Effective hybrid working starts with company culture

Colin D Ellis, an award-winning speaker, facilitator, and best-selling author has recently released his new book – ‘The Hybrid Handbook’. Colin covers the 6 Considerations your organisation needs to address to implement a successful Hybrid Working Model.

To secure your talent pool for future success, you need to move quickly on implementing your Hybrid Working Model to be considered an employer of choice. It’s time to start working through your checklist.

Do you have all the elements for a strong company culture?

Company culture can be defined as a set of shared values, goals, attitudes and practices that characterise a company. Company culture impacts all facets of the business, from recruitment to retention to performance. Organisations with strong corporate cultures have been linked to higher retention rates and increased engagement.

Company culture is a naturally occurring phenomenon; your company will develop a culture whether intentional or not. Culture is influenced by a company’s mission statement, core values, beliefs and attitudes, appetite and success of innovation, work environment, employee benefits, charitable and social events and flexibility/business working hours.

Post Covid-19 culture is going to play an extremely important role in retaining and attracting top talent. Has your organisation considered what changes need to be made to create/maintain a strong company culture post covid-19?

There is no one size fits all option

The covid-19 pandemic has fuelled the remote working trend that was already underway – it has accelerated the shift toward more flexible and customised models. If companies don’t reinvent their people strategy and how they support their employees, they will lose in the new reality. This week’s focus will be on “Ways of Working and Your People Strategy”.

Business leaders have the opportunity and imperative to redesign the future of work to unleash a new wave of human creativity and productivity. The new design will need to have intent and requires effort, leadership engagement and innovative thinking. This will result in unlocking new talent, creativity, and productivity benefits.

When redesigning your company’s ways of working, it is fundamental that you adopt a broad and holistic approach while considering the value at risk to revenues, efficiencies, customer and employee satisfaction, retention, acquiring new talent, sustainability, and wellness.

Life's not always fair, but it's sure made me tough...

When I was a child I was big about justice. I wanted to feel like life was fair. My mother told me that life wasn't fair and I thought that was crap. As I grew up I realised that she was right - life is not fair. Everyone has their challenges, battles and hard times, you are not alone. People want to be perceived as having their life together but no one really does, let's be honest.

The hard times is where I've learnt so much, I've grown, I've backed myself, I've realised how strong I really am. I want to make a difference to people. I love people - I love my team, people I meet, I want people to be successful and I genuinely want the best for people.

I'm good at business, it gets me out of bed in the morning with a spring. I love helping people get the most out of their business. There is so much opportunities to drive better outcomes in business - I see it and I want to help people.

Making a difference isn't easy - there are a lot of people telling you why it's not possible, it's not good enough. Experience tells me to trust my gut. Embrace and push through the change as the outcome will be better they just can't see it. I'm confident in my ability and I'll admit when I'm wrong but I will not stop striving for great.

For people that know me well, I'm an open book, someone who cares so deeply, someone who loves to make a difference and I have a genuine love of people and business optimisation.

Life isn't fair. Life isn't kind. But everyone has their journey that has shaped them and so embrace the imperfections and make the best of your life.

🙃 Smile - lean in - no regrets.

💜 Embrace life and make the best of everyday. Be kind to you - you're only human and you're enough.

🌈 Be kind - you don't know peoples journey and kindness is overrated.

Curious? Want to know more about my experience? Click here.

Read more articles by Jo Hands:

We’re Whiteark. Leaders in Transformation & Private Equity.

Fuelled by passion, we revel in working with Private Equity; the pace, targeted focus on business optimisation and limited timeframes spark unforeseen transformation opportunities, which we’re excited to deliver on. Our approach is rooted in data, ensuring the right decisions are made – based on accurate information. Hands-on, we get into the trenches with you, working directly with the management team to realise outcomes expected by shareholders. We offer a range of transformation services which can be tailored to suit standard private equity options; always accompanied by a laser focus on profit optimisation of the business.

Reach out for a no obligation conversation on how we can help you. Contact us on whiteark@whiteark.com.au

Article by Jo Hands, Co-Founder Whiteark

What kind of leader are you?

Leadership is a gift. It's not easy. It's not a popularity contest. It's about setting up your team for success. 

Sometimes as leaders we get lost. Meetings, emails, approvals and pressure and we lose sight of what is important - taking people on the journey. 

We've all worked for good leaders and not great leaders and therefore know what good leadership is ...I think I've learnt the most from the bad leaders that I've worked with. 

Three key considerations for leadership;

1. Lead from the heart 

2. Consistency is key 

3. Understand your why  

Leadership evolves over time. Everyone has their own style and styles are adapted for different people but leaders that lead from the heart is critical to success. 

Leading from the heart is not weak but connecting with people and driving and pulling people with a clear vision.  A leader that takes this approach will get a better outcome than a stick approach. 

Consistency is critical. Having a consistent style and consider how this impacts your team etc.  Have you ever worked for a leader who was chaotic and you didn't know what you would get on each and every day? It creates an unproductive and toxic work environment. 

Everyone has become a leader for their own reason. Know your why. Be deliberate in understanding the why and deliberate driving the outcome you want.  Being passionate and deliberate will drive the best outcome for your team. 

At Whiteark we are passionate about leadership and working with leadership teams to get the best out of their people. Reach out to us for a no obligation conversation and advice around managing talent.  

The Chiefs Podcast | Tune in to more leadership lessons

Article by Jo Hands, Co-Founder Whiteark

Looking to hone your leadership skills? Let us help.

Whiteark is not your average consulting firm, we have first-hand experience in delivering transformation programs for private equity and other organisations with a focus on people just as much as financial outcomes. We understand that execution is the hardest part, and so we roll our sleeves up and work with you to ensure we can deliver the required outcomes for the business. 

Our co-founders have a combined experience of over 50 years’ working as Executives in organisations delivering outcomes for shareholders. Reach out for a no obligation conversation on how we can help you. Contact us on whiteark@whiteark.com.au

The war is real...

This time last year (May 2020) companies were downsizing, reducing pays, making employees take annual leave – in short, they were in survival mode. The result? Employees across the world were worried about the security of their jobs. 

But now, the whole dynamic has shifted. It's an employee market.
So why and what does this mean? 

The Why.

• Companies are recruiting 

• Lack of international talent working in Australia 

• Employers are focused on getting people back to the office 

• The economy is going strong 

• People are looking for flexibility and more money 

The What.

What does this shift mean for employers…

Companies 

• The recruitment market is hot and therefore companies need to position themselves to attract the right / best talent

• Companies need to build a talent plan to retain good people - it needs to be different, new and tailored

• Finding the right talent is critical for success of delivering the strategy for the organisations 

• Companies need to be clear on their point of difference for working for them 

• Staff / candidates want to understand what flexibility means - what are your policies and how it practically works 

• Companies might need to consider partnering to get the right capability if market tight 

• Building a positive culture has never been so important and critical to ensure you retain and attract amazing talent 

 
Employees / Candidates 

• People are looking for a sea change, reassessing their priorities and rethinking how much they are working and where they work

• People aren't looking for the normal perks as priorities have changed 

• It's an employee / candidate market - be clear on what you want from your job, position yourself right and look for the perfect company 

• Smile and enjoy the process and do your pros / cons to make a good decision about what company to you with 

People play an important role in the success of your business. In fact, without them you wouldn't have a business a business at all. So be proactive to really think about the changes you are making to responding to the shift. 

