Shirley McKinnon
MORE ABOUT ME
25 years’ experience as a business and leadership coach has established Shirley’s reputation for exceeding expectations of teams. She has many case studies where she tapped into the passion and genius of teams, to create extraordinary business growth.
Turning around dysfunctional teams is a speciality of Shirley’s - teams seething with conflict, conflict between the manager and the team, conflict between consulting teams. If you have conflict or distraction within a team, Shirley has experience in resolving it. Across a wide range of industries.
She has three best-selling books. Team Play, Strategies for Successful People Management is also published in Korean and used in the MBA course at the University in Western Australia.
She is the founder of the McKinnon Management Group and the McKinnon Sales Centre Pty Ltd. In 1998, she created the McKinnon Leadership Growth Index as a successful coaching and recruitment tool. She now certifies other coaches in the profile which strengthens relationships with their clients and brings in repeat business.
Certificate in Transactional Analysis
Open Space Facilitator
Accreditation in Myers Briggs Type Indicator
The Impossible Challenge of my
First Management Role
-How I learned to tap into team
My first management role was as Classified Advertising Manager of two daily broadsheet newspapers, and the obstacles would have been a challenge even for a seasoned manager.
Most of the phone room who took the ads, weren’t speaking to each other.
I was expected to increase the classifieds but the printer’s union, under which my phone room was placed, said I was not allowed to teach them to sell.
Another way I could have increased the classified section was to use the sales reps. BUT, they didn’t get commission if they placed any ads in the classified section. Hence, classifieds had no priority for them.
I looked to the existing management team for a role model or mentor. But the big goal for the management team was to join the 12-year club. That’s right, once they had been a manager for 12 years, they were taken out to dinner once a month.
I decided to tap into the knowledge and experience of the team itself. After all, most of them had been working in the phone room for years.
So, I called a “Customer Service” meeting after hours, paid the phone room overtime, supplied a cask of wine, and gave them the problems to solve.
We started the session with some “Customer Service” training. If they could get more information, the client was more likely to have a successful advert. So, we looked at all the questions we could ask to make a good advert. Just so you and the printers’ union know, that was not upselling, just good customer service!
Then I started throwing problems at them.
They forgot they weren’t speaking to each other and brainstormed ideas. Some, they already knew the answers to, but no one had thought to ask them. Others were not just our problem; they were industry problems. And this little phone room transformed into a creative, vibrant team coming up with suggestion after suggestion. The room hummed with energy.
After an hour, I tried to wind up the meeting, but they weren’t finished yet. Fifteen minutes later, I tried again only to be ignored. Fifteen minutes later again, I kicked them all out and they left, still discussing the issues.
The next day, I had a stream of ladies into my office with still more ideas and suggestions.
It was the start of a successful department, a creative team and the start of a dramatic increase in the classified section.
That was the birth of my journey of transforming groups of discontented people into high-performing teams. And this is what I teach my clients today.
And it was one of the many case studies in my first book, Team Play, Strategies for Successful People Management - http://goo.gl/vmigj
And the ironic result was that the Managing Director insisted the other managers sit in and observe my training sessions to learn how to motivate their teams.
What I Believe
Many leaders struggle to align and inspire their teams, often doubting their abilities. They try to search for more information, or simply work harder for longer hours but this just makes growth harder. I believe business transformation is preceded by leadership transformation —because without that shift, teams and businesses stay stuck in unproductive patterns.
- Do you feel like you're struggling to align or inspire your team, doubting your leadership?
- Does it seem like you're always putting out fires?
- Are you frustrated that staff and client distractions are blocking your growth?
- And when it comes down to it, do you feel like without changing your leadership, your team and business will stay stuck?
We Are Not All That Different
Through her best-selling books, leadership coaching, and the McKinnon Behavioural Profile, Shirley McKinnon has transformed dysfunctional teams into high-performing ones across various industries.
With 25 years of experience and certifications in Transactional Analysis, Open Space Facilitation, and Myers Briggs, Shirley has helped leaders drive business growth through their teams.
Her work is globally recognised, including her role as a State Judge for the Telstra Best of Business Awards.
Through her best-selling books, leadership coaching, and the McKinnon Behavioural Profile, Shirley McKinnon has transformed dysfunctional teams into high-performing ones across various industries.
With 25 years of experience and certifications in Transactional Analysis, Open Space Facilitation, and Myers Briggs, Shirley has helped leaders drive business growth through their teams.
Her work is globally recognised, including her role as a State Judge for the Telstra Best of Business Awards.
Through her best-selling books, leadership coaching, and the McKinnon Leadership Growth Index, Shirley McKinnon has transformed dysfunctional teams into high-performing ones across various industries.
With 25 years of experience and certifications in Transactional Analysis, Open Space Facilitation, and Myers Briggs, Shirley has helped leaders transform and drive business growth through their teams.
Her work is globally recognised, including her role as a State Judge for the Telstra Best of Business Awards.
Through her best-selling books, leadership coaching, and the McKinnon Behavioural Profile, Shirley McKinnon has transformed dysfunctional teams into high-performing ones across various industries.
With 25 years of experience and certifications in Transactional Analysis, Open Space Facilitation, and Myers Briggs, Shirley has helped leaders drive business growth through their teams.
Her work is globally recognised, including her role as a State Judge for the Telstra Best of Business Awards.
