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Hands down my favourite subject was economics. I was fascinated by opportunity cost and those unseen yet powerful forces like Adam Smith’s invisible hand; a metaphor describing a free market economy. Later on I noticed unseen forces alive at work, this time in the context of culture. I was part of both dysfunctional and thriving teams and often team members were unchanged. I wanted to understand how this could be? And if we could experience moments of thriving together, how we could find a way to sustain this ideal? Or at least create the momentum needed to move towards it. So as many leaders do, I asked my teams the big sweeping question about how they’re feeling at work and combined this with intuition and productivity to predict where culture might sit on a spectrum of terrible to amazing. But this was always a guess influenced by one’s perspective. And a single perspective is almost always flawed given we see the world as we are and not for what it is, unless you’ve mastered the art of holding many perspectives at once? In more recent times, as the world increasingly digitizes, we’ve asked teams to convert their responses into a rating using anonymous survey tools. How good is that!? Leaders and organisations now have the opportunity to use technology to collect feedback which allows for a more objective and accurate view of team culture rather than rely on intuition alone ! Contemporary leaders will love that those previously elusive elements of culture are finally brought into plain sight and quantified. These tools and their results now even feature more prominently in board reporting as well as elevating employer brand and that’s a positive, given how widely culture is talked about in the public arena without any data to back it up. Now you’ve got the data to back it up! Employee engagement and survey tools have the best of intentions; they simply are not all created equal. Many tools boast multiple functions from allowing you to customise questions and even integrating reward systems. This is great, but make no mistake; the work to achieve and maintain a thriving culture does not come from the tool or a recognition platform, it comes when leaders and teams take shared responsibility and work together to create change. The moral of this story? The tool alone is not the answer, it's how leaders are supported to work with their teams and the tool to enact change. Creating space for team members to have continuous deeper conversations, checking in, sharing new ideas, discussing challenges, celebrating wins and driving actionable change is what will move the dialler on employee engagement and workplace culture. Taking action goes a long way towards the pursuit of a thriving culture. The tool is just that, a tool. And whilst it’s now best practice to have a people measure in place; the real gift is feedback and guidance as to where leaders should focus their energy to achieve a thriving workplace culture. The outcome: a much more inspired workplace. Assess your workplace culture with our complimentary assessment tool or better still check out our culture tool PQfactor, powered by Teamgage and let us support your journey from good to great. Contact us today and let's schedule a coffee meeting. suria@peopleq.com.au

their authenticity compromised in certain conversations, particularly when they relate to conflict or performance

In 2014 I ran the NYM raising $30K for charity. I spent 12 months preparing and, in this picture, I'm running through Harlem. Why New York and the marathon changed my life. This was the moment I was awoken to leading a purposeful life, focusing on contribution rather than gain. Nine weeks before the marathon I had a level 2 tear to my calf muscle and was told it would be near impossible to run. Determined, my physio and I worked intensely through a program that had me back up and running. Three weeks out, I did it again. That’s when he announced through my uncontrollable sobbing, there would be no marathon! But when we landed, New York lifted me, I knew I had to give it a shot even if I didn’t go the full 42 kms. It was a goal I had intensely trained all year for, and I was used to pushing towards my goals no matter the personal cost. I had also committed to a lot of people who donated, and that key factor got me through, shifting my perspective forever. It would be the start of a new journey and future, leading to PeopleQ in 2018. We started over the bridge from Staten Island waiting in freezing conditions from 4am. The wait stressed the importance of timing and structure, and as I was running alone, I met many strangers, listening to their stories which broadened my perspective and compassion for humanity. I grew to understand the gift of conversations with strangers. I ran through Brooklyn immersing myself in the views of Manhattan and the energy of the 1000s of people around me to propel me forward. When we fully immerse ourselves in the moment, we stop thinking about what’s left to do. We ran by a church filled with soul singers and whilst everyone else kept running, I was compelled to pause my goal for a moment and show appreciation for the beauty in their voices. Their soulful voices carried me for the next few kms washing over the pain that was building with a vengeance. How often in the workplace do we focus on what’s to be done rather than pausing to express appreciation for the value of someone’s contribution? As I reached the bridge to cross over to Manhattan I slowed to a crawl, the Tylenol was wearing off and my back almost frozen in place. I limped to the medical tent at the halfway point, they strapped me with ice, dosed me with more Tylenol and suggested the run was over. I was there 30+ minutes when my husband rang (intuitively knowing what had happened), he told me they were waiting for me in Harlem (12 kms away), and that the kids wanted to see me run by - he strategically picked the spot knowing if he got me there, I would do the rest. He was right. That call lifted me and it's when I truly comprehended the role others can play in your most difficult moments, to lean on them for support, as prior to this I thought asking for help was a sign of incompetence. I also realised that breaking goals down helped minimise overwhelm as our minds work better when we break it into parts. And how a desire to be a role-model for others helps you dive head first into challenges. And, all this combined builds resilience. This is my husband taking a photo of me as I reached them in Harlem. Shortly after I was back in the medical tent begging and crying for more Tylenol even though I had reached my quota. Persistence pays and it's amazing how words filled with genuine emotion might influence others. I was on the home stretch, a few kms left, I had to focus forward. Having lost my father at a young age and suffering through an abusive first marriage in my 20s I was no stranger to the power of mindset, story telling, self-belief and determination in navigating challenging times. My marathon experience was on a different level, perhaps because in my 20s I was living behind a mask, whereas now I was living into who I knew I was meant to be. The stories I told myself to get to the finish line became character building moments and the critical role people played whilst I was in the thick of it changed how I leaned on others forever. I also didn’t want to let people down who had donated money to a worthy cause, The Little Heroes Foundation, they expected me to finish. So I anchored to this story. I was in agony crossing the finish line, yet experienced a sense of joy and accomplishment like never before, my energy lifting (I still had an 8km walk to my hotel) and I knew in this moment life needed to be about something more than personal gain, and that was going to fill my cup. Being purposeful blasted through me like a tornado. I love New York, it's a glorious state and I'll never forget how this marathon was the start of a more purposeful life and journey. These experiences inform the person I am when working with our clients to deliver powerful leadership programs that support leaders to inform their own journey.

