I’m tired of being busy, and being busy makes me tired. Consequently I am constantly looking for ways to create better life-work balance. A recent article by Brigid Schulte in HBR Online (read it here) reports on some exciting work that is trying to change the whole mindset regarding being busy.

The problem Schulte highlights is that workers wear their busyness and overwork as a badge of honor. This is more the case in mission driven not-for-profits, where workers think their work is so important that is matters more than their health and life-work balance. People are fearful of having normal lives because they appear to be out of step with the culture and expectations of the rest of the team.

To change this thinking, Schulte’s team have developed a number of strategies for organisations to construct new mental models of what the ideal worker is. In Schulte’s words, “Right now, the model is someone who comes in early, eats lunch at their desk, stays late, emails at all hours, is always busy and always available to put work first.” The alternative that Schulte is proposing is “someone who does great work, is well rested and healthy, and has a great life outside of work.” To get to this Schulte suggests three strategies:

1. Recognize the power of social signals. Instead of when we are at work just seeing other people working, make non-work time visible too. In particular, ask managers to be more open about: taking lunch breaks, leaving the office on time, working flexibly, going on vacation, talking about life outside of work or care responsibilities, and more demonstrably encouraging others to do the same.
2. Build in slack for important work. The planning fallacy is that we tend to underestimate and over promise. Rather, intentionally create slack time into calendars every week that gives a buffer to finish up any work that got delayed for one reason or another. And also, create “transition days” at work before and after annual leave so that the only expectation for workers is to wrap up work before leaving and catch up on what they missed while they were away.
3. Increase transparency into everyone’s workload. This involves scheduling in time to individual calendars to work on the week’s priorities, and making these visible to everyone in the organisation, which creates some positive friction every time someone wants to call a meeting or impose on your time. Is it really worth more than that priority project?

The whole article is well worth reading, as it expands on these ideas and provides some excellent examples. This could be one of the most important uses of your time this week!

The Avondale Business School (ABS) can help you develop your leadership. Contact Dr Warrick Long [email protected] to find out how.

Avondale Business School (ABS) and Sydney Business & Travel Academy (SBTA) recently signed a memorandum of understanding in which the ABS Business Degree program will be delivered onsite at the SBTA premises.  Looking to commence the program in semester two of this year, representatives from Avondale College and the Avondale Business School (ABS) team recently met with around 45 educational agents who attended a Marketing Day hosted jointly by Avondale College and Sydney Business & Travel Academy (SBTA). The Avondale staff were given a tour of the SBTA premises. The program started with a welcome by both Institutions followed by an introduction of the Avondale Business School (ABS), including a presentation of the Bachelor of Business (BBus) program. The Student Services team presented the broad vision of Avondale College gave insights into the e-learning platform.

The interactive time with agents over morning tea prepared by the SBTA cookery course students provided opportunities for the agents to get an in depth understanding of Avondale, who were impressed to learn it has been in existing for over 125 years. The 3 hour program ended with a lot of interest and enthusiasm to promote Avondale to the international communities that are represented by the agents.

David Wilson, Lecturer, Avondale Business School

The annual AFAANZ (Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand) conference to be held in Brisbane in July, has accepted 3 papers from the ABS. AFAANZ is devoted to a very broad spectrum of accounting and finance research. The conference is an opportunity to network with colleagues and leading researchers in the accounting and finance disciplines. It gives presenters opportunities to develop their research ideas, and to discuss with other presenters current research in the areas of accounting and finance.

The three papers that have been accepted are the following:

Paper 1: “The Challenges of being an Accounting Academic: What we can learn from the literature bricolage” Dr Warrick Long, Associate Professor Lisa Barnes, Associate Professor Maria Northcote and Professor Tony Williams. This paper was developed from the PhD submitted by Dr Long in 2019.

Paper 2: “How TRUST is both the driver and inhibitor in not-for-profit sector growth strategies: The “Lived Experience” of Merger and Acquisition” by Associate Professor Lisa Barnes. This paper details the journey of the proposed merger between two not-for-profit entities and the challenges it presents.

