What Really Matters! Volume 3, Number 3 2011 by Gary Ryan

WHAT REALLY MATTERS!

VOLUME 3, NUMBER 3, 2011

What Really Matters! Volume 3, Number 3, 2011 is a compilation of selected articles from The OTM Academy from July 1st 2011 until September 30th 2011. By Gary Ryan Published by What Really Matters Publishing c/- Organisations That Matter Level 8, 350 Collins Street Melbourne, Victoria 3166 AUSTRALIA Phone +61 3 8676 0637 E-mail: info@orgsthatmatter.com Formatting by Janine Ripper janine.ripper@gmail.com

A Note About Ebooks Ebooks provide a special function that traditional books cannot provide. The links in this ebook are ‘live’, so if you read the ebook while online, you can immediately access the reference material.

Copyright © 2011 Gary Ryan, Organisations That Matter® All effort was made to render this ebook free from error and omission. However, the author, publisher, editor, their employees or agents shall not accept responsibility for injury, loss or damage to any person or body or organisation acting or refraining from such action as a result of material in this book, whether or not such injury, loss or damage is in any way due to any negligent act or omission, breach of duty, or default on the part of the author, publisher, editor or their employees or agents.

A Message from Gary Ryan Thank you to all our members of the OTM Academy. We hope that you will receive great value from this collection of articles compiled in the third quarter of 2011. Please respect our copyright. This means that if you have received this ebook you are free to share it, providing you do not change it in any way. Keep learning and be the best leader that you can be! Gary Ryan

Table of Contents 6

Is There a Difference Between Responsibility and Accountability? By Ian Berry

LinkedIn ‘Apply’ Button - The Way of the Future

Awkward Workplace Conversations

Writing and Sharing What We Write is Great for the Business - By Ian Berry

Passion and Vision - by Judith Haskins

How to Motivate Employees Underlying Belief

Hello Sunday Morning: A Simple Idea to Blog About - By Troy Simmonds

Honesty Does Pay

When Sport is More than Sport: The Peace Team IC11

Thriving in a Low Confidence High Anxiety World - By Ian Berry

Changing What’s Normal Conversations - By Ian Berry

HBR Blog - It’s the Leadership, Stupid

Gardening of the Mind - by Ian Berry

Service Standards Exist so We Can Create Great Service

How Strategy and Systems and Processes Support Great Service

Service Excellence Requires Measuring and Responding

Review of 100 Studies Reveals

Re-imagine and Take Action - By Ian Berry

Memories of 911 - A Personal Connection

My 5 Personal and Lasting Lessons from 9/11 - By Ian Berry

Listening is the Fastest Way to Provide Great Service

13 Key Reasons Why Most Change Programs Fail - By Ian Berry

Describing ‘Support Chart’ Strategic Outcomes

Why the Development and Recruitment of People Lies at the Heart of Your Service Strategy

Leadership Insights Series Interviews

Online Courses

Webinars

What Really Matters for Young Professionals

About Gary Ryan

WHAT REALLY MATTERS VOLUME 3 NUMBER 3 2011

Is There a Difference Between responsibility and Accountability? By Ian My friend and colleague Kwai Yu, the founder and CEO of Leaders Cafe, asked an interesting question in the Leaders Cafe group on LinkedIn recently: "I am not responsible for 53,000 employees" - so says Rupert Murdoch. What would you have said in his position? You can read the very interesting Yeses, No’s and Maybe’s here. Here is what I added to the discussion. I imagine that Murdoch is far removed from the day to day actions of his people (53,000 employees). There are probably thousands he hasn’t ever met. Is there a failure of management in the company? In my view - absolutely. I suspect there are policies, procedures, practices, systems - the stuff of management that if followed meant what happened shouldn’t have. And obviously somewhere along the line several people broke the rules, which means several people have failed as managers, and probably as leaders as well.

“...obviously somewhere along the line several people broke the rules, which means several people have failed as managers, and probably as leaders as well” The GFC and BP are examples of poor management. It is ironic that the poorest managers on the planet - politicians - are finger pointing and yet not doing management which is to change what's normal with policies, procedures and practices. As to the big question circulating the globe, is Murdoch responsible? I don't think so. He is only responsible if he knew what was going on and did nothing about it. This we will probably never know. Ian Berry is the Founder of the Differencemakers Community and Author of Changing What’s Normal. Ian has been the partner of passionate and enlightened leaders in several countries since 1991, to change what’s normal for the good of people, our planet, and for profit.

As another one of my colleagues, Terry Paulson said in the discussion "I do not think he knew. If he did, he should be held accountable." There is a big, big difference between responsibility and accountability. In the end of this Murdoch will be accountable. An interesting question is: Will he be held to account by others or will he hold himself and the people who failed their responsibility to account? What say you? Is there a difference between responsibility and accountability? And if so what are the differences? Please feel free to comment on this article.

Be the difference you want to see in the world. 6

WHAT REALLY MATTERS VOLUME 3 NUMBER 3 2011

LinkedIn 'Apply' Button: The Way of the Future Folks - too many people are not leveraging LinkedIn properly! This article reveals another reason why you should have a current and complete LinkedIn profile and why it is worth keeping your LinkedIn presence up to scratch. A new 'LinkedIn Apply' tool means that organisations can now add a button to their websites where applicants can apply through LinkedIn. With the trend toward job hunting success being that those with current jobs get offered new jobs professional networking sites like LinkedIn are becoming more and more important in your job hunting approach. If you haven't yet viewed the webinar recording that is exclusive to OTM Academy members 9 Lessons to Leverage LinkedIn for Beginners then now is the time to not only view the recording, but to take action on your profile.

Awkward Workplace Conversations Thank you to those of you who contacted me because you had seen my contribution to James Adonis' article on awkward conversations in the workplace (which you can read here). It is my strong view that many, if not most awkward conversations in the workplace are made significantly easier if agreed behaviours have been created (and kept alive) throughout a team's journey. It really does make discussing inappropriate behaviour so much easier because you have your agreed behaviours to which you can refer. An important point to note is that often we have to experience our agreed behaviours before everyone really does establish a shared meaning for them. As an example some teams that I have worked with have included 'having fun' as one of their behaviours. Clearly this can be open to a lot of interpretation. What is fun for some, may not be for others! This means that you have to experience your agreed behaviours and every once in a while, say once a month, discuss explicit examples of your agreed behaviours in action, including behaviours that you aren't sure if they fit the intention of your behaviours. These 'Conversations That Matter速' don't have to be long. They can be around 10 minutes which is a small amount of time given the benefits to a team of being on the same page from a behavioural perspective. Please give the concept a go and share your examples and challenges with our community. Please feel free to comment on this article.

