“We’re trying to get things back to normal, but it feels like a lot of my staff feel a bit stuck at the moment.  They have a massive workload, and we are trying to make the hybrid workplace work and still not where we need to be yet.”

This came from a conversation I had with a Senior Leader this week.  He knew that he needed to do something to keep the next generation of leaders developing, but he was concerned.  Many had been working more hours to keep up with the workload and several were starting to show signs of fatigue.

When you have done something that is exhausting, sometimes it is important to get some re-motivation and new ideas to help you and your people gain some momentum. Rather than just slogging away and hoping for this inspiration to come in between the massive workload, many people need something else. So what can you do?

A smart way to do this is to sign up for the Future of Leadership Conference.  These incredible one and half day events have started to be rolled out across Australia and the feedback has been incredible.  You and your leaders get the chance to learn from some of the best minds in the country.

You will need to be quick as only the Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth locations are remaining and they will be once again a great way to re-motivate yourselves and your people.

Please click here to find out more and join us as and support Hands Across the Water.  I will be speaking in Adelaide on the 19th of May and Perth on the 20th of May so it will be great to see some of my clients and friends that I have missed during the lockdowns.  Use the Promo code Scott15 to receive 15% off.

I am very lucky to live in a wonderful place that is close to the beach and has incredible places to eat.  One of our family’s favourite places to eat is Pilu/Acquafresca because of the authentic Italian food.  I have known Giovanni Pilu for over 15 years, we met when our daughter started school together.  I have watched in admiration as he gained many accolades including achieving two hats for his amazing food.

To help others learn the art of making pasta, he held a pasta making class.  With Mother’s Day coming this Sunday, I quickly bought a few tickets to take both my wife and my mother-in-law (ok, I admit I was getting some positive deposits into the emotional bank account, but it was amazing!)  We had a wonderful experience learning about the different (and easy) ways to make fresh pasta at home and of course enjoyed the fresh pasta afterward.

As Giovanni took us through the art of making pasta, everyone was listening to the wisdom that he shared.  The way he spoke about the importance of the ingredients (fresh healthy flour, not high processed cheap store flour!) and the importance of the sauce and how this can bring together the entire dish.

What I especially liked is how he has a ritual with his family where they will all make the pasta together and then roll or shape it for their dinner.  It sounds like a great way to have a nice red wine and enjoy the company of family.  We have already committed to doing this as a family and we are looking forward to putting into practice the skills we just learned.

So what will you be doing to make Mother’s Day this weekend special?  How can you show your appreciation to those that have helped to raise children and be a positive influence in their life?  Sometimes we get so busy with everything else that we forget to make these moments special, especially for those that we are truly grateful for.  Don’t wait to plan something on Sunday morning, take some time now to plan to make it a special day.  I can also highly recommend making some pasta!

If you are looking for another type of food, maybe something to help feed your soul, I would like to invite you to the Future of Leadership 1 Day Conference that supports Hands Across the Water. Please click here to find out more and join us as I will be speaking in Adelaide on the 19th of May and Perth on the 20th of May so it will be great to see some of my clients and friends that I have missed during the lockdowns.  Use the Promo code Scott15 to receive 15% off.

A very close friend of mine, Bud Matkowski, passed away this week.  He was a friend that I met whilst studying Native American survival and philosophy 30 years ago in the US.  Over the years we stayed in touch with me traveling to visit him (including doing a Vision Quest on his property) and him traveling to Australia to visit me.  He came from a working class background and built an incredible log cabin in the woods of Maine before he was diagnosed with Leukaemia in his 60’s and successfully overcame it with a bone marrow transplant.  

He was such an insightful person full of amazing wisdom that I made sure to introduce to my children, bringing each of them separately from Australia to spend time with him for a week in the Maine woods (my eldest daughter is his god daughter).  One of the things that I enjoyed the most was our long conversations about life.  Not just the superficial talks that most of us have with others, but the real deep conversations about how important it is to live our lives and make a difference to those around us. 

Bud believed that the world needs more thinkers.  Because we are so busy rushing from one thing to the next, many of us get into a pattern of exhaustion, only to realise that we have lost a few months of time that could have been fully lived (and wow doesn’t social media, binging on Netflix and television eat up our time!)  When we were trained, many of the Native American elders looked at the western world and identified us as ‘walking coffins of flesh’ because we are so busy doing things that are not important that our souls start to die and not living the life we were meant to.

Parents watch their children grow up and before they know it, they are out of the house and that precious time together is gone.  As we grow, we forget the importance of connecting with our parents and elders and those that made such a positive impact on our lives.  The reason?  We are often too busy to take the time to think and remember who guided us and the conversations we had to help us think about what is truly important.

So when was the last time you had a real thought about life and who the important people are in your life?  Are you taking the time to think about your life to ensure you are living the life that you are meant to live, rather than aimlessly drifting in a job or relationship that is not serving you?