As a leader you need to lean in to ensure you understand where your team is up to and ensure you take a proactive approach.  

The war is real, are you ready to fight? 

Article by Jo Hands, Co-Founder Whiteark

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Looking to capitalise on these trends and plan your own people strategy? Let us help.

Whiteark is not your average consulting firm, we have first-hand experience in delivering transformation programs for private equity and other organisations with a focus on people just as much as financial outcomes. We understand that execution is the hardest part, and so we roll our sleeves up and work with you to ensure we can deliver the required outcomes for the business. Our co-founders have a combined experience of over 50 years’ working as Executives in organisations delivering outcomes for shareholders. Reach out for a no obligation conversation on how we can help you. Contact us on whiteark@whiteark.com.au

What do I want to do when I grow up??

In year 9, we needed to work out what we wanted to be when we grew up to pick our majors / subjects that determined our chance to get into 'the' university course.  We were just kids and let's be honest, we didn’t know. Some still don’t know today.

I'm generation X, so considered extremely loyal which explains my first 10+ years of my career.  I chose accounting because I loved my accounting teacher at school, she encouraged me, and I just ‘got’ it.

When I finished high school, I took an intern role at an accounting firm for 13k a year. I learnt how to be an auditor. Went to University, and got my first role with Arthur Andersen (that later became EY) the first year, 2002.

My 9 years at EY taught me:

• How to work hard

• How to problem solve 

• Teamwork 

• Accountability 

• Client service 

• Industry experience 

• Ability to work on number of assignments 

I worked out I didn't want to be partner and I wanted to really drive an outcome in business, so I left EY to join Telstra. I loved my experience at Telstra which then led to private equity experience. 

I love working with private equity because:

• I love the speed 

• I love the focus on activity 

• I love the simplification on priorities 

• Measuring success 

• Holding people accountable 

My career has now changed to running my own business, which has been an amazing experience. The ability to not have a boss, being accountable to yourself and your business partner - and being able to make a difference to businesses and people. 

I never knew I was going to do my own business or be as successful or enjoy it this much - but it's the depth and breadth of experience that has made it possible. 

Your career path is not linear, take the experience, work hard, learn from good people and enjoy yourself, life's too short. 

It's ok if you don't know what you want to do, but take a chance, risk, get experience and don’t forget to have a little fun. 

Curious? Want to know more about my experience? Click here.

Leaders in Private Equity.

Fuelled by passion, we revel in working with Private Equity; the pace, targeted focus on business optimisation and limited timeframes spark unforeseen transformation opportunities, which we’re excited to deliver on. Our approach is rooted in data, ensuring the right decisions are made – based on accurate information. Hands-on, we get into the trenches with you, working directly with the management team to realise outcomes expected by shareholders. We offer a range of transformation services which can be tailored to suit standard private equity options; always accompanied by a laser focus on profit optimisation of the business.

Reach out for a no obligation conversation on how we can help you. Contact us on whiteark@whiteark.com.au

Article by Jo Hands, Co-Founder Whiteark

The Problem Is …. How to Solve It?

Article written by Mark Easdown

Individuals, Teams & Enterprise, Mental Models, Ways of Working

““A problem well put is half solved.””

— John Dewey

““I think that there is only one way to science – or to philosophy, for that matter: to meet a problem, to see its beauty and fall in love with it; to get married to it and to live happily, till death do ye part – unless you should meet another and even more fascinating problem or unless, indeed, you should obtain a solution. But even if you do obtain a solution, you may discover, to your delight, the existence of a whole family of enchanting, though perhaps difficult, problem children …””

— Karl. R. Popper

““By operating without a leader the scout bees of a swarm neatly avoid one of the greatest threats to good decision making by groups: a domineering leader. Such an individual reduces a group’s collective power to uncover a diverse set of possible solutions to a problem, to critically appraise these possibilities, and to winnow out all but the best one.””

— Thomas D. Seeley

““Probably he played it the way he did because it was not a good piano. Because he could not fall in love with it he found another way to get the most out of it.” ”

— Manfred Eicher on Jazz Pianist Keith Jarrett Koln Concert 1975

Did you know ?

3M has a “flexible attention” policy (take a walk, nap, play a game) as they know creative ideas and problem solutions can sneak up on us as we pay attention to something else. Ideas flow between silos with engineers rotated between departments each few years.

Problem solving is a process followed to find solutions to difficult or complex issues.

What might that look like ?

• Variances & deviations from desired outcomes – this may be pleasant (an opportunity) or unpleasant (Apollo 13)

• For a problem to be solved suggests some precision in description, identification, root cause

• Maybe we have a criterion that our best explanation or lived experience just fails to meet

An exploration of problem solving uncovers useful practices, shines a light on power structures and reveals a wider array of human perceptions, traits & group dynamics;

Author Charlan Nemeth in “No! , The power of disagreement in a world that wants to get along” highlights the case of United Airlines Flight 173, in the days before Christmas in 1978 flying from NY to Portland Oregon, USA. As the plane approached Portland it lowered the landing gear and the cockpit heard a large thump with the plane vibrating and rotating. The pilot questioned the landing gear, aborted landing and put the plane into a holding pattern. For 45 minutes, pilot and crew investigated the flight panel & landing gear problem yet overlooked the fact the plane proceeded to run out of fuel, falling out of sky, killing 10 people of the 196 on board, just six miles from airport. How can this problem solving go so tragically wrong?

Good problem solving needs: cognitive diversity, valuing dissent to mitigate consensus “fails” & “group think”, a clear approach in stressful situations, switch thinking or adding some randomness to process, a healthy power relationship (no hubris or silencing of opposition, a need for participative management & subordinate assertiveness training), multiple approaches to problem solving (broad information search, multiple alternatives considered), a human tendency to not see a solution if it is at odds with majority judgement, the very action of voicing dissent with conviction will alter the perception & awareness of others.

Maybe the way things “are” differ from our best thinking or theory on the way things “should be” .

Let’s take a look at Problem Solving & Mental Models across a few domains; In Adversity, In Manufacturing, In Investment Markets and In Nature

Producing your finest problem solving & improvisation, driven on by adversity

“”Messy : How to be creative and resilient in a tidy-minded world””

— Tim Harford

 In January 1975, 17 year old Vera Brandes stood on the stage of the Cologne Opera House, awaiting a full house, as the youngest concert promoter in Germany. Vera had convinced American Jazz Pianist, Keith Jarrett to perform a solo recital, had arranged the grand concert hall, invited 1,400 people and arranged for delivery of a very specific & artist requested Bosendorfer 290 Imperial concert grand piano.

The problem for Vera’s project was that the opera house staff had wheeled out the wrong piano and gone home. They had wheeled out a small piano which would not produce enough sound to reach the furthest balconies, the piano was out of tune, the black notes in the middle of the keyboard didn’t work, the piano pedals were stuck – it was unplayable. In the scarce time before the concert, the local piano tuner concluded that given the heavy rain outside, a substitute piano would not survive the transitional trip from nearby storage facility.

