To celebrate International Women’s Day, Rachael Robertson – Antarctic expedition leader, Australia’s most in-demand female speaker and executive advisor, has officially released her new book, Respect Trumps Harmony.
Rachael, the ‘accidental adventurer’, endured the world’s most extreme workplace as she led a team of 18 strangers in the wilderness of Antarctica in 2005. Rachael has paired powerful insights from this unique experience with 15 years of leadership and consultation to major brands such as PWC, Bunnings Warehouse, Telstra, Rural Fire Service, Westpac and CBA to provide evidence-based, proven and easy-to-implement tools in Respect Trumps Harmony.
Rachael Robertson says, “In Antarctica, I was faced with turning a group of diverse individuals into a high-performing team. So, I set about developing a culture that would allow us to speak up, speak out, raise issues, deal with them and move on. Upon my return, I started presenting my learnings and providing solutions for common workplace or leadership challenges to over 1,500 corporations. It intrigued me that across these teams – corporate teams, public sector, not-for-profit, schools, volunteer groups – their challenges were the same.”
She continues, “We all agree that diversity is great, and the evidence is unequivocal, that it most certainly has an impact on the bottom line. But, as our teams get more diverse, we won’t always see eye-to-eye, we won’t always agree on things. So, how do we create a culture where that’s OK? How do we encourage debate and robust discussion? How do we address issues directly and professionally?”
To answer this, Rachael surveyed almost 200 teams, across different industries, who had implemented her three main tools –
- No Triangles – a tool to stop gossip, improve accountability and quality of feedback, and drive innovation.
- Bacon Wars – a gentle circuit breaker for calling out dysfunctional behavior.
- Lead without a title – how to develop personal leadership in your team, so that responsibility and initiative is shared.
These tools, discussed in her book, are the three pillars that hold up the ‘Respect Trumps Harmony’ culture. From this research, 100% of respondents cited that these tools improved morale, 89% said a culture of No Triangles had a significant impact on productivity (freeing up to 1 hour a day), 89% said it reduces gossip, 97% said it improves the quality and timeliness of feedback, and 100% said the tools made their teams more creative and innovative.
Rachael also aims to show you why the highest performing teams are those that let go of harmony and focus on respect, diversity of opinions and difficult conversations – all in the service of creating remarkable results. The book is a must read for anyone who wants to build resilient, adaptable and high-performing teams and maximise the benefits of personal differences.
Rachael concludes, “When a team strives for only harmony, three things happen: poor behaviour continues, innovation is stifled, and people turn a blind eye to safety and risk concerns. We don’t all have to love each other, in fact we don’t even have to like each other, but we do need to treat each other with respect. Because Respect Trumps Harmony, every time.”
Respect Trumps Harmony is published by Wiley and is now available to purchase nationwide. RRP $24.95. Visit https://www.rachaelrobertson.com.au for a full list of stockists and further information on Rachael Robertson and the book.
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