The Productivity Commission’s recent 5-year Productivity Enquiry report, “Advancing Prosperity”, raised some serious concerns about the leadership, management and technology skills of Australian executives.

The report highlighted that Australian Managers lag the pack through a systemic and sustained underinvestment in management capability, with Australia’s management capability score signficantly behind that of other OECD countries and labour productivity growth at 60 year lows (see charts below).  The Commission warned that this lack of management capability can have a negative impact on the nation’s innovation and productivity, and it’s a problem that businesses need to address.

Source: Productivity Commission

The Solution: Invest in Building Leadership and Management Capability

At Checkside, we understand the importance of developing strong management and leadership capabilities. We’ve been helping business owners and executives to tackle their growth challenges for over two decades, and a key part of this process is ensuring that they have the right skills and knowledge to succeed.

Accessing and retaining talent is becoming increasingly difficult, so it’s essential that businesses invest in developing their own capability. Without the right management and leadership skills, businesses struggle to build a strong employee value proposition, retain valuable employees, and ensure that their workforce is as effective and efficient as possible.

To help businesses achieve this, Checkside offers a range of leadership development solutions incljuding our latest offerign called Leadership Accelerator. We provide a range of training courses, programs and workshops to help business owners and executives become better leaders and managers. Our experienced team of experts have a wealth of experience in developing management capability within businesses, and they understand the importance of investing in management and leadership capability to ensure their long-term success.

We also provide one-on-one advice and guidance to help business owners and executives identify and implement solutions to the unique challenges they face.

If you would like to learn more about our leadership development solutions, please don’t hesitate to get in touch (click here). We would be delighted to discuss how we can help your business to become more productive and innovative. With our expertise and guidance, we can help you develop the right management capabilities to ensure your long-term success.

1: Reference: Productivity Commission Report “Advancing Prosperity” 

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By putting these three elements together, companies can get the best out of their staff and really benefit from the results.

Here are four key advantages of blending strategy development and execution with leadership development:

1. Improved Alignment:  When leaders have an understanding of the company’s strategy, and have the skills to carry it out, they can get everyone in the organisation working towards the same goals and objectives. This creates a more focused environment where everyone is moving in the same direction.
2. Increased Engagement:  Staff are more likely to be engaged and motivated if they know what the organisation is trying to achieve and have the tools to get there. This leads to better productivity, creativity, and customer satisfaction, as well as less staff turnover.
3. Better Decision Making: When leaders understand the company’s direction, they can make better decisions. This makes the organisation more agile and able to take advantage of new opportunities – which is critical in a constantly changing world.
4. Improved Performance (ROI):  Investing in leadership development increases the chance of having high-performing teams. Leaders are better equipped to motivate and guide their staff which leads to better results. It’s been shown that this can lead to a 20% increase in performance, which is great news for any business.

By combining strategy, execution and leadership development, businesses can unlock potential and achieve results. It can improve alignment, engagement, decision making and performance, helping organisations build truly high performance teams. In the current volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous (‘VUCA’) environment, this could provide just the edge you are seeking.

To learn more about our services around strategy development, strategy execution and leadership development see the Services Page on our website.  If you’d like to discuss further in person, please free to reach out directly on (08) 6298 6400 or reach out via email through our Contact Us page….

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Talk about this unfolding scenario has been playing like a broken record since it first emerged… but many businesses still haven’t developed sufficient tactics to deal with its implications.

Leadership development could be a key part of the solution…

Unpacking the cliché

So, what’s really behind the cliché that is the Great Resignation?

Well, there’s been a fundamental shift in the talent market and people have adjusted their sights around what’s important.  No longer is remuneration the only primary driver – sure, it’s a key part of the equation but it’s only one part of the complex matrix that comprises what people now value in the employment relationship.

