Tyson Pulleine

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29 Oct 12:46

Enhancing Team Performance - Paramount Training & Development | Courses, Training and Workshops in Brisbane Sydney Melbourne Perth Canberra Adelaide.

Tyson Pulleine

Boosting Team Efficiency
High performing teams are the hallmark of a successful organisation. As team members work together in pursuit of common goals, productivity grows, creativity flourishes and satisfaction at work increases. Greg Anderson recognises that truly effective teams take time and great thought to cultivate. Through careful planning and constant nurturing, he argues, superb teams always emerge.
Effective team performance rests on clear communication. Teams that provide open channels for sharing information and feedback, as well as opportunities to try out new ideas in an environment of friendly collaboration will see the quickest resolution of any problems arising. Regular meetings with the whole team, simple documentation and widely accepted communication tools for everyone involved make sure that the team is uncorrupted, understands its aims and enjoys them. When team members feel listened to and valued, engagement levels soar.
Setting clear goals and expectations provides direction and purpose for teams. With specific, achievable targets that are time-limited, team members can concentrate their efforts with real meaning. I remember reading something from Patrick Lencioni in The Five Dysfunctions of a Team: "It's not finance. It's not strategy. It's not technology. It's teamwork that remains the ultimate competitive advantage." Performance reviews and celebration of milestones in the project promote motivation while helping to identify areas for improvement. With such an orderly plan, each person is held accountable but, if one part of the development process becomes slow or stuck up, others will rally round and get it moving again.
By building trust and psychological safety within a team, members feel able to take reasoned risks, offer original thinking and acknowledge their mistakes openly without fear of blame. Leaders who develop open collaboration with a genuine concern for their team members and demonstrate vulnerability themselves, build a culture where trust thrives. Trust comes from what people actually do; honest decision-making without fear of repercussions to team members wellbeing or career progress.
Investing in continuous learning and development makes sure that teams remain competitive and spirited. Providing chances to develop one's palate, cross-training opportunities and refresher courses shows the organisation's commitment to employee growth. Teams with a learning-based culture accept change more readily, solve problems more resourcefully and remain high performers even when conditions become difficult.
Enhancing team performance depends on precise communication, objective-setting, trust-building methods and investing in development. Organisations looking to reach the highest echelons of their industries must place these elements at the heart of their operations. Through implementing these principles, leaders in Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne, Perth, Canberra, Adelaide, Geelong and Parramatta can turn their teams into a source of sustained success for the whole company with team building training.

So what separates these teams from the rest?

Assembling a high performing team takes more than just bringing a group of talented individuals who have the right skills. It demands carefully developing key traits, behaviours and habits.

In this article, we’ll cover:

  • What a high performing team is
  • What their characteristics are
  • How to create a high performing team
  • Scaling and enhancing performance coaching with performance management tech

Let’s dive in!

What is a high performing team anyway

A high performing team is a collection of individuals, each with their own unique ability and special quality, which in combination creates something remarkable that none could have done alone. High Performance Teams are obsessed with excellent, tangible outcomes. They are built on trust, collaboration and common purpose.

But successful teams don’t just spring out of nowhere. You need to use performance management in the right way, because you want your teams to collaborate, innovate, and do their best work together.

Why Do You Need High Performing Teams

Your organisation’s success is built on the success of your employees. They are the engines of fresh ideas, they get work done and they accomplish their goals. Teams, when they are aligned, receive feedback and coaching, and have the support they need to do their best work, can push through barriers, to get a job done.

Characteristics of a high performing team

There are always unique aspects of any given team, but high performing teams tend to have things in common.

They know where their work aligns with the mission of an organisation

When employees see how their role contributes to your company’s mission and goals, they’re more engaged, and productive. Top high performing teams understand their “why” and collaborate to support a common vision. Research supports the view that at a very broad level, highly engaged workers know their job contributes to the organisation’s success and find out how their tangible goals are connected to the team’s mission.

They have specific objectives that are closely related to team and organisational priorities

Teams that perform at a high level are in sync with their focus, mission and top priorities. They establish team and personal goals that align with this collective vision. The goals aren’t just in sync, though; they’re also defined very clearly, so everyone knows precisely what’s expected and how to achieve it.

Research shows employees are 3.2 times more likely to be engaged when their personal performance goals are aligned with organisational ones.

They understand roles and the responsibilities

The potential for conflict can be so strong that it can tear down a potentially gifted, stellar team. High performing teams reduce unnecessary conflict by clarifying who does what. This prevents confusion over project ownership, keeps workflows and deadlines organised, and makes sure accountability across the board.

