The Latest from Kristy-Lee

At the time of writing this here in Australia we are in the midst of the ongoing impact of COVID-19. It feels like a dance, the in and out of lockdown dance. Unlike the initial periods of impact this virus had on us, where we were ‘all in it together’ we are now quite often a country divided. Victoria has been in and out of lockdown more times than they care to count, Sydney are in the midst of a long drawn out period of restrictions and in fact right now more than half the population are currently under some form of restrictions.

With all of the uncertainty that the last 18 months has delivered, one thing that has proven certain is this: all businesses require great leaders to survive and flourish, and through a period of crisis in any organisation, economy or environment, it’s our business leaders who have the ability to really pull us through.

If you’re in a leadership role, whether it’s your business or someone else’s, that fact may feel like a lot of pressure, decision fatigue m...

• Website: http://getleadingculture.com/
• Email: [email protected]
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sarahtwilliams/

At the time of writing this I myself am caught up in the Sydney 2021 ‘lockdown’ – despite the fact I live outside of Sydney, and like many it’s reminded me of how much the world of work has changed in the last 18 months.

I’ve spoken a lot about hybrid teams in recent months, because the big discussion has been around returning staff to physical offices and workplaces, whilst balancing their newfound sense of expectation around working from home becoming a new norm. In my view, the businesses who can balance their need to ‘see’ their staff in an office, with the teams work from home desires, will do best when it comes to retaining the best and brightest for their business. In fact, I heard just a couple of weeks ago about a big international corporate mandating no less than 3 days per week in office, which was causing much tension amongst their team who had all come to a common consensus that 2 days in office was sufficient and something they were all jointly happy to do – swinging ...

• Self care is not selfish;
• Communicate with your team and own it;
• Find things to do that lift your mood;
• Take the pressure off;
• Delegate and involve your team.

Small business and fast growing entrepreneurial organisations who are looking to service more clients and bigger projects faster and more efficiently have always been creative in how to manage this growth in their organisations.

One of the key strategies many small business use to facilitate growth in a low risk, cost effective way, is engaging contractors rather than employees to help meet their growing client demands. And there are lots of great arguments for why businesses should utilise this option.

However, with the prevalence of contract labour available, and the fact that this now seems to have become ‘common practice’ amongst small businesses, the line between what constitutes and employee and a contractor has become blurred in the eyes of many business owners. And those who don’t understand this are finding themselves caught in costly and potentially business destroying legal battles, purely because the right structure has not been put in place at the outset.

Contr...

• Get the team together
• Reflect
• Show gratitude
• Re establish the vision
• Create goals and milestones
• Seek input from the team/

Today is the end of the financial year, and for many businesses the plans, goals, strategies and projects they put in place at the beginning of the year may be just gradually moving along, or in some cases (thanks COVID) things may have been upended more than once.

At the beginning of the year we are typically all bright eyed and bushy tailed. We are refreshed from our traditional Christmas close down and break, we are motivated by our vision for the year ahead and excited to share it with our team.

For many of you that may have looked like a team planning and strategy day, where you got the whole team together, virtually or in person, to share the vision, get them excited and communicate clearly their role in making that happen.

That results in a great spike in engagement, as our teams all want to be part of something bigger, and when we can clearly articulate their roles in achieving that, and they can see what we’re working towards, they naturally get excited and want to...

At the time of writing this particular article, the Fair Work Commission has handed down its decision following the Annual Minimum Wage Review process. The process involves the Commission reviewing submissions from various interested parties, including employer and employee representative groups, as well as analysing data relating to wages, such as changes to cost of living and alike.

Essentially, they are looking to ensure that the minimum wages set out in the Fair Work Act, including the National Minimum Wage, as well as al Award minimum rates of pay, is set at an appropriate level for our economic conditions.

What we typically see is that each year the National Minimum Wage, and all Award minimum rates of pay, will increase by a fixed percentage, and this increase has always taken place 1 July that year.

However, COVID-19 last year gave rise to ‘exceptional circumstances’ which allowed the Commission to make the determination, but alter how this was rolled out, especiall...