The Latest from Kristy-Lee

The Great Resignation: is it over yet or should employers still be concerned?

blog Feb 22, 2023

What is the ‘Great Resignation’?

 

The "Great Resignation" refers to the surge of employees leaving their jobs in search of better opportunities, work-life balance, and job satisfaction driven by the COVID-19 pandemic that kicked off in 2020.

 

This global event precipitated the shift towards remote work which gave many employees the freedom to reevaluate their priorities and pursue new career paths.

 

The term was originally coined in the US by organisational psychologist Anthony Klotz in May 2021 to describe the spike in resignations that appeared post-pandemic.

 

As a result, many employers around the world faced a significant talent crunch, as employees left in search of more fulfilling roles. Companies were scrambling to find ways to retain their top talent, and invested in initiatives such as flexible work arrangements, employee wellness programs, and increased benefits to keep their employees happy and engaged.

 

The Great Resignation made...

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Navigating Toxic Workplaces as a Leader

blog Feb 15, 2023

When managing staff tests your grip on reality

 

Put a group of strangers together in a room. Give them some constraints and take away certainty. See what happens.

 

This is essentially the plot device of many a story by the master of meditating on human nature, Stephen King. It also happens in many workplaces where strangers haven’t been nurtured into a team cohesively and consistently. Leave a dysfunctional team alone for long enough and you might eventually think you’re living one of King’s horror stories as things get toxic.

 

This is why leaders are so important in the workplace. |The role and responsibility of leaders are to nurture their team members. It’s also to catch any issues that start out as weeds before they take firm root in company soil.

 

But how do you know when you, the leader, are the problem?

 

As leaders, it’s easy to absolve ourselves immediately and look outward for the issue. And sometimes it is an...

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Paid Family & Domestic Violence Leave Update

blog Feb 06, 2023

Compliance Update – Paid Family & Domestic Violence Leave

Are you up to date?

When the government changes, so do a range of things including compliance. At the end of 2022, we had a look at the first round of Industrial Relations Reforms that were announced and what we could expect in 2023.

 

Short answer: a lot.

 

In February 2023, significant changes were made to the Domestic Family & Domestic Violence Leave.

 

The major difference is that it used to be unpaid leave and is now paid leave. The Labor Government also pledged $153 million to end Family and Domestic Violence so this is a top priority on their agenda while they’re in office.

 

We dive deeper further below into the specific changes to this leave entitlement and what you need to be on top of as an employer.

 

What’s becoming clear, however, with the current government is that pleading ignorance around compliance obligations isn’t going to cut the mustard anymore and...

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5 Top Tips to Running an Effective Team Planning Sessions

blog Jan 30, 2023

Why are planning sessions so crucial to your team?

There’s a reason why Simon Sinek’s Start With Why upended the world of leadership and business when he hit the mainstream with both this talk and the book.

For a long time, the focus in the workplace was on outcomes without connecting their people to the why of those outcomes. We soon realised by using Simon’s framework, that connecting people to the core of why the business exists and exactly how their role impacts the world created stronger relationships, better outcomes, and more innovative thinking.

A fundamental aspect of connecting your people to your business why is running effective team planning sessions. From this connection grows a rich dynamic for your team – but without a well-structured planning session you could be missing out on leveraging the best from your people.

People want purpose.
People want clarity.
People want to belong.

Understanding these driving motivators, and planning sessions are...

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The Power of Pausing

blog Jan 25, 2023

Why do we need to hit the brakes in our businesses from time to time?

 

We’re living through an unprecedented post-pandemic period of transition. Many of us are starting the year feeling completely depleted. Everything feels hard and in some instances, insurmountable.

 

So, what’s the deal?

 

Whether you struggled or thrived through the pandemic, there’s research being released about the short and long-term impacts on our collective and individual well-being around the world.

 

The Georgia State University Research Magazine released an article titled Two Years of Trauma in a bid to better understand the lasting legacy of the mental health adversities of the pandemic. Doing the promotional rounds for his latest release, The Myth of Normal, Dr Gabor Maté also talks about the lasting impact of the pandemic as a trauma we are still emerging from.