They communicate clearly and respectfully

Performance goes down when communication does. Successful teams put in place clear expectations and strong lines of communication. That way, everybody knows when to talk and where to do it, who they need to reach out to. Conflict is almost always present, but high performing teams learn how to address conflict in a healthy way that doesn’t become an obstacle.

They thrive on two way feedback

Teams in high performing organisations create an environment of ‘continuous improvement’ underpinned by open and constructive feedback from and to all directions. Both ideas and concerns or suggestions are free to be expressed in an atmosphere of trust with team members. Managers solicit feedback from employees, consider the needs and viewpoints of their staff for team development.

This is not only a performance improvement model but a team strengthening process. It makes us collaborate more and be flexible. And there’s the other little detail: aggregated feedback can turn into further development opportunities for anyone.

Greg Anderson, an Executive Vice President of HR, explains:

“We’ve learnt more about how our team members are feeling, what they’re thinking. It has treasure trove of data to help us tighten up performance management and establish a culture of improvement and accountability.”

They prioritise work and deadlines

Thriving teams prioritise what’s most important, and they allocate time accordingly. They know that not all work is equally important or urgent. They work according to priorities and importance of the task on their projects. It’s what keeps work connected to organisational goals and keeps everyone focused on the work that drives growth.

Managers and staff members feel aligned and connected

One on ones are a building block of great teams, they develop transparency and connection between managers and employees. These check ins are not just status updates, but a focused time to talk specifically about your goals and progress.

Managers need to use 1 on 1s to gain clarity on what their direct reports are looking for and point them in the right direction or offer some hands on support to get over obstacle the person may be experiencing. High performing teams create team success with managers and employees having a strong relationship where pride and belonging equally reside.

Enhancing Team Performance

They have an inherent trust and respect for each other

On trust and respect. How much of collaboration and team work is needed for high performance? High achieving teams thrive on trust and respect for each member who can rely on coworkers to contribute effectively. They appreciate diversity of thought and experience, and acknowledge how those differences make them better. It is a culture of trust that benefits individuals: bring their whole selves to work, take risks, share ideas, innovate together.

They celebrate success and acknowledge contributions

The best teams know their success is due to teamwork. They party together in victory, finding any chance to honour and express gratitude for the work of each employee. This develops a great culture of collaboration where everyone feels valued and connected.

Research continues to demonstrate that ratings, rankings, and pay for performance do not directly drive employee engagement. But recognition does. Highly engaged employees are 70% favourable to the statement “If I help my organisation be successful, I know that will be recognised.”

They practice continuous learning

Even the top teams have areas to improve. The best teams love receiving feedback and making mistakes in order to learn. They try to grow by developing a culture of feedback and investing in employee development. Learning is growth, and learning keeps teams always stretching for the next level of success.

They juggle short term concerns with long term growth

Thriving teams tread the fine line between short term wins and long range development. Though they have their eyes on the prize, they invest in education and career development to remain at the forefront of innovation.

Talent reviews and succession planning are key aspects of this philosophy, to make sure the next leader is strong and prepared as the team’s future leadership. So is an accessible career pathing that shows your hires a future at your company.

By focusing on both the short term victories and long term sustainable growth, high performing teams are well positioned to quickly adjust, innovate and compete within an ever changing business landscape.

What are the things that high performing teams do differently

What do exceptional teams have that others don’t? These teams reach for the stars, and they are not an average team. They consistently achieve remarkable results.

So let’s explore the five secret things what high performing teams do differently to compete with and win against their competition.

The best teams are innovative and adaptable

The one thing that everyone knows at every organisation is that things change. But that won’t unnerve a strong team. These are not teams that are afraid of bucking a trend.

Instead, they actively absorb fresh ideas, solicit innovation and adjust to new developments. Through flexibility and willingness to adapt, they remain agile, robust, and able to capitalise on new opportunities.

High performing teams need the room; they need buy in, tools, and technology to learn big and fail. That’s why high flying teams aren’t always measured by arbitrary KPIs, but by the org they have.

Innovation Super Teams collaborates with other teams and departments across the company

High performing teams do not cower to organisational silos. Indeed, these teams are notorious for destroying silos and developing cooperation among departments, disciplines and teams.

The result is they create a climate in which people are given the freedom and opportunity to contribute knowledge, effectively use one another’s talents for good and find ways to collaborate on things that matter. This teamwork experience, and I would argue the collective impact of the team, is further supplemented through building interrelationships.

