Upland Consulting in Bunbury, Western Australia | Business service

Upland Consulting

Locality: Bunbury, Western Australia

Phone: +61 419 901 013

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• Business service
• Business consultant

25.01.2022 We are putting this out as a question for discussion, because it’s got us intrigued. We were talking to a friend recently, who serves on the board of a substantial not-for-profit which has many dealings with the general public. She said something that really got me wondering, and researching, and now seeking your input. Background: some larger nonprofits are recognising the very big responsibilities carried by their board of directors (whatever the exact title), and are offe...ring some token remuneration to make it a little easier to contribute time and expertise not to mention the reputational risk and potential liability you have as a director. No-one does this for the money, of course, but some financial recognition often makes it easier for people to take on the job. But our friend’s board had decided not to accept any remuneration at all, based on professional advice. The advice was that their potential exposure or liability would be less if their service was unpaid. This is new to us, and we’ve been scouring the AICD online library and elsewhere looking for what it’s based on. Anyone got any clues? Of course, whatever the answer, the expectation of our regulators and public is that NFPs will be governed to the highest standards of diligence, probity and transparency. We work with boards on increasing their effectiveness.

25.01.2022 When Do You Employ Someone? Taking on that first employee is a huge step. It looks risky and expensive, and too often, it goes wrong. So when should you do this? Sooner than you think! As I work with the owners of growing businesses, I find the mostly tell themselves, I’ll get someone else on board when the business has grown enough." ... But in many, many cases, that’s backwards. Your business will only grow when you’ve employed someone. Why? If you, the owner, have your head down amongst the weeds, your time and energy maxed out, your days and evenings full of busy-ness, you have no horsepower left to grow the business. You don’t have the quality reflection time, the headspace, or the insight that comes from de-focussing. You’re too busy working IN to spend time working ONand we all know, don’t we, that growth only comes from working ON. If you’re serious about growing a business that will sustain the lifestyle you choose, do yourself a favour. Release the handbrakeand the handbrake is you! Here’s a method: Sit down with your business mentor, coach or mastermind group and work out what is the maximum value that you, personally, bring to your business. It might be your passion for client relationships, your creativity, technical expertise or talent for sales. Work out ways to unload all the stuff that keeps you from this top value work. Rinse and repeat.

24.01.2022 From school teacher to clay maker to wine making. Erl Happ of Happs Wines joined Iain Massey in the Upland Zoom Room and shared his journey into winemaking and establishing one of most well known and successful wineries in the Margaret River region. View the full interview at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pNaSzHAw6ko

24.01.2022 We’ve been working on strategy a lot recently. Strategy is ambition with a few other ingredients, including a plan of action and a driving purpose. If you like where you are now, you probably aren’t going to get out of that comfort zone and build something new. Change hurts. Paul Stoltz, a mountain climber and writer, identifies an Adversity Quotient (AQ), on the analogy of IQ. It’s about how much challenge you are up for, to get somewhere else in life or business. He identif...ies Quitters, Campers and Climbers. Quitters retired years ago, but didn’t tell anyone. They blame others. If you’re reading this, you’re not likely a Quitter. So: are you a Camper or a Climber? If you’ve worked hard to get to a satisfying place in life, and you’ll settle for this thanks very much, you’re a Camper. Nothing wrong with that. In business, your strategy is going to centre on defence, on maintaining what you’ve got. If you’re a Climber, you’re still up for a challenge. Your strategy is going to be about finding opportunities, setting stretch targets, and using adversity as rocket fuel. So as you think through your business strategy, be very clear whether you are a Camper or a Climber. Be aware of your AQ. We work with business owners on growth, innovation, succession and exit. Contact us for a free no-obligation chat about whether we can help you. More here: https://bit.ly/UplandConsulting #UplandConsulting #UpscalingSouthWestBusinessLeaders

23.01.2022 Leadership is the capacity to translate vision into reality. Warren Bennis Iain Massey advises on board effectiveness. More here: https://bit.ly/UplandConsulting

23.01.2022 The most successful family companies have found the answer: a clear Yes. At some point, successful companies outgrow their founders, and this remains true even if family members are shareholders, directors and/or employees. Creating a family company board can be a very hard thing to do. It’s emotional, it has risks for the company, and it’s a leap of faith. But a growing company will need many things that a small-and-staying-small family business doesn’t. How can this happen? Read More: https://bit.ly/FamilyCompanyBoard

22.01.2022 There are a lot of local family-owned businesses that have been challenged this year. They are the same people that will help bring a spark back to our community and help our economy come back to life. Let us continue to support our local businesses.... If you operate a family-owned business, we would love to chat and see where we can help: https://bit.ly/UplandConsulting

21.01.2022 We need to engage knowledge, thought and intuition as never before. We need to honour the emotions, the personal interactions and the human values that form the core of our work together. And we need lifelong learning of head and heart. We do this work because we deeply believe that we, and our businesses, deserve our whole selves. If we work together through your business turning points, we’ll bring these values to our work with you and your team.