 

Hustle culture also isn’t all it cracked up to be, and being a boss has never been...

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What Is Your 2023 Team Vision?

blog Jan 18, 2023

What does your team need to help your business succeed?

 

I bet if I ask you what your 2023 vision is for your business, you’ll likely have a good idea. Maybe you’ve reflected, formally or informally, reviewed and planned and strategised what your business is going to look like in 2023.

 

One vision I notice many small to medium businesses miss clarifying is their vision for their team. If I ask you what your 2023 team vision is – do you have an answer?

 

There are a few key ingredients to identifying your 2023 team vision. You need to know the what. You need to know the why. You need to then share it with your team. And then you need to plan your team’s capacity – what do they need, maybe even who do they need, to deliver your business vision?

 

Is it more tools? Or is it more people? Is it clearer roles and responsibilities? Is it a new position? Is it professional development? Is it transitioning team members across roles that...

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Compliance Update - Pay Secrecy Clauses in Employment Contracts

blog Jan 11, 2023

What do you need to know as a business owner about pay secrecy clauses in your employment contract?

If you’re a small business owner or you work for an organisation that includes sole traders, partnerships and trust structure in Australia you are likely covered by the Fair Work Act.
 

The Fair Work Act covers a range of rights in the workplace including a host of industrial relations legislation and compliance updates that organisations and business need to keep up with. For a more in-depth dive on this act, passed in 2009 by the Rudd Government, read more at the Fair Work Ombudsman.


With the recent changes in government there have been a raft of industrial relations reforms underway in Australia across the end of 2022 into 2023.

The update we’re focusing on today is the banning of Pay Secrecy Clauses in employment contracts and agreements which came into effect on 7 December 2022.

From this date onwards, if you introduce a Pay Secrecy Clause in any of your...

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The Subtle Art of Letting Go in Business

blog Dec 21, 2022

The key to success in business is letting go

Elsa sings in the earworm Disney hit, Frozen, “Let It Go” which is a nice sentiment but not a reality for many business owners who often carry too much on their plates and wear too many hats.

At some stage in a successfully growing small to medium business, the owner and founder is going to have to start letting some of their daily tasks and responsibilities go. This is usually to other people in the business as they start to hire and expand, or outsourcing when there’s a little more cash flowing through the business (sometimes before).

 

The reality is, in order for our businesses to grow and thrive, and for us to have time to live the life we want, we are going to have to learn how to start letting things go.

 

Letting go isn’t an easy task as a business owner, though – especially in fledgling or rapidly growing businesses.

 

Why are we so bad at letting go in our businesses?

When we talk...

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The Magic Number of Direct Reports

blog Dec 14, 2022

There’s a fine balance between the number of people that report into any one position and how effectively a business or organisation continues to run. It’s quite often an aspect of organisational structure that is overlooked, neglected, or spirals quickly out of control as businesses scale and grow without a clearly identified structure or resourcing plan for growth.

But there is a magic number of direct reports that hits the sweet spot, ensuring that you have just the right number of staff reporting into a single position while still ensuring that position itself is effective depending on the nature of the role.

Structure is one of the fundamental aspects of ensuring that you don’t overwhelm, or even underwhelm, your management team and help set them, and their teams, up for success – in the long run, this feeds into your business success and is well worth investing in.

There are actually five key factors or variables that impact the success of direct report...

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Navigating December and Keeping Your Sanity

blog Dec 05, 2022

As we dive head first into another December we have well and truly shifted into ‘festive’ season with the Christmas and New Year celebrations starting to kick into full gear.

 

Catch ups are booked in advance, parties organised, shutdowns scheduled, and Kris Kringle plans are definitely being made by someone (we hope?).

 

Yet, this time of year as a business owner can be fraught with stress! How to host a Christmas party without running the risk of a legal nightmare. How to get everything done and all the orders delivered before close down, and how on earth to keep people focused when all they are thinking about is holidays?

 

So how can you as a leader manage this period, especially when you yourself might not be feeling the excitement to celebrate and feeling less willing to tolerate the slide in focus and increase in frivolity during the coming weeks?

 

Here are my top 8 tips for staff management during the ‘silly season’:

 

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