BlueKite HR

Catie Paterson

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The Most Expensive Person in Your Business Isn’t Always the Most Obvious Problem

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The Most Expensive Person in Your Business Isn't Always the Most Obvious Problem

Filed Under: Advisory and compliance, Change management, Culture, External HR Support, HR essentials, Leadership

Day 21 of 31 Days of Better Workplaces —

There’s a particular kind of person in some small and medium businesses that the owner is aware of, uncomfortable about, and quietly protecting. They deliver. Their numbers are good. Clients like them — or at least clients never complain about them.

And everyone else on the team walks on eggshells around them. Including, if we’re being honest, the owner.

This is the toxic high performer. And the reason they’re so costly isn’t the behaviour itself — it’s what the behaviour does to everyone else.
What most SME leaders don’t realise is how much authority this person has accumulated outside the formal structure. Other team members have learned to read the room through them. Newer employees figure out the unwritten rules by watching how this person operates and what they can get away with. Their reaction to a business decision — an eye roll in a meeting, a dismissive comment in the kitchen — can quietly undermine more leadership communication than any formal initiative can build.
In short: they are often the real ideological centre of your workplace. The culture revolves around managing them, accommodating them, and working around the discomfort they create.
The performance case for keeping them has been made in your head many times. I understand it. But have you ever calculated the other side of the ledger? The people who left because of them. The ones who quietly reduce their output because ambition feels risky. The cost of a workplace where everyone performs compliance rather than genuine engagement.
Toxic high performers are a culture risk that shows up in the financials long before it shows up anywhere obvious.
Most businesses don’t act until there’s an incident they can’t ignore. By then, the culture has already been shaped around the problem.

 

Book your free 30-minute consulation at Blue Kite HR Consulting 

 

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Performance Management Myths Businesses Believe (and Why They’re Costly)

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Performance Management Myths SMEs Believe (and Why They're Costly)

Filed Under: Advisory and compliance, Culture, External HR Support, HR essentials, Leadership

Day 20 of 31 Days of Better Workplaces — let’s address some of the performance management beliefs that are actively making things worse for businesses.

 

Myth 1: “If I ignore it, it’ll sort itself out.” 

It won’t. Performance issues almost never resolve on their own. They either stabilise at an unsatisfactory level, continue to deteriorate, or spread — other team members notice the lack of accountability and draw their own conclusions about what standards apply.

 

Myth 2: “A PIP is just a way to build a case to fire someone.” 

A Performance Improvement Plan done properly is a genuine opportunity and a last resort — not a formality before termination. If you’re only ever creating PIPs as a step in an exit process, you’re using the tool wrong and you’re exposing the business to unfair dismissal risk.

 

Myth 3: “Good people don’t need feedback — they already know how they’re going.”

Your best performers benefit from feedback as much as, or more than, anyone else. They want to know what good looks like at the next level, where they can develop, and that their work is being noticed. Assuming they don’t need to hear it is how you lose them.

 

Myth 4: “We’re too small for formal processes — we just deal with things informally.”

Informal culture does not replace process. When an informal conversation doesn’t resolve an issue, or when an employee disputes what they were told, the business that has nothing documented has no position to stand on. You can be a small business with a warm culture AND have clear, documented processes. They’re not mutually exclusive.

 

Myth 5: “Performance management takes too much time.”

The investment in addressing a performance issue early — a few well-structured conversations over a few weeks — is a fraction of the time, cost, and distraction involved in managing a formal process, a resignation, or an unfair dismissal claim six months down the track.
The time argument for avoiding performance management is exactly backwards.

 

Book a free 30-minute consultation at Blue Kite HR Consulting 

 

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The Retention Conversation Has Changed. Here’s What Actually Makes Employees Stay — and Why Most Businesses Are Still Answering the Wrong Question.

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The Retention Conversation Has Changed. Here's What Actually Makes Employees Stay — and Why Most Businesses Are Still Answering the Wrong Question.

Filed Under: Advisory and compliance, Business Update, Culture, External HR Support, HR essentials, Leadership

Day 19 of 31 Days of Better Workplaces — retention is the topic most business owners come to me about. And most of them are focused on the wrong thing.

