Like everyone else this year, the ABS team is very much looking forward to having a bit of a break over the yearend to try and reset for the new year. We thought you might like to know what it is that we are all looking forward to:
Peter Williams:
The Williams’ family will spend their Christmas break at Stuarts Point. Amira (8), Elijah (6) and Isiah (4) all love to camp, so we will once again go to the lengths of setting up our tent under the tarp and call it home for a week. The kids will be afforded some freedom to explore on their bikes while Melina puts her feet up with a book (hopefully!). We’ll then return to some more comfortable accommodation and Peter will spend as much time fishing as possible from both the beach and his 11 foot tinny! There will be some day trips further afield to South West Rocks, Coffs Harbour and Bellingen, and the nights will be set aside for reading for pleasure! There will be copious amounts of food, some family stopping by (not too much though!), and some true enjoyment of another Australian summer! Covid will be given as little thought as possible, and unlike previous years, not too much reflection on the year will take place.
Lisa Barnes:
We all know that COVID-19 has brought all of us some challenges, but the positive for our family is that we will all be home for Christmas on actual Christmas day, rather than some day or week either side of that due to work commitments (my brother is a pilot for QANTAS). For us this is a rare occasion, and to celebrate we have nominated by brothers place for the day, yes this means no cleaning beforehand – yet another bonus for me!! We will be definitely having a “staycation” and enjoy our local beaches (you know the ones that the tourists don’t know about 😊). Both my children are now mobile (I have 2 x P platers now) and both will be on holidays, so I expect minimal taxi driving duties for the first time ever – bring it on!!
Warrick Long:
The Long crew are going to be chilling out with all the family. There are books to read, Christmas movies to watch, woodwork projects to build, gardening to do and cricket to watch (Australia needs my coaching from the recliner). We will also spend a fair amount of time in the spa. Kerrie and I are also planning a little trip up to Foster for a few days. Of course, the Worlds Greatest Grandkids will be a major part of our holiday time!
We all hope that you too can manage some downtime this year end.
Over the past few months, the senior leadership team has reexamined a number of areas of Avondale’s operation, including the way in which its courses are delivered – from a structural perspective. Our current approach has been to operate six schools within two Faculties, that then report through to a central structure.
One of the aspects that stood out when analyzing the current approach was the considerable number of academics involved in keeping the whole structure operational. There appeared to be a duplication of layers in the decision making process, with many of the same people represented at two or even three of the different committee levels. In addition, each Faculty had a Faculty Dean, an Assistant Dean (Learning & Teaching) and (until recent times) an Assistant Dean (Research). All essentially doing the same role, with a relatively small number of students. At the School level there appeared to be a similar duplications of resources, with each School requiring a Head of School and a School Committee responsible for its day to day running.
The conclusion from the analysis was that it would be best to take the two smallest schools and to merge them into an existing school, forming a single four-school faculty. When considering the best approach to take with the Avondale Business Schools (currently one of the two smallest schools) external advice was taken as to the best fit. We found that in the majority of cases where Business had become part of another school, it was within an area that also offered a Bachelor of Arts degree. This was the decision we eventually made, creating the School of Arts and Business.
One of the downsides of these restructures can be the resulting loss of identity. The business degrees offered by Avondale for example, have been within the branding of the Avondale Business School, a distinctive unit that has gained traction in stakeholder awareness and engagement. We are pleased that this will be maintained with the new School of Arts and Business, so that the nomenclature of the Avondale Business School continues.
Selecting a Head of School within a merger of this type can also be a challenge, as each area naturally wishes to preserve their focus and identity. In navigating this appointment we were pleased to offer the position to Associate Professor Lisa Barnes, current Head of School for Business. In addition to her experience in the business area, Lisa brings a strong interest and involvement in the Arts. This includes a post-graduate qualification currently being completing within the School of Arts here at Avondale (Counselling).
I do not doubt there will be challenges in bringing together the School of Business and the School of Arts in 2021. What we do have however are staff committed to making it work and who will be working collaboratively to make this new school a strong and successful one.
With the year we have had, it is only fitting that we have a graduation different to any other year. Unfortunately, with travel restrictions in place, international students and students living in other states were unable to attend the graduation ceremony, which left us with a small but very proud cohort of students graduating from the Bachelor of Business and Master of Management and Leadership programs.