When we start to truly think about our life and what we want, we can start manifesting the life that we are supposed to live.  Bud was an incredible example of someone that took the time to think and live the life he was supposed to live.  I am proud to have called him my friend, but in reality he was my mentor who taught me many things.  We need more people like Bud.  The world needs more thinkers.

As the Easter break finishes many people are starting to go back into the office.  The fear of COVID and isolation is becoming a distant memory as Australia and many parts of the world have high vaccination rates and we head into herd immunity into the future.

I spoke with a supervisor who mentioned her people were coming back into the office and they were struggling with how to get the balance right for how many days in the office vs at home.  This is a complex question to be solved because each organisation will have different needs.  With staff wanting the flexibility of the workplace this is something that needs to be considered carefully.

According to the Steelcase Global Report, the majority of people expected to work at least one day a week remotely.  In Australia the research showed:

59% expect to work 1 day a week remotely

30% expect to work 2-3 days per week remotely

11% expect to work 4-5 days per week remotely

So what approach are you taking in your organisation?  Are you taking a fixed or flexible approach to your people’s working location and the number of days at each?

If you would like to gather some insights from the research of my next book and can’t wait for it, click here and we will find a time for me to share a few strategies with you that can assist you in making the successful transition to a hybrid workplace.

If you would like to see some amazing women (& men) speakers at the Future of Leadership and support Hands Across the Water, please click here to find out more and join us at one of the events across Australia occurring in May.  I will be speaking in Adelaide and Perth so it will be great to see some of my clients and friends that I have missed during the lockdowns.  Use the Promo code GETINEARLY to receive 10% off.

I was speaking with a leader who commented about how difficult it was to retain and attract good staff.  When I asked him what their approach was to flexible work policy, he hesitated and mentioned, ‘We have not yet decided what our approach will be, but some of the executives are pushing to have everyone come back into the office.’

When I hear this, I get very nervous.  Many leaders have not developed their strategy for how to transition to a hybrid workplace that will get the best out of their people and offer the flexibility that people are looking for.  It’s not an easy task!

Although Apple is one of the most admired companies in the world, they are still working out how to make this transition.  In June last year, CEO Tim Cook announced Apple staff would work in the office for three days a week (Monday, Tuesday & Thursday).  The reaction?  Staff were pissed off!  Many employees pushed back strongly against this fixed model and wrote an internal letter demanding a more flexible policy (which of course was leaked to the media!)

There are 2 approaches that can be taken in how you determine your workplace transition moving forward:  Fixed or Flexible.

The Fixed Model.   This is when a group of Senior Executives and HR meet and determine what days staff will work in the office and what days they will work remotely (if any).  It usually is done to try to find a way to minimise disruption and simplify the approach.  Unfortunately this will only work if there are very high levels of trust and strong communication, otherwise it can come across as dictatorial and old school.

The Flexible Model.  The flexible model allows staff to have much more influence in the way they work.  This usually involves the Departmental Leaders working with their teams to identify the best days to work in the office as well as work processes used to meet these requirements.  A big advantage of the flexible approach is that staff have been involved in the decision-making process and feel appreciated and listened to.

So what approach are you taking in your organisation?  What would get the best engagement from your people and help to keep and attract the best talent?

If you would like to gather some insights from the research of my next book and can’t wait for it, click here and we will find a time for me to share a few strategies with you that can assist you in making the successful transition to a hybrid workplace.

If you would like to see some amazing women (& men) speakers at the Future of Leadership and support Hands Across the Water, please click here to find out more and join us at one of the events across Australia occurring in May.  I will be speaking in Adelaide and Perth so it will be great to see some of my clients and friends that I have missed during the lockdowns.  Use the Promo code GETINEARLY to receive 10% off.

As many of you know I am a very loyal Qantas frequent flyer.  I normally spend many days flying around Australia, Asia-Pacific and the world speaking at conferences and working with leading companies to help leaders mobilise their people faster.  

I had a very interesting thing happen last week.  A Qantas flight that I was booked on to fly from Perth back to Sydney had been cancelled and they automatically put me on an earlier flight.  Unfortunately, this wasn’t going to  work for me as the conference I am speaking at would still be happening, so I needed to change the flight.

When I went onto the Qantas website, it would not allow me to change and instructed me to contact a call centre.  Normally, as a Platinum frequent flyer I have priority access and the most time I have only spent around 20 minutes on hold (of course spending about $100k per year on flights helps!)

What has changed?  I had to wait almost 4 hours on hold!  Wow, what a painful experience.  As I waited I received numerous calls from clients that I could not take in fear of being disconnected.

