Rachel Argaman, CEO of Toga Hospitality Group

We have a guest blog today from one of our top facilitators, Kerri Blackstone She attended a presentation by Rachel Argamen, CEO of Toga Hospitality Group and this is what she learned:

Before she even began speaking, I was so impressed with Rachel. She didn’t arrive like some rock star celebrity who enters the crowd at the last minute before ‘Show time.’ She was the first in the room. I should know because I was the second to arrive. She was approachable and so interested in making a connection with me.

Here are some of the valuable lessons that Rachel openly shared about her business and what she calls ‘Reflective Leadership.’

Good leaders are self aware and consciously create the right culture. Great companies focus on two things:

1. Creating a meaningful place for people to work in and 2. Building meaningful relationships with all stakeholders.

Rachel admits to loathing the term ‘work life balance.’ This infers that work is awful and that life is great. If we manage to strike a balance between the two, the result is something mediocre. Who wants mediocre? Happiness is what we should strive for. If you’re unhappy with your situation at work, get out now.

My favourite quote of the evening from Dick Clark, CEO of Merck, was that ‘culture eats strategy for breakfast’. We don’t watch every move that our employees make, but they watch us. So, don’t text during meetings!

Rachel sends out two e-mails per year. One is about Toga’s results. For this she suggest that companies use one crystalised metric for success. Some companies use balanced scorecards. Just pick one and use it properly. Everybody in the company should understand how that measure works and it should be visible to everybody. The other e-mail is about Toga’s SNAP (smile, name, attention to details, personality)survey. This is qualitative feedback for each front line employee that captures how high well they engage with customers.

Another great tip from Rachel was that culture drives performance; leaders drive the culture. Leaders should be modeling the way for their employees. They’re watching your every move.

Rachel suggested that there are two key issues in any business; people and money. Finding the right people is not easy. You have to kiss a lot of frogs before you find your prince. Rachel’s advice: hire the smile. You can teach people the technical skills, but you cannot teach attitude. We should be hiring people with portable competencies.

Finally, Rachel shared her experiences on the reality television show Undercover Boss. Her advice to business leaders after returning from the field is the following:

1. Get out of the office more often and onto the front line, without an agenda

2. Don’t waste so much money on food. Donate leftovers to charity

3. Develop centralised systems to help streamline your business and don’t get caught up in fad management tools. Pick a good one and stick with it. Otherwise you lose credibility with your peers and employees.

This was a refreshing and inspiring evening. Rachel has created a solid reputation in the Australian business arena and it’s easy to see why. She knows herself, understands people, lives her values and has a strong sense of purpose for her business.

Supercorp Bulldogs

I am not a huge footie fan but was keen to listen to CEO Todd Greenberg from the Canterbury Bankstown Bulldogs - after listening to him speak I am a converted fan!
You might remember that some time ago, I wrote a blog on the workshop we attended with brilliant Harvard professor, Rosabeth Moss Kanter. If you would like to refresh on what she said, have a look at this blog from 2009:

http://blog.mci.edu.au/2009/12/prof-rosabeth-moss-kanter.html

While I was listening to Todd speak, all I could think about was that the way in which he has turned around the culture at the Bulldogs, is truly an example of how one builds a Supercorp. He realised when he came in to the role that major changes needed to take place on many fronts. There was low morale and there was a low perception of the brand.
Todd needed to build an organisation that everyone could be proud of and have what Kanter calls PVP's in place - your PVP is like your guiding system and comprises your vision, values and purpose.
Well, to achieve this, Todd really adopted the characteristics of what Kanter calls, Supercorps. These are organisations that are able to align what they do on the business front with their achievements in the area of social responsibility. They are able to do things for the greater good which at the same time elevate them as an organisation. So, not charity for the sake of charity, but as part of the creation of progressive organisations that are also part of the human community.
Through the Bulldogs' association with Camp Quality and their promotion of this wonderful cause, they have ensured that they have raised substantial funds and awareness of this charity and also at the same time lifted the culture of the club to new heights. The association with Camp Quality is not just a 'build-on' activity - it is now what the Bulldogs stand for!
Go the Bulldogs!! Your newest fan wishes you well for the season and may you continue to grow as a Supercorp!!
Thanks to the Moir Group for hosting a great lunch event.