Employee engagement is a massive element behind individuals seeking a change:

Source: https://ergoncmictrends.com/great-resignation-statistics/

An Australian Context

Although the trend began earlier in the US and Europe, Australia has followed suit. The drivers behind the Great Resignation are firmly in play:

• Unemployment is low, creating intense competition for talent

• Wage pressures are building

• Immigration has been restricted in recent years, tightening the talent pool

• Baby Boomers continue to exit the workforce through retirement

• Employees are increasingly open to changing jobs

The combination of these factors creates a challenging equation for mid-market businesses seeking to attract and retain quality talent.

What to do?

To attract and retain talent, business owners and CEOs must act now. A strong employee value proposition needs to go beyond base salary and bonuses to include factors that foster engagement and retention.

It’s no longer enough to simply meet the market on pay — understanding what people value and what motivates them is essential. That’s where employee engagement becomes critical.

What drives employee engagement?

The chart below illustrates that whilst remuneration is important, other non-cash components have a higher impact on employee engagement in the short term and also provide long lasting impacts over an 18-24 month period:

Source: CLC HR Engagement Research Survey; 2009 Employment Value Proposition Survey

Best-selling author, Dan Pink, takes this further in his book “Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us”¹ where he summarises findings of studies that have repeatedly proven that there are three factors that lead to better performance:

1. Autonomy – the desire to be self-directed
2. Mastery – the urge to get better at doing, underpinning the ability to contribute
3. Purpose – the reason behind why the work exists

Pink goes further in stating that, when you are dealing with higher order jobs that involve greater complexity, simply paying employees more as the primary or sole motivator often leads to poorer performance.

The underlined section above sounds like all leadership roles, right?

Given this, there must be a focus on autonomy, mastery and purpose for all employees – particularly those in leadership and other key roles.  This requires investment from businesses to ensure the capability and competency levels are sufficient for individuals to operate autonomously and develop mastery over their roles.

Leadership development is a critical solution

From a business owner and CEO’s perspective, leadership development programs provide a valuable lever to enhance the opportunity for autonomy and mastery in the workplace.  As a result, it provides a mechanism to increase employee engagement and provide a non-monetary reward that supplements base salary and differentiates the employee value proposition.

This in turn provides a powerful engagement tool that leads to stronger employee retention results and importantly, drives better performance helping deliver tangible business outcomes.

The equation is simple:  Invest in leadership development as part of the solution to engage your talent, drive performance and generate return on investment (ROI).  Further to this, the ROI for leadership development will be greatly magnified for those companies where strategy and purpose are clearly articulated, communicated and understood by the team.

To learn more about how an effective well-structured and run leadership development program can benefit your business, take a look at our Leadership Development Services page or download our Leadership Development Framework.

Alternatively, feel free to drop us an email, give us a call, or book a consultation with our MD.

 Notes:

1. Dan Pink has taken this further in his material around “The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us”. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u6XAPnuFjJc

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In addition to being cost-effective and more accessible for individuals or smaller groups, we have summarised four key benefits below that peer group leadership development can offer:

1. Diverse perspectives: When leaders participate in a peer group, they are exposed to a range of diverse perspectives and experiences. This can help broaden their understanding of their own leadership style, as well as give them new ideas and approaches for managing their team or business. It can also help them gain a deeper understanding of the challenges and opportunities faced by leaders in different industries and businesses of different scale and/or operating model.
2. Collaboration and networking: Peer group leadership development can help managers and emerging leaders build relationships with their peers from different organisations. This collaboration can lead to partnerships, new business opportunities, and the sharing of best practices. Additionally, it can provide a support system for leaders to discuss challenges and receive advice from others who understand their position.
3. Enhanced leadership skills: Participating in a peer group can help leaders hone their leadership skills and develop new ones. Peer group leadership development often includes training and coaching sessions that focus on specific areas of leadership, such as communication, decision-making, and conflict resolution. These skills can be applied within their peer group sessions and immediately in their own workplace, leading to more effective leadership and better business results.
4. Improved employee engagement: When leaders participate in peer group leadership development, they often return to their workplace with new ideas and strategies for engaging their employees and team members. This can lead to a more engaged workforce, which can result in increased productivity, better customer service, and higher employee retention rates.