I know that the pandemic has been very difficult on airlines around the world, and I have now experienced first hand the impact.  It got me thinking of creative solutions.  With more and more people working remotely this creates an amazing opportunity for Qantas (and others) to go beyond the physical limitations of their call centre.  Technology now allows staff to work from home and fulfil their job by working remotely and dialling into the software needed to assist customers.  Phones can be routed to peoples remote locations and allow customers to get the assistance they need in a shorter time-frame.  Also this allows us to find and secure staff in different locations increasing the size of the workforce to help focus on the customer need, ultimately leading to more retained customers and more profit!

Of course getting a hybrid or remote workforce to be effective takes more than a few redirected phone lines, but it shows what is possible.  If you would like to gather some insights from the research of my next book and can’t wait for it, click here and we will find a time for me to share a few strategies with you that can assist you in making the successful transition to a hybrid workplace.

If you would like to see some amazing women (& men) speakers at the Future of Leadership and support Hands Across the Water, please click here to find out more and join us at one of the events across Australia occurring in May.  I will be speaking in Adelaide and Perth so it will be great to see some of my clients and friends that I have missed during the lockdowns.  Use the Promo code GETINEARLY to receive 10% off.

I had a great conversation with a leader last week who was struggling with how to balance their staff working in the office or remotely.  Her challenge was she had many customer-facing roles that required them to be available to clients in person whilst having other staff that were in roles that did not require them to be in the office.

When the global pandemic hit, some futurists predicted that this would be the end of work as we know it and that offices in the cities would be closed and everyone would work from home.  Of course, that is not what is happening now.  Many leaders are looking at how to make the transition back to the office and find out how to enable a flexible workplace to allow for some remote work as well.

Whilst researching the 2nd edition of my Leadership Hacks book I found that some industries were not suited for remote work.  These included work function roles in the following areas:

• Customer facing roles including:
• retail sales & services (providing goods and services to customers) 
• leisure and travel (restaurants, airline counters, hotels)
• personal care (hair salons, gyms, physiotherapists)
• Patient facing roles
• Production, manufacturing and warehousing
• Transportation (air, sea, rail, trucking)
• Mechanical repair and maintenance
• Building and construction
• Farming & agriculture
• Education & schooling

So what industries are suited for Remote work?  Primarily Computer-based office work which could include:

• Administration and back-office functions
• Scientific and environmental research services
• Architectural and surveying services
• Engineering consulting services
• Financial and investment services
• Insurance services
• Legal services
• Accounting services
• IT Services
• Management consulting services
• Advertising and market research services
• Call centres
• Government agencies

The research (& most employees) tell us that they do prefer to spend time in the office as well to increase collaboration and teamwork as well as experience the sense of belonging.  What they want is the flexibility to work from home in a remote fashion at other times. 

If you would like to gather some insights from the research of my next book and can’t wait for it, click here and we will find a time for me to share a few strategies with you that can assist you in making the successful transition to a hybrid workplace.

If you would like to see some amazing women (& men) speakers at the Future of Leadership and support Hands Across the Water, please click here to find out more and join us at one of the events across Australia occurring in May.  I will be speaking in Adelaide and Perth so it will be great to see some of my clients and friends that I have missed during the lockdowns.  Use the Promo code GETINEARLY to receive 10% off.

With people back in the full swing at work, many leaders have had their staff start coming back to the office.  This has created a bit of a buzz and people are starting to enjoy the company of other people and the collaboration that it brings.

I spoke with an Executive Leader who was surprised that so many of their staff wanted to continue working in a remote way 2-3 days per week.  They are in the process of trying to find the best way to shift to a flexible hybrid workforce.

For most leaders when everyone is together it is normal, when everyone is remote, they can make this work fine, but the challenge is when most of their staff are in the office and others are remote.  According to a recent Steelcase Global report, the majority of people in most countries, including Australia, expect to work remotely.  Their study found that 59% expect to work at least 1 day a week remotely, 30% expect to work 2-3 days per week remotely and 12% expect to work 4-5 days per week.

So what do your people want?  Leaders are struggling, staff are trying to get re-motivated and balance the commute to the office with the freedom of working from home.  It is an amazing experiment for many organisations, with some of them achieving great things and others struggling and losing top talent in the great resignation (and companies throwing money at staff to get them to join their flexible workplace!)

Given all the work I have done with leaders in this space over the past 2 years, I am finishing the 2nd edition of my book, which includes Hybrid Workplace Hacks which will come out into bookstores in 2-3 months.

It has been a great project and the countless hours that I put in researching fast track methods to help leaders get this right has paid off.  I am starting to speak to many leaders about how to find the flexibility and correct balance of a hybrid workforce. It is full of great strategies that people can use.

I will be sharing some of these strategies in my posts and looking forward to helping leaders and their staff achieve more in less time, regardless of where they are located!  If you can’t wait for the book to come out, click here and I will make time to share a few strategies with you.