Technicians spent several hours trying to make the piano sound halfway decent, the high and low notes jangled, the piano pedals malfunctioned and even the performer was suffering from several days of back pain and wearing extra spinal support. Understandably Keith Jarrett refused to play, but Vera Brandes cajoled, pacified & pleaded and at 11-30pm the concert finally began.

So with Vera Brandes project flashing bright red, what problem solving skills did Keith Jarrett deploy to overcome sub-optimal & malfunctioning tools ?

As the author says “ The minute he played the first note, everybody knew this was magic”, “It was beautiful and strange”, “ The Koln concert album has sold 3.5 million copies, no other solo jazz album nor piano solo has matched it”, “Jarrett really had to play the piano very hard to get enough volume to the balconies”, “ ….”handed a mess, Keith Jarrett embraced it, and soared”.

Toyota Business Practices (TBP) – A problem solving model

Toyota has a rich and deep history of instruction, values, actions shared, practiced, experienced and refined by many staff across many cultures around the world. Its Best Practices are constantly evolving. Toyota Business Practices are an example of tangible approaches to daily work, the essence of TBP is a problem solving model. Whilst a mastery is achieved across time and through daily work and with a mindset of drive and dedication, a basic summary includes the following elements;

Toyota defines “a problem” as a gap between the current state (as is) and future/ideal state (to be). The concept of problem is not viewed as a negative, as to find problems and to take countermeasures to eliminate them leads to continuous improvement.

““No one has more trouble than the person who claims to have no trouble””

— Taiichi Ohno (Having no problems is the biggest problem of all)

A summary of the basic steps of Toyota Problem Solving, 2006 includes;

1.     Clarify the Problem: requires understanding and pre-emptive thinking around: Ultimate Goal (what is the contribution, the purpose, how is it realised and for whom?), Current Situation ( talk to people involved, observe, concrete terms) & Ideal Situation ( a clear standard result to be achieved after problem is solved, it is a concrete & achievable and contributes to the ultimate goal)

2.     Break down the Problem: requires qualitative and quantitative analysis, prioritise and break down bigger problem into smaller and more concrete ones to observe and find the point of occurrence

3.     Set a Target: A target is measurable & states by when & is challenging in nature

4.     Analyse the Root Cause: look at the point of occurrence & cascade thinking through asking why & seek peer review. If the countermeasures are applied to something other than root cause – this leads to wasted effort and resources  

5.     Develop countermeasures: develop many versions, select highest value-add & compliance, build consensus , make clear action plans

6.     See countermeasures through: implement with concerted efforts, speed & persistence, share information, inform, report and consult, trial and error to expected results

7.     Monitor results & process: ensure targets achieved, understand reasons for success or failure and accumulate continuous improvement knowledge

8.     Standardise Successful Process: establish new standard and start next round of continuous problem solving / PDCA

““I have found it helpful to think of my life as if it were a game in which each problem I face is a puzzle I need to solve. By solving the puzzle, I get a gem in the form of a principle that helps me avoid the same sort of problem in the future. Collecting these gems continually improves my decision making, so I am able to ascend to higher and higher levels of play in which the game gets harder and the stakes become ever greater.” ”

— Ray Dalio

Ray Dalio – Principles & Problem Solving in Investment Management

In 1975, Ray Dalio founded Bridgewater Associates which went on to become the world’s largest hedge fund by 2005. He is known as a successful investor, innovator and aimed to structure global portfolios with uncorrelated investment returns, with allocations based on risk analysis rather than by asset classes. In 2011, Ray & Barbara Dalio established a philanthropic foundation and pledged to donate more than half their fortune in their lifetimes. In 2011, he self-published on-line his philosophy of investment which evolved to be an acclaimed 2017 book “Principles” on corporate management and investment. An overview of the framework Ray Dalio approaches problem solving includes;

1.     Have Clear Goals: You cannot have everything – prioritise, don’t conflate your goals with just desires and decide what you really want, setbacks are important to making progress – in bad times you may need to modify goals to preserve what you have.

2.     Identify & don’t tolerate problems: a useful mind hack if that painful problems are usually a good signpost you have a problem worth diagnosing and improving, don’t avoid problems as they are rooted in harsh and unpleasant realities, be precise and specific with your problem description, pull apart causes and the real problem, fix problems that yield biggest returns and take care small problems are not symptoms of larger ones, failing to address a problem has the same consequences as failing to identify it.

3.     Diagnose problems to get at their root causes: don’t jump immediately into solution mode, identify “what” before commencing “what to do about it”, you must identify the root cause – not proximate ones, sometimes you will find the root cause is people or system or process, it can be a painful journey to resolution

4.     Design a Plan: visual what you need to do to achieve goals, what needs to change to produce better outcomes, there are possibly many pathways – you just need to find one that works, create a narrative and time lines, identify tasks that connect to the narrative to achieve goals.

5.     Push through to completion : you will need self-discipline, good work habits (well organised, to-do lists, priorities) are vastly underrated, establish clear metrics, have another monitor your results, as you discover new problems – repeat

Dalio’s problem solving mental models also covers: self-awareness (knowing your weakness & staring into them is a first step to success), seek to understand what your missing, be humble & radically open-minded (address ego and blind spot barriers), beware of harmful emotions, first learn then decide, simplify, use principles, determine who you should be listening to and what is true, be very specific about problems – don’t start with generalisations, convert your principles into algorithms and have these make decisions alongside you.

“The Waggle Dance” – Nest site selection & group decision making

In the 1950s, Martin Lindauer published a study on house hunting by honey bees and observed that bee scouts perform “waggle dances” on the surface of a swarm to advertise potential new nest sites. Advancing this research Cornell biologist Thomas Seeley noted the process was “complicated enough to rival the dealings of any department committee”, as potentially 10,000+ bees will relocate and need an efficient process to narrow alternatives and mitigate risks of bad decisions. When a hive gets too crowded, its queen and half the hive will swarm to a nearby tree and wait for several hundred scouts to go  house hunting. Seeley notes “the bee’s method, which is a product of disagreement and contest rather than consensus and compromise, consistently yields excellent collective decisions”

Let’s explore the bee’s problem to solve;

• The bee colony survival is as stake, so an accurate decision is required. New home must be suitable for rearing brood and storing honey and offer protections from: predators, thieves and bad weather.

• A speedy decision is required, as the more hours the entire hive is exposed to elements it loses energy and reserves

• A unified choice is required. Communications and contestability are crucial, a split decision could be fatal

What can bees teach us about problem solving & decision making?

• Whilst the problem to solve is of a clear and stable nature, information may be incomplete or inaccurate

• Information in a complex environment may be constantly evolving and changing

• Bees use hundreds of independent, widely distributed scouts who return with heterogeneous information (differing constituents, dissimilar components, non-uniform in composition) which may be better or worse and is shared with other scouts by way of a waggle dance, no scout is stifled & the swarm leverages its collective intelligence.