WHAT REALLY MATTERS VOLUME 3 NUMBER 3 2011

Writing and Sharing What We Write is Great for Business by Ian Berry ‘Changing What’s Normal’ is my fourth book. It is the one I always wanted to write. It was also the most difficult to write. I don’t find writing easy. I do find it a very valuable and rewarding experience nonetheless. Do you write your feelings and thoughts down and share them with others? I would highly recommend that you do so frequently. Writing is a valuable action for leaders for five key reasons. Writing can lead us to clarity, content, communication, community, and creativity. Clarity Getting really clear about our intentions, feelings and thoughts means our actions are more considered, conscious, and deliberate. Being really clear is a key to investing in time wisely. You have 168 hours each week like everyone else. You will use the time you have much better by being really clear. Being really clear also helps others to know exactly where they stand with us. Writing and sharing what you write increases clarity. Content In the digital world content is king. The more content you make available in all forms of social media, the more you will attract the kind of people you need and want in your business. Having great content online as well as in print makes it easy for other people to spread our messages. Word of mouth marketing is and always will be the best form of marketing. The more you write and share what you write, the greater your content will be in terms of quantity and quality. Communication Clarity and content pave the way for better communication. Lack of clarity and content by leaders has a massive negative effect on productivity. I estimate poor communication to be one of the single biggest reasons for low productivity and low people engagement. The more you write and share what you write the better communicator you will become. Community Clarity, content, and good communication are all prerequisites for creating community with all your stakeholders. Robert Frost once remarked that home is that place that when you go there, they have to let you in. This is what I mean by community, a place we can belong to and be who we are. There is no greater place to belong to than community. Writing and sharing what we write also creates community itself for it attracts people to us who have a shared view with us about the things the really matter to us.

WHAT REALLY MATTERS VOLUME 3 NUMBER 3 2011 Write and share what you write and you will increase your sense of belonging in the places that are important to you as well as attract other people to those places. Creativity Writing for me is a daily discipline. I have been in the habit of writing daily since I began blogging in May 2007. I don’t publish everything however the discipline has helped me to be more disciplined in many other areas of my life. Daily writing has forced to me to have daily thinking time and this has done wonders for my creativity.

How often do you write? When and where do you share what you write?

My strong suggestion is that writing and sharing what you write frequently are a key to the successful future of your business, no matter what your product/s or service/s.

What do you think? Please feel free to comment on this article.

Ian Berry is the Founder of the Differencemakers Community and Author of Changing What’s Normal. Ian has been the partner of passionate and enlightened leaders in several countries since 1991, to change what’s normal for the good of people, our planet, and for profit.

WHAT REALLY MATTERS VOLUME 3 NUMBER 3 2011

Passion and Vision by Judith Haskins I am employed part-time at RMIT University in the Careers & Employment area working with students and staff on developing volunteer and leadership learning and activities. In addition, I am on the Board of Management of a very active community centre providing diverse "connection" and learning initiatives and programs for a range of age groups. I find both roles stimulating and really challenging, especially in terms of re-appraising visions, identifying community needs and determining strategic directions in light of those projected needs. The periodic reappraisal of organisational vision seems to me to be very important. Particularly for organisations providing 'people services' - a well articulated organisational vision is essential for common understanding among those working in the organisation, for direction-setting and for explaining to the wider community how the organisation believes it can help improve the world in which we live, not just how powerful the entity aims to be.

â&#x20AC;&#x153;...a well articulated organisational vision is essential!for common understanding among those working in an organisationâ&#x20AC;? Sound like a soap-box speech? Maybe, but it's important to be passionate about what we do isn't it? Please feel free to comment on this article

WHAT REALLY MATTERS VOLUME 3 NUMBER 3 2011

How to Motivate Employees - Underlying Belief

Over many years of facilitating leadership development programs I have constantly been asked "Gary, how do you motivate employees?" My response is to pose the question to the group. However I change the question (at first) to: "What conditions need to be present at work for you to be motivated to perform at your best?" I publicly capture the responses of the participants. We then move to the original question: "Now place yourselves back into your management roles. What conditions or factors need to be present for those people who report to you to be motivated to perform at their best?" Once again I publicly capture their responses. I then ask a third question: "What do you notice about these two lists?" After a slight pause someone will say something like: "They are basically the same!" It is my experience that for some reason unknown to me the majority of people who go into formal leadership roles adopt the view that somehow what motivates them to perform at their best is different to what motivates the people who report to them. Yet this simple activity highlights that the motivation factors are not different. Keep in mind that it is my view that I (and you) cannot motivate anyone to do anything. What we can do is create the conditions that enable people to be self-motivated. It is your job as a leader to control what you can in terms of creating the conditions for your employees to be self motivated. So the first thing that you need to do if you want to understand how to motivate your employees is to adopt the belief that what motivates them is fundamentally no different to what motivates you!

WHAT REALLY MATTERS VOLUME 3 NUMBER 3 2011

Hello Sunday Morning: A Simple Idea to Blog About by Troy Simmonds A friend of mine pointed me to a segment on the 7pm Project called ‘Hello Sunday Morning’.! So I jumped onto their website and watched the segment.! This guy - Chris Raine - has used the social networking boom to raise such a simple reason or idea that everyone can talk about. Alcohol in society plays a very big part of our culture and something that we can enjoy but not need or rely on. The reason's why human beings drink are many and his message is that we don't need alcohol to enjoy ourselves or feel confident and even to be yourself. The drinking culture is everywhere and he mentions that 1 in 5 Australians drink alcohol as a habit.

“1 in 5 Australians drink alcohol as a habit.” You can check the story out for yourself and see why he banned himself from alcohol for a year and blogged about it. This then created a network of followers to see how he was tracking, which then inspired others to make a choice on their own alcohol habits some taking 3-6 months free of it. Already he has over 1000 people signed up and starting to blog about their own discovery or battles without alcohol. A great, simple idea that has gained so much traction due to alcohol being a part of so many young people's lives. I can see this developing into something bigger for Chris.

How do you welcome Sunday morning? View the 7PM Project footage here Why not join the discussion on this article?

