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  • Building trusted relationships

    Privacy issues essentially boil down to an issue of trust. Rebuilding shattered trust can be an expensive exercise.

  • Taking the risk out of diversity

    Diversity is not a compliance issue. It is a leadership issue that needs to be dealt with seriously by every level of your organisation. Sensitivity to workforce and customer diversity should be embedded into business processes, employee retention programs and hiring policies.

  • The shifting balance of workplace relations

    For any business that currently relies on casual and part time employees for key sections of their operations, employee retention strategies are not just going to be necessary – they will probably be a matter of survival.

  • Warring factions and conflicted leadership

    Going through the motions of a hopeless leadership challenge was obviously useful for someone. If there is any lesson for business leaders to learn from the incident, it is that appearances matter enormously when dealing with external stakeholders. Ostentatious displays of power are a proven tactic for leaders that need to distract and reassure stakeholders, and keep up appearances.

  • Lifting the lid on risks and workplace culture

    Automated detection systems will always have blindspots that can be exploited. To catch problems before they spiral out of control, employees must feel comfortable that they can communicate problems to their managers, and that concerns won’t just fall on deaf ears.

  • Tourism sector bites the bullet

    Profitability in the tourism sector has always been incredibly volatile, subject to the whims of wild weather and fickle fashion. It will be interesting to see whether managers in the wider business community choose to crank up their travel budgets again as they have done in the past, or whether the convenience and ease of telecommuting and electronic conferencing will finally start to bite into business travel.

  • Navigating dangerous retail waters

    When you consider that eBay do not actually “sell” anything or handle any retail inventory, their decision to follow consumers into shopping centres is interesting. Perhaps online retail battles will soon also be fought in shopping centres and, if so, online retailing is also heading into dangerous waters.

  • Off with their heads

    At an operational level, complex policies and procedures can quickly turn HR management into a quagmire. Although in some situations, all of that red tape can truly be a good thing.

  • Executive tenure and shifting goalposts

    Executive leadership is often portrayed as high pressure. Boards justify spectacular executive packages by citing the uncertainty of the top job, and the notion that people who actively seek leadership positions need to be given an enormous incentive to create shareholder value. The reality is often rather different.

  • Expiry dates and ROI time horizons

    Australian CEOs typically hang on to the job for 8 years before retiring with a golden parachute. The point at which you find a leader within their tenure has a clear influence on strategic business planning and investment decisions. It should be little surprise that when a leader has one eye on the door, they might simply view risks and rewards very differently to those around them.

Rory Gregg
Rory is an Associate Director at Grant Thornton, leading their Business Transformation consulting practice in Sydney. His specialties are business strategy, performance improvement, and transformational change. Follow him on Twitter @rory_gregg
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    Advice for leaders to help refine skills and provide direction and guidance to employees

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