TRAC Newsletter

"For a man to carry on a successful business, he must have imagination. He must see things as in a vision, a picture or dream of the whole thing." - Charles M Schwab

Upcoming Events

Best Year Yet Program (Dates TBA)

Best Year Yet Program - Leader Training (Dates TBA)

Great Corporate Race - Public (Open) (27 Apr 2007)

Advanced Facilitator Training (30 Apr - 2 May 2007)

TAA-04 Bridging Course (21 - 25 May 2007)

2007 Visionary Leadership Program (18 - 20 Oct 2007)

Advanced Facilitator Training (24 - 26 Oct 2007)

Dear Valued Client

Welcome to the March 2007 edition of TRAC Consulting’s “Learning Frontiers” Newsletter. Already 2007 has been a hectic yet rewarding year. We have enjoyed a mix of training, business development, consultancy and Best Year Yet projects.

2007 Launch of the Great Corporate Race

On Thursday, 22nd February 2007 TRAC Consulting, in collaboration with Quad Park Events and Caloundra Tourism, launched the Great Corporate Race (GCR) as part of the Sunshine Coasts very first NRL pre season game between the Manly Sea Eagles and the Melbourne Storm.

The Race was a huge success and all participating teams have provided positive feedback, particularly with reference made to the high level of professionalism provided throughout the event. To quote Emma Jones from Caloundra City Council “An action packed, thrill seeking, team building adventure” … “An absolutely incredible day, and I am blessed to have been part of it, Thank you.”

Players from the Manly Sea Eagles also lended their support by participating in the race, which was a great bonus for not only the participants but also the GCR. Feedback received from the players was “One of the best events we have ever participated in.”

Local and interstate media picked up on the event with many of the activities and venues associated with the event well represented. We would like to thank the following venues and suppliers who made this event possible – Aussie World, Australia Zoo, AVIS, Big Kart Track, Bunnings Caloundra, Cloud Nine Water, Club Pelican Golf, Hyatt Regency Coolum, Quad Park, Smart Stitch, STEALTH Marketing & Design, Telstra, The Natural Foodstore, The Silver Bream, Underwater World, Zone 3 and The Solutions Network Australia.

There were 9 teams competing on the day consisting of Caloundra City Council, PMM Sunshine Coast, Caloundra RSL, Hyatt Regency Coolum, Best Year Yet and Telstra Country Wide. The overall winner was PMM Sunshine Coast, Caloundra City Council second and the Best Year Yet team third, congratulations to all!

Profits generated through the Great Corporate Races support the Solutions Network Australia - Start A Fresh project which provides Crisis Accommodation, Training, Education, and Therapeutic Interventions to Youth in Crisis on the Sunshine Coast. The perfect event, building stronger communities through corporate social responsibility!

We look forward to organising the next GCR and continue to build strong relationships within the Sunshine Coast Community. With the support of local businesses our goal is to develop the product (GCR) as one of this regions most sought after tourism based events and conferencing tools and in doing so providing much needed funds to support the work of the Solutions Network. If you would like to receive information about participating in a Great Corporate Race Event or would like to include your venue as a checkpoint in an upcoming event please phone TRAC Consulting on 07 5494 7102.

Best Year Yet

2007 is looming up to be our Best Year Yet largely due to the expansion of this division within our business. In late January, seven new BYY program leaders joined the TRAC team and are now very active across ALL of Queensland demonstrating and advocating the Best Year Yet System. With many corporate clients looking at and seeing the value of this powerful Business Development and Performance Management tool, everyone within our team is keeping busy. The Caloundra City Enterprises and Caloundra Futures Forum delegates participated in a one and half day project planning forum using the Best Year Yet system last weekend. The outcome was five very significant projects to be undertaken by the forum that will benefit the whole of the region. Further information about the CFF projects will be announced in the coming week or so.

Detailed information about the Best Year Yet system can be found by following the BYY link on TRAC’s website at www.tracc.com.au.

As promised in our last newsletter we will, over the next few issues of “Learning Frontiers”, introduce our newsletter community to our NEW Best Year Yet program leaders. We are pleased to introduce…

Scott Estrich

Business Name - BushLab
Address - 5/17 Margit Crescent, Sunshine Beach Q 4567
Email - scott@bushlab.com
Website - www.bushlab.com
Phone - (0403) 404 492

Benefits of the Best Year Yet Team Program

"A truly unique system that transforms any team to be highly self-directed in managing their own accountability and relationships"

Benefits of the Best Year Yet Personal Program

"Gain direction and momentum towards the things that really count in your life and your success!"

Tim Saville

Benefits of the Best Year Yet Program

Whether you're an individual or a team, BYY will create the environment for you to succeed. Alignment, common goals and accountability the trade marks of the Best Year Yet program.