Recognition and achievement is the priority for high performing teams

Top performing teams understand that sincere recognition will appear differently for each and every employee. They also rely on data to acknowledge wins, because most victories, however small or large, are all part of a bigger team effort.

In doing so, they develop a cultural epidemic of acknowledgment and gratitude that inspires all in their company to be more focused, wiser and exceptional.

Great teams use high impact, easy to use performance tools

Great Teams know they’re only as good as the processes and tools which support them. These teams can ill afford to be tripped up by a mishmash of systems and departmental data kept in silos. To work as efficiently as possible, these teams worked with solutions that facilitate cooperation on a single platform and increase the automation of tedious tasks.

Mutual accountability for high performing teams

These are not teams that are ever going to throw a team member under the bus. High performing teams use mutual accountability to hold themselves, and each other, responsible for the team’s results.

Actionable advice on how to create a top performing team

You can’t build a high performing team overnight. It requires dedication and a sustained investment in growth. Try the following to begin:

Generate a common identity of purpose

Employees need a common purpose to feel connected to the team. This is where having clear goals and a team that are aligned comes in.

Managers of successful teams constantly assess priorities and team goals to make sure they are useful and aligned. Continuously communicate the organisational goals and relate it to the team’s work.

Leverage one on ones to touch base with your team about progress, priorities, and that their work is in line with the broader team goals. This promotes a common purpose and makes sure that the team is rowing in the same direction to deliver results.

Streamline communication

To achieve that, high performing teams need to be agile and dedicated, so crisp, efficient communication is key. Make sure everyone is on the same page with clear communication protocols and guidelines.

And while teams may have water cooler chat and team updates in Slack Channels, elements of projects can pop over to project management tools like Asana to live, think data, roles, and keeping track of where things are.

Establishing some communication processes can prevent misunderstanding, and promotes critical information to the appropriate individuals prevents weak links or lines of oversight.

You may also want to develop ways for team members to contribute their skills and knowledge. Promote cross functional cooperation by offering workshops, team building activities or knowledge sharing events where members of other departments can work on projects together or share lessons learnt about trends in the field. And this crossing of skill and idea pollination makes everyone more creative, innovative and connected.

Facilitate decision making Decentralise the power

Top performing teams do not micromanage their team members, they give them autonomy and set a good example of ownership. These teams don’t feel timid to propose a fresh idea, solution, or choice of option to their management team. Instead, managers understand that the best way to maximise performance is through empowering staff to take a lead.

Empower staff members to come up with great ideas, share their opinions and attitudes and take decisions on their own (within the business limits). This creates a feeling of ownership, responsibility and it builds the culture of trust and empowerment.

Keep in mind, regular acknowledgment of this type of contribution to the broader team can create a sense for employees of how their work is contributing to the greater good. Which brings us to…

Recognise and reward achievements

Recognising and rewarding individual or group contribution is vital to the development and maintenance of high performance. Acknowledging and rewarding work well done both improves morale and behaviour, and encourages team members to strive for the best.

Try and show gratitude on a regular basis: show your team that you notice all the little things they do. Weekly one on one meetings are an opportunity for you and your team to remain closely connected on the team’s goals, tasks, and accomplishments. But it doesn’t have to be just big wins that you acknowledge. Recognition can take place on a successful milestone or simply a period of generally doing good work, or when they all killed themselves to go above and beyond the call of duty.

Keep in mind that the type of recognition your staff likes, can vary from one employee to another. Keep the kind of recognition your employees personally enjoy most top of mind by gauging responses over time.

Managers aren’t the only ones on the team who can play when it comes to recognition. Promote team members by facilitating acknowledgment and appreciation through a “team shoutout” Slack or weekly email channel. It contributes to a highly rewarding and stimulating work environment on all levels.

Invest in employee development

If you want the same impressive results, develop a learning and growth culture. High performing teams are curious. They question, hypothesise and adjust based on what they learn. Teams are better when they’re not reinventing the wheel, or repeating the same mistakes, and knowledge tends to beget more knowledge.

Empower your team by investing in your employees to perform. Recognise developmental opportunities that are being presented as it relates to team needs and priorities, delegate accordingly based on focus of team goals. Employee development opportunities make employees feel inspired and motivated and go a long way in making them better equipped to perform their role.

Who should build high performing teams

How to inspire employee impact. Employee impact is a human centred, engaging way to talk about how your employees or team members can see the part they play in making sure the company wins.

Employees want to win, and they want their company to be successful! But they don’t want to have to jump through ineffective performance management hoops. They are looking for more from their organisations and managers.

