October 09 Newsletter

Beaumont News

September for Beaumont Consulting has been a very exciting month.

Firstly, our newly established IT Division has made some fantastic inroads with our existing clients and we have successfully placed several contractors into employment and are working on numerous permanent roles which is a great sign the market is finally picking up after recent months and great news that our latest service offering is proving to be popular with our clients.

Other positives include subsequent increases in the number of permanent jobs registered with us over the last few weeks. In fact, we have seen an amazing 25% increase in our perm job flow across all divisions including Business Services, Accounting and Banking & Finance, giving us a great confidence boost and many more opportunities to speak with our candidates about.

Beaumont has recently been working in partnership with Shirlaws, a consultancy firm who work with many businesses internationally offering advice and support on business strategy. Not only have the management team found the input of Shirlaws critical in the implementation of our company strategy, they have also benefited from one on one coaching with the Shirlaws representatives. This week we launched our first ever CEO/Executive Luncheon in partnership with Shirlaws. This was a fantastic success with over twenty five CEO’s & Managing Directors from organisations that we are currently working with attending a talk about “Catching the First Wave after the Downturn” presented by Vanessa Fudge, Senior Partner of Shirlaws.

Interestingly, a key point many of our clients took away from the talk was the importance of businesses being ready to thrive after the down turn and ensuring that investments within business are made at the right time, which for many businesses is right now. This session certainly gave us some food for thought.

We will be running another CEO/Executive Luncheon in November 2009 so if you feel that this may be of interest or if you would like more information about this luncheon please contact your Beaumont Consultant who will be able to provide you with more information.

Internally, the management team here at Beaumont Consulting have confirmed growth plans for the next quarter with a planned increase in head count across Business Services and Banking & Finance Divisions in the City and Chatswood offices. We are actively recruiting for these roles at the moment, so we will have some new faces to introduce to you in our next newsletter.

Good Luck for October and best wishes from the Beaumont Management Team

bruce

Bruce Sullivan is back in town..

Beaumont Consulting has sponsored this event to bring you keynote Speaker, Bruce Sullivan, one of Australia's most dynamic and inspiring speakers. His energetic and interactive style ensures that you will not only be entertained but will also take away proven practical strategies for improving relationships at work and at home.

Are you interested in;

Recharging stressed out hard working individuals and teams
Coping better with change fatigue, particularly if there is more change to come
Maintaining motivation, work life balance and momentum for you and your teams
Providing practical tools to decrease stress and increase positive energy
Creating a common language, culture and philosophy that can be used on a daily basis in your teams to increase individual and team effectiveness.

This is your opportunity to do something positive about re-energising yourself and your colleagues. Bring your team to this thought-provoking event.

When: Wednesday 14th October
Time: 9:00am – 12:00pm
Where: Sydney City
Investment: $95 – all proceeds will go to the Make-a-Wish Foundation

All proceeds from this seminar will go towards making another wish come true with Make-A-Wish® Australia. Bruce’s book Rippa! has already raised $15,000 for Make-A-Wish.

Seats are limited so make sure you book NOW. To REGISTER please book online directly with Bruce at www.brucesullivan.com.au. We hope to see you there.

pres

Presentations- Make language work for you!

What makes the difference between a presenter who is good and a presenter who is exceptional? Well of course there are lots of things. One of them is how language is used. There are a variety of statements or ‘turns of phrase' that business presenters use regularly in their presentations. Some of them don't help build rapport and others are quite a ‘turn-off' to your audience. Here are some of the common words or statements that we recommend you don't use, and some proactive alternatives for each of them.

'For those of you who don't know me'
This combination of words is not inclusive in nature. What about the people who do know you? I suggest you replace this option with something like: 'I have met some of you before and I look forward to getting to know everyone here today. My name is ....' Or, how about simply, 'My name is...' Or you could try, ‘It's wonderful to see you here today. As some of you know my name is ...'