The assumption has been that retention is primarily about compensation. Pay people enough and they stay. Pay them less than a competitor and they leave.
That was never entirely true, and it’s less true now than it’s ever been.

 

What the research actually shows

McKinsey’s research on why employees leave identified the top drivers as: not feeling valued by the organisation, not feeling valued by their manager, and not having a sense of belonging. Compensation appeared lower on the list — not because it doesn’t matter, but because pay dissatisfaction is rarely the primary driver of resignation.
Gallup’s engagement research consistently finds that the quality of the manager-employee relationship is the most significant predictor of employee engagement and retention. People leave managers, not companies.

 

 

What’s shifted in the current labour market

The Covid-era “Great Resignation” and the sustained tightness in Australian labour markets have fundamentally reset employee expectations. Flexible work is no longer a perk — it’s a baseline expectation for most knowledge workers. Meaning and purpose at work matter more than previous generations reported. The expectation of transparency from leadership — about strategy, about challenges, about the future — has increased significantly.

 

What this means for businesses

The conversation about retention has to shift from “what do we pay” to “what is the experience of working here?”
Are your people growing? Do they know where they stand? Do they feel like their contribution matters? Is there a reason to stay beyond the salary?

 

What forward-thinking businesses are doing now

They’re running regular pulse surveys — not annual engagement surveys that take six months to action, but short, frequent temperature checks that enable rapid response.
They’re investing in manager capability as a retention lever — understanding that the quality of the direct manager relationship is the single most controllable variable in retention.
They’re being explicit about development pathways. Even in small businesses where there may not be a formal career ladder, people want to know they’re progressing. Creating learning opportunities, stretch assignments, and mentoring relationships is how you provide that in a small business context.
They’re offering flexibility with structure — not an unmanaged free-for-all, but a deliberate framework that gives people autonomy over when and how they work within clear boundaries.
The businesses that figure out retention now — before the next tight labour market, before their best people get a call from a competitor — are building a durable advantage.

Book a free 30-minute consultation at Blue Kite HR Consulting 

 

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Structured Onboarding: The Checklist That Sets New Hires Up to Succeed

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Structured Onboarding: The Checklist That Sets New Hires Up to Succeed

Filed Under: Advisory and compliance, Business Update, Culture, HR essentials, Leadership

Day 18 of 31 Days of Better Workplaces — today I’m giving you something practical: a structured onboarding checklist you can adapt for your own business.

We talked on Day 2 about the 90-day onboarding framework. Today is the operational detail — what actually needs to happen, and when.

 

Before Day One 

  • Employment contract signed and filed
  • Tax file number declaration, superannuation form completed
  • Payroll set up
  • IT access and equipment ready
  • First day schedule prepared and sent to the new starter
  • Team notified of the new person’s start, role, and first week plan
  • Buddy or mentor assigned

 

Day One

  • Personal welcome from their manager — not delegated to administration
  • Office / workspace tour and introductions
  • Access to systems confirmed and working
  • Review of the role, initial expectations, and first week priorities
  • Health and safety induction
  • Emergency procedures and workplace policies reviewed
  • Lunch with the team or manager

 

Week One

  • Daily check-in with direct manager
  • Introduction to key stakeholders and collaborators
  • First work assignment — meaningful, achievable, confidence-building
  • Access to any required training materials or systems

If this issue has made you think about your own business, there are practical steps you can take.

 

End of Week One

  • Conduct a quick debrief — how are they finding it, what questions do they have, what support do they need?

 

 

30-day Review 

  • Conduct a formal check-in conversation: how they’re settling in, early observations about the role, any gaps in support or informationPerformance check — tracking to expectations? Any development needs identified?

 

60-day Review

  • Performance check — tracking to expectations? Any development needs identified?

 

90-day Review 

  • End of probation assessment (where applicable)
  • Clear feedback on performance
  • Development plan for the next period
  • Confirmation of ongoing employment (or the conversation if it’s not working)
Save this list. Adapt it. Assign ownership for each item. An onboarding process only works if someone is accountable for it happening.