WHAT REALLY MATTERS VOLUME 3 NUMBER 3 2011

Honesty Does Pay! Recently after having concluded a ‘Getting ahead as a Young Professional’ workshop (which is part of a leadership development program for the Faculty of Law at Monash University in Melbourne Australia) one of the students, Steph Wallace, shared a story regarding the power of honesty with me and I’d like to share her story with you. Steph had applied for a clerical assistant role for a law firm and the role was due to start mid December 2010. At the time, Steph had 1 year to go to complete her degree and was aware that graduate positions going into 2012 were going to be few and far between. As a result of this knowledge, Steph had hoped to gain the clerical assistant’s role so that after the firm having experienced the quality of her work throughout 2011 she would be well positioned to obtain the graduate position in 2012. From my perspective this is a very sound strategy. Steph successfully negotiated the first round of interviews and was invited for a second interview, this time with the person to whom she would be reporting if she gained the position. It was at this point that Steph confronted a dilemma. Her father was ill overseas and Steph had already booked a 6 week visit to spend time with him. Her trip commenced the second week of January, a mere three weeks after she was to start the position. As there was a lot ‘riding’ on getting this job in terms of increasing her chances of obtaining a graduate position, Steph was unsure whether she should reveal in the second interview that she would be away for 6 weeks three weeks after starting her new job, or wait until being offered the job before revealing this information. What would you do in this situation? Well, this is exactly the question that Steph asked her friends, family and colleagues. Interestingly the majority of people said: “Don’t tell them in the interview. Get the job first, then tell them.” Steph’s mother had a different view. “How would you like people to treat you if you were in your future bosses’ position?” she asked. After their conversation Steph decided to go with her intuitive response to this dilemma. “If I didn’t get the job and I bumped into this lady in five years time, I’d want her to remember me for being honest.” At an appropriate time in the second interview Steph shared her dilemma with her potential boss. “I know that what I am about to tell you will probably kill my chances of getting this job, but I feel that it is important that I am honest with you.”

WHAT REALLY MATTERS VOLUME 3 NUMBER 3 2011 Steph then went on to explain her situation. The outcome - Steph got the job, and has been mentored in the role ever since. Given that our conversation was nine months after Steph had successfully gained the job I asked her if she had repaid their support. "Many times over Gary! I really do everything I can for them because they were so supportive of me, even when they didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t even know me. I now participate in Subcomittees and try and give that extra bit of work/ effort whenever I can. From the IT team to my boss, to the Chairman they are both supportive colleagues, friends and mentors in a variety of ways." What I have found fascinating is that I have shared this story with many people. The vast majority have said that they would not have told their new boss about the trip until after getting the job. If you stop and think about the mental models underlying this response one that keeps popping up for me is that people have a theory that if they are honest, bad things will happen. Hopefully this story will help to challenge this theory. In this case, honesty was rewarded and well done to the organisation for having the courage to do so. What are your experiences of honesty in the workplace? Does it pay? Once you have read the article please feel free to post a comment.

WHAT REALLY MATTERS VOLUME 3 NUMBER 3 2011

When Sport is More Than Sport The Peace Team IC11 The Australian Football League's (AFL)!International Cup 2011 involves 18 male teams and 5 female teams! from around the globe competing to become crowned!the best AFL!country!outside Australia. In 2008 a new team called "The Peace Team" entered the competition. The team comprises 13 Israeli and 13 Palestinian players in its squad of 26. They have returned to participate in the 2011 competition (IC11). This is no ordinary 'footy team' and the challenge of putting the team together is no ordinary challenge. Yet the team is here and made it through to the Division 2 semifinals. When asked why the team was created, team leaders reported that peace for their homeland was what they wanted. The complexities of creating the team has involved facilitated dialogue sessions because of the long and historic differences between Israeli's and Palestinians. I was recently asked "Gary, when does dialogue work?" "When all parties choose to dialogue and they share a common purpose, or are willing to discover one" was my response. The Peace Team is an example of the power of dialogue. Imagine the dialogue that occurred to create this team. While the difference they are making might be small, it IS a positive difference none the less and shows what can be done at any level to improve our world when people have the courage to do so. You can learn more about The Peace team here. What efforts are you making to create a more peaceful world; at home, at work and/or in your local community? Please feel free to comment on this article.

WHAT REALLY MATTERS VOLUME 3 NUMBER 3 2011

Thriving in a Low Confidence-High Anxiety World by Ian Berry Some people are describing the status quo in much of the world right now as low confidence-high anxiety, and I certainly sense this. In my 20 years as a business owner I have never known it to be so tough. Much of what used to work, doesn’t work anymore. I am not in any way depressed however, rather I am excited by the possibilities and results of changing what’s normal. Some people are describing the status quo in much of the world right now as low confidence-high anxiety and I certainly sense this. In my 20 years as a business owner I have never known it to be so tough. Much of what used to work, doesn’t work anymore. I am not in any way depressed however, rather I am excited by the possibilities and results of changing what’s normal. Here are five of my key actions that can lead to thriving in your business no matter what seems to be status quo: 1. Concentrate on serving niches. As my friend and colleague Gihan Perera says “Niche guys finish first.” Become the go to person for people looking for specific products and/or services that you can deliver. Two excellent books on how to do this are: 'Becoming a key person of influence' by Daniel Priestley and 'How to be that guy' by Scott Ginsberg. What niches do you own? 2. Charge for value as perceived by buyers. If your product and/or service is a commodity or can be commoditised it is only a matter of time before someone offers a cheaper price, therefore ensure your products/services are not seen as commodities, and leave that kind of business to the big boys (well it usually is boys!). When people ask me what is my fee? my answer is always, that depends, because I only offer tailored packages based on a simple yet very powerful formula I learned from Alan Weiss - agree on objectives, how they will be measured, and what is the value of achieving the objectives according to the buyer. My fee depends on the value of the result of working together as determined by the buyer. How do you get paid? 3. Control what you can and stop stressing over what you can’t “Control the controllables” is often how this action is stated. I am in charge of my intentions, feelings, thoughts, and actions. And you are in charge of yours.

WHAT REALLY MATTERS VOLUME 3 NUMBER 3 2011 How are much in control are you? And how much are you letting what you can do nothing about get the better of you? 4. Compete with yourself and only collaborate with people when you have achieved a shared view. These are two of the 58 sparkenations in my changing what’s normal book. If you want to change yourself, change or modify your intentions, feelings, thoughts, and/or actions, and you will soon have different and hopefully better better results. If you want to change a relationship, change or modify how you contact, connect, establish common ground, and demonstrate commitment to the person or people and very soon your relationship will change. And if this doesn’t happen maybe you have your ladder up against the wrong wall. How well are you competing with yourself and collaborating with others? 5. Champion causes that people in your tribes are passionate about Champion what people in your tribes are passionate about and people will reciprocate in no time. What tribes are you leading? And what are the members of these tribes passionate about? How are you helping these people to achieve what is vital to them? The above are just 5 ways of many to thrive in a low confidence-high anxiety world.