• So, how do they find consensus as any individual scout has only direct experience with select potential sites, yet many are examined and considered?

  • It is in the friendly competition between scouts and the various coalitions all vying for favoured sites, the exercise is not solved with “group-think”, rather a scout may leave the swarm cluster and go to examine potential site to judge its merit. There is no need for an individual scout to have a macro global view of all alternatives, nor a need to tally and compare votes – it is the smarts of the swarm working as individuals or collectives making speedy, accurate and unified assessments.  

To recap

As we have seen across multiple domains and across several mental models, problems are not necessarily a bad thing – sometimes they are a pathway to travel to deliver quality strategic outcomes, sometimes they are a link in a chain of continuous improvement (kaizen), if they are material they must be addressed to mitigate severe consequences (Flight 173, Investment Returns and bee hive nest selection), a structure and process is very useful, to solve problems will often reveal some uncomfortable truths about the nature of the individuals, the group, power structures, communications and these must also be confronted and resolved.

Yet, as Keith Jarrett demonstrated bringing passion, intelligence, skill, pragmatism and persistence to problem solving, can yield your teams greatest moment. White Ark is here to help you.

When Richard Feynman faces a problem, he's unusually good at going back to being like a child, ignoring what everyone else thinks... He was so unstuck --- if something didn't work, he'd look at it another way." --- Marvin Minsky, MIT

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LOOKING TO CURATE YOUR BUSINESS STRATEGY? REACH OUT.

Whiteark is not your average consulting firm, we have first-hand experience in delivering transformation programs for private equity and other organisations with a focus on people just as much as financial outcomes.

We understand that execution is the hardest part, and so we roll our sleeves up and work with you to ensure we can deliver the required outcomes for the business. Our co-founders have a combined experience of over 50 years’ working as Executives in organisations delivering outcomes for shareholders. Reach out for a no obligation conversation on how we can help you. Contact us on whiteark@whiteark.com.au

Article written by Mark Easdown

Why I joined the Business Chicks, Business Club

Image Credit: businesschicks.com

I’ve always loved the Business Chicks events – they are always inspiring, give you perspective and a great way to connect.  The Business Chicks brand is strong and it has a strong ability to bring out the best in people.

Whiteark was launched in July 2020 in the middle of Covid19 and I am lucky to have an amazing Co-founder who is so supportive of me and everything we are co-creating through Whiteark.  We have a great team here and 2020 was our foundational kick-off.

In January 2021 I was reflecting on finding some like-minded people that would give me connection, perspective, different experiences and an opportunity to grow.  I research and joined Business Chicks Business Club.

The induction session was expectational – inspiring to see so many ladies doing great things for them and looking like me for an opportunity to connect, learn and grow.  The fire side chats and virtual events have been great and I’m so excited about attending the offsite in early May 2021. An opportunity to reflect, connect, challenge and really help support each other as we grow our businesses. 

In your life, you need to find your kind of people. 

People how lift others higher.  Who bring out the best in you.  Who teach you, who support you and that always know they have your back.  What I have learnt about myself from joining Business Chicks Business Club:

1. People genuinely looking for support / connection

2. Women are amazing at running their own businesses and juggling so many other commitments

3. It’s an environment where people want you to be successful and they are interested in you and how to support and help you

In Corporate life, it’s disappointment that it’s normally the more senior women that have made it that don’t provide the support for the women coming up the ranks, why is this?  Maybe’s it’s why women go and start up their own thing and do something bigger / better for themselves.  I’m passionate about supporting women – helping them find their voice, work through the things that are holding them back and giving them the opportunities to prove to themselves how amazing they are.

If you are looking for your kind of women, people to raise you up, support, connect and provide a sense of tribe – and we are in this together – look no further than Business Chicks Business Club.  I’ve only just started but I feel like it’s just what I need right now and probably forever.

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Need support in your organisation? Reach out.

Whiteark is not your average consulting firm, we have first-hand experience in delivering transformation programs for private equity and other organisations with a focus on people just as much as financial outcomes.

We understand that execution is the hardest part, and so we roll our sleeves up and work with you to ensure we can deliver the required outcomes for the business. Our co-founders have a combined experience of over 50 years’ working as Executives in organisations delivering outcomes for shareholders. Reach out for a no obligation conversation on how we can help you. Contact us on whiteark@whiteark.com.au

Article by Jo Hands, Co-Founder Whiteark

Leadership – your legacy

It doesn’t mean you are old – legacy.  What leadership legacy do you want to leave?  What kind of leader you do want to be? What do you want to be remembered for?

When I think about Legacy I think about leaders that I have had in my career. Which ones have inspired me and which one disappointed me.  I use this to work out what kind of leader I want to be. How about you?

Words that I want around my leadership:

• Strong

• Decisive

• Quick to respond

• Caring

• Challenging

• Outside comfort zone

I want to be a strong decisive leader that is focusing on the greater good of the organisation and team.  Sometimes this requires you to make hard decisions but you do it for the greater good.   I want to encourage, challenge my people and get them outside their comfort zone to do bigger things and know that I have there back.  My role is to bring out the best in people, team and organisation and this is about finding the people to invest in and the people to manage out/exit. 

Great leadership will not make you popular but it will make you respected.  No one wants to be unpopular but as a leaders if you are too focused on making people like you and not upsetting people you will likely be an average leader at best. You have to make the hard decisions – you need to take people on the journey.  Change management is not a person/role it’s the way leaders take the team on the journey.

Leadership is a journey – you need to fail to learn and be the best leader you can be. It’s a decision every day, it’s being honest when you get it wrong and it’s having another go the next day – it’s being resilient.

There have been a number of leaders that I have admired in my career – David McGregor from EY, David Thodey from Telstra.  These leaders taught me about finding your way, being your authentic self, there is no perfect way but find your way.  It is such good advice.

I have learnt just as much from the leaders I haven’t respected and it’s made me realise on the leader I don’t want to be – selfish, focused on individual gain and not taking a strong stance on unacceptable performance.

I love to learn from leaders; what works for them, what doesn’t and what they have learnt on their journey. The highlight of my week to do the Chiefs podcast focused on getting lessons and learnings from a range of different leaders.  Tune in …we should add in link.

At Whiteark we are lucky to work with so many amazing leaders, to get leaders to connect and to provide thought leadership and other insights to leaders on key topics that are important to them.

If you want to know more about us, reach out for a no obligation chat.

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Want to talk about building your leadership team? Reach out.

Whiteark is not your average consulting firm, we have first-hand experience in delivering transformation programs for private equity and other organisations with a focus on people just as much as financial outcomes.

We understand that execution is the hardest part, and so we roll our sleeves up and work with you to ensure we can deliver the required outcomes for the business. Our founder has a combined experience of over 20 years’ working as Executive in organisations delivering outcomes for shareholders. Reach out for a no obligation conversation on how we can help you. Contact us on whiteark@whiteark.com.au

Article by Jo Hands, Founder Whiteark

How to make change stick

Organisations talk a lot about change and transformation, but in general most aren’t very good at doing it. A recent SAP survey found that of the 84 per cent of organisations that started transformation initiatives in the past year, only 3 per cent had actually successfully completed one.

