distracting; for the introverts the noise and movement can be draining and for the extroverts, there’s too much going on and pulling them away from their work,” she said.

“The opportunity to collaborate needs to be tempered with opportunities to concentrate, focus and remain on-task – the open-plan environment doesn’t generally provide this.” Ms Drew’s sentiments align with a 2018 study titled The impact of the open workspace on human collaboration.’

The research showed online communication increased and face-to-face communication decreased by approximately 70 per cent in an open-plan environment. Ms Drew said there was a perception that productivity was based on ‘head down’ work rather than collaboration. “People are possibly conscious of being seen as being too sociable, time- wasting and not being task- focused,” she said. “Taking advantage of quiet spaces, meeting rooms, using headphones to block out noise and managing your time effectively will all help.”

Specialising in commercial workplace, residential and interior design, State 28 Interiors Director Miriam Terry said not all her clients preferred open-plan designs. “It’s vital to ensure you have sufficient support spaces to go hand-in-hand with open-plan to make it successful,” she said. “There isn’t one solution that suits all. A workplace should be tailored to suit the end user’s needs, likes and functionality, otherwise you can end up with a beautiful office that fails the end user as it doesn’t function for them, or vice versa.”

Ms Drew said while agile workplaces where employees are able to work from different areas of an office, rather than being anchored to a single desk, may sound good in theory – and could work for those who worked remotely and were only in the office, sporadically – they weren’t for everyone. “Many people prefer to have a place that is their own, where they can set out their usual tools of trade, favourite coffee cup and personal items, and leave and return to at will,” she said.

“The reality is time and energy will be utilised in setting up and adjusting to the new spaces rather than concentrating on the tasks assigned. Staff will likely revert to email communication as it is quicker and easier than taking the time to locate colleagues within the building for face-to-face discussions. All of this affects morale, productivity and connection.”

Ms Terry said cubicles and segregated office plans could work in some instances. “They can work, for example, in legal practices; however, they can discourage teamwork and transparency between staff,” she said. “It can lead to a hierarchical feel amongst staff, which isn’t always the desired intent. “Not all users benefit from collaboration, so the key is offering a wide variety of working styles, not just all collaboration or all focus spaces.

Activity-based-working (ABW) often works best when staff still sit within ‘home zones’ and so continue to have good proximity to their team. “Technology needs to support ABW. This can include allowing staff to be located when they are logged into their emails/computer, having team touch down zones allows for daily meets, perhaps first thing in the morning, to set goals for the day/week.”

From a design perspective, Ms Terry said providing great staff facilities and amenities, including large breakout spaces, access to healthy workplace initiatives, and an office look and feel which suits the user and encourages interaction where applicable, could work wonders. “We encourage the incorporation of colour palettes, that engender calming, natural tones with less bright primary colours,” she said. “We often draw our palettes from the client’s location, and it’s almost vital to include biophilic design (connectivity to the natural environment) in a workplace. “Research has proven it enhances the environment we work in.”

Ms Drew said it was important for leaders in organisations to model the behaviour they wanted to see in others and be authentic. “Be positive, interact with and get to know your staff on a personal level. Lead from the front, respect their privacy but also interact with them in person – as people first, and workers next,” she said. “Regardless of the layout of the office, this will drive the culture.”

Author – Sandra Argese

Copyright The West Australian newspaper

Many Ways to Effectively Reward Hardworking Employees

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Article originally posted in The West Australian newspaper.

WHEN it comes to rewarding loyal employees, there is no such thing as a one-size-fits-all approach, according to Career Consultant Kendal Drew.

“It is important for employers to understand what drives their employees’ performance,” she said. “Is it doing worthy work? Is it about status, job title or a high salary? Being valued for their effort? Rewarding time in lieu? Or something else?“An astute employer will respond to those drivers first in understanding and getting to know each staff member, identifying what’s relevant to each and applying them accordingly.”

Referring to a recent study by the Society for Human Resource Management, which identified the cost of
a single personnel hire at about US$4000 ($5740), Ms Drew said the biggest costs for employers came from an inability to retain hardworking, dedicated staff members and avoid high turnover.

“Frequent rehires can quickly become an organisational expense,” she said. “It is not just the cost of recruiting and training of new hires that is involved here. There is also the human cost of the ongoing staff who have to cover higher workloads throughout the changeover period, train the new personnel and adjust to the new hire. “There’s also the ‘survivor’ element of the staff that continue through constant change, leaving them feeling unsettled and unable to tackle some of the bigger tasks while they concentrate on ‘business as usual’ activities throughout change.”

Ms Drew said it was worth noting and rewarding the value of “corporate knowledge”. That is, valuing the long-term, dedicated employees who hold high levels of business know- how. “These are often the people within the organisation who others turn to when seeking to understand a decision or change,” she said.

“This knowledge has a high, uncharted value within organisations.” Placing value in performance reviews, Ms Drew said they were beneficial only if administered proactively. “There’s a clear benefit with annual performance reviews when they are done well, however, career conversations should not be confined to an annual event,” she said. “Best-practice career management involves regular, ongoing communication and the co-creation of plans for development that will maintain stimulation and engagement. “The process should identify achievements, skills gaps and employee ambitions, and the resultant plan then needs to be acted upon.”

Ms Drew said in terms of employee traits warranting a promotion, corporate knowledge was invaluable. “There are clear benefits in promoting from within and rewarding and utilising that knowledge,” she said. “The individual would need to be demonstrating potential and willingness to operate at a higher level and be the right fit for the role. “Sometimes it will be the person who is willing to challenge the status quo who is the best fit in a higher-level role because they will bring new thinking and stretch the role.

