High Performing Board Chairs

Sally was a presenter at the AICD Governance Summit, held in Melbourne earlier this year. Sally spoke about the importance of strong leadership from Board Chairs, in an era of increased stakeholder expectations and a sharper spotlight on ESG performance. Sally noted that the principles of high-performing teams, such as role clarity, accountability and performance feedback, are just as relevant to Boards as they are in any other environment. If you are keen to learn more about Chairing a High Performing Board, reach out to G11.

Are We Relevant?

Accountable performance

Having the pleasure of completing a Harvard course currently, I was hit in the face when the facilitator challenged us with the question of how relevant we are in this fast-changing world. The result of such a challenge encouraged as all to keep up our learning. Such is the pleasure, for me, being neck deep in this environment being the Chair of one of The CEO Institute’s Syndicates. Here, in this pic, I share learning with 12 CEO’s running a business of circa $50 to $150 million annual turnover. We learn continually from each other. Needless to say, the Harvard brains dumped some 2024 facts on us, alerting us (with lights and sirens attached) that in the 1960’s we’d lose 1% of our knowledge annually, In the 90’s this rose to 7% annually, and the forecast for 2028 is that we’d lose 15% of our knowledge annually. And this was the prediction before the pandemic, and AI, expedited our world. Our challenging Harvard lecturer said “we used to depreciate like houses, now we depreciate like cars’. And in summary, the facilitator jabbed up with a final red hot poker, by stating that we should consider ‘graduation’ as a thing of the past. The phrase, ‘life long learning’ to be used as a replacement. Makes us think as to employing people based on a ‘graduation’. The number one factor to increase relevance is the ‘team’, thus setting a tone of candid conversations and regular feedback is a supporting input to keeping your relevance. As far as us, as leaders go, to maintain our relevance, we are to have each of the four buckets below in action. As soon as one bucket runs dry, we are out…. • Producers in the field • Experts in something • Lead in something (visionary) • Manage or execute something Here’s to working on investing in ourselves and our teams, to ensure our sustainability.

What it Takes To Win

Leadership Accountable performance High Performing Team Culture

"What It Takes to Win" (WITTW) is a transformative methodology crafted by G11Team High Performance consultants Michael Broadbridge and Simon Jones. Their seven-step process, facilitated with passion and insight, empowers teams to break free from conventional thinking and unlock innovative solutions. WITTW fosters a culture of collaboration, alignment, and inspiration, applicable to any organization striving for excellence. Rooted in effort, discipline, humility, intelligence, and courage, WITTW challenges teams to redefine success on their own terms, urging them to ask, "What will it take to win?" This approach ensures that winning becomes not just a possibility but an inevitable outcome in an environment cultivated for success.

Swift and enormous impact for Fruitico

Leadership High Performing Team Operating Model

Primary produce grower and distributor, Fruitico, with operations in Pinjarra and Broome, have been assisted by G11 Team in their large-scale fresh produce business since mid 2022. G11 Team was asked to build leadership capabilities in senior management and supervisor level. This would enable the owners of the business to focus on strategic growth, and alleviate the day-to-day forces of operations. Upon starting the project it was apparent that the foundations of sustainable high performance needed to be improved (including; job descriptions, organizational structure, performance appraisals, operational planning). In parallel to building these processes, the leadership teams undertook fortnightly development and coaching. “Through this program, the owner was able to discover unsuspecting high potential leaders, there was greater calmness amongst the day-to-day leadership, and we all witnessed a more proactive approach to solving problems. The most rewarding part has been the emergence of high performance leadership skills being developed, amongst people who were technically very able at their jobs. We can see greater efficiency now in their sub-teams,” said Michael Broadbridge, G11’s Principal Consultant on this project. “The managers are now more measured and planned in their approach. I have been enabled to focus on the future of the business. The impact has been swift and enormous,” said Roger Fahl, Owner and CEO, Fruitico.

PGC sees immediate return on leadership investment

Leadership Execution Strategy

Rockingham based PGC have hit the ground running in their quest to become ‘the most streamlined labour hire business in Australia’. The team created a four-year strategic plan, a two-year operational execution plan, a leadership training program, a high performing teams program and individual leadership coaching with G11 Principal Consultants, Sally Carbon (strategy), Michael Broadbridge (execution and leadership) and Simon Jones (leadership and G11 Great Day/high performing teams). “The team embraced having a clear executable strategy from the get-go. They are inspired by the PGC owners investing in their growth – both individually and as a team,” said Broadbridge. “The highlight amongst this six-month program of work has been seeing the growth in individual leadership and a solutions-focused mindset. They’re finding business improvement opportunities so quickly – they are so engaged. For example, a $350,000 saving was found by a team member directly related to a deliverable from the 90 day planning cycle. More importantly though, the team members are bringing their best selves to work each day, and are inspired due to the clarity they have in their roles.” Adam Brough, General Manager, PGC said; “I have done numerous leadership training programs but this is by far and away the most impactful and actionable that I have ever done. The approach G11 take in delivery is making the team perform so well, therefore making my job easier,” Adam Brough, General Manager, PGC.

Positive community on Kojonup’s Strategic Community Plan

Strategic Plan Operating Model Stakeholder Engagement

G11 has been assisting Shire of Kojonup for almost eight years. It’s been the most recent project that has the region talking. G11 has assisted the Shire and community, through 2022 to 2023, with three projects; their Strategic Community Plan, their Corporate Business Plan and their Workforce and Diversity Plan. Forming the Strategic Community Plan was a significant commitment from the Kojonup community. They asked for change, for growth and dedication – not just in words, but through commitment and passion. A cookie-cutter Strategic Community Plan, merely to receive a stamp of compliance, was not going to cut it for this region. G11 had to go over and above. “I’m very proud of the critical thinking and challenge the working group did on this project. Everyone truly listened to the stakeholders, comprehensively researched, dived deep into case studies from around the world, and created a plan that was edgy and challenging – as requested. I’d say it was a risk-taking plan which you’d typically see in private business,” said Sally Carbon, the Principal Consultant on the strategy work for the Shire. The Shire of Kojonup CEO Grant Thompson, thanked the G11 team for going over and above. “We worked hard with all involved, and had some heavy conversations around the Council table. We all knew we couldn’t keep doing what we had in the past. We had to challenge ourselves, and the G11 team certainly helped us to do this. We met often and over a sustained period of time. The project took longer than we had planned, and G11 backed us up all the way,” he said. “The Strategic Community Plan has been received well by the community. It’s landed very well. Many in the community have told me, amongst great inspiration, that their feedback had been heard and incorporated into the final plan. They are suitably excited by this plan,” said Thompson.

Our impact