innovation fuelled, loyalty cultivated, and financial return positively impacted when elements of high performance And the future of business relies on innovation and financial uplift. an employee pulse tool focused on the intangible elements of an organisation that cultivate a high performance

Episode 1 - An introduction to this new Leadership series with Suria and Mel

I’ve been contemplating this. Back when I was in corporate, executive coaching was reserved for, well, executives, or coaching adopted to help navigate difficult situations/behaviours. So what could have been different for me? I would have spent more time self-reflecting which is the most critical muscle a leader can have. And perhaps I would have sharpened my awareness of my behaviour and actions, as well as that of others, to add more insight to my thinking? I would have been challenged to expand my perspective, to see it from another’s. Perhaps I would have been more empathetic and sharpened my people skills resulting in better relationships at work? I would have actioned monthly changes to my leadership style, and perhaps those small steps would have amounted to significant and positive change over the long haul? I would have bounced my thoughts and ideas around with someone else, and perhaps that could have led to more effective workplace decisions? I would have had someone help me navigate and manage my stress, and perhaps that could have improved my health and wellbeing? I would have found someone I could trust my deepest inner thoughts to, who would have seen what I couldn’t, and maybe their reflections could have resulted in bringing light to the beliefs that were holding me back? I would have had regular opportunity to release myself from the everyday doing, and perhaps this would have reignited my creativity and resulted in ideas with better execution? I would have checked that feeling in my gut, rather than sit with the circulating thoughts of doubt, questioning myself to the point of spiralling and feeling like all hope was lost, and maybe I would have found the courage to use my voice? I would have improved my memory of events, made more effective choices, become intimate with my values and beliefs and perhaps this would have built confidence and trust in me? I would have grown, taken more risks, used my voice more, and felt better about my achievements, and therefore happier and maybe this happiness would have spilled into my family and personal life. Melina Lipkiewicz is a certified IECL Executive coach and ICF member. To find out more about our coaching programs, visit our page here, or contact us for a confidential discussion. 0498 800 008.

For me, its about culture, communication, trust, customers, belonging, appreciation, passion and performance uplift. Leaders are custodian's of culture, leader's cultivate belonging and appreciation to lift performance Check in, measure culture and performance with pulse checks. Over an extended period, these translate to shifts in performance, from good to great.

Organisations struggle with performance uplift, let alone achieving a high-performance culture. business performance. uplift. It limits their habitual thinking and facilitates improved decision making for performance uplift. financial performance, it promotes the development and growth of the Mindful Leader.

But culture requires continuous effort to uplift, and a company’s guiding values, purpose, structure A UNSW study in 2011 that looked at low performing workplaces (LPWs) versus high performing workplaces I use the words high performance and thriving interchangeably. Whilst high performing teams are good for business, thriving workplaces are good for business, good for There’s decades of research on high performing teams, thriving includes all this + the idea of feeling

Why psychological safety matters to high performance. team effectiveness and that high psychological safety in the workplace accelerates and supports high performance that if employees felt their opinions were solicited and mattered, organisations would experience an uplift Cultivating psychological safety is foundational to a high performing and thriving workplace culture. well as deliver half day Psychological Safety workshops with Leaders and Teams to support their high performance

are role-models, opportunities to be challenged and stretched, constructive and regular feedback on performance Recognize and Reward Performance: Recognizing and rewarding employee performance is essential for fostering

Then there are all the workplace performance and culture studies trying to decipher what inhibits or TRUST is the foundation for optimizing performance, for collaboration and communication, for safety. High performance is subtly shifting to thriving workplace. Leaders are expected to manage performance with strengths, which influences how they are having performance McKinsey found in a 2017 survey of high performing teams that investors felt a high performing management