The Culture of Things

  Pip Scott-Allen is originally from Canada and now lives in the beautiful Hunter region of NSW. He is the Director and Lead Facilitator of Premier Team Building. Pip’s business is focused on corporate team building where he designs and facilitates custom team building events. He works with businesses of all sizes across NSW. Pip refers to his role as a facilitator of awesome with one goal - to make your team awesome! Instead of standing in front of you and preaching about how to motivate, how to be a creative problem solver, or how to deliver exceptional customer service, Pip prefers to play games to help people reach conclusions and experience real results! Pip has a love for the outdoors and adventure. This has seen him gather experience in a variety of roles covering ice and rock climbing, mountain expeditions, tree top walks, abseiling, survival skills as well as being an outdoor education leader at Canadian camps for school children. So, does team building get results? The focus of our conversation today is around team building activities and exploring this question - does team building get results?     If you have any questions for Brendan around this episode or generally around culture, leadership or teamwork, feel free to contact him here. ...

  Sala Takiveikata was born in Fiji and moved to Australia in 2010. Since coming to Australia, Sala has graduated with a Bachelor of Commerce from Macquarie University and is currently working to achieve the Certified Practising Accountant (CPA) qualification. She is also completing her Masters of Commerce at the University of Sydney Business School. Sala and I met through LinkedIn. When I spent some time talking with Sala, she shared some of her background and the level of adversity she has overcome. I was inspired by her positivity and strength, as well as what she terms 'the gift of adversity'. I felt a responsibility to bring Sala’s story to life. So today, that is what we are going to do. The focus of our conversation today is how we can harness the gift of adversity and use it as a strength to help us achieve in life...     If you have any questions for Brendan around this episode or generally around culture, leadership or teamwork, feel free to contact him here. ...

  Quang Nguyen is a man who values the time he spends with his family. He believes all business owners should be able to spend time with their families or for doing whatever it is that they love. Being a first-generation refugee, he has grown up doing his best to combine the opportunities and social norms that come with living in a western society while maintaining and preserving the Vietnamese culture that has been passed on to him. Quang is a jack of all trades and if you can name the job, he has probably worked in it at some point in his life. In wanting to give back to the education sector because it had taught him so much, he decided to be an educator. Within two years of teaching, Quang became an assistant principal and started to bring innovative practices into the classroom. After a conversation with his wife, Quang decided to pursue his other passions starting with his love of psychology and human behaviour. From there it evolved into what he does now, working with business owners so that they can utilise this vehicle to live the life that they had envisioned when they started the business. Through his business, QN Coaching & Training, Quang works with business owners to provide them with the time, space, insight and strategies to grow their businesses. Working with him is not about doing everything that everyone else is doing, it is about focusing on the one thing that will make the biggest impact in your business. Quang exclusively charges ...

  Are you born with resilience? Andrew Paton-Smith is the Founder and CEO of Jazoodle based in Wyong on our beautiful Central Coast. He is also a Non-Executive Director at Wyong Race Club where he has been part of the Directorship Team which has turned it into one of the top regional horse training and racing facilities in Australia. Jazoodle is a tech startup which Andrew founded in 2015. Jazoodle was recently selected as one of Australia's most promising high growth startups and as part of the UNSW Founders 10X Accelerator program. Jazoodle has a vision to become the world’s foremost resource for organisational success and financial wellbeing. It is a fantastic tool which helps SME businesses understand how the business is performing, what the business is likely to be worth, and what needs to be done to improve. Andrew started his career in the IT sector back in 2000 with Navigant International. He was a Regional Director based in the UK before moving to Australia to take up a role as Regional Director Asia Pacific. Prior to starting Jazoodle, he was also IT Director for Qantas Business Travel and General Manager of Business Solutions for Amadeus IT Group. Sadly, Andrew is also a West Ham United supporter. The focus of our conversation today is resilience...are you born with resilience?   ...

  Alex Dawson is a Senior Consultant for the Asia-Pacific region with RAIN Group, which is a global sales training and performance improvement company. His primary focus is working with companies to deliver profitable growth through impactful sales transformation programs. Alex also founded Positive Scenario in 2016, driven by his belief happiness is the key to personal and organisational success, and inspired by the findings of Shawn Achor and other thought leaders in positive psychology. Prior to founding Positive Scenario, Alex held many positions with Gartner, the world’s leading research and advisory firm. Over 15 years, he held national and regional roles in Brisbane, Hong Kong and Sydney. His many achievements ranged from turning low performing businesses into recognised top performers to establishing and growing successful new businesses. In his facilitation and consulting, Alex leverages his extensive international experience and many years of leading teams to world class performance. Using scientifically proven tactics and principles, he works with executives and leadership teams to enable positive cultural change that leads to major improvements in business results. The focus of our conversation today is developing a high performance sales culture...     If you have any questions for Brendan around this episode or generally around culture, leadership or teamwork, feel free to contact him here. ...

  Elizabeth Houghton is a seasoned HR professional with broad industry experience across FMCG, Manufacturing, Professional Services, Information Technology, Engineering, Motorsport and financial services. Her expertise in the HR Leadership space stretches across coaching, leadership development, learning solutions, recruitment and selection, performance management, talent management, change management, succession planning and people management. Elizabeth’s current role is People and Capability Business Partner at Dashing, which is a leader in the execution of retail campaigns offering design, technology and production services. They have 150+ staff based across Sydney, Melbourne and Shanghai. Elizabeth is also the Founder of Sutton Full Potential, which is a business focused on coaching the next generation of leaders and entrepreneurs. Her greatest satisfaction comes from inspiring people to think differently and to capitalise on the evolving world of work.  The focus of our conversation today is how to build organisational culture...   If you have any questions for Brendan around this episode or generally around culture, leadership or teamwork, feel free to contact him here. ...