The Latest from Kristy-Lee

Last week I had the opportunity to participate in a brand new ‘ask an expert’ style event with a fabulous group that I am a long time member of. As I jumped into different virtual rooms I was prepared to answer any question about teams, staff, hiring, firing and everything in between. The rooms were full of businesswomen who all are running successful businesses that they are looking to scale, so all at different stages on the process.

Here’s what was interesting, in almost every room, one of the questions had me recommending an exercise that I call the ‘Clean Slate Exercise’ – I recommended it to someone who was just starting out with building her team, to someone else who has a team but was finding things weren’t flowing as they should, and to someone else who was preparing for the next phase of growth and wanted to narrow down which role next. For all of these women, who were all in very different stages of growing their team, the lightbulb moment that came when I explained to t...

Whilst I often steer clear of topical, time relevant topics, I felt this one was worth exploring today because it’s critical, it’s complex, it’s unchartered territory and for many employers it’s just plain stressful.

Can you, should you, and do you want to mandate the COVID-19 vaccination in your workplace.

I think if you asked most business owners this question 6-12 months ago most would have said they this is a personal choice issue, it’s a minefield of privacy concerns and it’s one more thing that they didn’t really want to have to make the decision about.

Fast forward to September 2021, when Victoria is in the midst of lockdown number... I’m not even sure, I think there is some kind of numbering convention that might have us at 6.7, and NSW thick into a 12 week stint that feels like it’s never going to end, employers are in a very different business environment, and mindset.

The Australian Government has always maintained that vaccinations should be free and volunta...

• Making Great Decisions;
• Harnessing Greatness;
• Rewards and Recognition

1. Learn to let go;
2. Choose wisely;
3. Explain why;
4. Communicate clearly;
5. Set parameters;
6. Provide training and resources;
7. Hand over responsibility;

There is no doubt that the increased use of technology has had many benefits in how effectively we can work, and providing flexibility for how and when we work. Especially for those in more senior roles, which typically require more hours, higher attendance and a greater degree of availability. It has meant that where previously these senior executives would need to be on site for upwards of 12 hours per day, they could be as available, but not on site at the workplace for such lengthy hours.

But when the way we work changes for everyone in the workplace, thanks to a global pandemic, the impacts of this excessive availability have now come to light. With 18 months of working from home, remote and hybrid teams, we have enough data and information to see the impact this change is having on our teams.

The reality is our workplaces, and the way we work have changed forever, and in many ways, this is a good thing. I have spoken in the past about my belief that we have fast forwarded...

We’ve all experienced the pain of turnover before, after spending time hiring, training, guiding and leading someone in your business that you were desperate to retain suddenly leaves. It can be frustrating, disappointing and even surprising, yet something that is a reality to owning a business, leading people and managing teams.

When we talk about ‘retention’ what exactly do we mean? There are obviously various definitions around, but fundamentally it’s about keeping staff. Technically retention is a measure of the degree to which your current employees remain with you over a given period of time.

To debunk a myth straight off the bat here, retaining staff is absolutely not about throwing more money at people. If that’s your only retention tool, in my opinion, you are on a fast path to a destructive, toxic and dysfunctional culture. Of course you should be paying your team solid market rates in line with their value to your organisation, and pay rises are a reality, but this s...

As a leader and manager, someone who employs people and is building a team, the ability to successfully delegate tasks, responsibilities and authority is, or will become, critical to your ability to grow and develop your business.

However, it’s a skill that often we struggle with. Even those who can delegate, often don’t do it as effectively as they could, and for those who own their own businesses, and are building their own team, this can be a really tough art to master, because it involves letting go, and releasing control.

Put simply, delegation is the action of assigning responsibility for the completion of a task to another person. Typically, you as the delegator maintain the responsibility for the task being completed, although you may, depending on the circumstances, delegate the authority up to a certain level as well. So, you delegate the ‘doing’ but still need to ensure the doing gets done.

As your business grows, delegation becomes critical, you will ultimately become a ...