BUSINESS CAPABILITY WORKSHOP – 10 FEBRUARY 2021
Ashley Baldry, High Performance Profiling
General manager Kevin O’Leary welcomed attendees to Business North Harbour’s (BNH’s) first event of the year and expressed the hope that this workshop would help business owners to “shift the mindset of ‘surviving in 2020’ to ‘thriving in 2021′”.
Ash Baldry is a recognised authority in high performance across business and sport. He has been advising growth-minded business leaders for more than 20 years, and previously was proud to serve in the Royal Australian Infantry.
Since the event venue was North Shore Golf Club, it was appropriate that Ash began by holding up three clubs (a putter, a driver, and a wedge) and asked which one was the best. Even non-golfers could tell that the club should be matched to suit the circumstances of the shot – and so it is, said Ash, with team members and their duties and responsibilities.
He clarified that peak performance is a moment in time, for example, when Usain Bolt smashes the 100m world record. High performance is everything that has gone into creating that moment. It is the whole team’s ongoing efforts behind the scenes to achieve an exceptional result.
Ash asked attendees about the biggest challenge they were currently facing in their business. Three responses which particularly resonated in the room were:
- Trying to align individual’s goals with the business’ overall strategy and goals
- Recruiting “the right people”
- How to support staff whilst also getting the most productivity from them
He then introduced DISC, “the world’s most advanced behavioural system”, and highlighted a few of the natural styles and preferences of the D, I, S and C (and combination) personality types. He explained how identifying the key competencies of a role and those of a personality type can help to match the right person with the right job.
According to research, New Zealand overall is comprised (approximately) as follows:
- D = 10 per cent
- I = 32 per cent
- S = 33 per cent
- C = 25 per cent
Therefore, if an organisation is seeking to hire a D personality (perhaps to ramp up sales and drive the business forward), “you are fishing in a pretty small pond”.
Ash’s case studies gave context to the data, and demonstrated not only how DISC can assist with recruitment but also with team collaboration, change management, and ongoing people development.
He then welcomed a guest speaker, Yvonne van Nes, general manager of sales at Tegel Foods International. Yvonne had recently engaged Ash to assist with her team and confirmed that the results had been outstanding. Communication and performance had both improved not least because she is able to call upon her employees’ styles when assigning and managing projects. Yvonne also shared that her own DISC assessment had given her the courage to change career paths because, by understanding her own capabilities, she knew that she would not fail.
Kevin O’Leary concluded the event by asking “So what, now what?”, encouraging attendees to make use of the advice shared by Ash and Yvonne to benefit themselves, their teams and their businesses.
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