A change in the belief is needed to prompt a change in behaviour. For the beliefs to change, there must be some motivation to do so, i.e. if I stop believing that my boss has it in for me and start being a bit more open, my day-to-day interactions with them might improve. Motivation: A better work environment and reduced anxiety Belief: Change from “my boss is trying to sack me" to "he is giving me opportunity to grow by highlighting areas for improvement" Behaviour: Onc

Don’t be greedy. Let someone else have a turn. The other team has been better all year. You’ve had too much success. Neutrals who had supported Brisbane for the past three years were saying these things to me this week. And it hurt. Because for something to trigger us, it has to threaten something deeper. Our sense of safety. Our sense of identity. And, for us tribal creatures, our sense of belonging. So there I was yesterday, head in my hands, tears in my eyes, surrounded by

A culture is made up of behaviours, beliefs, values and motivations of those in the group. In any culture, there are certain behaviours that are accepted, allowed, and encouraged. These behaviours are those that the collective have deemed fair and desirable to those in the group. The behaviours of one culture may appear to be unusual or even unacceptable to another culture but works for the group that they are a part of. When different cultures come together, this is when t

The expectation in the market is for the candidate shortage to continue in the foreseeable future. We really are in a race for talent and we are now competing with home, not just other companies. Attraction and retention are a whole new ball game. A leader who can create an engaging environment with their remote or hybrid teams will be highly sought after. The soft skills that we know are essential for engaging teams will be required more in the future. Innovative ideas and

We, as individuals, are responsible for the amount of effort, energy, and time that we give to our jobs. Consider a boundary rider; their job is to check the fences around the property. If there is a broken fence or one in need of repair, it is the boundary rider's responsibility to fix it so that the cattle do not get out into the neighbouring properties or onto the road. It is our responsibility to set the boundaries we are willing to hold, companies are there to make a pro

When a high performer resigns from the team, their manager often panics and runs to Human Resources to see if they can counteroffer to keep the team member. This strategy is like shutting the gate after the horse has bolted. The reason the employee has gained another role is because they are not engaged in their current role. Regardless of the reasons that the employee may give, if they have not advised their immediate supervisor of the fact that they are looking for work o

A team who laughs together, overcome challenges together while keeping their humour. When a group of people share a laugh, this shows or perhaps initiates a connection between them. Humour is powerful tool for connection, it is also a way to relieve stress, which let’s face it never goes astray in the workplace. The good news is that in most workplaces there are a multitude of things to keep us amused, it is just a matter of letting the team know about the humorous anecdotes

Lack of role clarity is one of the psychosocial hazards that employers need to be addressing under the new legislation. It has been identified that lack of role clarity has the potential to cause harm to workers. Although a seemingly obvious part of managing a team, discussing the expectations of what good looks like and tracking progress of the individual against that benchmark is often overlooked. When team members know where they stand and what is expected of them, it offe

When my now husband first arrived from Nepal to live with me in Brisbane, Australia, we encountered a few teething problems, as was to be expected. He was raised in a village in the Himalayas, and from the age of 15 was a “Sherpa” or trekking guide in along the various mountain ranges of Nepal. His trip out to Australia was the first time he had left Nepal, and when we spent our first 30 days together in Nepal, we were not doing any cooking or cleaning as we were travelling

The culture killer can be someone already in your organisation or someone that you bring into the team. The latter is generally easier to identify, as over time we become used to the behaviour of the entrenched culture killer and have worked ways around dealing with them. A culture killer is someone who, for whatever reason, does not live the values that are instilled (or are attempting to be instilled) in the team and purposely goes about breaking down the glue that holds

My husband is the calmest person I know. If you want an argument, which I never do, he is not the man to try and antagonise, it simply will not happen. There was an incident where someone literally stole his Hungry Jacks away from, him in a lunchroom , and he just let her have it because she was hungry, no questions asked. He just wandered back to Hungry Jacks and ordered some more. I suffer from anxiety, and by my own admission, get cranky at him and overreact about things

Have you ever read and reread over an email 10 times before hitting SEND – hoping that you have not put a comma in the wrong place, missed a capital letter, referenced someone incorrectly or overstepped the mark in the wording? We finally hit send, and as it is leaving the inbox, we notice that one minor detail that is not right and we start obsessing over it. This had happened to me when I sent out my blog. To be honest, when you are sending out your thoughts for all the w

Look around you. Can you see anyone who has achieved greatness by staying comfortable? Printed in bold letters on the wall of the studio at my local gym are the words: “Change Begins Outside Your Comfort Zone.” I looked at this quote for years while doing high-intensity cardio and considered the meaning. It was a source of great motivation and contemplation, while I was trying to inhale enough oxygen to power myself to lunge, jump, run, and kick my way to an amazing body. I c

Worrying is a waste of time. When I was younger, my father was adamant that I should not worry about things that I could not change. He was right, but telling this to someone with anxiety is like telling an upset person to calm down, you may as well ask the tide to stop turning. I would later learn that my fathers father had suffered severely from mental health issues after returning from the war, and growing up watching that taught my Dad to believe worrying unnecessarily w

While engaging in a conversation with someone who is expressing an opinion you may not agree with, it is common for us to switch off and stop listening. This is caused by the fact that we have made a judgement about what they’re saying, that it’s something that we do not want to hear. In order to truly understand someone else’s perspective, we need to consciously listen without judgement so we hear the entire story, listen and actually hear what it is that they are telling yo

An employee’s emotional attachment to the vision, culture, and work that they are doing is what drives their level of engagement. Knowing that engagement is a spectrum where employees can move up and down depending on any number of variables allows us to tread lightly. However it is relevant to know that leaders in a team can make a difference to the engagement of a team by articulating what needs to be done to reach the goals in a sustainable way. A leader is not defined

I remember in physics class learning about the concept of potential energy, I found it quite easy. I recall that potential energy in a lot of cases was driven by gravity (although it doesn’t always hold true). It is thought that when we are at the bottom of the mountain and we have the potential to reach the top whereas all the metaphors have it wrong, you need to be at the top of the mountain where all the energy lies in the ability to fall to the bottom driven by gravity.

When we have employees who are constantly questioning, it can be perceived as a negative behaviour or at least an annoying behaviour. The leaders of old would have said something akin to, “ Just do your damn job. ” We may be tempted to think that they do not trust the leadership or the decisions that are being made or that they are using questioning as a delaying tactic so that they do not have to muck in and get the job done. Some may feel they are resistant to change, but

Throughout your career, the benefits of being flexible in the work that we undertake have likely become apparent. We can see that climbing the corporate ladder can be hastened by taking sidesteps to learn complimentary skills before being promoted. I believe that developing new skills and giving employees the ability to move into different areas of expertise is the greatest gift that organisations can provide. In addition, this improves engagement and allows employees to get

Do overs, replicating work or expecting team members to know who is responsible, without specific guidance does not work remotely, or otherwise. There is nothing more frustrating than learning that you have been working on the same task as someone else, resulting in duplication of efforts. A project plan, list of responsibilities, or workload tracking tool is essential. When it is available to the team, they are aware what is being done by whom and when it is expected to b