Chancellor's leadership honoured

Do leaders who encourage ‘fun’ in their workplaces get the best results from their teams?

Deakin’s new Chancellor, John Stanhope, certainly thinks so and now he’s helping a Business PhD candidate to put that notion to the test.

Acknowledged as a Member of the Order of Australia (AM, General Division) in this year’s Queen’s Birthday Honours list for his significant service to the financial and national communication sectors through leadership, John is passionate about great leadership and exceptional customer experience.

John said that throughout each of his numerous leadership roles in organisations including Australia Post - where he is still chairman of the Board - and Telstra, he has encouraged his employees to enjoy their work.

"We spend a lot of time at work, in fact we spend far more of our conscious lives at work than we do with our partners," Mr Stanhope said, "so we ought to have some fun."

"When leaders encourage having some fun, it’s amazing how much more productive people are. It’s amazing how much more loyal they are to you as a leader. It’s amazing how they actually just listen to you more because they think, this person’s actually real.

"We often talk about authenticity, and obviously being authentic’s important, but authentic with fun is even better."

The John Stanhope PhD Scholarship in Leadership, Deakin Business School

John has taken this idea a step further, donating a three-year, PhD scholarship through Deakin’s Business School for a candidate who is undertaking a project looking at the impact of leader humour in organisations.

Citing the example of Richard Branson, who spoke at a World Business Forum Mr Stanhope attended last month, he said the success of the Virgin philosophy centred on fun and humour.

"They encourage their people to be humorous and have some fun and it’s created a Virgin culture that is appealing to customers and delivering a good customer experience.

"When you get on board you can feel the culture and the warmth. He’s a good case study. His staff see him jumping out of planes and they think he’s our leader and he’s fun."

Not planning to jump out of planes any time soon, John’s sense of fun extends to playing music with his friends.

"I still jam with a few guys and I do the Airey’s Inlet Open Mic Festival every year, get up on stage and make a fool of myself singing and playing drums. The Eagles, 70s and 80s stuff; real music. We used to play around the pubs in Geelong."

While his musical preferences might be a little ‘old school’, John is completely forward-looking in business and innovation, particularly around preparing students to meet the real needs of potential employers.

"Things are moving so fast with all sorts of disruption. People talk about digital disruption but there’s business model disruption. In Australia Post for example, a customer’s definition of convenience has changed four times in four years. So what’s important is an anticipatory culture, anticipating changes in customer behaviours.

"Many organisational cultures are ‘this is how we work’, we trade on our brand and that’ll get us through, but it is important to always have customer insight and foresight.

"That’s what’s so good about Deakin. I love this university because we’re young, agile, the people in the university are prepared to make change, to embrace change, and it does have an anticipatory culture. This university listens to its customers and moves, changes."

John said recent meetings had given him and the Vice-Chancellor the opportunity to listen to employers’ thoughts about whether ‘our students are really jobs ready’.

"The Vice-Chancellor and I listened and now we’re going through breakfasts with those same employers and telling them we listened and here’s what we’re doing to address their needs.

"And we need that sort of anticipatory culture for the country too. Leaders have to drive an anticipatory and creative problem solving culture."

John explained that leaders can ask their employees to be innovative, to be customer-centric, problem solvers, but that good leadership is also about asking the right questions.

"There’s 4400 post offices in Australia from the bigger ones to the smaller ones. At Australia Post, we asked employees what will those post offices be doing and what will they look like in five-years time now that we are managing the decline in letters and the rise in parcels.

"We had some fantastic, creative ideas ranging from drone centres to 3D print centres and all sorts of things.

"The point I’m making is, as has always been the case, good leaders ask the right questions, and have fun. You gotta have fun."

Leadership recognised

John Stanhope was invested as Chancellor of Deakin in February for a five-year term after serving on Deakin University’s Council since 2012. He also received an Alumni Lifetime Achievement Award from the university last year.

Along with his professional achievements as Chairman at Australia Post, CFO at Telstra and Director at AGL to name a few, Mr Stanhope’s extensive leadership has been recognised through the Member of the Order of Australia (AM) award.

Deakin Vice-Chancellor Professor Jane den Hollander congratulated Mr Stanhope on behalf of the university community on the award of his AM.

"Deakin is delighted Mr Stanhope has been acknowledged at the highest level for his contribution. This recognition is very-well deserved," Professor den Hollander said.

"Mr Stanhope’s contribution extends across the nation in many ways, as his leadership has had an impact on a variety of important sectors."

John has extensive experience in governance, finance, accounting and business strategy. He was Chief Financial Officer and Group Managing Director, Finance and Administration with Telstra Corporation from 2003 to 2011 and was an Executive Director of Telstra from 2009 to 2011.

He has held numerous company directorships and has been a Director of AGL Energy Limited since 2009 and Chairman of the Bionics Institute since May 2012. In November 2012 he was appointed Chairman of Australia Post. He is also the current Chairman of the Melbourne International Jazz Festival.

John is a Fellow of the Institute of Company Directors, CPA Australia, Chartered Accountants Australia and New Zealand, the Australian Institute of Management and the Human Resources Management Institute. He is also a former Deputy Chair of the Deakin Council’s Investment Committee and a former member of its Finance and Business Affairs Committee, as well as a Deakin Alumnus and previous student representative on the Deakin Council.