I would be very interested in your thoughts because there are a zillion more ways to stop the status quo from strangling the life out of us by changing what’s normal. Please comment here or email me ian@changingwhatsnormal.com. Ian is the Founder of the Differencemakers Community and Author of Changing What’s Normal. Ian has been the partner of passionate and enlightened leaders in several countries since 1991, to change what’s normal for the good of people, our planet, and for profit.

WHAT REALLY MATTERS VOLUME 3 NUMBER 3 2011

Changing What’s Normal Conversations by Ian Berry

Two trends I like in professional speaking are that presenters are more and more catalysts for conversation and there is an audience expectation of the speaker to engage in conversation. I love these trends as they are a personal preference. Conversations of meaning are a challenge for most people, particularly in the age of all things digital. Here are my top twelve tips for engaging in meaningful conversations: 1) Craft and present your messages with the receiver/s in mind; 2) When sending a message be clear on what you want to happen as a result of sending your message. The more clarity you have, the clearer your message will be and therefore the better reception you will get; 3) Ask the receiver/s for feedback on your message effectiveness, i.e. do they get what you intended them to? Often we think we have been understood and we haven’t been. Such misunderstanding can have devastating consequences. Feedback clarifies for us that others have got our message; 4) When receiving a message focus on understanding and not on responding; 5) Respond enthusiastically in genuine ways to what others share with you; 6) Give feedback to the sender so that they know you got their message; 7) Focus on reaching a shared view as a result of conversations. We live in three worlds; the world in here, that’s my view, the world out there, that’s your view, and the world we share, things that matter that we agree on. Ending up with a shared view should be the aim of all our conversations; 8) Sometimes other people say things that conflict with our beliefs or values. Meaningful conversations are beyond beliefs and values and require an openness to changing our hearts and minds as well as acknowledging and valuing beliefs and values that are different to ours; 9) Share stories other people can feel or see themselves in; 10) Be spontaneous using I language and expressing how you feel; 11) Take nothing others say as personal even if you feel or think it is; 12) Above all, be yourself. “Be yourself; everyone else is already taken.” Oscar Wilde Here’s to joy and success in all your conversations.

WHAT REALLY MATTERS VOLUME 3 NUMBER 3 2011 On a regular basis I host online conversations about the status quo and how we can change what's normal in order to build a better world. Each conversation is limited to a small group of people. Several time slots are available for each particular topic. You can be notified of the available times by signing-up here. By signing up you can download a one page PDF version of the 12 tips above.

Please feel free to add a comment to this article.

Ian is the Founder of the Differencemakers Community and Author of Changing Whatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Normal. Ian has been the partner of passionate and enlightened leaders in several countries since 1991, to change whatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s normal for the good of people, our planet, and for profit.

WHAT REALLY MATTERS VOLUME 3 NUMBER 3 2011

HBR Blog - It's the Leadership, Stupid Over the past 24 hours I have been participating on an online conversation based on this article titled It's the Leadership, Stupid by Nilofer Merchant posted on the HBR Blog.

The article highlights Nilofer's experience of a leader when she was facilitating an Innovation program. Part way through her program a person entered the room, sat down and while he was physically in the room proceeded to focus on his mobile phone for the majority of the time he was there. He didn't contribute and was hardly 'present'. Later Nilofer discovered that he was the boss - the 'Leader'. Many people have commented on Nilofer's article and they have suggested many behaviours that the leader 'should' have done. I agree with them. For me, however, there is a deeper issue here. Despite all our views about what this leader should have done and how he should have behaved, the fact is, he's the formal leader, not us. How can it be with all the education available about how people really should lead, mixed with all the research (I have participated in a fascinating Harvard discussion forum on the behaviours we expect of effective leaders to build trust, and there have been over 370 comments from all over the world) regarding what people expect of leaders, that we still get this scene time and time again?

â&#x20AC;&#x153;How can it be with all the education available about how people really should lead...that we still get this scene time and time again?â&#x20AC;?

WHAT REALLY MATTERS VOLUME 3 NUMBER 3 2011 One of the driving factors for why I am self employed is because I do not want to put myself back in a situation where I have to put up with the highest paid people, the people with the most authority and power, the people who believe that they really are a 'higher form of human being' than everyone else (evidenced by their title, pay check and large office according to themselves) behaving like the jerk in Nilofer's article. I'm not suggesting that all senior leaders are awful leaders. Fortunately I get to work with a number of excellent ones. The problem is that they seem to be few and far between. I also meet large numbers of highly talented, internally motivated people with clear value systems who are effectively screwed by leaders who exhibit poor leadership qualities and attributes time and time again. What fascinates me is that our organisations are, too often, rewarding people who display highly recognised non-leadership behaviours with senior leadership roles that bring with them extra-ordinary amounts of power and money. A case in note: Mark McInnes was sacked as CEO of David Jones as a result of inappropriate behaviour to which he admitted. Within months he was hired as CEO for another retail chain on a salary of $5.2M. One of the first decisions he presided over was to close 50 stores. In his announcement he didn't say how many people would be losing their jobs and added that Premier Retail would be opening 100 new stores in the near future (I don't know about you but I can see through that one!). Let's think about the people losing their jobs. I'll bet many of them are decent people, who have done the best they can and haven't behaved inappropriately and/or abused a position of power. Are they going to be rewarded with $5.2 Million jobs? I don't think so. Clearly there is something critically wrong with much of our system. Poor behaviour (poor leadership when compared to our aspirations for leadership) is being rewarded. Again and again. The types of behaviour we regularly say should be displayed by leaders are punished or, at least not rewarded. What to do? I have some ideas but I would like to hear from you first. I'd especially like to hear about your examples of good and effective leadership that is real, not aspirational. I don't know about you, but I need to discover a few more good examples of leaders as I'd like to promote their organisations as places where talented people should aim to work if they can.

“I don’t know about you, but I need to discover a few more good examples of leaders...” Please feel free to comment on this article.

