BLOGS
– Lauren’s Blogs –
10 Years from Now
Do you have a 10-year goal? Ever thought about what your business would look like in 10 years? What role will you be playing? What structure will your team have? What revenue will you be targeting? Recently, I watched a TV show on the building of the Panama Canal. It...
Business Continuity
Out jogging with some friends recently, one complained about a broken water pipe in the street that they were told would take until the next morning to be fixed. Yet I couldn’t agree with their complaint; I was impressed that the service providers have people on...
Loyalty
Do you have a favourite footy team? Aussie rules or rugby league or other sports — do you wear their jersey or scarf to the matches? Do you sing their song? What about at a world level? Have you ever sung the national anthem before a Wallabies or Matildas match? This...
Leadership from London
This past week I spent in London learning a snippet of the history and studying examples of leadership through the ages, culminating in coronation day spent as “a commoner” immersed in the crowds lining the Mall. As an Australian with a deep love of country, an...
Smartest in the Room
Last week I was running training for the RMIA on Enterprise Risk Management. We talked about the dangers of the loudest voice in a room when doing risk assessments, as that person might not be the most accurate. This got me thinking about leadership styles, and how...
Can Systems be Fun??
For many years now I have been helping small and large organisations develop, implement and improve their management systems. My focus has always been to integrate the management system into the company’s existing systems and processes as much as possible and to make...
Is Leadership Different in Big to Small Companies?
Do you work in a large, medium or small organisation? Do your leaders play small or big? What I am noticing as I work with various sized companies is that leadership lessons apply no matter the size of the organisation. The biggest difference is that sometimes leaders...
People or Performance?
My middle daughter is currently in London and was lucky to watch a soccer (football) match between Chelsea Women and Lyon Feminin last week. In each team was one Matilda, playing against each other. It was a thrilling match resulting in a win for Chelsea. Ok, enough...
Intuition or Learned Skill or Magic?
Have you ever watched a magician make objects disappear and reappear? We once saw a terrific magician in the street, and my children were mesmerized. They were concentrating hard on the hand he was placing in front of their happy little faces, and consequently had no...
More Think, Less Critical
How good are your critical thinking skills? Hands up if you find your shackles rising at headlines of inequity or brutality. Hands up if you rave about a good news story. Hands up if you have re-shared posts on social media within seconds of seeing them. My hand is...
Incident Investigations and Incident Management
Does your stomach drop when you hear something has gone wrong at work? Perhaps a product failure requiring a recall? Or a client has banned your workers from site due to poor adherence to safety requirements? Do you know how you would handle an information security...
How to Fix a Sore Knee?
Have you ever had a sore knee or back or other body part, and instead of finding out the cause and fixing it, you just put up with it by taking anti-inflammatories? I’ve had a swollen knee for a few weeks now; not too sore to start with but increasingly uncomfortable...
AI – Will it Solve our Problems?
Have you checked out ChatGPT yet? If not, you are one of the few. Artificial Intelligence (AI) has been used for some time now, but is becoming more obvious with chatbots available for anyone to play with. The definition of artificial intelligence is technology that...
Got a Plan?
It’s nearing the end of February, and I know some companies haven’t set clear plans for the year. Planning is one of the routine processes that both drives growth and builds resilience in an organisation. Quarterly planning sessions allow the team to recognize success...
Communication or Consultation or Participation
How do I get buy-in for change? There are 3 elements required for effective system implementation, and anyone familiar with the ISO standards (ISO9001, ISO45001, ISO31000) may recognize the terms Communication, Consultation and Participation. Let’s use the example...
Is Your Mower Self-Propelled?
Our mower broke this week ☹️ I’ve been chief lawn mower this past year, and I find it relatively easy because we have a self-propelled mower that helps on the slopes and hills in our suburban yard. But this week the cable broke that connects the motor to the wheels....
Emerging from the Dark
A colony of flying foxes lives not far from us. Every evening at dusk they emerge from the trees and fly over the suburb in their hundreds to find native trees to feed on the nectar and pollen. They have well-developed vision to see at night and a great sense of smell...
What’s on your Dashboard?
Last Sunday we drove from Brisbane to Sydney. We had a few stops along the way to stretch our legs, eat meals and even visit family. Nothing that impressive but it was a long drive nonetheless. We’ve done the drive before in one go, but there was a critical difference...
Lessons from 2022
During the summer break I have been taking my own medicine and doing some analysis of wins and fails from last year, as part of the process for planning 2023. Here’s some of the biggest lessons. INSPIRE The most fulfilling moments of the business year were when my...
The Word is Fun!
It’s nearly Christmas and we’re either going crazy finishing projects before taking holidays or going crazy enjoying lots of end-of-year celebrations! Whether you celebrate Christmas or not, I hope you’re remembering to have some fun. For me Christmas is a magical...
Why Upskill? Essentials of Problem Solving
In a recent Problem Solving Skills masterclass we were discussing the benefits of a shift from being reactive when problems arise to being proactive, and what that would require. We talked about the frustration and inefficiency of the same old problem reappearing time...
The Answer is Within You
Have you or your children ever been injured and not been sure if it’s a break or a sprain? You might have a strong feeling if a bone is or isn’t broken, but to be sure you go to a doctor or physio for assessment and diagnosis, and of course treatment. Medical...
The Enemy of Excellent is Good
At school I was a pretty good student. Rarely did I top the class, but I came second nearly every year. I could do maths and English achieving above average results. Even at sport I was ok. I would run in the 100m and come 3rd or 4th every time. But the whole time I...
6 Weeks til Christmas
At the time of writing, it’s 6 weeks to Christmas, which means it’s 7 weeks to 2023! Does your business have a plan for next year? If you are planning to not only stay in business but thrive in the coming years, let’s take a look at how we might approach it....
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