Season’s Greetings

If you’re wondering where the year went then I’m sure you’re not alone. The holiday season is fast approaching and I look back on ‘the year that was’ and at the same time look forward to what looks like another exciting year for Talent Solutions.

We have had a very busy period since our last issue of Potential. Even as I write we are in the middle of a major assessment centre for a large Australian manufacturing company as they address the challenges of attracting talented individuals in a candidate scarce market. This has been an ongoing challenge for many of our clients throughout 2005.

Another challenge has been preparing managers for change. We recently delivered an innovative approach to this with a major Australian icon in the travel industry. This company is going through significant change and we have been instrumental in developing their senior executives through a series of action-learning change programs. Our program has participants applying a series of change tools to a real-life project as they learn about the role of the leader in guiding the change initiative. We have worked with the company to design and implement a five-step change model as well as incorporating an on-line change survey and leadership 360-degree feedback tool. In addition, one-to-one executive coaching has provided a practical way to reinforce and apply these lessons back in the workplace. Follow this link to read more about this program.

Change is also impacting a major public service organisation we have been working with throughout 2005. Our involvement here has been substantial. We have developed a suite of customised on-line multi-rater surveys that measure leadership and management capability as well as on-the-job performance. These measurement tools have supported a range of face-to-face workshops that have focused on the skills needed by senior managers to coach and develop their teams. In addition, we have delivered key business skills such as project management training. One-to-one executive coaching has also been a critical reinforcement vehicle for these leaders.

Finally, another exciting project has been the ongoing development of Emotional Intelligence (EI) capabilities. We recently conducted post-measurement for a group of sales representatives who attended our Intelligent Selling™ workshop in July this year. We recorded some significant improvements in a range of EI abilities as rated by the representatives and their sales managers. What was most exciting for us was a significant increase in their ability to manage emotions and enhance customer relationships particularly in challenging situations. It was clear that many of the representatives were actively applying the strategies from the workshop to their sales situations and achieving great results. This program has been so successful that several other companies have signed-up to accredit their internal trainers early in 2006. Follow this link to learn more about the Intelligent Selling™ workshop and the results achieved by this group.

Personally, it has been a very rewarding 2005 as we continue to work with a variety of companies to build leadership capability across a range of areas. What is also satisfying is the realisation that most of these projects are ongoing, which shows great commitment from these organisations to the long-term development of leadership talent. As a company we have also grown, both in physical size but also in experience and capability. This has been a testament to the dedication of our team members and the faith and confidence our many clients have in our ability to deliver sustainable behaviour change in their organisations.

I would like to take this opportunity to wish all of our clients and colleagues a safe and relaxing holiday season. We look forward to continuing our work early in the New Year.

Michael Collins
Managing Director