Take 5 with Nathan Moyes, General Manager at Virtual Business Partners

Take 5 with Pioneera is a series of micro interviews with key business leaders on wellness, leadership, productivity and workplace culture.

This week we’re taking 5 with Nathan Moyes, General Manager at Virtual Business Partners.

Nath has over 20 years of experience in developing and managing teams and businesses across the product lifecycle. He has worked and owned multiple business units and is an accomplished people manager, developer and leader with extensive change management experience.

As General Manager at Virtual Business Partners, Nath is responsible for overseeing daily business activities, improving overall business functions including finance and strategies, as well as communicating business goals. Virtual Business Partners is a Platform for adviser firms to scale and leverage.

Welcome, Nath!

1. What does your workday routine look like? 

The day is predominantly a series of huddles (now over Zoom) focused around key areas of priority for the business. In between is dealing with actions both immediate and strategic. The day starts from 7am, given I am in Boracay, Philippines (a COVID anomaly) and our clients and their businesses are in Australia. The day continues to about 5-6pm local time and wraps with admin tasks that are preparing for the day or days ahead. 

2. How do you stay focused and maintain a positive mindset when things get crazy busy? 

Focus comes from constantly reviewing priorities and backlog. This way, quick actions are sorted and closed, while critical strategic or tactical matters don’t get lost, overlooked or delayed. 

Being present in what is being discussed is key to ensure you remain focused, while also able to work through the crazy. Being not dismayed by ambiguities and able to make and remake decisions ensures that you are positive and progressive.

3. What are your three must-haves for a healthy work-life integration? And why? 

For a healthy integration of key parts of your life and work you do need an employer whose values align to such integrations and balance. Personally you need to be conscious of what that alignment, and integration looks like in your day to day world from the logistics of when and where, to the ways you will deal with exceptions and perceptions. You need to know boundaries but also understand what integration means, and be able to share this with work and family alike.

4. What’s your top tip for creating a thriving workplace culture? 

Authenticity is the core to a thriving workplace culture as it drives equality, standards, expectations and communication. If you do not start with a genuine desire and value set that seeks for honest and transparent engagement, then you simply won’t ever achieve it.

The hard part is not the nice events, or rewards and comments. It is when the pressure hits and you have a challenge (see COVID) or an opportunity (see a huge growth opportunity) and then observe what happens to the values posted on the wall.

5. How do you bounce back when things don’t go as planned? 

There will always be frustration - with events, situations and people. What saps the resilience is when you are struck by something (expected or unexpected) and the sense of fatigue and exhaustion - knowing how much more you will need to do to keep going. But if the end point, the goals are clear, if the path right in front of you has some light and if there is an ounce of strength left, then you simply take the next step, the next decisions, the next action. It might require a coffee break, a walk around the block, or a good night's sleep first.

This conversation was brought to you by Pioneera.

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