Year: 2012

Click Here to read how KONA Group can help your business and staff achieve higher goals.

Five Crucial Conversations Vital to Workplace Safety

Click Here to read an article on practises that promote workplace safety in the oil and gas industry.

Click here to read the article on why Silence Fails.

The new footy season is only 2 weeks away and while many of you are excited and can’t wait for kick off I can almost hear a collective groan from the non sports fans! The Sydney Morning Herald, AGE, Daily Telegraph and all other national and local newspapers are full of articles about the new season and if you read these articles there is a lot to learn from the way the team managers/coaches are developing the responsibility of some of their players Reason for mentioning it is that nearly every club has a Players Leadership Group (in addition to the business management team) A group of 3 – 7 members of the team who can be relied on to lead by example and who are responsible to show other players the right way of doing things This informal role doesn’t usually bring any extra payments or glory however they are seen as the coaches right hand men/women who can assist in the organisation, motivation, development and sometimes, discipline of other players It also acts as an interim step in moving someone from Team Member to Manager/Team Captain I Googled “Leadership Groups in Footy Teams” and to randomly pick one AFL team (St Kilda) stated: The responsibilities of a Captain are many and varied, both internally and externally,” said Senior Coach Scott Watters. Over the past four months the St Kilda Football Club has undertaken a detailed review of its leadership programs. The new structure provides the best platform for the experienced leaders to drive the Club’s performance and also caters for the development of emerging leaders. “The process of determining the Leadership Group has been a very thorough, collaborative Club process given the significance of the roles,” explained Watters. “Our 2012 Leadership Group strongly represents our internal values and ensures we are well placed to drive the development of our Club and build on the culture of excellence we are committed to.” said Watters. So when you look at the structure of your business who is potentially your Leadership Group? (Again not to be confused with your Leadership/Senior Management team) When I started in sales my sales manager had a team of 8 sales people to mentor and coach 2 days a month, every month. Now many managers have over 12 direct reports and/or don’t make time to go out on the road with their people. KONA has recently been working with a sales team and has helped to DOUBLE their revenue in 6 months. Part of that success is in developing their Managers as Coaches, and the formation of a Leadership Group is the next step. 7 tips to picking your Leadership Group

1. Leaders emerge, they are not usually chosen in the hope that they might make it someday.
2. A member of your Leadership Group must be eager to do the job not just because they have been asked or are bored.
3. To pick your Leadership Group consider a review by all members of the team of who they believe their leaders are
4. Your Leadership Group must embody your values, work ethic, strategy and expectations
5. Communicate very clearly the expectations, activities, skills and responsibilities of your Leadership Group
6. Then focus on positive execution rather than theoretical conversation
7. Your Leadership Group are not your ‘gophers’ or lackeys to do the jobs/have the conversations you don’t want to have. If you are making everyone else work hard, but you are slacking off, you will undermine your own credibility

So whichever your team is, and whatever business you are in, have a great season. Check out Management Coaching Services for more information

One of the most surprising things to emerge from the social media juggernaut, is how quickly platforms such as Facebook and Twitter are becoming the number one choice for customers to connect with their supplier. Not only are businesses providing a treasure trove of free and valuable content through their online media, they have quickly learnt that it is a new and preferred avenue for many of their customers and prospects to connect with them. I recently discovered the power of customer service via social media myself while planning a trip to Tasmania. A couple weeks before we were due to leave I needed to organise car hire, so I duly searched through the various well-known car rental companies online trying to compare the prices to get the best value. Through my searches I found an all-in-one car rental company called Vroom Vroom Vroom. This handy site compares all the top car rentals in one spot, most at discounted prices. So I quickly made my choice, put through an online order and was very pleased that another job had been ticked off the holiday-to-do list. I didn’t think about the car hire again until the day before we were due to leave. After checking though my Inbox several times, I couldn’t seem to find my confirmation email with all the booking details. I was stumped – had I deleted it by accident? Maybe there was some technical hitch I couldn’t think of? What a pain, I’m going to have to go though the hassle of contacting via email or calling up. So I clicked onto Vroom’s Contact Us page on their website, and there, next to the email address link was another link asking you to contact them through their Facebook wall – so I did. I quickly put up one-liner about my lost confirmation email giving details of when we were picking up the car and, to my surprise, I immediately I got a reply! After a couple of swift interactions on their wall, my confirmation email arrived safe and sound into my Inbox – the whole saga was resolved in less than half an hour with very little work from me. Plus I did it all through my iPhone! What a joy not to have to call up, hanging on the line waiting for ‘the next available operator’ or typing out a long email and waiting up to 24 hours for a reply. My problem was resolved almost instantaneously. This is the sort of customer service consumers are now expecting. Instant reaction within minutes rather than hours or days. Businesses are very much aware of the public-ness of a company profile and the need to react quickly – especially if there’s a customer complaint. I wanted to share this experience as it’s a great example of how businesses are engaging quickly and efficiently through social media – basically hanging out where their customers hang out. Good for business – great for customer satisfaction. Is your business engaging with customers through social media yet? If so, I would love to hear how it’s working for your business – please feel free to reply below.