The whole organisation is involved, from its leaders to HR and managers and employees, in creating an engaging performance management approach.

The role of senior leaders

Senior leaders must set direction and establish clarity for the organisation’s most important goals, then adjust to evolving organisational needs. The other informer of what performance, accountability and effective coaching are, can lead, showing us that the principles of outcomes and impact, rather than output and productivity only.

The role of HR

HR has an important role to play when it comes to performance management and how participative performance management practices work. HR needs to make sure that performance feedback is assisted, closely linked to organisational goals, and it needs to hold leaders accountable as coaches.

Through developing performance programs in collaboration with stakeholders, and ongoing assessment and refreshing, HR establishes dynamic performance management systems which increase the impact of employees, drive employee development and deliver business success.

The role of managers

Managers put company goals into terms small teams could work towards, and team growth for employees. They form relationships with the people they lead, give feedback and make sure expectations are clear.

Managers also work with employees to set goals, coach them and allocate resources for their success. They provide feedback to SL and HR which improves PM, by further developing coaching skills.

As John C. Maxwell wrote in The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership, “A leader is one who knows the way, goes the way, and shows the way.” This principle applies to managers who want to build high performing teams, they need to model the behaviours they expect from their teams.

The role of employees

Leadership and HR can construct the sturdiest of performance management systems, but if employees aren’t actively engaged in their own performance, don’t expect to see much change. Employees should be doing their best to meet goals, solicit and accept feedback and mentorship, put some skin in the game on development plans and career paths, and ask for the help they need to do so.

How performance management software can enable you to build high performing teams

Creating a high performing team is not an over night success. But get the blend right, between skill and experience, match these basic building blocks of a high performing team, and the results will make all this work worth celebrating.

Step your teams forward with clarity and alignment

High performing teams can only succeed when they have well defined and aligned goals. Employees are more actively involved when you help make sure your employees will be active participants in settings goals, tracking progress, and achieving milestones with cascading goals that prioritise organisational, team and employee level efforts.

Improve confidence and performance of your employees thru feedback

360, Peer and Upward Feedback tools help drive employee performance, growth and development. Develop a culture of frequent feedback within your teams through flexible frameworks that gather any kind of feedback with configure the collection the way you wanted it.

Performance reviews to keep managers and employees on the same page

Performance reviews remain a work producing program for the majority of performance management programs, but you need them to be more effective, efficient and engaging in order to boost your company’s performance. Transform performance discussions with tailored review templates that customise reviews to your culture and help managers succeed.

Give and receive high fives without leaving your desk with real time shout outs

Inspire employees and celebrate success with continuous recognition. Share success stories with ease and enhance the feeling of being valued among employees across your organisation through peer to peer and all employee recognition that empowers anyone to acknowledge someone else at any time.

Boost clarity and connection through performance reviews and 1 on 1 meetings

Facilitate strategic conversations at all levels, in any department. Enhance communication, transparency, and participation through digital meeting apps that work on and follow every 1 on 1.

Find and grow talent with talent reviews

Measure what matters in an unbiased way. Predict up and comers and talent at risk. Make strategic talent decisions with actionable performance feedback that gives valuable, objective feedback that your manager can use with employees.

Succession planning that delivers on high performance

Actively identify gaps and develop plans for future development. Identify and develop the best successors with share the nomination process where anyone with a leader or manager title can request nominations and performance details.

Building High Performing Teams in Melbourne, Brisbane and Beyond

Whether you’re in Sydney, Perth, or Adelaide, developing a high performing team takes intentional effort and the right support. If you’re looking to transform your team’s performance, consider investing in tailored training sessions that address your specific challenges. From leadership development to communication skills, professional training can give your teams the tools they need to excel. Contact us to discuss how we can help your organisation build teams that consistently deliver exceptional results.

Sources

Gallup. (2015). State of the American Manager: Analytics and Advice for Leaders.

Maxwell, J.C. (1998). The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership.

 

29 Oct 12:43

Mental Well-being - Paramount Training & Development | Courses, Training and Workshops in Brisbane Sydney Melbourne Perth Canberra Adelaide.