 

Book a free 30-minute consultation at Blue Kite HR Consulting

 

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Bullying and Harassment: Early Warning Signs Leaders Miss

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Bullying and Harassment: Early Warning Signs Leaders Miss

Filed Under: Advisory and compliance, Business Update, Culture, External HR Support, HR essentials, Leadership

Day 17 of 31 Days of Better Workplaces — bullying and harassment in the workplace aren’t always obvious. By the time a formal complaint is made, the situation has usually been building for a long time — and there were signs that, in hindsight, a leader could have acted on earlier.

Here are the warning signs that most managers miss:

 

Changes in team dynamics

Sudden shifts in who talks to whom. An individual who was previously engaged becoming quiet and withdrawn. Teams that previously collaborated becoming siloed or tense. These behavioural changes are often the first visible indicator that something is wrong.

 

Absenteeism and sick leave patterns

Frequent short-term absences — particularly on Mondays, or before and after specific events — can indicate that someone is avoiding a person or situation. A previously reliable employee who starts calling in sick regularly deserves a genuine check-in, not an assumption about work ethic.

 

The person who always needs to “check with” someone else

An employee who is capable of independent decision-making but consistently defers to or seeks approval from a specific colleague — sometimes excessively, sometimes anxiously — may be navigating a dynamic they haven’t felt safe to raise.

 

Complaints that don’t come through formal channels

Informal mentions — “so-and-so is a bit difficult to work with” or “I just try to avoid certain situations” — are often the only signal someone will give before they resign. Take them seriously and ask a second question.

 

High turnover in a specific team or under a specific manager

If people keep leaving one area of the business, and the business keeps attributing it to external factors, it’s worth looking at what those leavers have in common. Often the answer is a single person.

 

What to do when you see these signs

Don’t wait for a formal complaint. Have a quiet, private conversation. Create a safe space for someone to tell you what’s actually happening. You’re not launching an investigation — you’re doing your job as a leader, which includes paying attention.
Early intervention protects individuals, teams, and the business.

 

Book a free 30-minute consultattion at Blue Kite HR Consulting 

 

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5 Leadership Habits That Build High-Performing Teams

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5 Leadership Habits That Build High-Performing Teams

Filed Under: Advisory and compliance, Business Update, Culture, HR essentials, Leadership, Succession Management, Workforce, Workforce Planning

Day 16 of 31 Days of Better Workplaces — high performance doesn’t happen by accident. It’s the result of consistent behaviours that leaders either build deliberately or don’t.

After more than twenty years working with leaders across industries, these are the five habits I see most consistently in the leaders who build genuinely high-performing teams.

 

Habit 1: They communicate context, not just tasks

High-performing team members want to understand why — why this work matters, how it connects to the bigger picture, what success looks like. The manager who only assigns tasks produces a team that executes instructions. The manager who shares context produces a team that thinks.

 

Habit 2: They give feedback continuously, not annually

Waiting for a formal review process to tell someone they’re doing well — or not — is a missed opportunity. Brief, specific, real-time feedback — “that was a great way to handle that client” or “I noticed this in your report, here’s what I’d suggest” — compounds over time into a team that knows where they stand and how to improve.

 

Habit 3: They invest in individual development

High-performing leaders know what each person on their team is working toward — professionally and personally. They look for opportunities to stretch people, give them new experiences, and connect their day-to-day work to their longer-term goals. People perform better when they can see they’re growing.

 

Habit 4: They protect the team’s capacity

Good leaders push back on unrealistic workloads, prioritise ruthlessly, and don’t allow their team to be pulled in twenty directions at once. They understand that sustained high performance requires sustainable conditions — and they advocate for those conditions.

 

Habit 5: They model the culture they wantgreement clauses that help manage workplace risk

Whatever you want your team to do, you have to do first. If you want them to be honest, be honest. If you want them to take ownership, take ownership. If you want them to prioritise wellbeing, model it. Culture is not what you mandate — it’s what you demonstrate.
The good news: these are all learnable habits. None of them require a special talent. They require intention and consistency.

 

Book a free 30-minute consultation at  Blue Kite HR Consulting 

 

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