Hunter Business Chamber

Business Development Forum - Fit for Life Fit for Business

In my line of work in the Health & Leisure industry, I’m always very eager to assist people of all walks of life with achieving and sustaining an improved lifestyle balance. The opportunity to share some handy tips with a very select and well established group of successful business people is always a very worthwhile use of my time. The intrinsic nature of people like you is to be driven, focused, determined and results oriented, it is indeed you people who often fail to take good care of ‘Number 1’!

Whether you’re looking to compete in the next ‘City to Surf’; just feel tops; able to match your kid’s energy levels or just get through your day without undue fatigue. Hopefully you were able to find something constructive to work towards from the content in “Fit for Life/Fit for Business”.

Balance means being in control and comfortable with your choices, there is no “one size fits all” formula and your balance will vary on a daily basis. Remind yourself everyday to recognise the necessity to Achieve and find Enjoyment across the core areas of your world. Ensure you invest you energies into positive and fulfilling activities and know to limit your exposure to those things that sap your enthusiasm.

Be kind to yourself by moving your body, providing it premium fuel and incorporating adequate “you” time each day. You will positive gear every facet of your life!

Katie McHugh
Corporate Health Coordinator
Newcastle University Sport

Click Here to view Katie's presentation

Katie McHugh presented this topic on Wednesday 15 July and will be available to answer questions regarding the topic until Friday 17 July. We would also encourage you to use this blog after this time to discuss the topic and/or share experiences.

Business Development Forum - Fit for Life Fit for Business

In my line of work in the Health & Leisure industry, I’m always very eager to assist people of all walks of life with achieving and sustaining an improved lifestyle balance. The opportunity to share some handy tips with a very select and well established group of successful business people is always a very worthwhile use of my time. The intrinsic nature of people like you is to be driven, focused, determined and results oriented, it is indeed you people who often fail to take good care of ‘Number 1’!

Whether you’re looking to compete in the next ‘City to Surf’; just feel tops; able to match your kid’s energy levels or just get through your day without undue fatigue. Hopefully you were able to find something constructive to work towards from the content in “Fit for Life/Fit for Business”.

Balance means being in control and comfortable with your choices, there is no “one size fits all” formula and your balance will vary on a daily basis. Remind yourself everyday to recognise the necessity to Achieve and find Enjoyment across the core areas of your world. Ensure you invest you energies into positive and fulfilling activities and know to limit your exposure to those things that sap your enthusiasm.

Be kind to yourself by moving your body, providing it premium fuel and incorporating adequate “you” time each day. You will positive gear every facet of your life!

Katie McHugh
Corporate Health Coordinator
Newcastle University Sport

Click Here to view Katie's presentation

Katie McHugh presented this topic on Wednesday 15 July and will be available to answer questions regarding the topic until Friday 17 July. We would also encourage you to use this blog after this time to discuss the topic and/or share experiences.

Business Development Forum - Your Bank as Your Business Partner

It was interesting talk for an accountant to be talking about creating a partnership with your bank.  Most people forget that accountant’s talk about money most days of their working life, so we have a lot in common with banker’s.

My presentation wasn’t about giving certain banks / financial institutions a hard time and shaming them about interest rate rises.  It was about how has the Australian finance market has changed since the worldwide credit crunch of September 2008. 

The key message of my presentation was that finance market’s like relationship change over time.  How you handle this current charge in The Australian finance market will go a long way to determining how your business will operate over the coming 12 months.

Good luck is creating a great partnership with your banker.  Remember they are human too and they care a lot about what happened to their small business customer’s.

Ross Taggart  

Open the Presentation by Ross Taggart Here

Ross will be answering your questions so please post them below.

Business Development Forum - Workplace Relations and Your Business

I don’t want to be controversial - dammit: yes I do!  I think that taken overall the Labor’s major IR changes will probably be a good thing.  Some things will be (deservedly) unpopular and difficult but my experience in IR over a long time (and far too many major shifts in both State and Federal legislation) is that balance is everything.

“WorkChoices” had some good things in it: e.g. the limitations on industrial action; and some of the changes to the unfair dismissal regime (although it simply ignored the real problems and just cut some employers out of the system, leaving those still in with the same old bad system).

But overall, it was too unbalanced in favour of employers and created a lack of trust in the system.  It favoured employers who were prepared to indulge in poor people management practices at the expense of those who wanted to build their businesses by building solid, productive relationships with their employees.  It favoured the short-term “fix” at the expense of long-term strength (and doesn’t that remind you of the descriptions of why the world is in the middle of the greatest financial crisis since the Great Depression?

The legislation was also cumbersome and almost impossible to read- and that from someone who has been reading IR legislation for over 20 years.