Tyson Pulleine

Support for Mental Well-being in the Office
Mental well-being is inextricably linked to workplace success and employee satisfaction. As managers of enterprises throughout Australia grapple with the profound impact of mental health upon productivity, involvement, and retention, providing an environment where people feel supported is now as much a business imperative as anything else. Promoting and prioritising the mental well-being of employees allows companies to build resilient teams that can endure and even exceed themselves through troubled times.
Understanding Mental Well-being
Mental well-being encompasses emotional, psychological and social health. It affects how people think, feel and behave while at work. Strong mental well-being can be seen in team members 'enhanced focus of attention, creative problem-solving and capacity to share. I remember reading something from Patrick Lencioni in The Five Dysfunctions of a Team: "When there is trust, conflict becomes nothing but the pursuit of truth, an attempt to find the best possible answer." Conversely, poor mental health leads to decreased productivity, more absenteeism and a higher turnover staff. If managers can spot early warning signs— continued Stress or a drop-off in quality of work, withdrawal into oneself as well as from friendship with coworkers— they and the employee themselves have opportunity to intervene with support before a crisis occurs.
Supporting Mental Well-being in Practical Ways
A number of evidence-based strategies fit organizations can use to promote mental health. Flexible working hours cater to a variety of individual needs and can reduce work life stress. Regular debriefings between managers as well as team members provide opportunities for frank discussions about difficulties and concerns. Employee Assistances Programs give staff confidential professional counseling where necessary. Training line managers in mental health awareness equips them to respond sensibly when workers begin to show signs of distress, as well providing a psychologically safe environment for people to speak out about their problems without fear of being judged or penalised.
Building a Culture of Well-being
Making long-term transformations means incorporating mental well-being into an organisation 's culture. First and foremost, its leaders must set an example good behaviours; take time off work to rest; respect other people's territory on the job site (whether this be physical or psychological space); openly discuss mental health. Recognizing performance achievements, stimulating people to give mutual support and arranging courses in stress management all help convey the message that employee welfare counts. When mental health is everyone 's shared problem rather than each individual at work shifts workplace environment into a place where everyone can prosper. Even more important than simple humane sense, investing money in mental health returns tangible benefits--from improved performance to reduced healthcare costs and reinforced corporate image, which is why our workplace wellbeing training in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide, Perth and Parramatta helps organizations develop these vital capabilities .

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Manolo is a dedicated support assistance with many years of experience in a range of different skills. He offers advice on subjects such as Sales, Negotiation, Customer service and Administration with workplaces.

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Mental Health Awareness Taking care of our well-being should be a priority just, like attending…

29 Oct 12:41

Develop Your Company Culture

Tyson Pulleine

Building Company Culture
A strong corporate culture helps an organisation pull together and work more effectively. It is the shared beliefs, values and behaviours that employees bring to work with them every day. With so many variations in how good companies define their cultures, one thing is clear: a strong company culture not only attracts great talent, one which celebrates talent and provides opportunities for top creative minds to flourish for long periods of time if not their entire lives. It also affects the way employees look at success itself. When doing business within an organisation that has created positive cultural attitudes since day one, people will be less interested in getting ahead exclusively through individual achievement and more inclined to help one another succeed as well.
Creating a beneficial company culture starts with well-defined personal values, which are in harmony with the mission and guiding principles your organisation has set forth. Rather than merely being words on paper hung up at work for everyone to see, these values must be put into action by the leadership team. Only then will these values be part of the whole company's lifeblood through and through. For example, leaders that consistently demonstrate desired behaviours set a tone for their organisations that is true and establishes an air of trust. As long Companies cultivate a corporate climate of authenticity in which every member feels known, respected, valued and safe to speak up about how they feel without fear of retribution for it. As a result, every employee down through all levels of management feels supported by their teammates during difficult times . When problems arise, morale goes up instead of down.
Communications play a key role in corporate culture development. An open, honest flow of information encourages employees to have their say, work together effectively on ideas and take new challenges in stride. Making certain that team meetings are held regularly with all members present as well as giving them one-on-one feedback sessions now and then keeps lines for a meaningful dialogue open between organisations and coworkers throughout at every level. I came across this idea from Patrick Lencioni in The Five Dysfunctions of a Team: "It's teamwork that remains the ultimate competitive advantage." Employees who feel listened to and appreciated, are also more likely to be invested in their company's success.
Recognising and appreciating the good work of employees is an essential part of providing a satisfying culture for everyone. By doing so, leaders demonstrate that their efforts really matter and this recognition of individuals can take many forms – from formal awards to simple words from peers which say how much they appreciate your contribution. What is significant here is not the form such recognition takes or even where it comes. It's the frequency and the sincerity with which these expressions are made. More companies now understand this principle and are beginning to apply it in some measure as part of building an effective company culture.
Supporting employee development allows organisations to prove their long-term commitment and creates a culture of ongoing learning. Opportunities for training, mentorship programs and onset career paths within the structure of a job help employees both realise their career aspirations to the full while strengthening organisational ability at one and same time.
Creating corporate culture is a continual process that requires dedication, consistency and real commitment from both the senior management team as well as everyone else. A place where people are nurtured, valued and stimulated to reach new heights. With leaders demonstrating human dignity and practical socialism in action as well as words (which must always match their behaviour for those who work around them), any organisation could soon have a culture that makes sustainability financially palatable while providing a place full of vitality for all who come in contact with it, which is why leadership and team development training in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth, Parramatta and Adelaide helps organisations build these capabilities.