WHAT REALLY MATTERS VOLUME 3 NUMBER 3 2011

Gardening of the Heart and Mind by Ian Berry I recently spent 3 hard days working in my garden mostly weeding out the dreaded winter weeds nicknamed sour sops. They take over everything in sight, almost overnight it seems. This exercise, and that it was, got me thinking about how easy it is to allow weeds, meaning negative feelings and thoughts, to take over our hearts and minds. Have you done some gardening in your heart and mind lately and removed your weeds? I am normally very disciplined in not feeling or thinking anything negative. As I pulled out weeds, cursing at the start, I started observing that indeed some negative stuff had crept in. I resolved to be even more disciplined to not let this happen. What emotional and thought weeds have taken over you? And what will you do about it today? Please feel free to comment on this article.

WHAT REALLY MATTERS VOLUME 3 NUMBER 3 2011

Service Standards Exist So We Can Create Great Service Service standards are the in-house systems and processes, policies and procedures that your organisation has created to give it every possible chance of meeting and exceeding the expectations of its customers. They create the possibility of consistency while allowing the people in your organisation to make decisions that lead to improved service outcomes. It is not always necessary to create new service standards; many of them already exist in operating manuals, rules, procedures and policies. The challenge is to determine whether they support or hinder great service. The ‘bureaucracy busting’ of the GE Workout program (The Boundaryless Organisation by Ashkenas, Ulrich, Jick, & Kerr, 1995) is an example of a process that at its very heart was about ensuring the company’s systems and processes remained aligned to serving people and achieving the organisation’s goals. How do you ensure that your service standards are aligned to providing great service? Why not use this article as a catalyst for Conversations That Matter®?

Research Participant We think that it is great when a new person starts work here. We encourage them to ask questions. So they do. “Why does this policy and that policy exist?” That’s what they ask. And if we haven’t got a genuine answer, then we seriously look at the policy or procedure and change it if it is no longer helping us to serve our customers.

Please feel free to comment on this article

WHAT REALLY MATTERS VOLUME 3 NUMBER 3 2011

How Strategy and Systems and Processes Support Great Service All staff, whether the CEO or the lowest paid employee in the organisation have a high sense of job satisfaction when they are able to serve their customers properly. When systems and processes exist to support the passion of people, great service can flow through an organisation. The staff satisfaction that comes from providing great service is an outcome of the support that an organisation’s strategy and systems and processes provide for the staff members when they are in the act of providing great service. In turn, this type of internal relationship results in a virtuous cycle that generates great service at the customer interface, whether internal or external to the organisation. In this sense, it is absolutely vital that systems and processes support staff in building positive relationships with clients, customers and stakeholders. Without this support delivering great service and staff job satisfaction fall through the floor.

"Relationship employees work harder and smarter. They care about the business, its future, its destiny. The business becomes their business." Leonard L Berry - researcher and author.”

How well do your organisation's systems and processes support staff to deliver great service? Why not use this article as a catalyst for Conversations That Matter® within your team, department or organisation?

Please feel free to comment on this article

WHAT REALLY MATTERS VOLUME 3 NUMBER 3 2011

Service Excellence Requires Measuring and Responding A fundamental aspect of service excellence is the tools that an organisation uses to measure how it is performing. In this context the Service Standards that form the basic building blocks of the organisations systems and processes have to be able to be measured. At their highest level organisations should be able to recognise how they are performing at each of the six key drivers of service excellence and each local team should be able to do likewise. The capacity to appropriately respond to what the measurements are telling an organisation is also critical for service excellence. This means that your measurement systems must be time bound so that the information is current and therefore useful. Some measurements will be lag indicators of activities that have been completed in the past, while other measurements will provide lead indicators identifying where a particular aspect of your service strategy is headed into the future. A lag indicator may be your sales results for the past month. A lead indicator may be the number of customer 'contacts' you have 'alive' in your marketing funnel which will act as an indicator for how many sales you may make the following month. How do you measure your service standards? What lead and lag indicators are you using? Research Participant It wasnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t until we started to look at our service strategy and ask ourselves whether or not we were measuring what was really important to us that we started to improve. We had promised people that we would get back to them within 24 hours but we didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t have a clue whether or not we were achieving that standard. To our horror we discovered that our response time was more like 36 hours than 24 hours. It took us about three months but we eventually got our average down to 10 hours, well ahead of the base standard that we had set. Please feel free to use this article to stimulate Conversations That MatterÂŽ within your organisation. Please feel free to comment on this article

WHAT REALLY MATTERS VOLUME 3 NUMBER 3 2011

Review of 100 Studies Reveals 12 Attributes of a Great Place To Work How does your organisation rate against the ‘12 Attributes of a Truly Great Place to Work’, according to a new article published on the Harvard Business Review Blog Network. The article is based upon over 100 studies on what creates the most engaged employees. Personally, I like the idea of supporting an afternoon nap. My question is - do any of you work for an organisation that would actually be okay with that?

Re-imagine and Take Action by Ian Berry One of my favourite books is ‘Re-imagine! Business Excellence in a Disruptive Age’ by Tom Peters. You can find out more about this book and download a chapter here. For a list of all the books I recommend please go here and put ceo in the password box. This week - think and take action in your own way on the following. What has become normal in your business? Ian is the Founder of the Choose one thing that everyone accepts as normal practice. Get together with stakeholders and Reimagine it. Think about what you chose in the context of this question:

Differencemakers Community and A u t h o r o f C h a n g i n g W h a t ’s Normal. Ian has been the partner of

How could this be more valuable to those who have a stake in it?

passionate and enlightened leaders in several countries since 1991, to change what’s normal for

Then take action.

the good of people, our planet,

Do it. Leaders don’t wait. Leaders go first. Lead.

and for profit.

Please feel free to comment on this article

WHAT REALLY MATTERS VOLUME 3 NUMBER 3 2011

Memories of 911 - A Personal Connection Nine Eleven. Two powerful words. They evoke deep emotions of awe, fear, anger, devastation, astonishment, concern and many more of which I am yet to find the words to describe. I was awoken by a ringing phone, which is always a little nerve rattling as night-time calls are often accompanied by bad news. As the phone was closest to my wife Michelle, she picked up the receiver. It was my youngest brother Wayne. "Turn on your TV. is all he said.

America is under attack"

We rushed into our living room and turned on the TV to see the North Tower on fire, smoke billowing from the 93rd floor and above. It was an incredible site. Michelle and I were watching trying to make sense of my brother's statement. And then we saw it - live. The second plane flew into the South Tower. I literally jumped out of my chair and stood up. "Oh my God!" Michelle and I uttered. "Where's Denis?" "About 300 miles away in Washington DC". You see my twin brother Denis was a manager in the security team at the Australian Embassy in Washington DC. On 911 Denis was in charge of security and the Australian Prime Minister, John Howard, was on an official visit to the US. After seeing the second plane fly into the South Tower, Michelle and I were convinced that the US was indeed under attack. And we assumed Washington would therefore be on the list of whoever the attackers were. The Australian Embassy is less than a mile from the White House. I was genuinely concerned for my brother. We were also genuinely concerned about our world. As our eight and a half month old baby slept, we wondered "Is this this the start of World War III?". Then the news flash occurred that confirmed our fears. A plane had flown into the the Pentagon. Surely the White House will be targeted? Denis isn't far from there. This was not just some news event on TV. It was personal. It was 'realer than real'. When was this going to end? As futile as I expected it to be, I tried calling Denis. I didn't get through.