In summary, leadership development in a peer group setting can offer business owners a range of benefits – with a primary driver being it results in a flexible and cost-effective solution. By exposing managers and emerging leaders to diverse perspectives, facilitating collaboration and networking, enhancing leadership skills, and improving employee engagement, peer group leadership development can help businesses grow and thrive.

To learn more about our peer group leadership development program, click here for more information on our Leadership Accelerator program.  If you’d like to discuss further in person, please free to reach out directly on (08) 6298 6400 or reach out via email through our Contact Us page….

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In January 2022, world No. 1 tennis champion Novak Djokovic deported from Australia following a high-profile legal case regarding his COVID-19 vaccination status, preventing his participation in the 2022 Australian Open.

• Lesson: No matter how high-performing a team member may be – you must ensure they are engaged and aligned with your core cultural and strategic intent.
• Question: Are your organisation’s core cultural and strategic intentions clear to all of your people?

In February 2022, Russian President Vladimir Putin signs a decree declaring the regions of Luhansk and Donetsk independent from Ukraine, and begins a full-scale invasion of Ukraine despite international condemnation and sanctions.

• Lesson: Disruption and competitive threats can appear at any time – often with little warning. Ensure you conduct regular competitor and risk analysis, contingency planning and have sufficient reserves on hand to withstand unexpected events.
• Question: What are your competitors and alternatives REALLY up to? How could this impact you?  How would you potentially disrupt yourself?

In May 2022, the Australian Labor Party, led by Anthony Albanese, wins the Australian federal election and forms a majority government for the first time since 2007.

• Lesson: Product-market fit matters! Organisations must know whether they have a product with market appeal before they dive into the delivery phase to avoid wasting time, effort and money.
• Question: Where have you achieved product-market fit? Where haven’t you?

In July 2022, the first operational image from the James Webb Space Telescope, is revealed to the public. Webb will study every phase in the history of our universe, ranging from the first luminous glows after the big bang, to the formation of solar systems (including ours).

• Lesson: Mark Twain once said that “History never repeats itself, but it does often rhyme.” The better and clearer your organisation’s visibility on historical data and results – the better equipped you are to identify trends, issues and opportunities to be investigated, solved and capitalised on.
• Question: How effective is your monthly reporting? Is it clear how you are tracking towards the achievement of your most important operational KPIs and strategic objectives?

In September 2022, Liz Truss is appointed Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. In October 2022, Liz Truss resigned from her post after just 44 days in office, making her the shortest-serving leader in UK history.

• Lesson: Leadership is defined by the presence of followers, those in your team that actively choose to follow the direction you set – even when they have a choice not to.
• Question: Which of your leaders REALLY have follow? Which don’t?

In November 2022, the world population reached 8 billion.  Australia’s unemployment rate remains at 3.5% – its lowest since 1974.

• Lesson: The talent pool is tight and your employer brand and value proposition matters!
• Question: How will you attract and retain the brightest and best in 2023 and beyond?  What can you do to enhance your employee value proposition?

Personal Reflections

The Christmas break is the perfect time to reflect and plan. To help, we’ve included a link to our Personal Development Roadmap – a practical exercise to help you reflect, reset, and set yourself up for continued success in the year ahead.

PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT ROADMAP: download IT HERE   

As James Clear famously said, “You will never find time for anything.  If you want time, you must make it.”  Use the Xmas break to think and plan, and you will reap the rewards in the new year.

We wish you all the best for a safe and healthy Xmas break.
The Checkside Team

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The most powerful drivers centre around purpose – both organisational and personal – and the ability of leaders to help connect employees to these elements in your business.