When your employees show up for work, what do you want them to feel and think about your company?

Maybe you never even thought about it. But what they “feel” reflects both you and the company culture you have created.

How do you bring back a dying company culture? It will take some doing, and you can start by asking:

How much do your employees love to work? It should not feel like dread to come to work.

Is there responsibility and accountability? Being part of a thankless job makes employees feel unappreciated.

Are your employees engaged? Employees who believe what they are doing matters to the company and its mission stay committed.

Are they friends, are they respectful? People want to feel included and that their word and work is being honoured .

How do you apply to your employees? Showing appreciation and offering reward (monetary or not) for the job well done is like telling them their work means something to you.

Now that you have these questions answered it’s time to move on to the fun part of building a company culture your competition will be jealous of. You are four steps toward the promised land.

Lay a Foundation

Company culture doesn’t build itself overnight. It’s a process, one that begins with understanding your mission, vision and values. At its core, your company culture is all about values, what you stand for.

You and your executive team will have to spend time and effort to find out these cornerstones of the company. If you don’t, there’s always someone who will fill the space. And one day you’ll wake up, glance around your world and think “This isn’t what I intended. What happened?”

Let’s look at the three part approach and what each means:

Mission statement: This is how you tell the world, your employees, customers and vendors, why you are in business. It should be brief.

Vision statement: This is what your company seeks to become in the future. It also needs to be emotive and motivational.

Values: These are what you and your employees believe and how you are going to behave. This is what will inform your company culture.

Are your values at the heart of what you want your company to be? About how you’d like your employees to behave, think and work?

Determining your values is hard and right here is where many organisations stop, but don’t. Your beliefs will be the source of your actions and decisions each day.

Greg Anderson once said something that stuck with me: “Leadership is not about being in charge. It is about taking care of those in your charge.” This captures exactly what company culture should be about.

Begin by reflecting on what you have in common with your executive team. What makes you passionate and emotional? This is what company culture is and these are your values.

Take Veretto for example. It is big on innovation, striving for the best, having integrity and helping. They are reflected in who they are as a company, the people they hire and their everyday business practices.

Take the Temperature

You can’t discuss the creation of company culture without discussing employee engagement. Since then I came to an understanding that disengaged employees could cost a company money, productivity and even can bring down morale in the workplace.

Use your employees as a way to pinpoint where you might be falling short in the company culture department. A culture survey (also known as a climate survey) is an excellent first step.

Below are some sample questions and topics included in a culture survey:

  • Is the employee’s opinion valued?
  • In the last three months, how many times has your supervisor congratulated you for doing good work?
  • Do you have the resources and tools required to do your job?
  • Do you feel heard by your manager?
  • Do you believe your benefits are fair as well as marketable?
  • Happy in your work?

The number of employees who take the survey can be revealing. If there’s a lot of distrust in your organisation the rate at which employees accept the offer will be pretty low. That’s a red flag.

Trust is vital in company culture. If your people don’t trust you they are not going to follow you. Use this as an opportunity to develop that trust. Employ a third party to conduct the survey and make sure it’s anonymous for your employees.

If you survey around culture be sure to do something with the results. You don’t want your employees filling out the survey and having nothing happen. It will sort of highlight the thing that they should use for why they checked out.

A cultural survey will tell you what your employees are thinking, how they feel about working there, their managers and coworkers. Use that information to determine how much your newly embraced company culture and values reflect the mindset today.

Get Buy In

Before you cement your company culture and values ask for input from your employees. After all, their workplace is the one that’s going to be directly influenced by these decisions day in and day out.

Host a focus group that includes people from multiple departments and job titles and experience. No supervisors, manager or executives. Just the employees. Ask them to review the mission, vision and values and share their feedback. Once again you’ll need a third party’s help for this.

It can also be eye opening and affirming to hear about yourself through the lens of your employees. Things that you had thought of as side issues might be higher on the list for your employees and what grabs them may not have registered on your personal meter.

