The IMNZ Summit has wrapped up for another year! We’d like to share some of the key takeaways and learnings from the event with you.
Key takeaways from the event
1. The first mistake leaders make is waiting until it’s raining to fix the roof: Organizational culture is what will get you and your people through the tough times and you can’t build culture overnight. It takes time, so don’t wait until things get tough to start building culture, as a leader you need to work on it constantly. – David Downs
2. Shut up and listen: One of my biggest learnings has been that as a leader you don’t need to be the smartest person in the room but you do need to listen, listen, listen… Don’t throw ideas and solutions around until you really understand how you can help. – Arash Tayebi
3. My job is as much about influence as it is about command and control: Persuasion and clear communication lead to better long-term results than barking orders. – Patrick Crewdson
4. People are the only thing that can create value in our business: Tools are commoditised, software is commoditised… it’s actually the people on our team that will create the value and help us reach our goals. – Kristen Lunman
5. People will follow your soul before your goal: Successful teams need everybody. Once we understand that everybody is valued, we can enable ourselves to move forward positively. – Gilbert Enoka
6. Leaders are responsible for creating constructive and diverse cultures within teams: Gone are the days when a CE or a leadership team sits on the top floor and aren’t visible to their teams. – Carmen Bailey
7. Be rooted in your why as a team: Humans tend to overcomplicate things, we add model, upon model, upon framework to the point where nobody actually understands what we’re saying but everyone just nods and smiles. If you root yourself in your why then your team will be inclusive, people will be encouraged to bring their whole selves to work, and you’ll build an environment where everyone feels confident to share their thoughts and opinions. – Ezekiel Raui
8. Quite often the times when you want to run a mile, put your head under the duvet covers and not face a situation – That’s the time when you need to lead your team from the front: In times like these, your people want you to not only be visible to them, but accessible too. It’s really natural for people to feel powerless and worried in tough times. But what you can do is build a sense of control. – Suzi McAlpine
9. It lifts the whole tide if you invest in your people first: Your whole role is to bring out the best in your people and not just to do your own work super well. When people feel genuinely cared-for, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that they’re more motivated at work. – Helen Carter
