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November 22, 2021

Leading Your Team Out of the Pandemic and Into Success

“To handle yourself, use your head; to handle others, use your heart.” – Eleanor Roosevelt

Effective leadership has always been critical to the success of a business, but the definition of what it takes to be a good leader has evolved greatly over the last two years. While the fundamentals of good leadership hold tight, our pandemic learnings have necessitated a whole new set of critical leadership skills for future leaders. So as we head into a post-pandemic work world, what exactly will it take to be a good leader?

For businesses to flourish in a post-Covid work world, where a hybrid workforce is likely to be the norm, the next generation of leaders needs to embrace the lessons learned through the pandemic and lead their team with empathy and integrity. Leaders will need to be humble, tech-savvy, collaborative, trustworthy, kind, flexible, positive, authentic and innovative. They’ll need to possess emotional intelligence, be a visionary guide and an enthusiastic cheerleader for their team. Not much to ask, right?

Leadership expert Lisa McKinnes-Smith According to Lisa McInnes-Smith, renowned performance expert and author of 7 best-selling books, heading into the post-covid era the best leaders “are not only self-aware and clear in purpose, but they have also developed daily habits and patterns that motivate and influence their team in a flexible working environment.”

Lisa believes that best-practice bosses of the future need to demonstrate their leadership by:

1. enabling their team to feel cared for while they work from home
2. focusing on the high-value behaviours that bring results both personally and professionally
3. helping people transition between workplace situations
4. creating an atmosphere of open communication
5. developing a culture where different views benefit the team
6. helping people manage their own performance and monitor their personal wellbeing
7. helping people keep a sense of humour about their situation
8. leading discussions around personal and team wellbeing

LinkedIn Learning’s 2021 Workplace Learning Report revealed similar findings, with communication across remote or distributed teams and emotional intelligence ranking as two of the most important skills required.

Revered American business executive and philanthropist Sheryl Sandberg once said, “True leadership stems from individuality that is honestly and sometimes imperfectly expressed… Leaders should strive for authenticity over perfection.”

If you’re looking for a prime example of this, someone who embodies all the key attributes of a good leader, look across the ditch to Jacinda Ardern, New Zealand’s treasured Prime Minister. Her live Facebook chats, relatable style and kind actions resonate with people on an emotional level, while her clear, decisive political leadership has earned an unparalleled level of trust from her countrymen.

As Lisa McInnes-Smith says, “the quality of an organisation’s performance depends on the quality and depth of its leaders.” And it seems that to be a good leader in the post-covid era, you need to lead with genuine care and compassion. As far as silver linings of the pandemic go, we think that’s a pretty special one.

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Lisa McInnes-Smith is a gifted communicator, passionately inspiring people to elevate their performance with simple, practical steps. She’s presented to more than 2 million people across 26 countries, authored 7 best-selling books and is the first person outside North America to be inducted into the international Speaker Hall of Fame. Imagine what she could do for your business! One of the most uplifting and entertaining motivational speakers out there, Lisa will inspire your team to greatness – talk to us about engaging her for your event today!

November 17, 2021

Finding the New ‘Business as Usual’ in a Post-Pandemic World

For decades, ‘business as usual’ meant reporting to the office, meeting with colleagues and sitting at your prescribed desk until home time. In a matter of weeks, everything changed. Covid-19 arrived, and along with it terms like ‘unprecedented’ and ‘lockdown’ – words that would completely and irrevocably disrupt standard operating procedure for businesses around the world. Now the question beckons – in a post-pandemic world, what exactly is ‘business as usual’? And is remote work here to stay?

W Is remote work the new business as usual? hen the pandemic struck, businesses scrambled to transform the way they operate, thanks to a seismic shift that was never part of their 5-year plan. Workers were given a crash course in modern technology and sent home from the office with a remote log-in and a prayer. Working from home was no longer just an option for the lucky few, it was the only option for everyone.

While most workers were happy to skip the obligatory commute to work and have the freedom to customise their days to suit their personal needs, bosses were forced to re-evaluate their attitudes towards remote work.

According to Bernard Salt, leading media commentator, business analyst, demographer and one of Australia’s most in-demand keynote speakers, the view used to be that “if you were working from home, you were having a bit of a bludge, having a day off. That was the unspoken culture.”

But thanks to a new digitally connected world, tools like Zoom, Slack and Microsoft Teams helped ease long-held negative perceptions around remote work productivity. And rightly so. Recent findings from a two-year study of more than 800,000 employees, conducted by Great Place to Work, found working from home was just as productive as working from the office – possibly more so.

Creating value for a hybrid workforce

The 2021 Accenture Future of Work Study found that 83% of workers now prefer a more flexible hybrid work model.

In Bernard’s view, “for 25 years prior to the pandemic, about 5% of workers were working from home according to census results. But during the pandemic, we developed a taste for this way of working because it delivered empowerment and contributed to our lifestyle. In a post-Covid world, it could be that 15% of the workforce regularly (say 2 days per week) work from home – that net extra 10% equates to more than a million workers working from home in some kind of hybrid arrangement.”

So how can business leaders create a post-pandemic work world that will keep hybrid employees happy and productive?

According to Bernard, that hybrid arrangement is where employers really need to define their value if they’re to succeed. He believes that “work tasks requiring concentration and creativity will be done from home, while the office will become the place for learning, ideation, collaboration with colleagues as well as client meetings, socialising, schmoozing and celebrating. Out with open plan cubicles; in with agile collaboration spaces.”

“In the post-Covid era there needs to be purpose and value in coming into the office – the workplace needs to be a space for engagement and learning, where inhouse or external experts teach and transfer knowledge. Offering workers high-value experiences, like the chance to learn from and be inspired by corporate and industry leaders, is one way to build a happy hybrid workforce.”