WHAT REALLY MATTERS VOLUME 3 NUMBER 3 2011 Michelle and I sat and watched as the TV coverage captured every moment, including what was later to be seen as vision too gruesome to be shown again. To my knowledge, it hasn't. It was the sight of people jumping to their deaths from above the impact zone. The number of 'jumpers' was more than one's mind and soul could bare. Yet we kept watching, desperate for news of what was happening in Washington. Michelle and I continued to wonder how bad it was up above the impact zones that the better option was to jump. This question and the images of what we saw still haunts me. The TV coverage flipped between New York and Washington DC. What was going to happen next? Then the South Tower collapsed before our eyes. To see such a thing happen on live TV was horrific. It was clear that we had just witnessed thousands of people losing their lives in a matter of seconds. We wondered about the motivation of people to do such a thing as to deliberately fly a jet airliner into a building. The evil of such an act was impossible to comprehend, and still is today.

â&#x20AC;&#x153;The evil of such an act was impossible to comprehend, and still is today.â&#x20AC;? The whole night we watched, terrified of what might be unfolding in the US. I desperately kept calling Denis. When morning broke we received a phone call from my mother. Denis had called her. He was okay. He'd been assisting the US Secret Service who had taken over the Australian Embassy to look after Prime Minister Howard and his entourage. Our relief that he was okay was enhanced by our knowledge that four planes were involved in the attack, and all had been accounted for including the plane that had crashed in Pennsylvania. Wow. My twin brother was directly involved in protecting Australia's Prime Minister. Who would have thought that a plumber from Clayton in Melbourne's south eastern suburbs could have been directly involved in such a thing. But he was. As we later discovered when I was able to speak directly with Denis, the gap between the media reports and what really happened was immense. The media here in Australia had reported that Prime Minster Howard had been taken to a 'bunker' in the basement of the Australian embassy. No such 'bunker' existed. Instead Prime Minister Howard was seated on a plastic chair in the 'Maintenance Man's Cage' in the basement carpark of the Australian Embassy. Times were indeed different! How could we be on the other side of the world yet experience a horror as if we were there? Although it was 2001 modern communication systems meant that we could in fact 'experience' a world event as it was unfolding. I'm sure psychologists would have some idea of whether or not it is a good or bad thing that we have the technology to allow us to experience such events. I still don't know myself.

WHAT REALLY MATTERS VOLUME 3 NUMBER 3 2011 In closing I have no words of wisdom to offer regarding my experience of 911. Something tells me that it would be disrespectful to do so. Today I accept that I don't understand why such horrific events happened and why, more specifically, 911 happened. I just know that it did and I hope and pray that the broader 'we' never experience such personalised horror in our lives again.

I hope and pray that the broader â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; never experience such personalised horror in our lives again.

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My 5 Personal and Lasting Lessons From 9/11 by Ian Berry Today my grandson Hamish celebrates his 10th birthday. When he arrived 5 days after 9/11 our joy was in stark contrast to the grief of thousands. Here is a part of what I wrote in Sparkenation 7 (Living our lessons from 9/11) of my Changing What’s Normal book. Normal. Most people respond to something bad happening to them with revenge and fail to grasp the opportunity to do good. Changing What’s Normal. On 9/11, the day my daughter was due to give birth, my wife was in Perth with our daughter. I was at home in Adelaide with a flight booked to fly to Perth on the 13th. That night, my wife and I spoke on the telephone about what kind of a world our first grandchild was likely to grow up in? On the day of my flight the airline I had booked with - Ansett - then an iconic Australian company, closed down suddenly. I was not able to get a flight on another airline, or a seat on a train or bus. So I got in my car and drove to Perth - a 36 hour drive. What occupied my mind for much of that trip was the question “What is the purpose of my life?” I couldn’t even begin (still can’t) to imagine the horror for those who died in the World Trade Center and the devastation for their families, yet it inspired me to think deeply about my own life, and how I could do more to make a difference in the world.

“What is the purpose of my life?” The long drive to Perth was full of defining moments for me where I made decisions that still drive my life and my work. When I held the precious new life of my Grandson in my arms for the first time I realised that what was becoming ‘normal’ in our world, at that time, was not the sort of normal I wanted him to grow up in. I made a silent promise to do everything in my power to never accept ‘normal’ when that means that less than what is possible is happening in our world. This book is part of my action plan. It’s a big task and I am just one person. I am asking for your help. I am asking you to do your work, so that together we might cocreate a world where everyone can win and nobody loses. In 2005, my wife and I were in London, partly due to my work and partly for holidays. We traveled on the London Underground the day after the terrorist attack on that rail system. You could feel the fear and yet also the resolve of travelers to not be beaten by people who commit terrorist acts. This experience was another defining moment for me in my life.

WHAT REALLY MATTERS VOLUME 3 NUMBER 3 2011 My 5 lasting lessons from 9/11 are: 1) “A life lived in fear is a life half lived.” I first came across this wonderful line in the film ‘Strictly Ballroom’. Chances are that if you are not achieving what you really want in your life right now, you are not doing something that you fear. Get over it. Do your work. The most amazing thing about doing what we fear is that usually we end up wondering why we were so frightened in the first place. 2) “It’s not what happens to you. It’s what you do about it.” These are the words of W Mitchell an amazing man who has overcome hardships in his life that would have taken the life of most people. Stop worrying about your circumstances. Worrying is a useless emotion and along with guilt the most debilitating. Whatever your circumstance, do something about it. Take action now. 3) Don’t get distracted by what other people do or don’t do We are responsible for our intentions, feelings, thoughts, and actions, never other people’s. Stay your course, be true to yourself, maintain your focus and the right people for you will join you and the wrong people for you won’t. 4) What we believe is just a belief. What we do is what really matters A client of mine is a devout Christian. Another client a devout Muslim. Another strictly follows what she sees as the Buddhist way. Still another is Jewish to his bootstraps. I could go on. I know people from most walks of life who strongly believe what they do. I admire each of my clients, yet I share none of their belief systems. What we do share is the fact that behaviour matters more than belief. Many belief systems are tied up in a faith of some kind. Faith by definition cannot be proved. If it could be proved it wouldn’t be faith! The ‘proof is in the pudding’ the saying goes, meaning what we do counts for far more than what we believe. As one of the Apostles of the Christian Church is reported to have said “Faith without works is dead.” A lot of faiths are dead today because the actions of many of the faithful betray their stated beliefs. I meet a lot of people more interested in being right than being compassionate. Compassion for me is at the heart of all the world’s religion’s. If we are not living and breathing a compassionate life we render whatever we believe as null and void, regardless of what we say. A new world is being born. Compassion is a key component. There is a place for faith in this new world however belief matters little, what counts is behaviour. 5) However long we live, we leave a legacy Every life matters. Everyone leaves a legacy. The question we must all answer with our lives: Is the legacy I am leaving the one that I truly want to leave? Happy birthday Hamish.