Inspiration from a survivor of the London bombing

Gillian Hicks has an amazing story to tell and is truly inspirational in terms of her determination to overcome severe physical and mental injury. She lost both legs in the London bombing of 2005 and cautions all of us - "Tomorrow, despite our best made plans is unwritten and unknown." It is really up to us to embrace all of life including the good and the not so good. It is really also up to us to leave a lasting footprint.

She emphasises that every second matters and just one second can make the difference between life and death. Where would she have been if she had left home a moment earlier of a few seconds later? What if she had missed or caught another train?

Do we all need to wait until we face death to learn about our lives? While Gillian was waiting the 60 minutes it took to be rescued she had two voices playing in her ear. The 'death' voice was calm and beautiful and was urging her to sleep. The 'life' voice was loud and commanding her not to give up. There was certainly an element of choice. She did know that by choosing the life voice, she had signed a new contract to do something different with her life.

Have a look at her video on how we can all make a difference through being part of a drive towards peace:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5L3xwTspDgI

Gillian says that she was an ordinary person in an extra-ordinary situation. We all have the choice though of making a real difference.

Dr Fiona Wood

Dr Fiona Wood

We were very fortunate to listen to a presentation by Dr Fiona Wood, past Australian of the Year and mother of 6, head of Royal Perth hospital burn unit, professor at UWA.

She said that on international women's day we should all stop and learn about each others stories.

Fiona sees suffering on a day to day basis. She uses what she has learnt from yesterday to make tomorrow better. She constantly asks herself - How can we give the best care today to help this person?

Australia has one of the best health systems in the world but complacency is inappropriate. Unless we take responsibility for our health, wealthiness and education we cannot expect the system to do so. Our choices effect those around us.

She is also always amazed by the generosity of people who give their bodies to science. She questions - Can you imagine if people were this generous when they were alive!

She firmly believes that you should not not engage in negative energy. She sees it as a simple waste of time - people who are negative will suck themselves in to their own black hole.

Fiona's parents left school at 13 and 14 and then dedicated their lives to ensuring that their 4 kids had an education so that they could wake up in the morning and have the choice of what they want to and love to do.

Education gives you choice.

Fiona's other key messages:

Do everything in life with purpose.

All of us should dream. Goal set and work out how to achieve these goals and keep going forward.

When she applied for her first job, Fiona knew the others were applying and that they were more qualified then her but the hospital needed a woman and she got it. She was given the opportunity and had to take it - grasp the nettle with two hands and don't let go!

Fiona learnt how to combine surgery and family - 6 kids in 8 years. Negative energy can be turned into positive.

Fiona takes time to call co- workers who have done a great job with burn victim and they are doing well. She calls and says "Hi its Fiona Wood" and people get scared and say "what have I done?" She thanks them for their work and congratulates them. ALWAYS thank people.

She was once rostered her on with the professor who said he didn't think a woman should have got the job. It was a real baptism by fire! But then she became the daughter he never had.

Learn as much as you can technically and appreciate the value of being taught and of teaching others - the selflessness of imparting all you know onto someone else with the hope that they will be better than you.

Celebrate when people do things right!

Everyone is unique and special. How often have you been so passionate about something and roaring with energy?

There is energy in the roar! There is nothing to be ashamed of - it is up to us to help our kids be proud of their level of energy and not waste their gifts.