The ceremony was small, but well attended by family and friends. The speech by Dr Warrick Long was both humorous and inspiring, and although there was an absence of handshakes, there was plenty of pride and congratulations handed out. Of our undergraduate students, some have already secured jobs to start in 2021, with others applying madly for positions available. The ABS treated our undergraduates (who could make it) to a light lunch and a review of the past few years, and you can see our socially distanced photo captured on the day. We congratulate all our 2020 graduates. If you can graduate in a pandemic, you can do anything!
It seems that suggested reading lists are the thing to do in year-end newsletters, so we at ABS thought we would follow convention and share with you 6 books that either we, or our friends, have recommend as being good reading over the holiday season. In no particular order:
1. Lead. By Karl Martin (Muddy Pearl, 2017). This comes highly recommended by my friend Lucy who has convinced me to read it over the year-end break. Lucy assures me that it is a very personal and challenging take on leadership as demonstrated by Jesus in the later chapters of the Gospel of John. My flicking through the pages has definitely whetted my appetite and I look forward to reclining in the spa with this book.
2. Freakonomics. By Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner (Penguin, 2005). I am an avid listener of the Freakonomics podcast, and am catching up on the back catalogue. Part of this involves reading the book that was the inspiration of the podcasts, where the authors, in a very relatable way, challenge much of the “established wisdom” and find out what the facts actually say. For example, does how your name sounds really impact your chances of getting employed? This is a great book for developing critical thinking skills without even realizing it.
3. Women and Leadership. By Julia Gillard and Ngozi Okonjolweala (Random House Australia, 2020). So many people I know have this book on their list for reading this year end, including our very own Head of School, Lisa Barnes. I bought a copy for my daughter, and hope to be able to borrow it when she is finished. Both authors are leaders at the highest level and have such experience to share. This is one of those books that needs to be read .
4. Messengers. By Stephen Martin and Joseph Marks (Random House, 2019). Growing up I had to fight hard to be heard amongst a family of talkers. It fascinated me who gets listened to and who doesn’t. This book tackles this head on and provides some sound tips on how to ensure your messages gets heard, noting that looking and sounding right is often far more persuasive than actually being right!
5. Team of Rivals. By Doris Goodwin (Simon and Schuster, 2006). I have been hanging out to read this book for so long, and this year I’m determined to read it. While it is a massive tome, it is considered a classic of modern leadership and management literature. Goodwin writes a biography of Abraham Lincoln that particularly explores how he was able to lead people, and how he was brave enough to build a cabinet that included his harshest political rivals. His success speaks for itself, and I cannot wait to begin this journey.
6. Servant Leadership in Action. Edited by Ken Blanchard and Renee Broadwell (Berrett-Koehler, 2018). Blanchard and Broadwell bring together contributions from forty-four servant-leader experts and practitioners to give some down-to-earth advice on what servant leadership actually means in the trenches. Another easy-to-read leadership book to relax during your break.
Happy Reading!
As the title proclaims, I am not a fan of nor good at networking, yet it is a “necessary evil” in the world of business. I was glad to read the article “networking in the New Reality” (read it here) by Noah Askin in a recent INSEAD Knowledge blog as it gave me some confidence and tips to step out of my comfort zone.
After building the case for networking – even during these challenging times – Askin provided three very simple steps for networking, which are listed below:
Simple but not necessarily easy for us high functioning introverts. Thankfully Askin expands on each of these to give really helpful tips and a rationale for each one. Askin finishes his advice by outlining a really novel idea to create an opportunity to grow your network of contacts. Why not reach out and have a go. There is everything to gain, and nothing to lose.
Boost happiness at work and your employees will have a higher level of life satisfaction. Do this, and your organisations’ profitability and health will also increase. These are the research backed claims from a recent McKnisey Quarterly article by Tera Allas and Bill Schaninger (read it here). The article notes that relationships with management are the top factor in employees’ job satisfaction. However, immediate bosses can also be the most stressful aspect of their jobs. So, in short, the article proposes that good bosses result in good performance.
Allas and Schaninger quote research that ’the “servant leader” mentality and disposition enhances both team performance and satisfaction.” Essentially servant leadership is the manager asking, “how do I make my team members’ lives easier – physically, cognitively and emotionally?”
Within the article are four proven practices bosses can adopt in order to put them into the servant leader mode, which are explained really well in the article, but summarised here:
In addition to these things the bosses can do, the article also suggests four ways the organisation can support better bosses. Again, the article expands and explains these, which are presented below in point form:
When organisational practices and bosses work together as servant leaders, employees work satisfaction increases, and so does profitability and health. Everyone’s a winner!