Thoughts from Colin D Ellis

One reason for this is that while senior managers get very excited about smarter, faster ways of doing things when they’re pulling their business plans together, they forget that to achieve them they have to stop doing some things and redefine the way they get others done.

Cultural evolution is frequently cited as the biggest enabler of successful change, yet very few organisations ever take it on, opting instead for quick-fix training solutions, restructures, operating model changes or (as is currently en vogue) promises of hybrid working.

It’s not that any of these things are wrong, it’s just that in order to deliver transformation and make change stick you need to establish a new foundation upon which to build them. Those foundations contain the following:

• A sound business case for change. This will answer the ‘why this and why now?’ questions from staff and stakeholders alike as it’s not good enough to simply say ‘we need to transform’, there has to be a sound and logical rationale for doing so

• A redefined culture. This is the activity that almost all teams or organisations forget to do and yet it’s the most important. Without redefining the vision, behaviours and collaboration principles expected of each other you have nothing to transform to

• Public accountability. There needs to be a senior executive within the business who is prepared to throw their reputation, energy, money and effort behind the activity to ensure it delivers what was promised in the case for change. This person will also encourage all the other executives do their bit to ensure that the change happens.

• Clear, unambiguous communication. This should focus not only on the activities required to complete the initiative, but also on the personal change required to achieve success. I don’t mean an email or poster, in Comic Sans font, pinned up on a noticeboard, but regular effort from those accountable for the transformation.

With an appropriate level of justification, definition, accountability and communication, culture change or transformation isn’t as hard as some would have you believe. If you’re not prepared to do these things, then your staff would like you to stop talking about transformation as if you mean it. However, if you are, then you can guarantee then they’ll be up for it too and that will make everything stick.

Colin D Ellis is an award-winning speaker, facilitator and best-selling author of Culture Fix: How to Create a Great Place to Work. You can find out more about him and the work that he does at www.colindellis.com

Key considerations for building connection across the organisation post Covid-19

Companies are finding themselves in unfamiliar territory as their employees return to the office post Covid 19 and are learning how to work together again.  Building connectedness is an important part of working together successfully and links closely to employee engagement and ultimately meeting business goals.

For this to happen, leaders need to lead! Behaviour needs to start at the top and it will flow, employees want and need to have purpose and great leadership will support this happening.  Spend the time with your team, have regular check ins, discuss and review/set their KPIs and goals, chat about how they are going, and generally be there for them.

Connection, growth and belonging are all key to a company’s success. Humans naturally enjoy each other’s company and being able to work collaboratively, so it’s often the corridor or kitchen conversation where you really get to understand what is going on.  It is about finding the right balance between flexible work from home and time together in the office.

Some initiatives and areas that impact connection building in the workplace are;

Connectedness Initiatives

Having fun at work has been missed by many, it might be the Friday night drinks, bring your pet to work day or the monthly birthday celebrations, people have missed the opportunity to connect.  Make sure this is a priority, put together a calendar of fun events, ask your team members what activities would make them feel more connected to each other and actively create an informal environment to reconnect.

Team lunches with employees from different departments are a way to get employees interacting with people from across the business and further promotes connection. Employees will benefit from having team activities like a volunteer day where the team can go and help at a charity. When implemented properly, these activities can be excellent for cultivating a sense of unity and belonging.

Promote the benefits of the office like being able to collaborate in person, informally bounce ideas off each other, the coffee machine and of course Friday night drinks! Set up wellbeing information sessions, often your employee assistance program provider can run these.  Organise fitness in the park or at a nearby gym for your employees. For some, the office offers a sense of calm and control over their day and fewer distractions than at home, these people will be key to connecting those that are feeling more anxious about being back in the office.   Schedule your team meetings on a day that everyone is in to promote face to face time.

To help employees focus and reengage with your strategy, run cross functional sessions on your strategy and 5-year plan, discuss what’s working well and get feedback on what you can be doing better. Sessions on behaviours and values could also be considered.  Consider joint departments leading regular town halls to; share what is going on, interview new starters, share good news like record sales or new business and also acknowledge specific achievements of team members.

Having the right Flexible Work Policy supports connectedness.  In developing your policy seek feedback to see what employees preferences are around flexible work. As with any successful change, seeking feedback and employee input will result in a more effective outcome. Employees are working from home in a variety of combinations from 1-5 days per week.   Finding overlap days where the majority of the team are in the office is important.  Having team meetings on these days and organising fun activities described above to connect people will help with this.   Ensure that you have the flexibility to review your policy as things change or if the current arrangement isn’t working.

Employee Engagement

Employee engagement represents the levels of enthusiasm and connection employees have with their organisation. It’s a measure of how motivated people are to put in the extra effort for their employer and is often a sign of how committed they are to staying.

Now would be a good time to run an employee engagement survey. Tailor your questions to get constructive feedback for your business and ask questions about what initiatives will help them in feeling more engaged and connected to your business and their colleagues. Then use this feedback to run cross functional focus groups, then develop an action plan and actually implement it. Too often employees take the time to fill in the survey and provide feedback and nothing is done, this can be demotivating. 

This article has described just some of the ways that you can build connectedness across your business post Covid 19. Please get in touch if Whiteark can help you with developing your business and people plans.

8 Key lessons we have learnt from launching our own podcast

We launched Whiteark - The Chiefs Podcast in October 2020.  We have loved every minute of it.

What makes leaders tick? The Chiefs gives you insight into what makes our great leaders so great. With organisation’s top chiefs in the hot seat each week, we chat about the highs – and lows – and lessons along the way; tackling the biggest issues people are facing today. We know that leading can be a lonely role and we believe that learning from other great people is one of the best resources we have. So join us on our journey, and enjoy the stories behind some of the greats…

At the end of May here are the key statistics for our podcast:

• Number of Episodes: 32

• Key Topics covered (maybe some groupings) – People and Leadership, Impacts of Covid, Post Covid Recovery, Data, Transformation, Innovation, Sales and Service.

We have interviewed a range of leaders; young, older, CEO, Executive, owning and running their own business.  Each leaders provided so many great tips and lessons around their leadership journey.  It’s very inspiring.  In 30 mins it’s amazing what you can learn about someone. 

We feel privileged to have some amazing leaders that have shared their stories with us and our leaders and we are also privileged to have so many loyal followers. 

When I reflect at the end of the week; on my highlight it’s likely that that the podcast will be my highlight – I’ve met someone new, I’ve learnt something new and it’s given me some inspiration / perspective.  I feel very honoured and privileged to be able to take their precious time to share their journey and wisdom with our Whiteark family.

There are 8 key lessons we have learnt from interviewing 35+ leaders on The Chiefs Podcast:

1.   Everyone has a story – regardless of age/role etc everyone has a story to tell.  Tell your story so your business understands how you got here and what this role means to you.  People want to know your story.

2.   People learn most from their mistakes – failure is ok -it’s how you respond that is important. Everyone makes mistakes, yep it’s true but it’s how you respond that separates people.  Learn from your mistakes and move forward.

3.   Your job is to make hard decisions.  It’s not all about consensus, you need to make the right decision for the organisation.  Listen, understand and make a decision – your people will respect you for it.