Unsurprisingly, leadership capability is a critical part of the solution…

Understanding the importance of purpose at work

Nearly two-thirds of employees surveyed by McKinsey indicated that the upheaval caused by COVID-19 has caused them to reflect on their purpose in life.  Nearly 50% of them said they are reconsidering the kind of work they do, with Millennials 3x more likely to say they were re-evaluating work.

These shifting sands identified in 2021 are now playing out in the market with the often referred to “Great Resignation” or “Great Re-alignment” well underway globally.  Australia is not immune to this, and business owners are currently facing large challenges around attracting and retaining talent.

Maturing your Employee Value Proposition is key to success in this regard, with a significant element of success being tied to purpose.  People who live their purpose at work are more productive than those that don’t.  They are also healthier, more resilient and more likely to stay at the company.

Furthermore, when employees feel that their personal purpose is aligned with the organisation’s purpose, the benefits expand to include stronger employee engagement, heightened loyalty and a greater willingness to recommend the company to others.

This sounds like a good start to helping attract and retain talent right?

Mind the Gap

The McKinsey findings also demonstrated that employees want more purpose from work than they are getting.  Over 70% of employees surveyed said that their sense of purpose is largely defined by work but only 15% of frontline managers and employees agreed they are living their purpose at work.  This is in stark contrast to 85% of Senior Executives and upper management who say their purpose is being fulfilled at work.

Major gap identified. The question is how to close it.

What to do?

The choices that leaders and senior managers make are the X-factor in helping bridge the gap and assist people fulfil their purpose at work.  Leaders making better choices can make a positive different to help employees align purpose at work.

The good news for business owners and MDs/CEOs is that this also drives performance and ultimately results, delivering a major multiplier effect.  Engage your talent more effectively and deliver better results.  Sounds like a no-brainer.

McKinsey suggest three ways to focus efforts on this:

1. Start with your organisation’s purpose. It’s the only thing you control directly and underpins engagement at work.  Be careful though – if you talk about purpose and don’t follow it through the results can be devastatingly bad.  On the other hand, when done well, employees are 5x more likely to be excited and engaged at work
2. Reflect, connect, repeat. When employees have a chance to reflect on their own sense of purpose and how it connects to the company’s purpose, good things happen. When this opportunity is afforded, employees are 3x more likely to feel that their purpose is fulfilled at work.  Leaders and managers play a crucial role here in ensuring they lead their team in manner that fosters the ability for this to thrive
3. Help people live their purpose at work. 63% of employees surveyed said they want their employer to provide more opportunities for purpose in their day-to-day work.  Whatever that means in your business, you need to find ways to deliver

For example, make town halls and group forums engaging and interactive.  Consider connecting employees with client success stories and experiences rather than sterile, one way conversations around periodic results.

Leadership capability is essential

From a business owner and CEO’s perspective, the capability of your leaders and leadership team is essential to help ensure this can be successfully delivered.

Your leaders and managers need clear visibility and understanding of strategy, including a clearly articulated company purpose for employees to engage with and align to.  Leaders also need to be well equipped in terms of capability to manage their teams and help them connect to the strategy and company purpose.

They also need to be able to lead their teams in a manner that fosters an environment that is conducive to purpose being fulfilled.  This requires a complex set of capabilities that don’t always come naturally to all, and that often require honing and improving.

Investment in leadership development can form part of the solution to help engage your talent, drive performance and generate return on investment (ROI) for business owners.  To extend this further, the return on investment will be greatly magnified for those companies where strategy and purpose are clearly articulated, communicated and understood by the team.

To learn more about how an effective well-structured and run leadership development program can benefit your business, take a look at our Leadership Development Services page or download our Leadership Development Framework.

Alternatively, feel free to drop us an email, give us a call, or book a consultation with our MD.

