Oblog

The Blame Game

A few weeks ago the team at Optimum faced a major challenge as a business with the loss of the use of our internal database. How bad could it possibly be? I thought the worst day at Optimum was when the air conditioning went down and we were on the 17th floor with no windows. Well I

Little Changes – Big Results

My dear father Walter is a 69 year old mans man, a butcher by trade and in recent years a nice and sensible bookkeeper. Some people think he resembles Santa Clause; a rotund man with a full head of bright white hair, a thick moustache complete with rosy cheeks no matter the temperature. We actually

How Much Do You Earn? A Workplace Taboo.

Recently, I was watching an episode of ‘Paul Murray Live’ on Sky News. The programme is on at 9.00pm weekdays and is an hour of current topic discussions with a panel format. The host, as the name suggests, is Paul Murray from Sydney, who made his name as a radio journalist with 2UE. My ears

Thoughts From “Been There Done That”

If you are in your 30’s and still do not know what you want to be when you grow up, you are not alone. A decade or so into a career many choose as teenagers, plenty of 30-somethings are re-evaluating their professional and personal goals. The best example I can come up with on this

Playing Up To Your Strengths

Recently I went out for lunch with my extended family to a relatively well known pub in Brisbane. Not the flashiest joint going around, however there is a massive play area and games room for the kids which meant I could have a few hours of “passive parenting” and enjoy a beer. All in all,

The Year of the Internal Promotion

The past four or so months have seen some of the biggest moves at an executive level that I have seen in years. These moves have covered both business, government and social institutions and they will have a massive impact on the global economy over the next five years. The changes that I am going

Behaviour Counts

Swimming Australia is in turmoil at the moment – there is no other way to put it. An eight month investigation into the performance of our swim team following the London Olympics has seen damning evidence released on the internal behaviours and culture of some of our elite athletes. The accusations include bullying, substance abuse

Productivity & Profit – The importance of understanding the Total Employee Experience to improve business performance.

A key challenge for many organisations is creating a highly productive workforce and retaining this talent. Research consistently demonstrates that organisations with an engaged and committed workforce have higher productivity and profitability, lower turnover and higher customer satisfaction and retention levels. It is possible for all organisations to achieve this. First, let’s properly understand the

A Sunday Read

I was flicking through the Sunday newspaper yesterday and I was struck by two articles that really resonated. The first was an article by Rose Squires entitled “Fat chance of Olympic future”. It was a piece on Susie O’Neill or Madame Butterfly as she is known amongst swimming circles. It highlighted that many young kids