4.   Sometimes your job is lonely so finding like-minded professionals for connection is important.  For me business chicks business club has been a God send but find your mentor, your support network.

5.   Trusting your employees and giving them he environment to flourish is critical.  Trust is easy to say but actions speak louder than words. 

6.   Being able to navigate ambiguity is critical – make decisions, pivot and dealing with ambiguity and moving forward will be critical.

7.   Being a leader requires you to be at your best – look after yourself – put your oxygen mask on first and ensure you look after yourself so you can come back tomorrow for another day.

8.   Be authentic – authentic leadership – be yourself and your people will respect you and follow you.  While it’s talked about a lot really being true to you and being your own leader is critical.

While there are other lessons that we have learnt these would be have been the top 8. 

We continue every week to bring you leaders that inspire, challenge and give you a different perspective. For an investment of 30 mins of your time – please tune into The Chiefs each week on Wednesday to ensure you don’t miss a beat.

If you would love to be on our podcast – please click the button below and we will be in contact.

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Want to talk about building your business? Reach out.

Whiteark is not your average consulting firm, we have first-hand experience in delivering transformation programs for private equity and other organisations with a focus on people just as much as financial outcomes.

We understand that execution is the hardest part, and so we roll our sleeves up and work with you to ensure we can deliver the required outcomes for the business. Our co-founders have a combined experience of over 50 years’ working as Executives in organisations delivering outcomes for shareholders. Reach out for a no obligation conversation on how we can help you. Contact us on whiteark@whiteark.com.au

Article by Jo Hands, Co-Founder Whiteark

Quick tips for engaging your workforce

Engaging your workforce isn’t easy.  Every generation is engaged differently.  So, one size doesn’t fit all when it comes to increasing engaging with your workforce doesn’t work.  You need to think outside the box and ensure your approach is tailored.

Statistics show (and it make sense), if you have an engaged workforce they are more productive, more gets done and the financial results of the organisation are improved.  So all in all it’s a great result.  Every company should want this outcome but how do they get it and what do companies do wrong? 

Most companies do their annual employee engagement survey and measure what they need to improve.  They then come up with a number of initiatives to drive improvement – they focus on them for about 2-3 months and then they fall off. 

These activities are normally determined by management on what they think will fix the engagement.  Without engagement from the right level of people these activities don’t do the trick.

What I have seen work really well is to have a People Committee – this committee is made up of representatives from each team and they are responsible for regular / informal pulse checks and work on key initiatives that can put in place to increase engagement. This works really well and I have done this in 4 separate companies. 

The team determine what they want to do and all you need to do as leader is give them the support to put the initiatives in place.  They will come up with initiatives you will never have thought of, they will drive them and execute them and feel part of the improvement that is being put in place/made. 

This will drive engagement.

Have fire side chats with the team to talk through what drives them, what needs to change and where they need support.  When you start a new role or on an annual basis make sure you speak to every single person in your team and really understand how people feel and how you can make a difference.

Engagement is more important than ever.  What are you tips to engage with your employees?  Please feel free to share in the comments or join the conversation on LinkedIn.

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 Looking to develop your team? Reach out.

Whiteark is not your average consulting firm, we have first-hand experience in delivering transformation programs for private equity and other organisations with a focus on people just as much as financial outcomes.

We understand that execution is the hardest part, and so we roll our sleeves up and work with you to ensure we can deliver the required outcomes for the business. Our co-founders have a combined experience of over 50 years’ working as Executives in organisations delivering outcomes for shareholders. Reach out for a no obligation conversation on how we can help you. Contact us on whiteark@whiteark.com.au

Article by Jo Hands, Co-Founder Whiteark

The Importance of Continuous Improvement

Continuous improvement refers to the process of defining, analyzing, and improving business processes to increase overall quality, while removing as many waste activities as possible.

“Article by Jo Hands, Whiteark Co-Founder & Director”

There are three types of waste in Lean:

1. Muda

The major process wastes including, transport, inventory, motion, waiting, overproduction, over-processing and defects.

2. Mura

The waste of unevenness or inconsistency in your process. It stops your tasks from flowing smoothly across your work process and therefore gets in your way of reaching continuous flow.

3. Muri

The waste of overburden, when you assign too much work to your team, you place unnecessary stress on both your team and process.

If you want continuous improvement to become part of your culture, you need to focus on getting rid of the unevenness/inconsistency wastes (Mura) and overburden wastes (Muri) first. Eliminating all major process wastes (Muda) is almost impossible but focusing on reducing their adverse impacts on your work is key for implementing continuous improvement.

Companies should consider having a funding model for Continuous Improvement initiatives - making changes to processes to increase their profit, improve employee satisfaction, and accelerate productivity and efficiencies. Most often, business budgets do not include an allocation for continuous improvement – and a large amount of money is not required to make a substantial impact. Organisations should create a continuous improvement culture and encourage their people to look for opportunities to improve processes across the business and where the identified opportunities,

1. Align to the company’s strategic priorities/strategic direction and;

2. Size up to have biggest impact

There should be a funding model to support these initiatives. To execute on a continuous improvement process, benefits should be associated.

Below is a simple, common model that is used for Continuous Improvement, referred to as the Deming Circle – Plan-Do-Check-Act (PDCA). This model is a never-ending cycle that aims to help companies improve further based on achieved results.

Phase1 – Plan:

Define the objectives and processes required to achieve the desired goal. Setting output expectations is critical to achieving continuous improvement, as the precision of the goals and their completeness is a fundamental component of the process of improving.

Phase2 – Do:

Apply all that has been considered in the Planning phase. Expect that unpredicted problems may occur, which is why, if it is possible, you should test your plan on a small scale and in a controlled environment. Standardisation will assist with applying the plan smoothly – clear roles and responsibilities are essential.

Phase3 – Check:

Audit your plan’s execution “Do” phase and assess if your objectives and processes and goals from the “Plan” phase worked. To avoid recurring mistakes or if the team identified problems with the process that need to be eliminated in the future you need to undertake a root-cause analysis.

Phase4 – Act:

You developed, applied, and assessed your plan, now you need to act. If everything in “Do” worked well and you were able to achieve the original goals, then you can proceed and apply your initial plan. Your PDCA model will become the new baseline.

The benefits of the PDCAs model, includes: helping your team identify and test solutions and improve them through a waste-reducing cycle, stimulates continuous improvement culture (people and processes), allows your team to test possible solutions on a small scale and in a controlled environment, and prevents the work process from recurring mistakes.

Companies are looking for ways to increase their quality and reduce their costs which is why process improvement has become so important in today’s operating environment for the following reasons: customers have higher quality expectations, strong competition within the market and an unpredictable economic environment.

Whiteark has the expertise to help you with your continuous improvement needs, if this is something your business would like to explore, please reach out to Whiteark for a no obligation consultation.

Some key people capabilities for companies to consider

Capabilities describe the skills, knowledge or attitudes needed for a given task and are used to assess an employee's effectiveness. They can be looked at as human or people capabilities and technical capabilities. In this article we are focusing on some of the key people capabilities that companies should consider as essential for their organisation.  These are particularly helpful in informing and supporting your decisions in attracting, developing, rewarding, and retaining employees.