Notes:

This blog has been based on the article “Help your employees find purpose – or watch them leave” authored by Naina Dhingra, Andrew Samo, Bill Schaninger and Matt Schrimper of McKinsey & Company, April 5, 2021

https://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/people-and-organizational-performance/our-insights/help-your-employees-find-purpose-or-watch-them-leave?cid=app#print

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In the current inflationary environment, escalating wage costs are top of mind for every business owner and CEO.  After years of being able to maintain the status quo, businesses are needing to mature their remuneration strategies and ensure their remuneration budgets can stretch as far as possible.

There’s a fine line between bumping up fixed salaries to meet the market for attracting and retaining talent and balancing a budget in an inflationary environment where a broad range of costs are on the increase.

Business models are being tested.  On the one hand, the ability to pass on rising costs to customers through pricing strategies is critical.  On the other, keeping control over and some flexibility around cost base is equally important.

For many mid-market and emerging businesses, salary costs are the biggest line item in the P&L and the current environment provides a significant challenge for many.

What to do?

Business owners and CEOs need to mature their thinking around remuneration strategy and think more broadly than the typical salary and bonus equation.  It’s no longer just enough to meet the market on salary.

The current environment demands new approaches to both remuneration and employee retention. Here’s where the Employee Value Proposition becomes critical.

What is an Employee Value Proposition?

An Employee Value Proposition comprises the sum total of remuneration and reward – including monetary, beneficial, structural and developmental rewards to employees who achieve specific business goals. It is the package of elements that sets your employment environment apart from other companies and creates value in the eyes of an employee.

It encompasses the following:

• Salary and overall compensation
• Benefits
• Training and development opportunities
• Work-life balance and flexible schedules
• Rewards and recognition

Importantly, this holistic approach does not simply add layers of fixed costs onto the wages item in the P&L.  It meets employees demands in a variety of ways by providing other elements of reward and incentive that are of perceived value.  It is also often goes to the heart of a company’s purpose and values.

Business owners and CEOS can retain some flexibility and control over the fixed salary component whilst providing benefits and development components as part of the strategy.  Most importantly, these components can be tied to performance goals – providing alignment with the business in terms of ROI.

Leadership development as a key component of remuneration strategy

Research has demonstrated that professional learning and development is a key retention driver:

Applying a total rewards mindset to remuneration sets the platform for business owners to introduce leadership development as part of the remuneration mix.  Well-structured leadership development programs will be well received by leaders and valued employees as the program will be viewed as an investment in them personally to develop their capability and enhance their career path.

From the business owner and CEO’s perspective, leadership development programs provide a valuable lever to increase total reward for the employee that supplements base salary and differentiates the employee value proposition.  This in turn provides a powerful retention tool.

Most importantly, however, enhanced capability amongst leaders and managers will help to underpin high performance and deliver results for the business.

The equation is simple:  invest in leadership development as part of the solution to attract and retain your talent, drive performance and generate outsized returns (ROI).

To learn more about how an effective well-structured and run leadership development program can benefit your business, take a look at our Leadership Development Services page or download our Leadership Development Framework.

Alternatively, feel free to drop us an email, give us a call, or book a consultation with our MD.

Notes:

1. “Turnover and Retention Research Report”, Australian HR Institute 2018
2. “66% of employees would quit if they feel unappreciated”, Forbes 2019

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Companies across the globe recognise the value a great leader brings and a great team of leaders multiplies that value many times. Hence business owners and CEOs worldwide focus a lot of attention on creating an environment where leaders are continually developed at all levels through their organisations.

The problem however is choosing the right approach from the myriad of programs and offers in the leadership space.

Given my career experiences in leadership training and the combined knowledge of the Checkside team, I am often asked which approach results in the best ongoing development, behavioural change and value creation across a whole organisation. As you might expect, there is not a quick and easy solution, but there are several common traps people fall into when designing leadership programs. Analysis by McKinsey demonstrates how much more effective your programs are when you can avoid these common mistakes¹ and the impacts of avoiding these traps are outlined below.