If you would like to see some amazing women (& men) speakers at the Future of Leadership and support Hands Across the Water, please click here to find out more and join us at one of the events across Australia occurring in May.  I will be speaking in Adelaide and Perth so it will be great to see some of my clients and friends that I have missed during the lockdowns.  Use the Promo code GETINEARLY to receive 10% off.

 

I had an interesting session with a Senior Leader this past week.  She was talking about the challenge that she has dealing with a lot of issues across her organisation.  Her staff are pushing to get more flexible work from home time, some of the younger staff have resigned because they were offered jobs with competitors offering them more money and she still has targets that her organisation needs to meet.  On top of this, they are preparing budgets, developing their strategy for the next financial year and trying to develop the next generation of leaders.  She mentioned it feels like I am stuck in ‘March Madness’.

For many leaders that I have been talking to they have mentioned that they are experiencing a similar thing.  The workload feels like it has increased and trying to motivate and focus their people has become more of a challenge.  I am finding that this is even more the case for many organisations that have staff still working remotely as their leaders struggle with how to lead when they have people in the office and working at home.

So what can you do to try and stay in front of the ‘March Madness’ that many people are experiencing?  I don’t think that there is any one thing that you can do, but here are a few ideas:

• Stay Focused & Active.  When leaders feel a bit overwhelmed, they can often lose focus on what the important tasks are.  Make sure that the increase in activity around you does not get you to get sidetracked with small tasks.  
• Check-in More Often.  With people working in the office and remotely, it is important for leaders to check in more often.  Take 5 minutes to check in with one of your people and ask them what they think is going well and what could be improved.  Also ask them about their workload and what strategies they are using to help stay in front of all of the tasks on their plate.
• Delegate to Future Leaders.  Another great strategy when you are feeling overloaded is to delegate tasks to up and coming high potentials that will be the future leaders.  Make sure you delegate in a way that allows them to understand what the task is, how to do it and the time-frames and check-ins are clear to help them be successful.

We know that things are cyclical and for many leaders March is a very busy month.  The key is to keep working strategically and engage your people in the way to move forward.

I have a new book coming out in July, actually it is the 2nd edition of Leadership Hacks and I have added an entirely new section that provides hybrid workforce hacks, practical strategies for when you have some people in the office and others working from home.  I will be providing some of the practical hacks that you can use in the near future, so stay tuned!

If you are looking forward to attending a conference where you can be inspired as well as meet other people, please check out the Future of Leadership, please click here to find out more and join us at one of the events across Australia occurring in May that helps to support Hands Across the Water.  Use the Promo code GETINEARLY to receive 10% off.

With the rain was pelting down this morning across Sydney, we braved the weather to head to the International Women’s Day Breakfast sponsored by Hands Group. I was looking forward to being back at a live event that had people in the audience and speakers on the stage, which was wonderful to be at! With Peter Baines as the incredible MC, he shared the story of Hands Across the Water and Edwina McCann, the editor-in-chief of Vogue Australia was inspirational. Her approach and story were authentic, and she talked about the changes that have occurred in the media industry since she started.

To be honest, I was also excited about something else. Sitting beside me was my wife and my 2 daughters, Jasmine, 20 and Isabella 18. I watched as they participated in discussions with people that they had just met (as well as with a few that they have known for years). As I watched them interact with others, I realised that this is what International Women’s Day is trying to inspire, the future women of Australia and the world. I was thrilled to hear about the initiatives that Vogue Australia is doing to highlight different women and the positive stories that they can bring that go beyond fashion. Edwina made a very interesting statement in her presentation this morning, she said that today was not about feminism, but about eliminating any bias that can occur within our society. This made me smile.

I believe the next generation of women are also showing their unique abilities and stepping up like no previous generation. My daughter Jasmine in in her 3rd year of university, has just started a professional practice role as an employee starting to make her influence in the product design industry. 

My youngest daughter Isabella just returned from a trip to the US looking at different universities to play women’s soccer and get her degree. She is aware of the pay gap in women’s sport and as an elite soccer player she plans on showing the world how women deserve equal representation with men (although if you ask her, she believes both the Aussie Matildas and US Women’s soccer team should be paid more than the men due to their World Class ranking and results!) Yes, I have to say I am proud of the women in my household and look forward to them shifting people’s perspective around equality.

So, what can we do to create the equality that women deserve? I believe we all need to be more aware and have conversations and speak out when we see something that is not fair. We also need to celebrate and recognise the wonderful women in our lives and not forget to let them know how much we appreciate them and how much better our lives and society are because of them!

If you would like to see some amazing women (& men) speakers at the Future of Leadership and support Hands Across the Water, please click here to find out more and join us at one of the events across Australia occurring in May. Use the Promo code GETINEARLY to receive 10% off.