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Featured Insights | Talent Consulting

What is the commercial value of a belief?

Written By Terry Samaras, Talent Consulting Practice Lead

We have recently seen the publication of the Federal Budget and what all the media commentaries illustrate is that the decisions made by our leaders impact us all.

You may have read the variety of opinions from a variety of perspectives, and the assumptions, choices and decisions implicit in the Budget, but only the future will reveal the value of the choices made; and one thing is certain, as good citizens and social critics, we will all hold our Leaders accountable.

Sometimes however we neglect the fact, that whether it is in the political or commercial domains, we as citizens and employees, create the context for those choices and decisions to be made; and ultimately the accountability begins with us, to choose our Leaders wisely. 

As I have written in the past, from an eco-system level, leadership is a relationship and the quality of our relationships determines the effectiveness of our choices, decisions and outcomes; and begin as a mutual accountability. 

Photo by Domagoj Ćosić on Unsplash

Whilst I assume that a majority of people reading this will say the above comments are clearly obvious and redundant, I am consistently amazed when I observe the apparently obvious theory in daily action.

At an Executive Team meeting, a Strategy Planning Day, a Quarterly Performance Offsite, how little these mutual accountabilities are brought to life in the nuts and bolts behaviours and processes of doing business amongst leaders, their peers and team members.

Why is there such a discrepancy between what we all know and what we actually do? Because past, present and future thinking – memory, observation and imagination are different modes of thinking, and whilst we may remember a piece of information, implementing it in a present state requires us to be able to observe ourselves and others physically, emotionally and intellectually in the moment.

An expertise in finance, technology, or any other business related subject, is not an expertise in the real-time practicalities of collaborative decision making. A skill that is now a life and death necessity in a market that no longer expects ‘continuous improvement’ but demands ‘continuous cyclical innovation’.

In a Market where information is ubiquitous and logical intelligence is being automated,  those that can anticipate, learn, decide and act together at the pace that the Market now demands will be relevant and valuable contributors in the future. To do that, we need an accurate understanding of how we function together as human beings.

Did you know there is an industry that re-trains and assesses its leaders and team members in teamwork, communications and decision making every year, and a failure in that assessment could lead to the inability to continue employment?

The International Air Transport Association approves mandatory Crew Resource Management Programmes for the Aviation Industry, and a failure to fulfil its requirements has clear business and employment ramifications. I know this because I led the re-launch of the CRM programme in British Airways in the mid – 90s and have been applying its leadership and teamwork principles in business consulting ever since then.

In fact, observing a company’s strategy roll out in real time over a period of months is very much like observing an aircraft’s flight plan over a period of several hours, which is why there is some statistical parallels between the percentage of aircraft accidents attributed to human error, the number of executives replaced by their boards, and the number of businesses that cease operating over a five year period.

If you would like to discuss how to address the headwinds we are all currently experiencing, and land your business in a better environment in the months ahead, we would love to speak to you and be delighted to share the case studies of our current clients seeing the benefit of our expertise. You are welcome to contact me on +61 2 82318 1822 terrysamaras@ptpaustralia.com.

About the Author

Terry Samaras | Talent Consulting Practice Lead

With over 27 years of global experience consulting with some of the world’s leading international brands such as British Airways, BP, Citigroup, HSBC and Rolls Royce Power; over 45 companies in 21 industries and 29 nationalities across the UK, Europe, the US and Australia.

Terry has expertise in aligning vision, innovation, culture and strategy implementation to accelerate commercial performance and sustain scalable growth.

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