Although we all hope we’ve seen the back of pandemic life, the experience has proven that disruption itself isn’t always a bad thing. In Bernard’s words, “sometimes a shakeup like WFH is precisely what is required to test whether the old way of doing things is the best way forward. The post-pandemic era offers the opportunity to rebuild a better version of the world we left behind.”

So maybe the time was right to re-evaluate the old ‘business as usual’ model, and now we’ll re-emerge a more flexible, digitally-savvy, compassionate and productive society. After all, as Henry Ford said, “If you always do what you always did, you’ll always get what you always got”.

Bernard Salt is one of the best minds in the business when it comes to the future of work. As a leading media commentator and business analyst, as well as author of six best-selling books, Bernard is one of the most popular and captivating business speakers on the corporate speaking circuit. If you’d like to engage Bernard to talk to your team about the opportunities that lie ahead, get in touch with us for a chat!

October 4, 2021August 8, 2022

10 Ways to Protect Yourself in the Fight Against Covid Cybercrime.

Covid-19 has created the perfect storm for cybercrime. With a large percentage of the workforce now working from home, cybercriminals are finding it woefully easy to prey on the vulnerable. With Cyber Security Awareness Month now underway, it’s the perfect time to make sure you and your team are cyber-safe and secure.

As the world’s attention is fixed firmly on the global public health crisis, cybercriminals are waiting in the wings, ready to pounce when opportunity knocks. A look through history shows us that exploiting people and businesses in times of natural disasters and pandemics is not a new concept, with confusion and fear delivering the ideal breeding ground for cyberattacks. According to the Australian Cyber Security Centre (ACSC), in the 2020-21 financial year there were:

over 22,000 calls to the Cyber Security Hotline – an increase of more than 310% from the previous financial year.
over 67,500 cybercrime reports, with losses totalling more than $33 billion.
more than 1,500 cybercrime reports of malicious cyber activity related to the coronavirus pandemic, with over 75% resulting in Australians losing money or personal information.

Hackers are extremely clever when it comes to disguising their activity, and it’s getting increasingly difficult to spot a hacking attempt. Phishing, malicious links, email compromise, malware, ransomware, fake landing pages… the list is long and disturbingly creative. By simply clicking on a link, you can unwittingly give hackers open access to all your data, setting in motion an unstoppable chain of events.

So what can we do to stay safe and secure while working from home?

We asked Brian Hay, one of Australia’s most renowned Cyber Security specialists and winner of McAfee’s international award for Cybercrime Fighter of the Year (yes, really!), for his expert advice.

Ok Brian, first of all – how do cyberattacks happen?

Think of it like this. Every time you get in your car, you increase your risk of an accident. And when an accident happens, what’s generally the cause? The failure of the motor vehicle technology, or the behaviour of the person behind the wheel? That’s right, the behaviour of the person. The challenge we face with cyber security and cyber safety is that we think it’s all about the technology, when in fact it’s all about the people. Up to 95% of all data breaches are caused by people, not technology failures. 96 – 99% of cyberattacks are directed at the person – not the network – why? Because we are the soft target – the vulnerability!

Well that’s just scary. How can we reduce our risk of falling victim to a cyberattack?

First, we need to get our attitude right:

Understand that there’s no such thing as privacy on the internet – when you connect to it, it connects to you!
Appreciate that in the eyes of a cybercriminal, we are all legitimate targets.
Accept you will be approached – by email, by phone calls, by SMS messages – so prepare.

Next, we need to work on our behaviours and arm ourselves with some tools to help us in our fight.

10 ways you can protect yourself against cybercrime:

Dodgy links: Never click on an embedded hyperlink or button in an unsolicited email, and you will never fall for a phishing attack.
Phone protocol: Develop your own personal phone protocol – don’t answer calls from numbers you don’t know, if it’s important they’ll leave a message. Likewise, don’t respond to unsolicited SMS messages (friends excepted).
Authentication: To elevate your security through the roof, always enable Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA)
Strong passwords: Create strong passwords or passphrases and remember – 1 password = 1 account, don’t double-dip!
Safe passwords: Consider using a Password Manager – life will become so much easier and safer.
Not for kids: Don’t let the kids on the work devices.
Oversharing: Don’t overshare on social media, you never know who’s watching!
VPN: Use a virtual private network (VPN), it’s a simple way to secure open wifi and prevent prying eyes.
Antivirus: Ensure you’re using antivirus and your systems are set for auto-updates.
Whoops: Sometimes accidents happen – so back up every day!

And here’s one more tip for good measure. Did you know that no government body, including the ATO, AFP, MyGov and Medicare, will ever send you an email or SMS asking you to click on a link to provide login, personal or financial information, or to download a file or open an attachment? They’ll also never use aggressive or rude behaviour, or threaten you with arrest, jail or deportation.

If you’re one of the unlucky ones to be targeted by cybercriminals, make sure you report it via ReportCyber . You can also contact the ACSC via email or through the Australian Cyber Security Hotline on 1300 cyber1 (1300 292 371) for advice and assistance.

And remember… if you connect it, protect it. Cyber security is everyone’s job, so do your part and #BeCyberSmart!

As well as providing expert cyber security services to the corporate world, Brian Hay is also a highly sought-after presenter thanks to his engaging, humorous and down-to-earth approach. A virtual cyber security presentation from Brian will provide your remote workforce with the knowledge and practical advice necessary to keep them cyber-safe, and help prevent an online disaster from derailing your business. If you’d like to engage Brian to speak to your team, get in touch with us for a chat.