21.01.2022 Bec Bignell of Cockatoo Co.Lab is inspired by the stories and the talent of regional Australian communities. Bec recently spoke with Iain in the Upland Zoom Room about her latest projects and her passion for empowering the creativity of regional Australians. It was fascinating to hear how Bec runs her successful national media company from Kojonup, WA and her insights into the unique storytelling legacy of Australia.... Listen to the full discussion here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=033B7E9ypM0&t=909s

20.01.2022 "Networking"... a word we hear all the time in business which we either love or fear! Either way, there is no doubt that good networking can be a stepping stone to success. Ron Gibson of Go Networking recently chatted with Iain Massey in the Zoom Room and explains what the objective behind networking should be and how we can still maintain relationships in the middle of a pandemic. View the full discussion at https://lnkd.in/gUaQ3Fc

20.01.2022 Creating a family company board can be a very hard thing to do. It’s emotional, it has risks for the company, and it’s a leap of faith. But a growing company will need many things that a small-and-staying-small family business doesn’t. How can this happen? Find out here: https://bit.ly/FamilyCompanyBoard

19.01.2022 The late Stephen Covey published The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People in 1989. It’s a long-term best-seller on the business and personal growth lists, and it’s still in print. There’s nothing dated about the penetrating analysis he derived from long research, deep thinking, and his own consulting practice. It’s a book I still turn to in moments of perplexity. The essential insight that illuminates Covey’s work is that effectiveness comes from within. Technique and skil...l matter, no question; but without the foundation of personal effectiveness, without the hard work on our own mental blinkers and chains, technique and skill just build us a house of cards. Read More: https://bit.ly/UplandSevenHabits

18.01.2022 What if you had to have a board, say to satisfy an investor. What would it contribute? Strategic views and purposes. A good board would look at your business from 40 paces, against agreed goals. It will spot where you could be blindsided or outflanked.... Governance. A good board would insist on having ways to spot issues before they become problems, problems before they become disasters. Risk management. A good board would watch the risk environment, measure and understand risk. The chief executive. A good board would hold management to account through the chief executive. But hold on: why wait? If those are the benefits, why put them off? If you're ready for these, aren't you ready for a board? Once, size was the trigger: as a company grew, it got structure. Now, the trigger is ambition. The smallest business will grow faster if it has a board from the start. Even if it's just the founders or the family, at least they’ll meet with a different, big-picture agenda. So, most likely your company is ready for a boardbut are you? Iain Massey advises on board effectiveness. More here: https://bit.ly/UplandConsulting

17.01.2022 Achieving Balance This is hard, isn’t it? Really hard. There are judgement calls to be made all the time about where the best point of balance is right now. The only way to get good at this is to monitor our own performance, be mindful of our biases and decision processes, and try constantly to achieve a more clear and objective view.... Welcome to the world of directorship! Learn more: https://bit.ly/DirectorBalance

16.01.2022 Catch Iain Massey in the most exciting WA eCommerce event this year, eCommerce Masterclass by thecut. For leaders and business owners who want to grow their market and capture new leads, this is the right seminar for you. Register for Bunbury - https://bit.ly/2J5ZUHr Iain will be joined by the top minds from Regional Media Specialists, Dolphin Discovery Centre, Moshi Moshi Marketing, Otherside and Dormilona Margaret River. ... Reach out to know more about the event details.