But back to balance.  In my experience, the right balance as between the rights and obligations of both employers and employees will foster:
• trust that each side of the equation can expect equitable treatment;
• reduce the scope for the worst excesses of a small minority of parties on both sides of the fence;
• promote stability for long-term planning and growth;
• make it easier for good employers to build stable and productive relationships with their workers.

All of these things are critical to long-term prosperity and security for both capital and labour.  I think that is particularly important at the moment and will be even more so once we start to come out of the current maelstrom, as we will in a couple of years.

I don’t think the balance is perfect by any means, and the legislation is still complex (although it is certainly an improvement).  What do you think?  
 
I look forward to your thoughts via this blog – it will help me provide you with a better service and make all of us think.  If you would like some advice or help with something specific to your business, call me or send me an email. 

Cheers, Greg Kerr

Business Development Forum - Developing your team to manage change

As I mentioned in my address at the Chamber Breakfast, building and maintaining effective teams requires excellent and clear communication.
Talking around and around in circles, or attempting to be overly clever can often work against a team leader by frustrating and annoying the team members.

Because the team environment can fluctuate – Forming, Storming, Norming and Performance, it is vital that the team leader ‘take the temperature’ of the team on a regular basis. This is best done by being available to and regularly interacting with the team – avoiding communication by memo and email where possible, but instead having face to face conversations with individuals and groups.

Teams are known to be an effective means of organisation, and are often an excellent way to spread the workload, responsibilities, create innovation and make the workday more enjoyable. If you are a team or organisational leader, then how well this happens is up to you!

I look forward to being of assistance to you via this blog – or if there is something that needs more private discussion, drop me an email or pick up the phone.  Cheers, Gary

Gary Eaton, Mills-Eaton Training presented this topic on Wednesday 11 March and will be available to answer questions regarding the topic until Friday 13 March. We would also encourage you to use this blog after this time to discuss the topic and/or share experiences.

Update, blog will be extended until Tuesday 17 March. Mills-Eaton are having some IT complications and will read your comments and answer your questions as soon as they are back online. Thanks for your patience.

Business Development Forum - 11th February 2009

Guest Speaker:  Brendan Tobin, Sparke Helmore
Topic:  Be carbon ready and increase the half life of your business

Brendan is a Senior Associate in Sparke Helmore's Energy and Resources team. Brendan has been instrumental in driving Sparke Helmore's campaign to reduce power consumption. Brendan specialises in environmental law and is currently advising clients in relation the implications of the proposed Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme and the mandatory greenhouse reporting obligations. Brendan will give an overview Sparke Helmore's reduction of their carbon footprint implementation and be discussing how the CPRS regulatory changes are indirectly affecting the legal obligation of small to medium sized enterprises.

Click here for further information & RSVP

CONTACTS WITH CHINESE BUSINESS

The Hunter Business Chamber has been approached by Chinese company A&C International Group seeking expressions of interest in Chinese investment in Australian business. Interested companies can obtain details through the following contact:

Tong West

Director

A&C International Group

PH: (+612)4956 9051 (+8610)6858 2539

MOB: (+61) 0415 353 667 (+86)135 5253 5760

MSN:tongwest@hotmail.com

The Chamber is organising an official briefing with this company which will be advertised in the near future.

Peter Shinnick

CEO

Healthy Business

Hunter Business Chamber has partnered with Newcastle University Sport (NUsport) and its team at The Forum to introduce a way that is expected to save business owners lots of money by getting them healthy.

It will help local business people understand and adopt ways that reduce health and wellness risks to themselves and their employees.

If just one person in an organisation removes a risk factor in their life - let’s say reducing body fat, reducing stress, lowering their cholesterol or alcohol use - then that business can save $500 each year in absenteeism and non-productive time.

Establishing a corporate wellness program in workplaces has long been considered the privilege of larger businesses but through this cooperative initiative we hope to show that even the one and two person sized business can access and maintain a practical approach to health and business.

The Healthy Business program developed by the team at The Forum will start on 4 August and will include the participation of 8 Chamber members in an eight week program.

The Forum CEO, Samantha Martin-Williams, said that the Healthy Business program was strongly outcome focussed.

‘The team at The Forum supported by the University will provide ongoing assessments and research,’ she said.

‘It will also provide information and fitness programs that can help participants and the wider business community with ways that reduce health and wellness risks in their own and their employee’s lives,’ she said.

Over the eight week program participants will access healthy heart checks, body composition checks, fitness programs, information and education programs that will help them get healthy and remain that way in their personal and working lives. During the program the Chamber and The Forum will make information and health tips available to the wider business community.

I encourage you to come and read the comments on this blog of the participants as they progress through their program.

Karen Howard
President

Welcome

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