The Leadership Sphere

Neller HR Champion (CEO) Award Winners Partners with TLS

2009-11-23T09:54:33+11:00

A firm partnership The Leadership Sphere has been working with top tier law firm Allens Arthur Robinson to build capability in the areas of effective conversations, feedback and coaching. Recently, Michael Rose won the Neller HR Champion (CEO) Award at the HR Leadership Awards. Susan Ferrier, Director of People and Development at Allens Arthur Robinson says, "We have worked with the Leadership Sphere for the last two years to help lift the skills of our partners, lawyers and other professionals in the areas of effective conversations, feedback and coaching. The aim of the training is to help us deliver our...

Boost People Skills: Study

2009-11-09T08:01:13+11:00

Australia could dramatically lift national productivity by investing in corporate management improvement, a landmark international study of 439 companies commissioned by the federal government has found. The study reveals there is substantial scope for improvement of management practices by company bosses and huge potential returns to firms. If business is able to lift management performance, it will be a key factor in improving productivity in the economy and can dramatically lift company performance, the study shows. Management Matters in Australia: Just how productive are we? found a strong association between management practices and a company's productivity. A single unit increase...

It's Not About the Money

2009-11-08T23:19:56+11:00

I recently had a group of executives argue that if you wanted to get the best out of people they needed to be paid well. Remuneration is only part of the motivation puzzle - in fact a smaller part than many people think. Numerous studies have concluded that for people with satisfactory salaries, some non- financial motivators are in fact more effective than extra cash in building long-term employee engagement. This is true in most sectors, job functions, and business contexts. We know that many financial rewards generate short-term boosts of energy, which can have damaging unintended consequences. Indeed, the...

$45,000 Raised for Foundation

2009-10-13T23:32:00+11:00

Teamscape, the organisation created by The Leadership Sphere and ASI Aviation Consultants, recently announced Diamond Sponsorship (along with the Fosters Group) of the The Financial Markets Foundation for Children gala ball -a unique opportunity to raise funds and bring hope to Australian children. At the Gala Ball held in Melbourne last Friday night (11th September), approximately 700 people attended a sparkling evening. We are really excited to announce that our program was auctioned and bought for $45,000 by the National Australia Bank. This is a fantastic result with every cent going to the Fund. The Financial Markets Foundation for Children...

Flexible Skills Rule - Says Employers

2009-09-16T23:18:17+10:00

Transferable or flexible skills are the key attributes job applicants should be demonstrating in the current economic climate, according to research by the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) in the UK. In order to stand out from the crowd, job-seekers should develop a flexible mindset and be able to demonstrate to potential employers transferable skills, the research found. The online poll of more than 100 HR professionals also drew on results from the quarterly employee outlook survey of more than 3000 employees. Other key marketable skills for job-seekers were “business acumen” with one-fifth of HR professionals believing it...

Management for the Battlefield

2009-08-31T09:53:21+10:00

One of my roles in supporting leaders is as an executive coach. And as you could imagine, I hear about leadership challenges almost on a daily basis - and it's often not a very inspiring story. For example I was recently coaching an executive who was describing the difficulties he was experiencing in holding people accountable and getting them to focus on what matters to the business. He was frustrated by their lack of 'get up and go' and apparent lack of 'skin in the game'. As the story unfolded, it was clear that the executive had at least an...

Why Focusing on What Needs Fixing Can Get You in to Trouble

2009-08-24T22:18:00+10:00

It doesn't matter what area of our lives, particularly our working lives, we love to focus on what's not working rather than what is working. In fact, we are rewarded for spending countless hours analysing problems and then working out what's blocking higher performance. We then spend even more time trying to fix the problem in the form of re-structures, project teams, steering committees and more analysis. Sadly however, these types of activities are often a waste of time, effort and resources. One of the problems with problems is that the investment of energy in looking for and solving problems...

Teamscape Announces Sponsorship

2009-08-18T21:21:01+10:00

Teamscape, the organisation created by The Leadership Sphere and ASI Aviation Consultants, is proud to announce Diamond Sponsorship (along with the Fosters Group) of the The Financial Markets Foundation for Children gala ball -a unique opportunity to raise funds and bring hope to Australian children. The Financial Markets Foundation for Children is a charity which has been supported by the major Australian commercial and investment banks for a number of years. It was established in 1990 and has raised $7 million to date. 100% of funds raised are donated to research into emerging children's health issues such as childhood asthma,...

Corporate transformation under pressure

2009-07-08T20:49:29+10:00

Most companies find it hard to transform themselves in difficult circumstances. Those that use proven tactics markedly improve their chances of success. It’s relatively rare for transformation programs to succeed; many surveys, including our own, put the success rate at less than 40 percent.1 Our recent research, however, underscores the fact that certain tactics promote successful outcomes. The most important tactics are setting clear and high aspirations and targets, exercising strong leadership from the top, creating an unambiguous structure for the transformation, and maintaining energy and involvement throughout the organization.2 Companies that used all of these tactics succeeded more than...

Rethinking Trust

2009-06-30T23:25:41+10:00

Despite deceit, greed, and incompetence on a previously unimaginable scale, people are still trusting too much. For the past two decades, trust has been touted as the all-powerful lubricant that keeps the economic wheels turning and greases the right connections—all to our collective benefit. Popular business books proclaim the power and virtue of trust. Academics have enthusiastically piled up study after study showing the varied benefits of trust, especially when it is based on a clear track record, credible expertise, and prominence in the right networks. Then along came Bernie. There was “something about this person, pedigree, and reputation that...

