The AltusQ Blog
News, upcoming events and articles written by our coaches
It’s now real! 5 suggestions to respond.
It’s now real! 5 suggestions to respond. This is the week that the unfolding impact of Covid -19 got real for most sectors and companies large and small. Whilst the travel / hospitality / event industries have clearly been smashed, few businesses are likely to emerge without being impacted in some way (negatively and/or positively)…
Read More
Are you creating your own economy?
Are you creating your own economy? It’s often said that we live in uncertain times, but we really do live in uncertain times! From the on-going China/Trump trade war to Brexit, the exponentially increasing impact of Artificial Intelligence, continued low wage growth, insanely low interest rates, Banks continued reluctance to lend etc etc etc. Where do you…
Read More
Modern Mentoring
Modern Mentoring “There’s more than one way to skin a cat, my father used to say; it bothered me, I didn’t see why they would want to skin a cat even one way.” – Margaret Atwood And so it is with Mentoring Programs. No longer is the traditional model of ‘learned leader’ inspiring ‘aspiring leader’ the…
Read More
Why you would and why you wouldn’t
Why you would (that’s easy) and why you wouldn’t introduce a Mentoring Program into your organisation “There’s nothing we take pride in more than watching people escalate their careers inside the company,” said Sam. “When we have great internal talent, we want to build that out.” A robust and effective mentoring program is a great…
Read More
Under Pressure: Why leaders need to be coaches
Under Pressure: Why leaders need to be coaches Taking a coaching approach (asking questions to facilitate thinking/problem solving of your staff member or coachee) is crucial to building capability, self-responsibility and motivation, to get the most out of them and just as importantly, to reduce their dependence on you. Most leaders yearn for more time,…
Read More
Strategy or implementation, which one is my problem? (continued)
Strategy or implementation, which one is my problem? (continued) Last time we spoke about the importance of identifying whether strategy or implementation is at fault if the lowering tide has exposed the naked swimmer in your Business (in Warren Buffet’s words). Too often we see businesses blame strategy and keep changing it, all the while…
Read More
Strategy or implementation, which one is my problem?
Strategy or implementation, which one is my problem? Last time we spoke about what Warren Buffet meant when he said “A rising tide floats all boats….. only when the tide goes out do you discover who’s been swimming naked.” When things are good everyone does OK but when things turn south many are exposed. The…
Read More
A rising tide floats all boats, but…
A rising tide floats all boats, but… “A rising tide floats all boats….. only when the tide goes out do you discover who’s been swimming naked.” This is Warren Buffett’s addendum to the famous ‘rising tide’ quote. So what does it mean? When things are good all businesses are making money but when things turn…
Read More
AltusQ Breakfast Series: Is winter coming? (Sydney, May 23)
AltusQ Breakfast Series: Is winter coming? Running to where the ball will be… With no recession since 1991 a question on many people’s minds is whether Australia’s seemingly endless summer is now drawing to a close. In the second workshop of AltusQ’s 2019 breakfast series we will be exploring how to get your business ready for…
Read More
Why some mentoring programs “fizzle”
Why some mentoring programs “fizzle” Mentoring Programs can be an extremely cost effective and valuable professional development intervention yet, there seem to be more stories and anecdotal evidence of mentor program ‘flops’ that successes. This is not because mentoring as a concept is flawed or “doesn’t work around here”. More often than not, the cause…
Read More
What can we learn from the price of orange juice?
What can we learn from the price of orange juice? I shared a story at a recent client workshop about a soccer dad I met on the sidelines of a pre-season under 14s soccer training session. This soccer dad was a trader and he was good enough to share some of the strategies he adopts. Trading…
Read More
The five pillars of successful mentoring
The 5 Pillars of Successful Mentoring Mentoring is one of many options available for fostering commercial and cultural growth. Compared to consulting, training, or coaching initiatives, mentoring directly taps into and inspires the sharing and further development of, relevant experience and expertise already existing within the organisation. Improved retention, employee satisfaction, interpersonal skills, transfer of…
Read More
Case Study: Weathertex
Case study: Weathertex Drawing out internal strengths through expert facilitation The Challenge Weathertex is a privately owned company that manufactures Australian hardwood weatherboards and architectural panels for local and overseas markets. Weathertex was first manufactured in Australia in the early 1960s by CSR. In 1998, current CEO Paul Michael purchased the business from CSR with…
Read More
Evidence-based coaching
Evidence-based coaching Historically, organisational coaching has been something you just had to have faith in. You took it on because someone else recommended it or because you didn’t know what else to try to fix whatever you thought your problem was. While there are some obvious metrics (sales, profit, staff turnover etc.) these typically take…
Read More
Have you got the right business culture for 2019?
Have you got the right business culture for 2019? (Because it’s frequently not the fastest car that wins the Championship!) A few months ago, Lewis Hamilton won the Formula One World Championship for the 5th time (only Michael Schumacher has more Championship wins now), and his Mercedes team won the Constructors Championship for a 5th Consecutive Year.…
Read More