If you look at the unemployment rate trend line published by the ABS, you’ll see a steady hover between 5 and 5.5% from September 2018 to March 2020; then a spike to 7.5% by June 2020 (we all know what happened there); followed by a rapid plummet to the mid 3’s for the last two quarters. At the same time, job advertisements are up 11.6% in the last 12 months. What does this mean?  There are less people available to do an increasing number of jobs. And that means greater competition for top talent. Working in the people and leadership space for over 20 years means I’ve learnt by trial and ..read more

No one cares about your staffing issues. No one cares about the number of people who leave your business, and no one cares that it’s tough to hire right now. Because when you haven’t fixed the root cause of issues, people believe that you don’t care. This only contributes to a bad culture where people leave. The cycle continues.    Many of today’s thinkers discuss how to identify if you have a bad culture but few ask how bad cultures occur. It’s like there’s a disease, and all the experts are talking about how to identify if you have the disease and what to do if you have it, bu ..read more

You don’t quit your job, you quit your boss – or so the saying goes.  We’ve heard it so often; we just assume it must be true. Well it isn’t – in fact the opposite is true.  The truth is, people blame leaders when they should be blaming workplace factors.  In fact, plenty of people put up with poor workplace factors because of a good leader. Let’s take a look at a few of the top factors contributing to the ‘Great Resignation’ of 2022:  Unsustainable workload. Most of us think of this as simply too much work.  But Hart and Staveland’s research identified five other lev ..read more

IML ANZ Webinar Despite being one of the most fundamental professional skills, time management remains front and centre as one of the most frustrating challenges when managing staff, collaborating with co-workers and managing yourself. As the late Stephen Covey stated “most of us spend too much time on whats urgent and not enough time on whats important”. The paradox is no matter how efficiently a job is done, if it is the wrong job, it will not be effective. This session will: Take a fresh look at time management in 2020 to understand the current productivity blockers in the workplace and ..read more

There is no denying that 2022 was another momentous year for managers and leaders right across Australia and New Zealand. At the Institute of Managers and Leaders, we love sharing the stories and voices of our Members. One of the benefits of our community is the ability for us to learn from each other.  To celebrate 2022, we asked four valued members to share their lessons and proudest moments from the year. Their responses are below.   Melanie Caldwell CMgr FIML, Senior Project Manager, Magistrates Courts Victoria    What was your biggest lesson in leadershi ..read more

The summer holiday is planned. The itinerary is sorted. Accommodation is booked, and your bags are packed. You’ve cleared your schedule and wrapped up critical tasks, but have you made plans for your digital devices? Digital technology is part of our everyday life, and so consciously deciding the role it will play on your holiday is essential.  While the thought of a complete break from your devices or digital detox may not be your idea of a stressless holiday, having time away from your devices is as essential as taking time away from the office. Kicking the habit Much of what we do eac ..read more

If resilience training wasn’t a thing before the pandemic, it is now.  During 2020 and 2021 as we experienced increasing numbers of employees with mental health issues, workplace stress, burnout and increased sickness absence, it seemed resilience training was the panacea. As an author and trainer for hire, I received a lot of requests for help in this area. But not just resilience training, we saw time management, mindfulness, meditation and yoga offered to staff who were experiencing difficulties managing the different ways of working with a view to helping people stay focused and get t ..read more

Leadership is messy. Every day there are relationships, interactions and dances that go on in offices, meeting rooms and virtual rooms that don’t fall neatly into a spreadsheet or graph. Leading in the messy middle of that is hard work. The so-called ‘soft skills’ are the hardest of all and take the most time and energy. Our ability to lead with balance and calmness can be a daily challenge. In my work with leaders during the last fifteen years, I have seen that the best leadership is a constant dance of cognitive and emotional skills, the head and the heart. It helps lift outcomes and achieve ..read more

It is difficult to specify the direct financial costs of destructive leadership, but stress claims, disengagement, withdrawal, presenteeism and absenteeism costs as a result of mental health conditions have been estimated. Occupational stress is a major public health problem in Australia. Costs incurred as a result of mental stress claims have been estimated at A$543 million per annum, occupational stress claims at A$15 billion per annum and absenteeism at A$5 billion per annum.  Substantial litigation and counselling costs may be incurred to address the effects of the abusive leadership ..read more

In amongst the viral recipes and endless dancing videos, TikTok in 2022 has also given us quiet quitting.   Is this just another social media trend? Or is it something managers and leaders should be worried about? Whether you’re curious, confused or concerned about the impact of quiet quitting, we take a deeper look at the trend and the forces behind it.  Quiet quitting explained At a high level, quiet quitting is when a person stays in their job but only does the minimum requirements of the role. They start work at 9am, log off at 5pm and don’t take on any work in addition to w ..read more