Caloundra Futures Forum

TRAC Consulting was invited to join the Caloundra Futures Forum by CCE Chief Executive Mr. Ross Haby late in 2006. TRAC’s nomination was accepted by the CCE board in January 2007 and has provided TRAC with an opportunity to work with other key regional business and public utilities in defining and advocating the regions future.

One of the CFF’s primary objectives is to promote Caloundra as “A vibrant community with an outstanding quality of life, a place of great natural beauty and cultural significance, educational excellence, entrepreneurial people and world-class businesses”.

TAA-04 Bridging Course

TRAC recently conducted its first TAA-04 Training and Assessment Bridging Course at Geelee’s Conference Room on Lake Kawana from the 5-9th February. With a great diversity and high quality of delegates the program was an outstanding success.

With delegates coming from Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne and our own Sunshine Coast the group worked tirelessly on project work, role-plays and case studies all week. We pushed and stretched them to cram a myriad of mandatory training and assessment requirements into the week and they have all come out the other end with flying colours.

Feedback forms suggested that ALL delegates were wrapped with the program, the experiential approach to delivery and the great venue on Lake Kawana. A special plug to Linda and her team at Geelee’s, these ladies always go out of their way to make sure our events deliver on the promise, the food is sensational and the conference room and its supporting AV equipment probably as good as any on the coast. Thanks ladies, another commendable effort!

TRAC’s next TAA-04 Bridging Course is scheduled for May 21st – 25th (5 Days).

This Month's Learning Strategy

Character - your internal makeup, your personal DNA. To develop a stronger sense of character, get to know yourself - assess, evaluate and correct.

Capacity - your mental ability to conceive or perceive. Internalize and lead a concept until it is expressed through your vision. The company's results are your feedback.

Credibility - your personal integrity, a mirror of your actions as opposed to your words.

Courage - the inner strength required to overcome obstacles and move your business towards your vision.

Communication - the ability to translate your vision into words and actions.

Of these five qualities, on a scale of 1-10 with 1 being low, and ten being very competent how do you rate yourself? What will you do to increase your capacity in all of these areas?

Character Rating:
Action:

Capacity Rating:
Action:

Credibility Rating:
Action:

Courage Rating:
Action:

Communication Rating:
Action:

Communication As A Leader

In the "5 C's of Leadership" we list communication as being an integral part of effective leadership. Becoming proficient at the following 3 communication skills will have a positive impact on your effectiveness as a leader.

1. Power Of Questions

We've grown up in a society that tells as opposed to asks. A good example of this would be parent / child relationship. It's not uncommon to hear a parent say, "I'm the parent and I'll tell you what to do." The problem with this type of interaction is that the parent isn't allowing the child to be involved in the action or decision-making process.

Many managers are still in the parent / child model telling their staff what to do under the guise of leadership. The inherent problem with this style of behaviour is that there is no committed inspired behaviour because the employee was not a participant in the decision making process. The power of questioning allows the strategic side of the brain to think. When asked open -ended questions, the brain is stimulated to come up with an answer. For example:

This type of questioning leads to self-directed action, putting the responsibility and accountability where it belongs - back on the person expected to do the action.

2. Accountability - Through Action!

Following is a series of powerful questions you can use with your team to get accountability.

3. Inquiry to Solution

In our society, we are also conditioned to look at problems, not solutions. People tend to complain about what's not working. Typically, when someone is complaining there is an unspoken request or need, his or her orientation is to focus on the problem, not the solution. Your job as their leader is to lead them to solutions. Appropriate questions could be… "What do you need to help you get the job done, or, Is there something you need to ask for?"

The goal of an effective leader is to recondition your team to be solution focused rather than problem focused.

This article was prepared by:

Loral Langemeier, author, speaker and founder of "Live Out Loud". She is a pioneer in financial coaching who empowers people to build wealth and achieve financial success. To find out more about special pricing on Loral's best-selling programs including Expression of Your Power, Building Your Wealth Cycles, and Building, Leading & Protecting Your Business, click this link.

In Closure

That's about it for another month... don't forget to review the upcoming professional development workshops on our events calendar or by following the links above.

As a closing thought, this quote from Jim Rohn seemed appropriate, "The worst days of those who enjoy what they DO are better than the best days of those who don't".

Those of you who know us well at TRAC know we live by the Charles Kovess's 3P's - Passionate People Produce. Enjoy what you’re doing, look forward to everyday and enjoy being you!

We trust that you found this months information useful and we look forward to communicating with you again in the near future. Until then …

Yours for the future,

Mark & Jeanette Jones
Directors – TRAC Consulting
“Maximising Human Potential”
www.tracc.com.au