Common traps

Implementing generic leadership programs without considering organisation-specific strategy and environment

Whilst studying the latest leadership theory may sometimes be beneficial, McKinsey found that leadership programs are 8.1 times more effective when they focus on leadership behaviours most critical to your own business’ performance and direction². Our experience is that without this direct link to strategy, leaders can become disenchanted with the learning as they cannot see the relevance to themselves and their team and they cannot implement change in isolation.

Engaging in one-off, cohort-specific programs (whether they go for a day, a week, a month or even a year or two)

Leadership development programs are 6.9 times more effective when they cover the entire breadth and depth of your business². Without this, you risk creating silos in your business and you end up having to choose and invest in new programs for different individuals or teams every year.  It is also very powerful to create a common language amongst your leaders to be shared throughout the business.

Forgetting to offer a safe environment and a strong coach to enable the transfer of learning

Offering leaders the opportunity to apply new skills to real work will make your program 6.1 times more effective². In our experience, this opportunity needs to be matched with the appropriate coaching to provide feedback and enable leaders to learn from their mistakes.

Ignoring your leaders’ underlying mind-sets

Programs with a strong emphasis on building self and team awareness brings forward the mind-sets which underlie behaviour. This allows leaders the opportunity to challenge their underlying assumptions and triggers, increasing the likelihood of significant change in their behaviours and making your program over 5 times more effective².

Failure to embed the program into the operating system

Development programs that truly accelerate performance are embedded in the “way we do business around here” because we have found that they are reinforced every day by the actions everyone takes. Increase your program’s effectiveness 5.6 times by looking it into systems such as the performance review process, the talent identification process, the career development process and the coaching and mentoring approach.

Measure what matters

Finally, when delivering programs, it is imperative that the outcomes of the program are measured. Whilst many will measure participation in the program or participant feedback, the ultimate measure of success for the CEO or business owner is the business impact or value derived from the changes. When we take the appropriate actions to address each of these challenges, we increase the chances of success of our leadership development initiative to 80%².

Summary

The McKinsey research and findings strongly align with Checkside’s philosophy and approach to leadership development.

download our Learning Development Framework here  

To learn more, download the framework (using the button above) or call us to find out more about how we can help you design the right approach and program to maximise your ROI.

Katie Cook is a client director with Checkside specialising in Strategy Development, Strategy Execution and Leadership Development in Adelaide.  Prior to joining Checkside, Katie held roles as National People & Development Manager at Stratco following nine years at Deloitte where one of the roles she had was as a manager in the Learning & Development Team in the UK – designing, developing and implementing a broad range of leadership and core consulting skill programs in both the UK and at Deloitte University in Europe.

McKinsey articles:

¹ https://www.mckinsey.com/featured-insights/leadership/why-leadership-development-programs-fail

² https://www.mckinsey.com/featured-insights/leadership/whats-missing-in-leadership-development

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Understanding The Coaching Conundrum

Outside of a professional environment, people are usually much more open to acknowledging a lack of confidence in coaching others – the difference being that they are not being paid!

Away from work I coach my son’s basketball team and his football team, where I am also the Coach Coordinator for the football club. At work, like the rest of our team, I spend a large percentage of my time coaching executives and managers on how to build and lead high performing teams.

In a sporting club it’s often difficult to get people to take on coaching and assistant coaching roles – some will use the ‘I don’t have time’ excuse, but that is hard to argue when talking to another volunteer.

Most people admit that they find the idea of coaching daunting and lack the confidence to ‘do a good job’ coaching a team of kids (even though many of them are responsible for leading teams at work every day).

In a work context, we often hear business owners and executives say,

“I am paying John to be a manager, so I expect him to do a better job of leading and coaching his team”. 

The problem here of course is that most managers and team leaders have progressed their careers by being good doers – having great relevant technical and execution capability. This is particularly so in family and private businesses where lots of people have ‘advanced’ over the years by being good, loyal employees.

The reality is that more often than not, your managers and team leaders are paid well because they are experienced and confident at doing their job, not because they are expert leaders and coaches.