In the end it is your company, you have your vision and you have your values. But if you trust that you hired the right people he’s worth listening to.

You and your executives should check out the feedback and then make some tweaks as you see fit. Once you have the final version you need to gain a commitment from your team of managers in order for them to live these on a daily basis at work, you all have to walk the talk.

Questions to ask yourself as you go forward:

  • Do you have the right leadership team that embodies your values?
  • Do you attract similar talented employees?
  • Is there a high bar in your values that the team needs to strive for?
  • How can you engage with your employees?

You don’t want your staff to be able to say “Well they say it. But they don’t do it.”

It will be up to you and your management team to set the example for employees. And it begins with their boss. When they’ve done a good job hiring supervisors and employees your company culture should be visible from the top down.

Roll It Out

How do you build the culture in an organisation from scratch? It’s about more than putting it on a poster in the break room.

Your company culture is a living thing. It touches everything in the organisation: It’s about how you manage performance reviews to how you say thank you, it all goes back to your HR infrastructure.

It will be a reflection of how you hire, onboard and fire. Your pay and reward behaviour will match your values.

If you want to compete based on a strategic edge for talent this is how: that right culture and high levels of engagement. They will want to work for you and stay. You can’t just get them, you have to keep them. And some companies fall short.

Don’t be one of them. Whether you are in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane or Perth building a strong company culture isn’t just good practice, it’s what keeps talented people walking through your doors and staying.

At Paramount Training we work with organisations across Australia to build high performing teams and develop the workplace culture that drives real results. If you are ready to move from theory to action our tailored training sessions can help your leadership team walk the talk.

Sources

Sinek, S. (2009). Start With Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action. Portfolio.

Gallup. (2015). State of the American Manager: Analytics and Advice for Leaders.

Deloitte. Global Human Capital Trends (Annual Reports).

Lencioni, P. (2012). The Advantage: Why Organizational Health Trumps Everything Else in Business. Jossey-Bass.

29 Oct 12:38

Lean Process Improvement

by Francis
Tyson Pulleine

Ideas for adjoining inspired interactive sports venues with community homestay facilities
In the developed world, leisure activities are becoming more and more diverse and self-directed. This trend can also be seen in people's pursuit of creative, inspiring, and artistic hobbies. The idea behind this leisure and recreation centre was to first join fun with wealth of choice. But then: how can active sports and recreations facilities be realised anytime and anywhere in the world?
Interactive sports venues and adjacent community homestay facilities are of great service for attracting large gatherings from various societies and cultures. Here, sports have even more of an audience than they do indoors. There is still considerable scope to develop this combination, though at the same time there are certain obstacles.
As the level of intensity and energy generated at a sports complex is so different from that of an arts centre or similar establishment, what sort of design would best blend both kinds of activities? Traditional theatres afford every audience member a view, but it is not usually possible for each on AirLogistics satellites that televise both arts events and sports to do so.
The planning of these two sports complexes alongside one another has divided the main stadium part right into woven ridges and valleys like mountains and rivers. Besides giving it unique lines, the approach saves space .
Port Kimberly has similarly co-ordinated with work on housing development to produce one or two top teams, some corporate headquarters and multi-storey car parks as part of an overall redevelopment scheme for both central and local government.
Now that host venues will become collaborative partners, those taking part in the games have an incentive for their good quality hosting of events. I remember reading that Henry Ford once said, "Coming together is a beginning, staying together is progress, and working together is success," and this really captures the spirit of what these venues can achieve. When domestic TV reports market all sports with an equal fervour, this too will help to produce more television pictures of sports events in progress as people gather together everywhere, from Sydney to Melbourne, with proper planning and coordination making all the difference .

What is Lean process improvement?

Lean work seeks to eliminate all waste from processes, leaving activities that add value to the customer. The iterative process of continuous improvement in lean process improvement keeps a team ‘lean’.

Learn what Lean process improvement is, understand how such techniques benefit different industries, and explore how to implement these strategies in your business domain (eg, engineering, IT, knowledge work).

This isn’t a ‘Big Bang’ sort of approach: getting it right helps propel continual initiative and further development of projects, but the whole enterprise tries to engage the discipline as a way of creating a sustainable way of delivering for greater value for customers. This is a discipline of action that scales best when the whole enterprise follows it.