Paper 3: “Writing – The Development of a necessary professional Skill” by Professor Keith Howson, Dr Warrick Long and Associate Professor Lisa Barnes. This is a collaboration between the ABS and conjoint appointment Professor Keith Howson from Tom and Vi Zapara School of Business from La Sierra University in the United States.

The conference plenary speakers for 2019 are:

• Professor Wayne Landsman, University of North Carolina
• Professor Roger Simnett, University of New South Wales
• Professor Naomi Soderstrom, University of Melbourne

Associate Professor Lisa Barnes will also attend the Head of Schools symposium, as well as the inaugural Women in Accounting and Finance Australia and New Zealand (WAFANZ). These papers are a testiment to the quality of research being done at ABS.

The link to the conference website is http://www.afaanzconference.com/

The Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA) have signed a memorandum of understanding with Avondale College of Higher Education to provide our students with the opportunity to become members of CIMA upon graduation. The CIMA is the world’s largest professional body of management accountants, with the most useful accounting qualification for a career in business.

This is a great opportunity for students to gain an international qualification should they choose to undertake the Accounting major. It also provides students with access to resources, and ability to read their publication “Strategic Finance”.

The agreement includes 10 scholarships to be provided to graduating students over the next few years to enable them to undertake the exams for the qualification of Certificate in Business Accounting (CIMA CERT BA) as follows.

This is a great opportunity for the Avondale Business School qualification to be recognised as an international accredited program, adding to their already accredited programs with CPA Australia and Chartered Accountants of Australia and New Zealand. For more information, their website details are as follows: https://www.cimaglobal.com

Who is still doing annual performance reviews? Why? Evidence is now overwhelming that annual performance reviews don’t improve an employee’s performance, so why keep doing them? And in particular, millennial workers are demanding a better way of career development.

Lindsey Pollak in a great article (read it here) provides 5 strategies to replace the archaic annual review process. The article really is worth reading (it only takes about 4 minutes!) as it provides more detail than his brief summary. The strategies offered by Pollack are:

1. Make sure you give explicit instructions – useful feedback starts with explicit instructions.
2. Conduct one-on-one check-ins – which signify to employees they matter.
3. Have conversations about an employee’s future – also known as ‘stay conversations’
4. Use technology when it makes sense – there are a range of apps that provide on-demand real-time discussion opportunities
5. Practice the MBWA technique – that is, ‘Management by Walking Around’.

Some of all of these may work for you and your organisation, but at least they should stimulate your thinking as to how to step away from the long dead annual performance review and discover more effective and relevant ways to help your employees reach their fullest potential, which is a big win/win for everyone.

Need some help developing a better performance review system, Avondale Business School (ABS) can help. Just contact Dr Warrick Long via [email protected] to discuss your needs.

I haven’t necessarily liked everyone I have worked with. Shocking I know, but I’m sure you are the same, if you were to be really honest. And sometimes it impeded my work, when it should have not been a barrier. That was my fault.

Mark Nevins, in a pithy little article (read it here) has identified 6 tips for helping people deal with someone they just don’t like. The full article expands on these highlights, and is well worth the few minutes it will take to read.

1. Reflect on the cause of tension and how you are responding to it
2. Work harder to understand the other person’s perspective
3. Become a problem solver rather than a critic or competitor
4. Ask more questions
5. Enhance you awareness of your interpersonal style
6. Ask for help

So there you have some great ideas on how to collaborate with that person who you are struggling to get along with, because the organisation is bigger than just you.

Avondale Business School (ABS) can help you become the leader you want to be, just contact Dr Warrick Long on [email protected]

One thing we know for certain about doing business in today’s environment is that it is full of uncertainty. A recent article by Ram Charan entitled 20/20 Foresight (Read it here) provides some excellent tips on how to take control of uncertainty – a task he strongly advocates as a primary responsibility of leaders. Being able to do this successfully will give those organisations the advantage in business.