New Offices

2009-06-30T22:35:20+10:00

We would like to announce that after an extensive search for suitable premises, we have re-located to the beautiful Southgate precinct. The office offers comprehensive facilities suitable for meetings with state-of-the art technology, executive coaching in a relaxed and private environment and workshops. Our new office is at Level 23, HWT Tower, 40 City Road, Southgate Vic 3006. Please feel free to visit us.

New Strategic Partners: CrossRoads Human Resources

2009-06-30T22:12:29+10:00

We are pleased to announce a new strategic partnership with CrossRoads Human Resources. Because TLS works with organisations to create sustainable, high performance cultures - it became clear to us that we needed partners with specialist expertise in HR strategy to partner with us and our clients to ensure all key aspects of culture change were addressed. Crossroads Human Resources is a specialist HR Solutions and Executive Search practice. They have been working with businesses for 10 years to ensure People Management practices have a positive impact on their business goals. Crossroads works with clients to ensure that HR strategy...

Announcement: The Leadership Sphere and ASI Aviation Consultants form 'Teamscape'

2009-06-30T21:42:07+10:00

We are pleased to announce that The Leadership Sphere has formed a joint venture with ASI Aviation Consultants to form a second company called Teamscape Pty Ltd. Teamscape has united the guiding principles of the aviation industry’s crew resource management (CRM) program with leading edge corporate training to develop the n·2 system™ – a range of organisational effectiveness, leadership and team development modules supported by coaching and on-line learning. The aviation CRM system encompasses a wide range of knowledge, skills and attitudes which have resulted in a set of principles and practices that allow the rapid and seamless formation of...

A Good Way to Change a Corporate Culture

2009-06-30T21:17:00+10:00

"I'd like to talk to you about a big project," the woman told me on the phone. "We need to change our culture." She was a senior leader in a professional services firm, where people really are their most important asset. Only it turns out the people weren't so happy. Theirs was a very successful firm with high revenues, great clients, and hard working employees. But employee satisfaction was abysmally low and turnover rates were staggeringly high. Employees were performing, they just weren't staying. This firm had developed a reputation for being a terrible place to work. When I met...

From Lemons to Lemonade: Squeeze Every Last Drop of Success Out of Your Mistakes

2009-05-27T20:12:00+10:00

It's one of the more uncomfortable subjects to discuss. It's something every human experiences at one point or another, yet we prefer to hide its occurrence from friends, family and co-workers. We've even gone so far as to try to banish its negative effects from the lives of our children. However, it's very likely that all this avoidance is only causing us further distress, in ways we can't foresee. The experience is failure, and author Dean A. Shepherd argues that we can (and should) learn and grow every time we fail. His new book From Lemons to Lemonade: Squeeze Every...

Performance Reviews Without the Anxiety

2009-04-11T16:11:01+10:00

A manager in Belgium eases employees' tension by giving advice and feedback throughout the year. No one on Philippe Lescornez' team of grocery sales specialists goes into a performance evaluation expecting any big news. If the manager has something important to say, he will just say it, rather than wait for a formal feedback session. While for other workgroups, the yearly or semi-annual appraisals can be anxiety-laden confrontations between an employee and a company's official representative, Lescornez approaches them as an opportunity to summarize and commit to paper hundreds of discussions that have occurred along the way. The veteran manager's...

What Strong Teams Have in Common

2009-04-11T15:44:32+10:00

Gallup has been studying leadership teams for nearly four decades, and we have witnessed some telltale signs of strong, high-performing teams: 1. Conflict doesn't destroy strong teams because strong teams focus on results. Contrary to popular belief, the most successful teams are not the ones in which team members always agree with one another. Instead, they are often characterized by healthy debate -- and at times, heated arguments. What distinguishes strong teams from dysfunctional ones is that debate doesn't cause them to fragment. Instead of becoming more isolated during tough times, these teams actually gain strength and develop cohesion. One...

Love That Culture

2009-03-30T13:24:14+11:00

A culture that supports high performance remains one the most desirable yet difficult things to attain. In this article by the Australian Institute of Management (Management Today), Phillip Ralph, Managing Director of The Leadership Sphere is interviewed about how to create a great culture. Download Love that Culture MT March 2009

Stories, Storytelling, Story-Selling in Business

2009-03-24T19:47:25+11:00

At this moment in our nations history, we are seeing two epic stories evolving in terms of our new President, and in the state of our economy. The story of Obama many believe is epic, and certainly the story of our nation’s recession and economic downfall is also a burgeoning epic tale. Stories move societies forward. They inspire, engage and initiate change through their telling and re-telling. Basically, there are two types of stories: Truth Stories and True Stories. The first type, Truth Stories, are those that convey timeless messages and universal truths. Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey were the first...

A Note from the Editors at HBR

2009-03-24T16:27:47+11:00

Leadership is never easy, but it is incredibly tough right now: The global financial system is basically paralyzed, the recession is the worst we’ve seen in the better part of a century, and trust in institutions and the people who lead them is at an all-time low. Who better to put the subject of crisis leadership in perspective than Doris Kearns Goodwin, the presidential historian? Goodwin has written extensively about Abraham Lincoln and Franklin Delano Roosevelt, the two presidents who led the United States during its biggest crises: the Civil War and the Great Depression. She combines a shrewd understanding...