The Latest from Kristy-Lee

The Hidden Benefits of Investing In Training and Development

Henry Ford famously said “the only thing worse than training your employees and having them leave is not training them and having them stay”. But the reality is, many businesses are currently falling short when it comes to their investment in training, developing and upskilling their people.

For small businesses in particularly, training can seem like just another cost, another thing they need to find budget for, so it’s unsurprising that unless there is an urgent need to provide training in order for operations to continue, it often gets over looked or pushed to the bottom of the pile.

Here’s the thing though, when we reframe training, upskilling, knowledge acquisition and staff development into an investment in our business, rather than a cost of having employees, it can really switch our perspective. Do you invest in other things to support your business and it’s growth? Software, equipment, advice? Of course you do, so...

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Keeping up with compliance obligations is one of the key pain points employers face, especially when there is such frequent change as we’ve seen with the recent review of Modern Awards, changes to casual definitions, introduction of annualised wage agreements into more Awards, the constant analysis of Contractors v’s Employees and consistent Superannuation increases. It’s no wonder it feels overwhelming for employers, especially small businesses who don’t have in house HR expertise keeping abreast of the changing industrial relations landscape for them.

So, I guess it comes as no surprise that many business owners stick their head in the sand when it comes to HR compliance, and hope that they manage to get by, flying under the radar from attention from the Fair Work Commission.

But sticking your head in the sand is literally the worst thing you can do, in fact doing that could cost you dearly. With infringement notices starting at up to $ 1 332 per individual and up to $6 660 f...

We all know the feeling, we’re losing sleep, we’re avoiding the person at work, we’re angry, frustrated and tearing our hair out. We have an employee who is not performing, or not showing up how we want them to at work.

We can’t always quite put our finger on the exact issue, it’s just not quite right, but it’s wrong enough to be consuming our time and attention. Or maybe it is more obvious, but we feel like we’re going over the top if we bring it up – we don’t want them to feel like we are micromanaging them or pulling them up for something that feels petty and insignificant (yet the fact that it’s consuming our time and attention does in fact mean that at some level it is significant to us).

So, we tolerate it, whether it’s behaviour, attendance, performance or something else, we tolerate it. We think maybe it’s not that much of a big deal, or maybe it’ll be short term, or surely they will realise soon and fix it!

Here’s the thing – your employees won’t suddenly realise t...

• Creating the right role;
• Hiring at the right time;
• Finding the right person, someone that has the skills, motivation and is a great fit.

Did you know that up to 46% of new hires ‘fail’? That’s right – almost half of employees who start a role with a new employer don’t make it through 18 months (Leadership IQ).

Whilst it’s easy to conclude that obviously the applicant has misled us, lied in an interview, is not able to do what they promised or for some other reason the fault lies with them, is that really the case?

There is no doubt that making great hiring decisions is essential to creating the best possible team for your business, a team that is motivated, capable, productive and high functioning, but when we get the hiring decisions wrong, we are so often quick to look to others as the reason for this.

In an era where we are ‘panic hiring’ due to the lack of applicants in the market, a situation which is not likely to change in the short term, hiring the best person for the role can feel difficult, or even impossible, but it’s also why it’s so important to pay attention to the decisions we are making right...

As we grow our teams and our businesses develop, flex and change, we come to realise that what got us where we are, won’t necessarily get us to where we want to go. Sometimes this is true for some of our team as well. It’s completely normal, we fill gaps as we see them, but often without strategically considering how this fits with the future vision of the business.

In time we can feel overwhelmed and like we are spending our days managing people, which is the opposite of what we wanted to do when hiring a team.

At these times of growth, overwhelm and change gaining clarity is critical to being able to move forward and get to where want to be faster and more efficiently.

This is just one of the reasons I really believe in the value of a clean slate, and the clarity this can bring to understanding what you need in your team and how you can go about creating this mix, and potentially making positive change in your business.

Having a solid organisational structure is criti...