The Latest from Kristy-Lee

Hello, and welcome to Episode 245 of the People Powered Business Podcast!

Today on the podcast I’m joined by Ryan Griffin, MD of Chunky Duck, to talk about leading and managing a remote team.

Like many of us entrepreneurs, Ryan’s journey to his current business has not been a straight line. Initially a professional baseball player, he returned to Australia ready to start his career in digital marketing. He worked for many years in marketing agency before turning to scuba diving and juggling freelancing. As Covid hit he went all in on his own digital agency – now known as Chunky Duck.

In today’s discussion Ryan shares the benefits and challenges of managing a remote team, some of the great initiatives he has put in place to create connection and enable collaboration, and why he thinks it’s a great move in terms of attracting and retaining the best possible people.

If you’d like to connect with Ryan you can find him on LinkedIn here, or head over to Chunky Duck to check out their wor...

The National Employment Standards (NES) are central to Australian workplace law, forming the foundation of employee entitlements.

As a small business owner, understanding and complying with these standards is crucial, as they provide a safety net of minimum terms and conditions for nearly all employees covered by the national workplace relations system. This guide breaks down the essentials of the NES, outlining its twelve elements, who it applies to, and some common misconceptions that often lead to non-compliance.

What Are the National Employment Standards?
The NES, introduced under the Fair Work Act 2009, sets out twelve minimum conditions that apply to all employees covered by the national workplace relations system. These standards serve as the baseline for employee rights, meaning no employment contract or workplace policy can provide conditions less generous than the NES. For small business owners, ensuring compliance is non-negotiable, as breaching the NES can lead to signifi...

Hello, and welcome to Episode 244 of the People Powered Business Podcast!

Can you believe it’s already November? The year is flying by, and here we are with another important topic for business owners just like you.

In today’s episode, we’re diving into an area that’s critical but often misunderstood: redundancies.

Recently, I’ve been hearing about a surge in redundancies, especially in business groups, networks, and conversations with peers. But the big question is – are all of these redundancies legitimate, or are they sometimes being used as a workaround for performance issues that should have been managed differently? In this episode we explore why it’s so essential to get this right and discuss the real reasons for this trend.

Inside our People Powered HR community, each month we focus on a specific theme from The P.E.O.P.L.E Pathway. October’s focus was on ‘Exit’ – a challenging but necessary part of business and people management.

The reality is that people will exit our bu...

To break free from micromanagement and reclaim your time and control at work, you need to understand where it sits among different styles of management.

What is micromanagement?

Micromanagement refers to a management style that is typically excessive and controlling and usually exercised by a supervisor or manager. This management style focuses heavily on task-specific elements while often neglecting the bigger picture, such as overall outcomes, staff development, and collaborative teamwork.

Micromanagement can impede team efficiency and arise from several underlying factors. These factors usually encompass a lack of confidence in team members' competencies, a tendency to seek control due to apprehension or self-doubt, and a need to maintain close oversight to ensure tasks meet personal expectations.

Micromanagement frequently emerges when leaders encounter challenges in effectively delegating tasks, motivating their team, and fostering a culture of accountability. Althoug...

Hello, and welcome to Episode 243 of The People Powered Business Podcast!

In today's episode, we’re exploring a topic that is no longer just a ‘nice-to-have’ for organisations but an absolute necessity—workplace flexibility. We’ve touched on some of the legalities and frameworks before, but today, we’re going to dive deeper into why flexibility is a critical component of retaining top talent.

What We’ll Cover

Last week, we revisited the foundations of workplace relations laws, including the National Employment Standards (NES), and one of the cornerstones of these laws is the right to request workplace flexibility. Interestingly, in our Facebook Group, a recent discussion around a redundancy situation brought up some really important questions around flexible working.

So, today we’ll address key aspects of workplace flexibility, including:

Understanding the legal side of flexibility – what the NES says about requests for flexible work.

Why flexibility is so important to employees ...

As your business grows, the dynamics of your team need to evolve.

The employees who helped you reach your current stage may not be the right fit for taking your business to the next level. Recognising when it’s time to reassess and restructure your team is crucial for sustaining growth.

The Growth Journey of Any Business

Something that a lot of small to medium businesses experience is the growing pains when the team that helped them get to a certain stage, isn’t the dream team you need to take you to the next level.

Every business embarks on a growth journey, evolving through different stages: idea-powered, you-powered, person-powered, team-powered, and, finally, people-powered.

The dynamics and skills required at each stage are distinct. Understanding this journey is crucial for aligning your team with your business's current stage and future aspirations. It’s also important to have effective onboarding and offboarding to allow for this kind of growth to happen withou...

Hello and welcome to Episode 242 of The People Powered Business Podcast.

Today we’re diving into a fundamental piece of legislation that every small business owner in Australia needs to be aware of: the National Employment Standards, or NES.

If you’ve ever wondered what your minimum obligations are as an employer, or if you want to make sure you’re compliant with Australian employment laws, then today’s episode is for you. We’ll cover what the NES is, what it means for your business, and why it’s critical to understand the rights and entitlements of your employees under this legislation.

We start out by zooming up and taking a big picture look at the NES and where it fits into the industrial relations system, including who these minimum entitlements apply to.

We then take a deep dive into the 12 entitlements.

Finally I share some of the most common misconceptions I hear and share why compliance is so important for your business.

As always, I’d love you to join us inside our fr...

In leadership, effective communication is more than just speaking clearly—it's about listening actively and with intent.

The ability to truly hear what your team is saying can be the difference between a cohesive, high-performing team and one filled with misunderstandings and disengagement. Yet, many leaders underestimate the power of listening or default to a single listening style, not realising that different situations call for different approaches.

To lead effectively, it's crucial to develop a range of listening styles that adapt to the needs of each conversation.

Whether you’re solving a problem, gathering information, or providing emotional support, your listening approach will impact the quality of the interaction and, ultimately, the trust and respect you build within your team.

In this blog, we’ll explore the four key listening styles every leader should master, as detailed in this HRM article, and how to use them to improve your team’s communication, moral...

Hello and welcome to Episode 241 of the People Powered Business Podcast!

Today we are bringing you a discussion from the archives, that we featured back on Episode 128 of the podcast, and that has proven to be one of our most popular episodes yet!

In this discussion I am joined by Charissa Lim of Impact Persona to chat all things Psychometrics Assessments, especially in the recruitment process.

Charissa is a Certified Behavioural Consultant and DISC advocate who’s passionate about helping businesses gain first-hand insights into the people's behavioural traits through one of the world's most popular personality profiling tools.

She's on a mission to save businesses and hiring managers time and money - especially those who find psychometric assessment reports complex and not to mention, costly.

Working with hiring managers, recruiters and career coaches, Charissa has created a variety of bespoke DISC reports that are not only cost-effective but are also very simple to digest.

Peop...

Performance reviews are a cornerstone of effective employee management, yet many small business owners struggle to get the process right. At their core, performance reviews are an opportunity for business owners and employees to reflect on achievements, identify areas for improvement, and set the course for future success.

Done well, they can improve employee engagement, boost productivity, and foster a culture of growth and accountability.

However, when performance reviews are poorly executed, they can become a frustrating exercise that demoralizes employees and hinders progress. Instead of driving positive change, ineffective reviews can cause confusion, resentment, and disengagement.

This is why understanding the key elements of a productive performance review process is essential. It starts with a clear sense of what you want to achieve: offering feedback that not only acknowledges success but also highlights areas for growth, with the aim of motivating your employees t...