Empathy

Empathy is the ability to understand someone else’s thoughts and feelings. It is about taking the time to listen to team members and fellow employees and consider their thoughts and concerns, not just your own. If you have empathy you are able to better communicate with others in a way that makes sense to the them.  It also gives you a better understanding of how people are communicating and interacting with you.

According to Forbes, empathy is “increasingly recognized as a pivotal leadership tool in today’s global market, benefiting leadership effectiveness”. Where empathy can be very powerful at work, especially with leaders, is when empathy is demonstrated, it shows that they care about their team a human and individual and aren’t just following the policies and rules without considering the person. If you treat others as you expect to be treated and show empathy, this will almost always result in a better outcome for the individual and the organisation.

Communication

Communication is a fundamental capability that you need to have to be effective and ultimately successful. Communication skills are so important, they allow you to understand and be understood by others through; clearly explaining ideas to others, actively listening, speaking to audiences, and giving and receiving feedback.

Great communication is essential to having a productive, successful, and efficient company.

Effective communication plays a big part in helping to have a strong, efficient, and happy team, has a very positive impact on employee engagement, improves customer satisfaction and increases productivity.

Resilience

Headsup describes resilience as “the ability to cope with the ups and downs and bounce back from challenges”. At work there will always be tricky situations from workload pressures, difficult working relationships, and the challenge of juggling personal situations at the same time. If you have greater resilience this will go a long way in helping you manage stress.  As it is well known, high levels of stress can often lead to mental health conditions.

Resilient teams are able to bounce back from setbacks and failures and embrace new challenges with energy.  Having empathy and caring relationships within your team will assist your team in being resilient too.

If you are resilient you are usually able to demonstrate strength in being adaptable as well. During these Covid times, this has been more important than ever as many people have had to move from working very quickly in the office to home, dealing with so much uncertainty and change personally and professionally.

Flexibility

These days when we talk about flexibility we automatically think of working from home and having a flexible work arrangement.  As a people capability, MindTools defines flexibility well as, “the capacity to adjust to short-term change quickly and calmly, so that you can deal with unexpected problems or tasks effectively”. Being open to change and different ways of doing things is critical to being successful as a ‘flexible’ employee. Employees and leaders who can demonstrate flexibility in a range of situations and can communicate well will be more efficient and effective.

An effective leader who has strength in this capability, listens to others, communicates well, adapts their style for the situation and audience, has strong relationships and easily change plans as the situations change. 

Many of these capabilities link together, if you have strength in one you will often have strength in others. As an employer, if your people plan considers key people capabilities in all stages of the employee life cycle, this will have a positive impact on retention, productivity, engagement and ultimately your company’s success.

Looking to develop your team? Reach out.

Whiteark is not your average consulting firm, we have first-hand experience in delivering transformation programs for private equity and other organisations with a focus on people just as much as financial outcomes.

We understand that execution is the hardest part, and so we roll our sleeves up and work with you to ensure we can deliver the required outcomes for the business. Our co-founders have a combined experience of over 50 years’ working as Executives in organisations delivering outcomes for shareholders. Reach out for a no obligation conversation on how we can help you. Contact us on whiteark@whiteark.com.au

Article by Phoebe Reid

What does International Women’s Day mean to me?

IWD 2021 — #ChooseToChallenge

“Article by Jo Hands, Whiteark Co-Founder & Director”

A challenged world is an alert world. Individually, we're all responsible for our own thoughts and actions - all day, every day. We can all choose to challenge and call out gender bias and inequality. We can all choose to seek out and celebrate women's achievements. Collectively, we can all help create an inclusive world.

From challenge comes change, so let's all choose to challenge.

Why I'm personally passionate about supporting women…

As a female Executive/Co-founder I'm super passionate about supporting other women in their leadership journey.  From my experiences, mistakes and successes I love to provide career and life advice / lessons to other women and support them on their journey.

It’s great to have the opportunity to give back, and here are some of the ways I choose to use my time – and influence – to lift other women up.

• Being part the SheEO activator community

• An active Business Chicks business club member

• Promoting women on our podcast The Chiefs, giving them the mic to share their own experiences, wisdom and learnings.

• Partnering our business Whiteark with Femeconomy

• Working with some amazing female leaders in senior roles across industry

• Mentoring and leading a bench and teams of >50% women with flexible working arrangements

• *In Progress* We are planning initiatives with a focus on junior business chicks to get practical experience in business at a younger age. Stay tuned…

A time for reflection…

Take a moment to ask yourself:

• Who has supported you in your leadership journey? Take the time to thank them.

• How are you giving back?

• How can you lean in to #ChooseToChallenge in FY21 - what commitment are you going to make?

• Thank women in your network that support, challenge, encourage and inspire you to challenge every day

“The most important thing one woman can do for another is expand her sense of actual possibilities.”

— Adrienne Rich

Find out more here or reach out to the team on whiteark@whiteark.com.au for a chat.

When should you recruit versus developing existing staff?

It is fabulous when everything seems to be humming along with your team, they are working well together, have a good understanding of their role and business and are motivated and engaged. But then someone resigns! This can throw a real spanner in the works if you haven’t planned for it. By having meaningful succession and talent planning and robust career and development planning processes you are able to better plan and be prepared for these situations.  This will help inform your decision to recruit externally or promote someone internally that you have already identified with the right skills and experience. 

This article will look at the two options to filling vacancies when someone leaves your business, or a new role is created:  recruiting externally or hiring from within. 

Recruiting externally

There are a number of reasons to recruit externally, there are times when you need some new talent to bring new skills and different organisational experiences, so it is important to find the right balance between hiring new employees and promoting current employees.   You will usually assess each role as the vacancy arises.   Existing business challenges can sometimes be solved with new ideas, so recruiting a fresh set of eyes who can look at the role and business in a different way may be the right solution.

A clear and known recruitment policy will assist you in hiring right. By this we mean hiring not only the right person with the necessary skills and experience, but also the candidate with the right cultural fit – this is just as important.  The selection and interview processes play a big part in hiring successfully and ultimately retaining these employees.

if there is a vacancy for a highly specialised role, you should consider the effort and resources needed to train an existing employee versus hiring a new one who already has the essential skills. It may be easier and more cost effective if you run a recruitment process and find an external resource.

Hiring from within

Many leaders think of recruitment as the only option when someone resigns, if you are a smaller business this may sometimes be the case, however in medium or larger businesses there will often be an internal option.   A recruitment policy that consider hiring internally before looking externally is recommended.

Employees who are given training, development and have a career path defined for them, are more likely to stay in your business.  The cost to hire is huge, according to Employment Hero, the average cost of a new hire can be anywhere between $3,500 to $5000, with executive roles being much greater than this.  Then you have the expense and time it takes for the new employee to be trained and learn their role and business. So, this is a significant reason to focus on developing your staff where possible.

Look at the way you support and engage your existing employees. Support them with internal training and upskilling opportunities, which will have a positive impact on the culture and overall employee engagement.  When employees feel challenged, supported and that their company invested in their growth and career, engagement is higher, and turnover reduces. 