ABS students in the final year unit 'Strategic Responses in Business' competed all semester in a globally run computer simulation, and ranked in the top 25% worldwide in many of the success measures! The final assessment in the last week of semester involved the students holding an Annual General Meeting (AGM) for their shareholders (Staff, Students and other guests invited from throughout the College), in which they had to report on their companies’ operations and answer questions from their shareholders.
The unit aims to give the students a simulated business experience, which involves the students managing a computer sensor company over an 8 year (fictional) period. For each year the students were required to make over 160 decisions involving marketing, financing, human resources, production, and R&D. Throughout the semester there were assessments based on competitor analysis, preparing minutes of meetings and compiling company reports based on their results.
Following the completion of their AGM, their lecturer Dr Warrick Long revealed to those who attended that of the success measures used by the simulation, this group of students achieved a ranking in the top 25% places world-wide in three of the seven success measures, and in the top 40% for the remaining four measures, competing against nearly 100 other teams from universities around the world. This was an outstanding achievement from this group, involving Craig Louwen (Chair), Mikayla Davidson, Manish Kumar and Josh Pannekoek, Andrew Bradley, who should all be justifiably very proud of their achievement. Well done.
As well as being true of our personal lives, the constancy of change is often the case in organisations, too. The risk associated with constant organisational change is that employees begin to experience change fatigue—a lingering sense of weariness and negative reactions to change such as frustration, burnout or apathy.
Why is change fatigue damaging to organisations? Because lack of employee support is one of the top reasons for failed change attempts. Since not making any changes is not an option for organisations, we need to look at increasing the capacity of employees to absorb and cope with changes.
“Change is the only constant in life.”
Greek philosopher Heraclitus
This article from the Australian HR Institute contains some excellent practical suggestions on how to combat change fatigue and is worth a full read, but I will summarise some of these below.
The first is to involve employees in the change process. Create an environment where people can speak openly about the changes, provide feedback and actively participate in shaping the decisions. Participation is useful for helping employees see the value behind the change and increasing their emotional motivation for supporting the change.
The other key suggestion is to start from seeing changes from the perspective of those who will be impacted by them. Does the organisation currently meet their needs and will the proposed changes help with this? This perspective contains five steps:
To manage the underlying contributors to change fatigue, we need to focus on how employees experience those changes not just on the behavioural outcomes.
Photograph
Photo by Andrea Piacquadio from Pexels.
Amit Mukherjee, in his book Leading in the digital world:
How to foster creativity, collaboration, and inclusivity (2020, Massachusetts
Institute of Technology) throws down the gauntlet to existing leaders when he
notes:
“Leadership experts present their percepts as ageless and universal, rarely
mentioning technology. Digital technology experts see leadership merely as a
tool necessary for guiding complex projects. Both groups ignore the changes
digital technologies are demanding of leaders.” (p. xii)
This book differs from the other leadership books I have read because the model of leadership it presents embraces and incorporates the impact of digital technologies. And importantly, it recognizes that to change takes time and so provides guidance on how you can prioritize those issues most important and relevant for you.
Mukherjee has been the Professor of Leadership and Strategy at the Institute for Management Development (IMD) Business School, with a swag of major research projects and publications. He has also worked as a global technology consultant for nearly 20 years. He brings the perfect balance of academic and practitioner to the book.
Using a 700 respondent global survey as well as previous publications and research data, he presents a very convincing proposition and approach in a really well organised book that is logical and sequential, with great summaries and anecdotes throughout.
This book would appeal to aspiring and established leaders who realise that leadership in the digital era requires a new mindset, behaviours and actions, and is a book I very highly recommend.
The Avondale Business School (ABS) was recently approved to offer a Master of Business Administration (MBA) from 2021. The MBA is the most popular professional degree in the world, being internationally recognized and designed to develop the skills required for careers in management and leadership within the not-for-profit and corporate sectors, government, private industry, and other areas.
MBA Course Coordinator Dr Warrick Long is proud of Avondale’s history of postgraduate programs in leadership and management over the last 20 years, and notes that the MBA is the next logical step in the suite of offerings, complementing the existing Graduate Diploma and Graduate Certificate in Leadership & Management.
While there are many MBAs on offer through many universities, the Avondale MBA is unique because of its emphasis on being based on the Seventh-day Adventist Christian values and foundations of Avondale University College. Avondale MBA graduates gain the preferred qualification for professionals wanting to pursue a career in leadership and management with the bonus of a Christian values-based emphasis as well as the latest ideas and principles behind effective leadership and management.
Flexible study options are available and for more information, simply click here. Enrolments for 2021 are being accepted now.