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Listening is the Fastest Way to Provide Great Service The capacity to listen is probably the most important skill that relates to service excellence. Without this capacity staff will not know the expectations of their customers, each other, or the key stakeholders of their communities. Organisations that provide great service are fantastic listeners; to their customers, to their key stakeholders and to each other within the organisation. William Isaacs notes that our culture is dominated by sight. Light moves at 186,000 miles per second, yet sound only travels at 1,100 feet per second. In summary, William Isaacs (1999) says that in order to listen we must slow down. So, just like the old story where the tortoise beats the hare in the race, slowing down to listen can enable us to make better decisions and therefore meet and exceed our customer's expectations more quickly. How do you and/or your organisation slow down to listen? Please feel free to use this article as a catalyst for Conversations That Matter® in your organisation

"Our hearing puts us on the map. It balances us. Our sense of balance is intimately tied to our hearing; both come from the same source within our bodies...Hearing is auditory, of course, relating to sound. The word auditory...most ancient root means “to place perception.” When we listen, we place our perceptions." William Isaacs, lecturer at MIT Sloan School of Management, consultant and

WHAT REALLY MATTERS VOLUME 3 NUMBER 3 2011

13 Key Reasons Why Most Change Programs Fail by Ian Berry The main focus of my business for 20 years has been partnering with passionate people to stop the status quo from sucking the life out of us and to turn possibility into reality. I conclude that most change programs fail for 13 key reasons: 1. The people charged with making the change happen don’t really believe in it and therefore their work is half-hearted at best 2. The change program is designed to take too long and the status quo wins 3. The expectations are unrealistic 4. People are not genuinely appreciated when they do well 5. People are not held to account when they fail to perform as they agreed they would 6. Measurements of progress are poor or non-existent 7. Desired change is actually problem solving which usually means a return to the status quo rather than real innovation 8. Intentions, emotions, and thinking doesn’t change and therefore any behaviour change that may happen doesn’t last 9. There isn’t a real shared-view about why the change is crucial/essential 10. There isn’t a real shared-view on how the change will happen and who will do what, and when 11. Leaders don’t understand all change is personal first, relationships second, and organisations third 12. Leaders don’t personally change 13. Broken relationships remain broken The presence of any of the above reasons will most likely mean your change initiative will see you go backwards. There is great news. Address these 13, and pioneering, breathtaking, truly innovative, measurable change, people can actually believe in and make happen, is at your doorstep. Please check out my change programs here. Assuming an alignment of our values, and a fit between your needs, expectations, desires, and my expertise, possibility could very quickly become reality in your business. ‘Like’ Organisations That Matter on Facebook

WHAT REALLY MATTERS VOLUME 3 NUMBER 3 2011

Describing 'Support Chart' Strategic Outcomes Many of you have completed one form or another of the OTM Plan for Personal Success速 program. A consistent challenge that participants in the shorter form of the program experience is taking their plans 'to the next level' outside of the workshop. In particular people have expressed challenges regarding how they describe their Strategic Objectives, which are the top part of the 'elastic band' at the Support Chart level of your plan (Keep in mind that participants in the shorter versions of the program only complete a plan at the Prime Chart level). Unlike the outcomes that you describe in your Prime Chart, which are more broad and directional, your Support Chart Strategic Objectives are meant to be more specific. The timelines for your Support Charts are usually only part of the time-line of your Prime Chart. For example, your Prime Chart may have a 10 year focus, whereas your Support Chart for completing your current degree may only be one or two years in duration. When describing your Support Chart Strategic Objectives it is critical that you maintain an o u t c o m e fo c u s w i t h yo u r description. What will successful achievement of this Prime Chart Strategy really look like? How detailed can you describe that success. What words will yourself or others use to describe the successful achievement of this strategy? If we were to stay with the example of successfully completing your studies, these are some questions that your Strategic Objectives section of your Support Chart for this strategy should answer: What grade average will you have successfully achieved? What level of mastery relating to the technical aspects of your degree will you have developed? What sort of relationships will you have formed with academics and students alike? What networks will you have developed? How will your studies and co-curricular activities enhanced your employability skills?

WHAT REALLY MATTERS VOLUME 3 NUMBER 3 2011

When you describe clear outcomes for your Support Chart Strategic Objectives it makes it a lot easier to identify and then implement the actions required to bring those outcomes to reality. One of the most powerful techniques that you can use to help you to more clearly define your Support Chart Strategic Objectives is to ask yourself a bunch of questions about what success will look like (just as I have done in the example above). Please feel free to share some of your descriptions for your Support Chart Strategic Outcomes as your examples will help others to better define theirs. Please feel free to comment on this article

OTM Plan for Personal Success® Program Create a plan for your success! “Developing an OTM Plan for Personal Success® was an inspiring experience! Sharing our plans with each other catalysed conversations that were powerful and enabled us to develop a deeper understanding of each other. Prior to the program I had felt that we already had a deep understanding of each other, completing the OTM Plan for Personal Success® program enabled our relationships to go to another level.” Geraldine Storton, Vice President, Global Program Management Hospira, USA Enquire here

