I had a great time debating with my colleague Megan (Employee Experience Manager – an HR professional) about what engagement means at RedBalloon – she has developed and documented all the things we do – and Matt in our corporate team is getting ready to share that with the world. Here are some points from a webinar that my colleague Emma sent me on the same topic I have added the RedBalloon view of the world in italics: Engagement is…
I remembering hearing once “if you win the rat race – you are still a rat”. Not sure why that pops to mind as begin to explore the process of becoming a director on a publicly listed company. “If you can’t beat them join them” might be more apt. I have discovered some interesting things already on the journey to holding another directorship. The women I know who hold paid board roles – have unanimously encouraged me to join their…
One of the questions I am often asked is ‘How do you do it?’ – or ‘what is your magic bullet on employee engagement?’ I have blogged regularily on what has worked for RedBalloon, but as one attendees after last nights ‘TheHIVE’ event declared ‘all businesses are not like RedBalloon, selling fabulous experiences. How do I know if the business I work in is capable of engagement?’ – Great question. I was so glad I had a quick answer for…
1. What effort is involved to transition non-attached employees back to attached, if it is at all possible. Re-establishing trust takes time – often years but is the essential ingredient to engagement. This must be achieved consistently. Leadership needs earn trust and a great way to do that is simply notice what people contribute. Often the hardest question to answer is: Is the effort it will take to re-establish, trust worth the reward for the organisation? Sometimes there are very…
On Friday it was time to farewell an original RedBallooner – Sarah was with us in the very early days – and has seen the business grow from 9 people to its present 50. She has caught the entrepreneurial bug and started her own show a named ‘Lady Bug’ as a fully fledged interior designer. As I listened to Sarah’s farewell words, I felt so very very fortunate, knowing that every person at RedBalloon is what makes our culture. We…
Many businesses are busily planning for the new financial year. We are no different. We have our heads down, reviewing our performance, gathering data and imagining what next year will be like. And the team of course is who we are counting on to deliver the plan. (Business is a people sport after all.) As an employer of choice our people plan is a critical part to the success of RedBalloon. I urge business leaders to make sure that they…
My colleague Sarah joined RedBalloon on April Fools Day in 2004 – she is fast approaching her five year anniversary. With any special occasion it gives us a moment to reflect. I’m sure Sarah could share much better than I about the changes she has experienced at RedBalloon…and the ones she has championed. She was the RedBallooner who coined the name ‘Pleasure Relations’ for instance. One thing that has not changed at RedBalloon is our values and how we celebrate…
I was coming back from holidays in late January – sitting on an aircraft from Hong Kong to Sydney and the flight attendant handed me an A4 envelope. As I opened the package – my son asked me ‘Do you know everyone on the planet?’ – ‘Not quite’ said I. I had been asked to be a panelist for the eXcel ‘Peoples Choice’ awards at Qantas. The package delivered was a dossier of the final citations ie the letters from…
Imagine running a business based on fun - that's what I decided to try when I left a very serious corporate career in marketing to set up RedBalloon...
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A simple story in recognition.
Over the past 10 years RedBalloon has had many members of the team leave the business often to run their own show, travel, take on study or leave to work elsewhere. RedBalloon has been part of their personal journey, part of their learning, development and education – we have impacted and supported them. And in return they have appreciated being part of RedBalloon. On a personal level we are often sad to say good-bye given that we experience so much…