LEADERSHIP IN THE WORKPLACE

The hasty and undignified departures of the CEO’s of DJ and HP have a greater story to tell than for the crimes they have been accused of. There is more to it than who did what to whom, how often and where and how high the punitive damages will be. While the courts will decide the role and fate of the perpetrators and victims and the punishment, the major losers are the employees of the respective companies,numbering in their thousands who now find the reputation of the companies they work for in tatters and the butt of cheap jokes at the water-cooler. Senior managers in all organisations need to understandthat they have a role beyond the boardroom (not the bedroom) and the balance sheet (not the bed sheets) and that their responsibilities require them to be an authentic role model to their employees and communities.

So who are Australia’s role models?

On recent evidence it cannot be our politicians (cue State and Federal) or our sportsmen (cue golfers and cricketers).It’s a question I ask of all the executives I coach and none identify anyone in their organisation as someone they would wish to emulate (Nelson Mandela is the most popular choice). It looks like there is an obvious gap in society for role models. Many of our senior managers could benefit from being challenged by value based coaching to see if they have the self-awareness and moral fortitude as well as the business acumen to head their companies. At least that way, they cannot say that it is lonely at the top and that they have no one to talk to. In conclusion,after the GFC (Global Financial crisis), we now have the GLC (Global Leadership Crisis).Do you know of any captain of industry who has the courage and is the custodian of standards that will leave a legacy of fairness, equality and justice in their organisations long after they are gone? If so,contact sonny@kona.com.au

Sonny Mathews– Is a highly credible and empathetic asset capable of inspiring individuals at CEO, senior and middle management positions. He has over 25 years of International Business expertise, across a number of wide range of functions, and as a business consultant and coach

Over the last 10 years KONA has been helping companies increase their sales and we are constantly amazed with how many Managers don’t recognise the difference between a Sales Professional who will help them grow their business, and an “Oxygen thief” who will cost them money, time and sleep.

Worse still, how long the Oxygen Thieves are kept on before someone makes a decision to replace them.

So here are a few quick tips to identify the difference;

OXYGEN THIEVES	SALES PROFESSIONALS
1. Misses most targets yet revels in large orders that come in.	1. Consistently hits their targets.
2. Spends most of their time in the office or visiting existing customers to “sort out problems”	2. Is consistently in front of customers, existing and new; Always has future appointments booked.
3. Will not, or can not make appointments with NEW contacts/companies.	3. Has a Pipeline full of Quality Opportunities with A & B Customers and New Prospects.
4. Customer contacts are typically at Low, Middle or Operational levels.	4. Easily communicates with and influences Senior Management, as well as Mid/Lower levels.
5. Prefers to talk about Price and Product Specs with customers. Loses orders because the competition always “gave a lower price”	5. Wins orders & clients/customers on Value by addressing the customers broader issues.
6. Often complains that they aren’t paid enough even though they are behind budget.	6. Is goal oriented and expects to be rewarded for achieving results, not for just turning up at work.
7. Readily blames other departments/people for their failure & negative reasons why something won’t work.	7. Takes responsibility and proactively looks for new ways to achieve their targets.
8. Baulks at filling in reports or CRM and is often unobtainable (especially after 4 or on a Friday!!).	8. Is open and accountable in everything they do

A person’s brain is the operating system for their lives, driving the choices they make, the way they communicate, and what they listen to – or not.Getting the right thinking in your organisation is critical. Evidence collected from over a million thinking preference surveys shows that organisations traditionally favour left brained thinking styles.

The successes of Google and Apple demonstrate their ability to think outside the box as well as focusing on profitability and quality processes. This combination is needed in today’s world – in the words of Daniel Pink (A Whole New Mind) automation affluence and asia mean that western organisations’ survival requires that they need to develop inventive thinking.

How would you know what kind of thinking is happening in your organisation?

The Herrmann Whole Brain Thinking™ model allows individuals to audit their thinking preferences and become conscious of the consequences of those preferences. Over the last 10 years of using the Herrmann Whole Brain Thinking™ model, we have seen time and again how collective thinking shapes organisational outcomes – too often organisational thinking profiles are unbalanced.

The Herrmann Whole Brain Thinking™ model is metaphorically divided into four quadrants – Fact, Form, Feel and Free.

Fact – Without Fact based thinking you will not be profitable A person with this thinking style can come across as brusque – only interested in facts and the bottom line. They work with numbers,problem solve, and do not like irrelevant chit chat	Free – without Free thinkers, your business may be blindsided by a competitor or new technology stealing a march on you These are the big picture people, big ideas, creative, insightful and able to bring disparate threads into a whole. They can also be impulsive and don’t like rules, and may chase the next big thing before knuckling down to implement the previous idea.
Form – without form based thinking you may suffer from quality and consistency issues This thinking style is organised, neat punctual and implementation focused. They get frustrated with lack of attention to detail, and don’t like big picture thinking without much detail.	Feel – Without Feel based thinking your people will become disengaged, and your staff turnover will climb. These are the people in your organisation that feel the pulse of your organisation. They are interpersonal, collaborative, great relationship managers. Their Achilles heel may be numbers, but there is no one better at engaging people.

All of these thinking styles have great strengths, and some not so great consequences. Being able to harness the intelligence of all four quadrants is critical to business success. At Kona, we can show you how to harness the amazing thinking diversity that resides in the minds of you and your staff – and not be out-manoeuvred on any front!