The article is very readable and full of way more information that I can summarize here, whoever some of the gems worth further exploring include:

• Immersing yourself in the ambiguities of the external environment in order to ‘see around corners’
• Develop perceptual acuity – spotting potential significant anomalies, contradictions and oddities before anyone else
• Consulting staff on a regular basis about what they see in the external landscape
• Testing perceptions by talking with other people, especially those who may have opposite or divergent views

There is more in the full article, which really challenged me to think more about what might be than what has been or currently is. As Charan notes, “the more you embrace uncertainty and practice the skills to deal with it, the more self-confidence you will develop and the better prepared you will be to lead.” So are you ready to embrace uncertainty?

Avondale Business School can help you deal with uncertainty, and develop your leadership. To talk to someone about this, simply contact Dr Warrick Long on [email protected]

In April, four separate Avondale Business School research grant applications were successful in gaining approval, totalling $8,000 worth of research funding for these projects. These grants, applied for through the Christian Education Research Centre, will be used to undertake research on projects including reviewing the introduction of incorporated entities into the Seventh-day Adventist Church Conferences within the Australian Union Conference, a review of what employers in faith-based organisations desire in Christian Business School graduates, challenges and opportunities facing women in Christian academic institutions, and exploring employee perceptions of ideal leadership development practices in NNSW Adventist Schools.

In addition to funding for the above projects, Avondale College has recognised the research activity of the Avondale Business School, providing an additional $5,000 in funding to enable additional research projects to take place. A number of ongoing research projects are continuing, facilitating a high level of research activity from the ABS staff.

Corporate culture should be on the radar of every organisation, and it is fast becoming the role of the board to get deeply involved in it. Corporate culture is much more than compliance, rules, processes and procedures. It is very core of the organisation, and what it really is.

A recent article by Peter Montagnon for Strategy+Business online magazine (read it here) convincingly argues that boards can no longer watch from the sidelines, but has to get involved in their organisations culture. Montagnon highlights two actions to do this, which involves analysing data they have previously downplayed or ignored. The two actions are:

1. Understanding and shaping the forces that drive Behaviour with the organisation

This entails finding a way to score corporate culture, which may mean suing a variety of indicators to build an overall picture. Because there could be so much data to sift through, boards need to utilize a dash-board approach and to cross-references anything that may have a story to tell. Whatever indicators a board chooses, they need to be forward-looking.

2. Being aware of the organisations social footprint

It is difficult, but boards need to understand the views of employees and other key stakeholders. Balancing the need to not micromanage, boards should be informing themselves to the point they are satisfied the company has a comfortable relationship with key stakeholders. This may well involve firsthand contact of board members, and data from opinion surveys.

The challenge for boards is to decide which stakeholder’s matter, what indicators of Behaviour to monitor, and to ensure the right information flows up to them from the appropriate sources. But before any of this can happen, the board must be very clear on what their values are and what their company is there for in order to determining what behaviours are most important and how the organisation should relate to stakeholders.

Doing this will see employees having a sense of purpose that goes way beyond just making money. Instilling this sense of purpose is the task of governance.

Avondale Business School (ABS) can help you with your governance and board practices. To find out how just contact Dr Warrick Long on [email protected] or 02 4980 2168.

‘One career, many mentors’ – that is the key for emerging leaders to ensure opportunities to develop leadership and gain experience, according to Peter Wilson in the second edition of his book ‘Make Mentoring Work’ (2015, Major Street Publishing). Wilson puts a convincing case that top workers are looking for employers that will invest in their skill levels and career learnings – and mentoring is tailor made for that.

However this book is about so much more than just mentoring, that is pleasantly surprised me. While it is very comprehensive in providing information on mentoring, the role of mentors and mentees, it is also a great introduction to effective leadership. The book is laden with many examples of mentoring and leadership, direct from some of Australia’s best leaders of the last 50 years.

I highly recommend this very well researched book, supported by evidence that provides the definitive text on mentoring in Australia. Read this book felt like having a private audience with a true sage where we unravel the mysteries of mentoring and leadership.