Benefits of Lean process improvement

What’s important is that Lean process improvement ensures that only ‘value-adding’ tasks are being performed by those groups; Lean saves a company time and (most of the time) money by allowing value-adding tasks to be the only things that are performed. Lean process improvement aims to enable teams to systematically find ways to create more value for more customers more quickly. To do that, Lean offers a systematic, scientific approach to improving product or service delivery by incorporating continuous improvement as a part of daily work.

Lean process improvement has the following advantages:

  • More efficiency: if you analyse the process and run it optimally, the resulting sprint can more accurately estimate when a task will be completed and what its deliverables will be.
  • Improving collaboration: Reflects continuous collaboration across the company, and facilitates the communication of issues or opportunities to improve processes between teams.
  • Better morale: Streamlined and stable processes give your team more wins, improving morale.
  • Less waste: Teams only work on necessary tasks, reducing wasted time.
  • Growth Mindset: Lean Management encourages everyone to constantly look for improvements.
  • Satisfied customers: When a company consistently delivers value, customers become advocates of its products.
  • Ability to Stay Relevant: The ability to reprioritize and adapt prevents stagnation.

Emotional Intelligence Skills Adelaide Perth Sydney Melbourne Brisbane Parramatta GeelongIt’s most effective when practiced across the organisation

Lean process improvement also can’t succeed if not every part of the organisation is ‘putty in the hands’ of the process improvement cadre – or, even worse, leaves feeling depleted and disheartened.

Otherwise, organisations risk building teams comprised of individuals who by optimising their own performance, sub-optimise the performance of a second team, and consequently the performance of the overall organisation.

For instance, if your marketing team gets good at continuously improving… but in doing so they refuse to take on any non-marketing work requests so that they focus on delivering the campaign for ‘Version 6A7’… then they risk creating campaigns that do not capture ‘Version 6A7’-style messaging, or that do not dovetail with the messaging that sales have going out to the customer. This creates a strategic industrial vibration that the customer can feel. Running continuous improvement on the island of ‘our process’ makes it difficult to ‘optimise the whole’ (a key Lean principle).

Popular Lean Methods for Process Optimisation

Lean provides a number of proven approaches to help you along the way. The following are some techniques you can try out – either by themselves or in combination.

Hoshin Kanri  

Hoshin Kanri is a lean process improvement method for strategic planning. It can be seen as the lean version of PDCA (Plan-Do-Check-Act), but it is especially important for communicating strategy throughout the entire organisation. The approach consists of 7 steps:

  • Establish organisational vision;
  • Develop breakthrough objectives;
  • Develop annual objectives;
  • Deploy annual objectives;
  • Implement annual objectives;
  • Perform a monthly review;
  • Perform an annual review.

5S Method  

The 5S is an order-crafting and maintenance method for your workplace. You can easily add it to your Lean process improvement plan because it is so simple. 5S stands for:

  1. Sort;
  2. Set order;
  3. Shine;
  4. Standardize;
  5. Sustain.

These five practices together can help you maintain your workplace as a shrine of productivity and eliminate process wastes such as redundant movement and queuing. 5S is the darling of the manufacturing world, and for good reason. But it can find its way into knowledge-work too.

5 Whys  

The 5 Whys is one of the most effective continuous improvement tools when it comes to root cause analysis in the Lean management arsenal. The reason is simple: if you want to either troubleshoot a problem or improve a good idea, all you have to do is ask the simple question ‘why?’ five times. And we’re not kidding. We use the 5 Whys for almost everything we do.

Gemba Walk

The Gemba Walk practice essentially just takes a lean manager out of their office and puts them in the work, with three core steps.

  1. Going around the workplace and seeing how the team works (without doing a formal inspection);
  2. Communicating with the team and asking for any problems that they might have spotted;
  3. Respecting people’s opinions and expertise.

The purpose of going on a Gemba is to observe the actual work process, engage with employees, and explore opportunities for process improvement.

When you go on a Gemba, you visit the place where the work is done, talk to employees and see where they can identify better ways to run the process.

Develop a Continuous Improvement Mindset with a Lean Process

In order to stay ahead or maybe just keep up with your competition, you need to continuously improve the quality of your process. Lean provides a number of tools – starting at the strategic level all the way down to daily team level tasks – that can help you do this.

Remember there is no rush to implement, take your time, research each lean process improvement method thoroughly, but together, or individually, they should help you attain a harmonious internal environment which enables you to be brilliant at delivering value to your customer faster than ever before.

Are you looking for fresh ideas on how to run your projects and improve your business processes? Do you have the courage to be one of those crazy, process-obsessed leaders we keep trying to help? If so, we can create a tailored training session for you and your team.