And herein lies the problem – people are more reluctant to talk about their lack of confidence when they think they get paid more to be a manager, that you expect them to be a good one, and their career status is attached to the title. Indeed, some managers will try to bluff their way through, which usually ends up badly for them and your other employees.

Developing leadership skills, particularly coaching skills and confidence, takes years.

It requires a different and broad set of capabilities to those required to ‘do the job’ and comes with the added pressure that managers feel responsible for the careers of their direct reports.

What’s the solution?

The obvious answer here is to invest in leadership and coaching development for your managers and team leaders, but how you go about this will determine how successful you will be:

Open Dialogue
Firstly you need to have an open conversation with your emerging leaders.  Let them know a leadership or management role requires a different skill set to the strong technical and execution one they have spent the past years developing. Be open about what these roles involve (and the skills required) as this allows each emerging leader to make a conscious decision about whether they really want to change the way they work. Explain that every business still needs great ‘doers’, so it’s ok for them to ‘opt-out’ of a management role.

Realistic Expectations
If your (potential) leaders ‘opt-in’, explain that you DON’T expect them to be expert managers straight away – just that they work on the craft and improve over time. Let them know you understand it will take time to build confidence and capability in coaching and other skills and you are willing to invest in them (they will definitely appreciate it).

Encourage Complementary Learning
Encourage them to complement their training with their own learning. This may include getting involved in community sports coaching (and taking time to do so), reading about great coaches and spending time with experienced coaches from different contexts.

One to One Coaching
Make sure your leadership programs include an ongoing coaching element from an experienced and successful coach. If you want your leaders to become good coaches, they need to be coached by an expert.

Consistent Rhythms
Embed a consistent cadence and discipline around your leadership program and coaching feedback loops (at least monthly). Ad-hoc programs and short-courses are not the answer.

Commercial Acuity
Make sure the leadership coach you choose has a full range of capabilities and a clear understanding of the commercial elements driving your business performance.  Coaching needs to complement, not replace, accountability and performance metrics. If your coach doesn’t understand the difference between a P&L statement and a balance sheet, things can go off track pretty quick.

Putting it  together

Ultimately you need leaders who develop a real interest in coaching and are committed to honing their craft over time.

Not unlike golf, good coaching requires capability with a full set of ‘clubs’ and clear decision making to navigate the course and prevailing conditions. No-one steps onto the course the first time and shoots under par!

For further information check out our leadership development programs.

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People aren’t the only solution of course, you still need a robust operating and accountability system in place (see our recent blog on Navigating your business through the COVID-19 pandemic), but A-Grade talent will drive and maximise the outputs of your execution model better than average talent. Statistically it’s impossible for everyone to be ‘above average’ (despite what many performance reviews seem to suggest!), so now is a great time to ask yourself if you have the right people on the bus to deal with your new reality?

In his current Harvard Business Review article ‘Now is an Unprecedented Opportunity to Hire Great Talent’, Claudio Fernandez Araoz points out that the best companies heed their own learnings from previous crisis events and focus on investing on the right talent to pull through downturns in better shape. And the reality is that the availability of talent right now is approaching never seen before levels.

An analysis of over 4,700 companies across the last three recession showed 9% were able to come out much better positioned than when they entered because of their progressive mindset and focus.  Importantly, the critical difference lay in resizing and reshaping their talent (as opposed to simply downsizing) meaning successful firms continued making important investment decisions during these downturns.  As we know, making the right executive hire at the right time can make a massive difference – in fact it’s been shown that A Grade talent can be up to 400% more productive than average talent.

Most of you won’t have high level executive Talent and Search teams in-house like Fortune 100 companies, but that’s where you can leverage consultants to help you ‘upgrade’ your talent at an opportune time

To read the HBR article, click here.

To ensure you have the right talent to drive performance in your business, give us a call to discuss further or alternatively, book a meeting with an advisor here.

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