‘Filler words'
There are a number of ‘filler' words that most presenters use when they don't know what to say, or to ‘fill the quiet space' that would be better served with a pause and a deep breath. Some of these words are ‘um', ‘ah', ‘and' and ‘so'. It's not a great idea to use these sorts of filler words. As an alternative, remember to pause and breathe with confidence. Pause is Powerful!

Achieve agreement
You want your audience to be engaged with you for as much of your presentation as possible. There are some words you should try not to say if you want to reduce the likelihood that people will disagree with your point of view. They are:
OK, Basically, Obviously, You know?, Alright?
When you say words such as these, it's possible that some people in your audience will say, ‘no it isn't!', or ‘no I don't!' and it encourages them to start looking for other parts of your message that might be inconsistent or inaccurate in some way.

What should I say instead of these words?
Consider replacing these words with a pause and a diaphragmatic breath. Eventually you will find you eliminate this habit when you speak.

You versus I
It's actually quite common for presenters to say things like, 'I think...', or, 'I want you to...' or, 'I need you to...' when they present. It's wise to stop and think about what it's like for your audience when you say 'I this' or 'I that'. Please remember, ‘It's not about me. It's all about my audience!' Replace ‘I' with ‘you' whenever appropriate and turn your message from self indulgent to inclusive.

Language is powerful. Try spending some time thinking about how you use language when you present at work and your presentations will benefit from it hugely.

Article by Michelle Bowden - www.michellebowden.com.au

sork

Management Behavioural Training – 1 Day Open Workshop

More than ever your Managers, Team Leaders and Supervisors need to create a culture/climate that drives Engagement and Performance with your people. Coaching behaviours and skills are key to achieving this.

Sork HC has created an intensive one day Management Behavioural Training Open Workshop for Managers, Team Leaders and Supervisors to help them achieve sustainable high performance in their teams even during tougher times.

The Workshop is facilitated by Anthony Sork, one of Australasia’s leading Human Capital Consultants and Leadership/Management Coach. Using the world recognised Hay Group tools including “Management Styles Questionnaire”, “Kolb’s Learning Styles Model” and “VAK Model” to underpin learning. The workshop will explore in detail the “Coaching” style and develop skills and techniques to improve the use and effectiveness of this style within the business.

Program Details:
Date: Tuesday 27 October 2009
Venue: CBD Sydney
Cost: $350 per person plus GST (price is inclusive of morning & afternoon tea, lunch, venue hire, training resources and facilitation fee)

Places are limited and if sold out a second workshop may run on an alternative date.

For all enquiries and bookings, please contact Selina on 02 9344 7589 or at Selina@sorkhc.com.au

Bye Georgia, Hello Laura

The temp Chatswood team would like to say a big ‘Welcome’ to Laura Robertson!

We have been lucky enough to find Laura who has joined the team to oversee Georgia’s clients and candidates while she is on maternity leave. Laura comes from a solid temp recruitment background and is looking forward to getting her feet under the table! We’ll be sad to see Georgia head off on maternity leave, but she’ll be back early next year, and watch this space to see news of the latest Beaumont Baby!

xmas

Christmas Party 09

What are you doing for your Staff Christmas Party? Why not reward the team for all their hard work throughout the year and book a table for the Black Tie event of the year - The McGrath Foundation Gala Dinner on 4 December 2009.

The McGrath Foundation provides funding for McGrath Breast Care Nurses nationally, with particular emphasis on rural and regional areas across the country. Working closely with all state and territory health departments, as well as nominated area health services, to determine areas of need and therefore the locations for the additional McGrath Breast Care Nurses. Visit their website for details and book a table today www.mcgrathfoundation.com.au. In return, you’ll enjoy a fantastic evening, support a wonderful cause and help raise funds for Breast Care Nurses.

bully

How do you manage a workplace bully?

Bullying in the workplace in on the increase.

When you think of health and safety at work, what probably crosses your mind is the use of machinery, ergonomics, and adequate breaks. But a more prevalent and dangerous beast is increasingly lurking in workplaces: the bully.