As part of your succession planning process you should consider which roles are the hardest to hire and invest in developing employees with these skills so that you have options. Ideally for some roles you will have a successor who is ready or possibly ready in the near future already identified in your business.  This is also the case where there is a skill shortage and you know that skills are really hard to recruit in the market. 

Looking to unite your team? Reach out.

Whiteark is not your average consulting firm, we have first-hand experience in delivering transformation programs for private equity and other organisations with a focus on people just as much as financial outcomes.

We understand that execution is the hardest part, and so we roll our sleeves up and work with you to ensure we can deliver the required outcomes for the business. Our co-founders have a combined experience of over 50 years’ working as Executives in organisations delivering outcomes for shareholders. Reach out for a no obligation conversation on how we can help you. Contact us on whiteark@whiteark.com.au

Article by Phoebe Reid

Being true to your values

When growing up, we learn to understand the impact core values have on driving our behaviour and activity, as well as attracting those you work well with because you share similar values. Your values are critical, they are at the heart of everything that you do.

I attended a Brene Brown course called “Dare to Lead” in 2020 - it was a chance to consider what kind of leader you want to be and understand your values.

My core personal values are:

Connection - I value having strong connections with people and I'm a connector. It drives me and my thinking. I genuinely love people 

Achievement - I love to do a great job, I put 100%+ into everything I do 

Passionate - I'm passionate about helping people / companies to deliver the best outcome. I have energy and drive to help people find their passion

Company values 

Most companies have a set of values but unfortunately most don't live by them – it’s frustrating and impacts the culture of companies. 

Company values and alignment with executives / co-founders and employees is important. Data, research suggests that companies where leaders align culturally and on values are 63% more successful than companies that don't. 

Having a clearly defined set of values helps your stakeholders to understand what you stand for. Your values provide guidance to your employees in delivering their work and creates a sense of unity and belonging. Your set of values encourage your employees to make decisions that help them achieve the company’s vision and mission.

Whiteark 

Once upon a time, in a land (not so) far away, two values aligned human beings came together to collaborate. The result? Whiteark was born. Whiteark is committed to bridging the gaps within organisations and making a lasting difference.

At Whiteark, we have spent the last 6 months refining and aligning on our Vision, Mission and Values before we launch with you all! 

Our values are important to us and are at the core of everything we do, who we partner with, who collaborate with, and who employ to be a part of our team.  

Here are our values that we live and breathe 😊

Leadership

Shaping the future.

Passion

Energising, engaging and inspiring.

Excellence

Achieving ambitious goals.

Value

Data drive outcomes.

Fun

Doing things differently.

Our values underpin our Vision and Mission and why we wake up every day, excited and ready to help our clients and our networks. 

Watch the video that James and I put together for our value launch to understand what these mean to us.

If our values resonate with you and you'd like to have a conversation about working for us, working alongside us or if we can help you, please reach out. 

The Importance of Connection

Connection is defined as a relationship in which a person or thing is linked or associated with something else. Connection is important. Did it have to take a global pandemic, border closures and state lockdowns for us to realise just how important connection really is?

If you’re feeling lonely, know that you’re not the only one. You don’t have to live in isolation. We live in a world with over seven billion people, and we all need connection.

The importance of human connection

What do you do from day to day to care for yourself? Most would say that to be healthy, you need nutritious food and exercise.

But what about your social connections?

Research shows us that loneliness is on the rise, and that a lack of human connection can be more harmful to your health than obesity, smoking and high blood pressure.

In today’s age, we live busy lives, trying to strike a balance between work, school, hobbies, self-care  and more. Often, our social connections fall by the wayside. But connecting with others is more important than you might think. Social connection can lower anxiety and depression, help us regulate our emotions, lead to higher self-esteem and empathy, and actually improve our immune systems. By neglecting our need to connect, we put our health at risk.

The reality is that we’re living in a time of true disconnection. While technology seems to connect us more than ever, the screens around us disconnect us from nature, from ourselves, and from others. Wi-Fi alone isn’t enough to fulfill our social needs – we need face-to-face interaction to thrive. Technology should be enhancing our connection to others, not replacing it.

Our inherent need for human connection doesn’t mean that every introvert must become a social butterfly.

Having human connection can look different for each person. If you’re not sure where to start in finding meaningful connection, that’s okay.

Here are some ideas to help you out:

•        Join a new club, or try out a group activity

•        Reach out to an old friend you’ve lost touch with

•        Volunteer for a cause you care about

•        Eat lunch in a communal space

•        Introduce yourself to your neighbours

•        Ask someone for help when you need it

•        Do a random act of kindness

Human beings are inherently social creatures. As far back as we can trace, humans have travelled, hunted, and thrived in social groups and for good reason. Humans who were separated from their tribe often suffered severe consequences.

Social groups provide us with an important part of our identity, and more than that, they teach us a set of skills that help us to live our lives. Feeling socially connected, especially in an increasingly isolated world, is more important than ever. The benefits of social connectedness shouldn’t be overlooked.

Social connections have four science / research backed benefits;

1.     Improve your quality of life:

If you’ve ever moved away from your social “home base” then you have a good idea of just how much social connections shape your everyday life and well-being. One study showed that social connection is a greater determinant to health than obesity, smoking, and high blood pressure. And social connection doesn’t necessarily mean physically being present with people in a literal sense, but someone’s subjective experience of feeling understood and connected to others. One scale that experts use to determine a person’s subjective level of loneliness is the UCLA Loneliness Scale.

2.     Boost your mental health:

Friendships offer a number of mental health benefits, such as increased feelings of belonging, purpose, increased levels of happiness, reduced levels of stress, improved self-worth and confidence. A study conducted at a free health clinic in Buffalo, New York found that respondents with insufficient perceived social support were the most likely to suffer from mental health disorders like anxiety and depression.

3.     Help you live longer:

Research has shown that social connections not only impact your mental health, but your physical health as well. A review of 148 studies (309K participants) indicated that the individuals with stronger social relationships had a 50% increased likelihood of survival. This remained true across a number of factors, including age, sex, initial health status, and cause of death.

4.     Decrease your risk of suicide:

There are a number of factors that put people at higher or lower risk for suicide. One of these factors is connectedness, which the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) defines as “The degree to which a person or group is socially close, interrelated or shares resources with other persons or groups.” Relationships can play a crucial role in protecting a person against suicidal thoughts and behaviors.

If you’re not sure how to begin forming social connections start by looking inward. What are your interests or hobbies? What kind of personalities are you naturally comfortable around?

Devote time to becoming active in your community, volunteering, or joining a club or social organisation and if you meet a potential friend, create an opportunity to spend time together.

Remember that social connections that impact your overall health and well-being may begin with lattes or a shared meal, but they require time and effort. Forming strong, healthy relationships with others means opening up, actively listening, and being open to sharing what you’re going through. These relationships can change the course of your life.

““Never underestimate the empowering effect of human connection.
All you need is that one person, who understands you completely, believes in you and makes you feel loved for what you are, to enable you - to unfold the miraculous YOU.””

— Drishti Bablani, Wordions