WHAT REALLY MATTERS VOLUME 3 NUMBER 3 2011

Why the Development and Recruitment of People Lies at the Heart of Your Service Strategy Existing staff need to be developed so that they have the capacity to implement your Service Strategy. This will result in them having the capacity to understand the expectations of their customers and being able to develop appropriate service standards from that understanding. New staff need to be recruited through processes that identify their alignment with your Service Strategy. This means that the organisation’s recruitment processes must reflect a process that is seeking the best possible people that it can find so that its Service Strategy can be implemented. The result is a virtuous cycle that re-enforces great service. When people love their work they attract other high quality to want to work with them too. The reverse is also true. The wrong people in the wrong jobs who end up hating what they do don’t provide great service. How could they! How do your development and recruitment practices support the establishment of a virtuous cycle for great service in your organisation? Why not use this article to stimulate Conversations That Matter® with your team. Research Participant Our recruitment policy used to be: “Do you know anyone who has a heartbeat and is available?” Me, I’d been here 20 years and had never been on any training. I never realised how bad we were until I honestly thought about whether I’d like to be a customer of my own team. My answer was no! Please feel free to comment on this article

WHAT REALLY MATTERS VOLUME 3 NUMBER 3 2011

Leadership Insights Series Interviews The Leadership Insights Series involves interviewing successful people and or creators of intellectual property as it relates to professional and personal development and learning about their success and ideas. A recent interview included Tony Lendrum, Founder of 0 to 10 Relationship Management® and author of his third book Building High Performance Business Relationships.

In this interview you will learn about:

• The Storyboard; • Six Principles; and • 5 Themes of Relationship Management View the interview here

Another recent interview was conducted with Michael Lewis, Director of Accounting Firm Proctor Major. In this interview Michael shares lessons from his journey to success as well as his views on how young people can enhance their career opportunities in the early part of their careers.

View the interview here

WHAT REALLY MATTERS VOLUME 3 NUMBER 3 2011

Online Courses Organisations That Matter provides a wide range of Online Courses to assist you in your personal & professional development. Our courses include: • Creating a Plan For Personal Success • How to Create High Performing Teams • Weekly Inspiration • 16 Lesson What Really Matters For Young Professionals! eCourse • University Student Group Work For Success and much more Please visit here for more information

Webinars A webinar is an online seminar. Providing you have access to a computer and the internet, webinars are a simple, easy and cost effective way to access critical information for your personal & professional development. Samples from our webinar program can be viewed here. Please remember to view the videos in fullscreen mode. Please sign up for our newsletter if you would like to be invited to our upcoming webinars.

WHAT REALLY MATTERS VOLUME 3 NUMBER 3 2011

What Really Matters For Young Professionals! Are you taking full advantage of your first years of employment? Are you consciously developing yourself and taking full advantage of the opportunities presented to you? Are you fully aware of the opportunities that you have to accelerate your career? If you answered "No" to anyone of these three questions then we can help you to master 15 practices that will accelerate your career.

"This book is the definitive tool for young professionals with loads of expert knowledge who need to quickly develop high-level employability skills. It can also be used by managers and HR professionals for induction of their graduate recruits, or young at heard professionals willing to adjust to the contemporary workplace. If you want to succeed in the 21th century as a high-performing individual I recommend you read this book." Renata Bernarde Relationship Manager and Career Counselor

Online Checklist Take the Online Checklist for the 15 practices that are explained in the book, What Really Matters For Young Professionals! Your results will help to quickly identify how you can use the book to accelerate your career! This product is for both Young Professionals and/or their employers.

What Really Matters For Young Professionals! How To Master 15 Practices To Accelerate Your Career is a resource that will help Young Professionals (people in the workforce with between five to ten years experience) to accelerate the speed of their career progress. While Young Professionals are unlikely to suffer the high unemployment rates of previous generations in countries like Australia, this is not the situation in many countries throughout the world. In the USA and the UK Young Professionals are having significant challenges finding employment. For those who are employed, even in Australia achieving promotions are a challenge because of the high competition for these opportunities. This is why continuous practical development is essential for career progression.

WHAT REALLY MATTERS VOLUME 3 NUMBER 3 2011 What Really Matters For Young Professionals! is both a resource for Young Professionals and their employers. The book and Online Course create a space for practical development to occur. In these challenging economic times employers can provide the course to their Young Professionals. Alternatively, Young Professionals can invest in their own development. At less than the cost of three coffees per week over 16 weeks, the investment for becoming a high performer is minimal. If you are an employer and would like to discuss how the book and Online Course can be packaged for your employees, please email Gary@orgsthatmatter.com.

"Wow! This book is jam packed with useful and practical strategies for young professionals wanting to take the next step up in their careers. In a time where young professionals are constantly asking for more mentoring and training, this book is the perfect do-it-yourself manual to improve your employability." Alicia Curtis www.emergen.com.au

Out now!

WHAT REALLY MATTERS VOLUME 3 NUMBER 3 2011

About Gary Ryan Gary Ryan is a Founding Director and owner of Organisations That Matter, a boutique management consulting firm that assists individuals, teams and organisations to achieve high performance through aligning people, strategy, systems and processes. Why? When alignment is achieved organisations behave in ways that matter to the people working in them, the people the organisations serve and the broader community. Ultimately alignment matters if the organisation wishes to achieve its financial, social and environmental outcomes. Utilising his diverse skills, experience and training, Gary helps organisations, leaders and team members achieve maximum performance as a professional management consultant and a dynamic facilitator and presenter. Key to Gary’s success is his passion to influence behavioural change that aligns what individuals say with what they actually do. Gary is committed to helping organisations to really matter to their people; to their stakeholders and customers; to their community and to their environment. With over 17 years executive management and facilitation experience, Gary has had broad exposure to the private sector, government bodies, elite sporting and educational environments. In this capacity, Gary has designed and facilitated the NAB Future Leaders Program and the NAB Mentor Program, the Leadership Development Program at AFL club Richmond, whilst performing as Keynote Speaker at the NAB TEDx TALKS and Monash University Postgraduate orientation program since 2008. Gary Ryan is a Certified What Makes People Tick® Facilitator and has served as a Senior Assessor for the Customer Service Institute of Australia with considerable expertise in developing service excellence. Gary is also a Licensed 0-10 Relationship Management® Elite Trainer Facilitator, enabling him to assist organisations to optimise performance through improved internal and external relationship management. Gary is the Author of What Really Matters For Young Professionals! How to Master 15 Practices to Accelerate Your Career and has also written a series of e-books, What Really Matters available here. Gary has studied extensively, initially attaining a Bachelor of Education, and a Graduate Diploma in Human Resource Management, holds a Master of Management from Monash University in Melbourne, Australia. Gary’s areas of specialty cover service excellence development, assessment and facilitation, program design and development, and relationship management development and facilitation. Personally, Gary Ryan is happily married and a proud father of five children. He is dedicated to maintaining a healthy lifestyle and is currently in training to run his twelfth marathon.