15.01.2022 The green line between board and management is one of the most contested borders in the world. It’s the boundary between what the board does and what it delegates, and the only thing that keeps the green line intact is respect. Directors can deplete respect to crisis level, by failing to do their own work diligently. How do directors annoy management? They: Show up unprepared, having skimmed (at best) the board papers Get into operational detail and try to teach managem...ent to suck eggs Fail to state their views, or do so afterwards in private, rather than when the topic is on the table Get lost among the weeds, failing to keep the 40-paces perspective Try to duplicate or second-guess management work Take an adversarial attitude Ask questions they could easily answer for themselvesby looking at the web site, as one executive told me Fail to reach and communicate clear decisions Fire off good ideas regardless of agreed strategic direction or the implications on time and resources Most of these can be addressed through good governance and chairmanship, but it all comes down to critical director skills such as self-awareness and self-monitoring. Iain Massey advises on board effectiveness. More here: https://bit.ly/UplandConsulting

15.01.2022 "Management is doing things right; leadership is doing the right things." Peter F. Drucker Grow and develop your leadership skills with Iain Massey and the Upland Consulting team. More here: https://bit.ly/UplandConsulting... #UplandConsulting #UpscalingSouthWestBusinessLeaders #businessconsultant #familybusiness #leadership

12.01.2022 Too many of the business owners I was speaking to were way off readiness for a board, or even an advisory board. The challenge for most of these good people was to achieve growth not necessarily world domination, but maybe enough to get their weekends back, to have a hope of finding a buyer, to employ a helper, or to have something viable to hand on to the next generation. Read more: https://bit.ly/ExtensionNotPivot

09.01.2022 GM Emma Fishburn and CEO Iain Massey give you a great 10 minutes of how they helped grow exceptional business leaders in the South West. Grow your business: https://bit.ly/UplandConsulting #UplandConsulting #UpscalingSouthWestBusinessLeaders

09.01.2022 Successful business leaders frequently acknowledge the role of mentoring in their success. Sir Richard Branson put it like this: Ask any successful businessperson and, if they are honest about it, they will almost certainly admit to having benefited from the advice of a mentor Even if your business ambitions are modest, the stark fact is you don’t, won’t and can’t know everything it takes to reach the business success you desire. Everyone (as in everyone) needs help to make it. Learn more: https://bit.ly/UplandConsulting

06.01.2022 Introducing the new Upland.com.au We are very excited for the launch of our new and refreshed website! We've given our online home a complete makeover, and we think you will love it as much as we do.... Head on over and have a little peruse then be sure to let us know what you think Learn more: https://bit.ly/UplandConsulting

04.01.2022 Henry Ford once said, "If everyone is moving forward together, then success takes care of itself." For business consultancy: https://bit.ly/UplandConsulting

02.01.2022 Here’s a quick story from a large study. The Business Development Bank of Canada (motto: Entrepreneurs First) did a large survey over many years of businesses that had, and had not, some form of advisory structure helping the owner/managers. An advisory structure (Peer Magic more than qualifies) turns out to be incredibly powerful. I mean powerful as in an average threefold increase in the rate of business growth.... For this business owner, a study participant, it pretty much saved her business:

02.01.2022 Recently I had 60 seconds to tell my audience about what I do. I decided to focus on one topic, and I chose director qualities. I came up with 4.5. What would be your list? Here’s mine. It strikes me that the common ground is balance. All board work calls for dynamic balance: not a static stable point, but equilibrium in a shifting environment.... A bit like riding a bike; I guess you found as I did that having achieved a point of balance so you and the bike stay upright, you immediately have to adjust again. So good director qualities involve a balance, but always a dynamic one. Read More: https://bit.ly/DirectorBalance

02.01.2022 Recently we spoke with a board chairman about a decision that the board had made, and regretted. Several of the members now felt it had not been the best decision at the time, and should be reversed if the opportunity came. We were curious (as usual) about the process that had led to this decision, taken unanimously, but now in doubt. How did that board of intelligent people, deliberating carefully, get itself into this position? What lesson could they, and others, learn a...bout making better decisions? We concluded that the board had allowed itself to be unwittingly caught up in what has been called the illusion of confidence. It’s one of those cognitive biases we come equipped with; they take a lot of self-awareness to detect and manage. In this case, one of the directors had special charge of the matter in discussion, and had expressed a view with a very strong level of confidence and conviction. We have a bias towards giving undue weight to opinions that are expressed with great confidence, and that’s exactly what happened. The other directors allowed themselves to be swayed by the style, more than the logic. Here’s a much-neglected tip for good decision-making: attend to the process just as carefully as you do to the subject of the decision. We work with boards of all sizes and kinds, on process, effectiveness and governance. Contact me for a chat about whether I can help you.