The Latest from Kristy-Lee

In an industry that hasn’t exactly been characterised by constant change, from 1 November 2021 we have seen yet another change to superannuation rules here in Australia.

The 1^st November sees the commencement of an additional step in setting up new employees and their compulsory superannuation guarantee – it’s called Super Stapling.

Whilst it’s a funny term, put simply, a stapled super fund is simply an existing superannuation account that an employee has which is linked, or 'stapled', to that individual employee. Effectively this superannuation fund follows the employee as they change jobs – it’s stapled to them.

From 1 November 2021, if you have a new employee start with you, and they don't choose or nominate a superannuation fund, you have an extra step to take to comply with choice of superannuation fund rules. Rather than just setting that employee up in your default super fund that your business uses, you will need to check, via the ATO,...

Like most leaders and managers of teams, you have probably found yourself in a place where you had had success in building your team, you have found great people, you have kept great people. Yet at a certain point things weren’t all working as well as you liked with your employees. Perhaps you realised your latest hire wasn’t ideal, or you were getting attitude from one of the team, or they just didn’t seem to be doing what you expected, or you needed to exit someone but the thought of having to do that was less than comfortable.

The first thing you need to know is that it is totally normal, and there are always going to be points as you grow your business where things get a little wobbly in certain parts, despite the fact that you have other elements of your team running along seamlessly.

For the last 7 years I have been on a mission to better understand the unique needs of SME’s when it comes to their human resources, their people management and staffing...

Do you ever find yourself with a song stuck in your head which transports you back in time? Like the Alanis Morisset album I had on repeat over a weekend of painting in a previous property? Of course there are the traditional pull backs of formals, parties, weddings and alike, but sometimes the audio cue reminds us of much more subtle and seemingly insignificant things that happen.

Yet other times, if you love music like I do, some songs just stay with you for no specific reason at all. They are not tied to any ‘event’ or ‘time’, they are just a song that you loved and have never fallen out of love with over the years, every time you hear it you can’t help but smile.

Well, as a fan of all things 90’s music, one such song for me is Hey Jealousy released by a band known as the Gin Blossoms back in the early 90’s. While I do love the song, there is one single line in that song that has stuck with me from the first time I heard it...

Like most leaders and managers of teams, you have probably found yourself in a place where you had had success in building your team, you have found great people, you have kept great people.

Yet, at a certain point, things weren’t all working as well as you liked with your employees.

Perhaps you realised your latest hire wasn’t ideal, or you were getting attitude from one of the team, they just didn’t seem to be doing what you expected, or you needed to exit someone but the thought of having to do that was less than comfortable.

The first thing you need to know is that it is totally normal, and there are always going to be points as you grow your business where things get a little wobbly in certain parts, despite the fact that you have other elements of your team running along seamlessly.

I don’t need to tell you what you already know, and that is that you can’t build a business that delivers you success and results (whatever...

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...

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...

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...

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,...

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...

I was once asked what the #1 thing was I stood for when it came to how I show up and serve my clients in my business. What was my north star that I always without doubt did without question?

Without much thought I answered, ‘I tell people what they need to know, not what they want to hear’, in fact I honestly and openly tell business owners that when we start working together. I let them know that sometimes I might need to have discussions with them which they may not want to hear, but it’s what they need to know in order to move their business forward. I honestly feel as though I have an obligation, a moral obligation to do this – because anything else just isn’t honest and without honesty, I can’t possibly give them the support they are seeking in their business.

I was considering this recently and was reflecting on how this behaviour shows up in business owners and managers. I know from my own experience that it’s a whole...