If you’ve got one in your team, it’s unlikely you know about it because to your face they’re charming and delightful, but behind your back they torment and torture, leaving co-workers affronted and afraid.
Workplace bullying is a repeated series of actions towards one or more employees that’s sometimes aggressive, at other times manipulative, but always causes distress and anxiety.

One particular study found that over 70 percent of employees admit to having been bullied at some stage in the past. The problem is widespread and it’s possible that your employees are next. Often the bullying is just verbal. From insidious insults to humiliating sarcasm, and from abusive language to public put-downs, the words are targeted with the intention to hurt.

Occasionally, the bullying becomes more sinister where the bully will play mind-games and intimidation to wrest control within the team. What causes the most concern is that the majority of victims either don’t do anything about it or they just find a job someplace else, leaving the bully to continue the damage.

The impact on the business is huge. Increased absenteeism is a certainty as victims dread the thought of going to work where they’ll face the bully. The effect it has on their health reduces their productivity, saps their energy, alters their mood, and costs businesses a lot of money. In fact, one study by Work Cover in the ACT found that workplace bullying costs the Australian economy between $6 billion and $13 billion a year.

There are specific factors that might make your business more conducive to workplace bullying. Sudden changes and instability, undefined work structures and procedures, and insufficient levels of communication and direction, are all a fertile breeding ground for a bully to emerge. To eliminate bullying in your workplace, consider the following steps:

Openly state that your company will not condone bullying of any kind.
Have an anti-bullying policy written down as part of your employee handbook.
Prohibit actions like tantrums, screaming, and threats.
Make it easy for employees to complain if they’re the victim of a bully.
Frequently consult employees to see how they’re feeling about the workplace.
Look out for body language clues that might indicate an employee is a victim.
Be cognisant of a spike in absenteeism from an employee who’s rarely sick.
If you spot a bully, take action immediately. Don’t tolerate it even for a second.
When giving a bully feedback, focus on their behaviour, not their personality.
Make sure the bully understands the consequences if their behaviour continues.
Document all conversations, and if it doesn’t stop, consider serious penalties.
Remember to be the role model of how you’d like your employees to act.

Moving a bully from one team to another is not a solution, because the bully will just find a new victim in the new surroundings. Instead, provide coaching, offer counselling, issue written warnings, and eventually if there’s no improvement, terminate the bully’s employment before other employee resignations take hold.
Keep in mind that workplace bullies are usually your best performers. They’re clever, successful, and highly productive, so this might make you reluctant to deal with their menacing ways.

But deal with it you must, or else it’ll have a larger financial impact on your business down the track.
It’s important to note that as an employer, you have a legal duty of care to protect your staff from hazards in the workplace. One particular hazard that needs to be managed is the risk of staff suffering from an unsupervised workplace bully.

As Edmund Burke famously said, "All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing."
Workplace bullying is a problem that can no longer be ignored.

temp

Temp of the month

This month our Temp of the Month honour goes to Frances Tate! We have been working with Fran since April this year, she has completed numerous assignments for us and has done an outstanding job for us each and every time. Fran’s current employer has informed us that Fran is doing an ‘admirable job’. Fran has also received the following praise, "Fran has a great personality, is reliable and fun to work with… I am safe in the knowledge that she can handle anything that comes her way. Fran demonstrates real dedication to the job". Such fantastic feedback, thanks for doing such an amazing job!

A special mention must also go to Ben Searle-Barnes, who "takes on new tasks with ease and uses his initiative. He always follows up on his work and ensures that his customers are satisfied with the service provided". Not only this but Ben meets all of his targets! Thanks Ben, we really appreciate all of your efforts.

oct

Whats on!

A brilliant month of entertainment, enjoy!

The Sydney International Food Festival – 1st – 31st Oct

Darling Harbour Fiesta – 2nd to 5th Oct

Manly Jazz Festival – 3rd – 5th Oct

Sydney Harbour Island Hopping – 3rd – 25th Oct

Sydney Childrens Festival – 5th – 17th Oct

Danks Street Festival – 25th Oct

Sculptures by the Sea – 29th Oct – 15th November