“One benefit of promoting from within an organisation is this demonstrates trust in the current workforce and a commitment to building their skills and helping them achieve their developmental and career goals. In the wider organisation, others will see this display and this can effectively raise productivity and performance, as there will be a sense that if one is rewarded in this way, there is an intention to raise others in a similar fashion. “This is one effective way to build trust within an organisation, and the flow-on effects can be widespread.”

Author – Sandra Argese

Copyright The West Australian newspaper

Conflict Resolution – From The Soccer Field to The Office

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Junior soccer – it’s only a game right? The children are there to have fun, keep fit and learn what it is to be a good sport. Only sometimes parents forget and this time last year, it all got rather out of hand. Not in a “Call the police” type of way, but certainly in a reportable incident type of way. It was a fresh and sunny early morning and two all-girl teams were gently battling it out on the pitch.

Throughout the game, one of the parents was pretty vocal but it was aimed at his own child. The problem was that the opposition thought he was being aggressive towards their players. At half time, the umpire approached the parent and without discussion, warned him off and demanded he stop abusing the players. Naturally, the parent defended himself and tried to explain. Despite some finger waving by the umpire, the parent by and large remained calm but energy was building as he stressed that they’d got it all wrong. They girls played on and before we knew it the final whistle blew and we were ready to go home. But it wasn’t over.

A club official barrelled across the pitch towards us, chest puffed. What ensued was a verbal vomit of abuse towards the parent, more finger pointing and plenty of invading of personal space with chests. No fisty-cuffs but certainly an awful display of aggression by adults in front of children, that was unlikely to have a positive outcome.

Unfortunately, this kind of behaviour is not limited to the sporting pitch. It’s rife in the workplace and in our team development workshops we hear jaw-dropping stories of unnecessary and frankly, unprofessional, conflict. Don’t get me wrong, we’re all for conflict and actually spend a lot of time in our corporate team building workshops, encouraging participants to have more of it – the healthy kind. So where did the guys on the soccer pitch go wrong? One – They didn’t check their own emotional state before heading into an interaction so unrestrained emotion was determining the outcome. Two – they were reactive and didn’t think about the appropriate time or place for the discussion. Three – they, made assumptions and spent no time fact checking before they acted.

To be an effective employee, manager or leader in the workplace it’s imperative we:

  • have enough self-awareness and emotional intelligence to ensure we stay in control of our emotions rather than be at the mercy of them

  • learn to choose whether to react and deal with an emerging situation there and then or mark it in our minds to deal with it later at a better time and in a more appropriate place

  • stay curious. This last one is key. Curiosity means we are less likely to jump to conclusions. Curiosity means we are more likely to be open to realising we’ve got it wrong and to seeing different perspectives. Starting conversations with curious questioning rather than accusations or presentation of perceived ‘facts’, means that a lot of the time the conflict and the need to develop solid conflict resolution skills can be avoided all together.

These things come naturally to some but for many are learned skills that take effort, practice and a willingness to be vulnerable and make mistakes. Strategic Career Management works with organisations to design and deliver tailored team development workshops that help people build emotional intelligence, self-management and communication skills and learn ways to minimise unhealthy conflict in the workplace. These team building workshops are beneficial both at the individual level and at the organisational level and unlock one of the secrets to taking careers and businesses to the next level. It’s a win-win kind of game.

Authentic Leadership Part 1 – Communication

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There’s no such thing as a ready-born leader. While certain skills may be innate, good leadership is dependent upon your ability to communicate and demands an adaptive approach. What’s more, it requires the emotional intelligence to understand yourself and the people working for you and an ability to identify what they need from you as their manager.

A key area of leadership training is developing your communication in order to more effectively connect with colleagues or employees.

Effective leadership requires you to be positive, clear and consistent in your communication with your staff.  Respect the privacy of your people but also interact with them in person, as people first, workers next.  Model the communication behaviour you want to see in them and be authentic.

Knowledge is Key

Thorough company and industry knowledge is a prerequisite for any leader. However, knowledge and intelligence can be alienating if not offered and communicated in the right way.  Leaders and managers need the ability to mentor and nurture without appearing to be overbearing or condescending.  This is sometimes a tough feat to accomplish but achievable with leadership coaching support.

Knowledge also extends to the employees themselves. Pay attention to small details about the people in your charge: their experiences and interests as well as their aspirations and concerns.

Clear and Strong Delivery of Message

Good delivery means projecting yourself well and engaging with people.  Effective leadership communication is as much about listening and being curious with good questioning as it is about delivering information when speaking and it’s essential you are fully focussed on the person you are speaking with. Clarity is also key: a part of leadership coaching for all is learning how to deliver your messages at the right level for every audience, to ensure your staff have the information they need to perform well in their roles.  Some team members will respond better to private, face-to-face interactions, whereas others will thrive on whole-of-team meetings.  Some will want big picture vision/goal first, some will want to understand the details of the problem they’re addressing.  Understanding different preferences and delivering the information in the right way will go a long way to securing team engagement.  Key to success is keeping it simple.

The Personal Touch

To reiterate, connecting with a group means ensuring every employee feels valued both as an individual and as a contributing member of your team. For some, specific references to employees, their achievements and views in meetings is a great way to let them know they are appreciated and respected. Others, however, may prefer the receive positive and constructive feedback in a more private setting.

Leaders and managers need to have the emotional intelligence to recognise the different moods and feelings of employees and be able to adapt accordingly. You need to know the right time to offer encouragement or a quick pep talk, or identify when there is something more going on.

While strong people skills are often linked to personality, they can be learnt and, more importantly, honed. Strategic Career Management’s leadership coaching programs offer communication skill development for senior leaders or executives looking for new ways to motivate and inspire their team, down to new leaders or managers learning the ropes.