Anthony Robbins - great training techniques

We all know Anthony Robbins as a great showman who fires up our enthusiasm for achieving outstanding standards and overcoming our fears through changing our belief system.
One of the reasons that I think Robbins is so successful in initiating these changes in people, is because he is an outstanding teacher and trainer.
He makes use of all the top training techniques and uses them in a highly effective way:
1. He knows that learning and being connected to a chair is not necessarily the best way of learning. He continuously asks the group to get up and move and thereby creates energy and we know that the more people move and talk and engage, the more they learn.
2. He constantly asks questions and checks in to see if people are understanding him. There is therefore a stream of interaction between trainer and participants and no-one is in lecture mode.
3. He tells lots of stories. He links the stories to the key messages and that is what makes the messages memorable.
4. He creates a full learning experience for the group - there are simulations, moments for self-reflection, time to write down notes, one on one discussions, role plays, visualisations, broad discussions and great powerpoints with key messages. All learning styles are catered for and a room of 3500 people is fully involved.
5. Watching him train the group to complete the firewalk is a lesson in best practice training. It is a fairly dangerous task that he needs to prepare the group to undertake safely and to achieve this:
He repeats the key steps over and over again
He provides the steps one by one, slowly and patiently revealing each step
He repeats the steps yet again
He asks the group to repeat the steps out loud
He asks the group to visualise themselves performing the steps
He demonstrates the steps over and over again
He displays the steps on slides
6. He makes great use of music to change the mood in the room - to revive the group and to reflect when needed.
7. He speaks with great passion. He believes in what he is saying and he goes for 10 hours with little break because he believes in what he is doing. He gives it his all, all of the time.
8. He constantly asks people to take down notes - "write that down" he says and we all know that by writing it ourselves, we embed the learning.
9. He uses his sense of humour well - and that lightens and brightens the session.

Presentation skills

I came across a superb piece written by Suzanne Bates from 'Speak like a CEO'. I strongly agree with what she has said and I am reproducing it here for you to read and think about:
"

March 1, 2011

The Earthquake Mayor

God bless the people of New Zealand who are suffering through the aftermath of a devastating earthquake that will ultimately claim more than 200 lives. The city of Christchurch is a dusty, rubbled, ghost of a place populated at the moment only by rescuers, anxious family members, local police officers, international rescue teams...

...oh, and one notable mayor, who has made me believe that a city broken on the outside will be no match for him, or the inner fortitude of the people of Christchurch.

Bob Parker, dubbed "the earthquake mayor" is everywhere - comforting those who have lost homes and loved ones, thanking the rescue workers, holding press conferences and fielding countless media interviews. NBC's Brian Williams featured him Friday night on Making a Difference. After that I had to go online and watch more of the down under video clips.

"It's human to look but it's also more human to have compassion for the people who are suffering," said Parker as he urged tourists to stay off the roads and let the exhausted rescue teams complete their work. The work was "psychologically demanding" but they are "in good heart." Parker seems to have just the right words, enveloping you in this feeling that everything really will be okay.

Parker polished this natural presence in a former television career. But on camera readiness doesn't account for it all. It's something else...I'd have to call it.... love. He loves the city of Christchurch.

And that's when it hit me - wow - imagine what would have happened - and just bear with me for a minute, suspend disbelief, forget what actually happened, or how disappointing it was.... what IF the CEO of British Petroleum, Tony Hayward, had not only demonstrated that kind of polished crisis management training that major corporate executives should have in SPADES...but also gone there with LOVE IN HIS HEART and talked to the people of the Gulf Coast. What if, right when all those nasty gallons of oil had started pouring in the water off the Louisiana coast, he had canceled the yacht trip, gone straight to the scene....

(Yes, I know, he's not a mayor, he's a CEO)... but again, bear with me...

...and he had donned the all-weather jacket, set up camp, been available for back to back, on-the-scene interviews...what if he had actually walked around, talked to rescuers, visited fishermen on the docks, gone to their homes, held a town hall jointly with the mayor.... in other words, what if he had actually approached this whole thing... with love in his heart?

For one thing Hayward would still be the CEO today.

BP has paid dearly for this mess - almost $13 B on clean up and another $4 B in payouts with half a million people lined up with tons more claims. The spill would still be The Spill, the cost would still be The Cost, but I can't help but believe that BP could have saved the one thing money can't buy - it's good reputation. "