Why Most Organisations Don’t Learn
Melanie Marshall
June 03, 2026
Most organisations believe they’re learning because they reflect, review, and debrief.
In reality, many are reinforcing stories rather than building understanding.
The consequence is unstable performance: success that cannot be reliably repeated, risks that quietly re‑emerge, and improvement that depends more on confidence than evidence.
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Tags: Business Strategy, Change Management, Leadership
What Leaders Need To Do Before Bringing In External Experts
Melanie Marshall
May 15, 2026
The first-time people suggested I write a book, I laughed stating "no one would read it because I'd be too honest about what it takes to transform."
I was a personal trainer at the time for people wanting to "get fit", but largely not trusting the process, or consistently taking action to achieve their goals. The stories unsuccessful clients told themselves about why they couldn’t change to get the results they wanted were the same - too tired, not enough time, or not enough money.
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Tags: Business Strategy, Change Management, Leadership
The hard truth leaders need to hear about performance, trust, and change.
Melanie Marshall
May 08, 2026
This article outlines why many well intended transformation efforts fail, introduces the Adaptive Excellence lens, and shows what leaders can do now to lift performance, confidence, and profit without pushing people harder.
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Tags: Change Management, Leadership, Transformation
Embracing Human Error: A Path to Team Excellence
Melanie Marshall
April 06, 2026
Many leaders and teams struggle to accept the inherent risk and potential for failure in strategy and operational delivery with human involvement.
An organisation’s ability to innovate and adapt is crucial for survival yet fear of making mistakes is a significant barrier to innovation and success.
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Tags: Business Strategy, Change Management, Leadership
Why Saving the day Destroys Progress
Melanie Marshall
March 04, 2026
Most CEOs I speak with confirm that they would like more time to work on their business and lifestyle instead of being reactive to it. Many executives and teams get stuck because of a hard wiring in business culture that attributes being busy as a badge of value based on urgency or demand.
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Tags: Business Strategy, Change Management, Leadership
The Power of Operations for Practical Planning
Melanie Marshall
March 04, 2026
The best strategies and plans involve change and deep operational experience, without that they are just ideas that probably won’t be implemented.
A great plan is practical and drives behaviour toward a vision. It’s a no-brainer concept that often fails when creating and executing them.
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Tags: Business Strategy, Change Management, Leadership
How to climb the engagement ladder
Melanie Marshall
November 22, 2023
True leaders operate at every level in an organisation - they get the big picture, care deeply about the outcome, and are committed to doing the work to get there. You don't need to sell them on the vision and goals because they've already crafted them, and are clear on the part they play in achieving them.
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Tags: Leadership, Culture
How to develop leadership maestros
Melanie Marshall
August 22, 2023
In my work, I start with a simple belief: our actions are shaped by what we feel, and believe. It's like a thread woven from our values, guiding us to respond helpfully. When I began learning about leadership, I took a course on being assertive. Two things stood out
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Tags: Leadership, Culture
Why Organisational Age Doesn’t Equal Maturity
Linkedln
May 29, 2026
Organisational age is often mistaken for maturity. But time alone does not create capable systems.
As organisations grow, foundational disciplines are frequently deprioritised in favour of visible delivery and short‑term profit. Governance, learning, process renewal, and system health are labelled important but not urgent.
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Tags: Culture, Leadership, Transformation
The Hard Truth Leaders Need to Hear About Performance, Trust, and Change
Linkedln
May 08, 2026
Most organisations believe that improving performance is about changing what people do. Over two decades of global research shows that the decisive factor is how people experience the system they work in.
As explored in the books, Trust and Adaptive Excellence, leaders who can’t build trust at scale, ignore behaviour, and neglect operating foundations constrain performance and burn out the best people.
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Tags: Culture, Leadership, Transformation
Why automation is dangerous without understanding the journey
Linkedln
January 23, 2026
Automation is often sold as the cure for inefficiencies and the fast track to getting stuff done, but fear and danger can creep in when we start delegating activities to someone, or something else.
With unrelenting pressure to deliver with limited capacity, the time to stop and reflect on what should or shouldn't be done, let alone be automated, is considered a luxury.
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Tags: Business Strategy, Change Management, Digital Transformation
Adaptive Excellence - How the best leaders and teams optimise for performance and profit
Melanie Marshall
October 31, 2025
The ultimate playbook for high value change!
Every year companies across the globe spend billions of dollars on transformation and change projects but every year around 75% settle for mediocre results, and around 13% fail completely.
The approaches in this book are a blend of complex systems thinking made simple, constraints theory, behavioural economics, human centred design, and organisational change. Leveraging global research and over 20 years of experience in Australian organisations, this book shows how to:
· Develop leadership at every level
· Enable efficient and effective decisions
· Increase delivery quality and ease
· Facilitate change in a way that works
· Optimise return on investment.
This book is for leaders wanting realistic, easy-to-share, and proven methods for exceptional results and adaptive excellence at scale.
Using the approaches in this book, leaders and teams can measurably improve performance by at least 33% and feel good about it at the same time.
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Tags: Business Strategy, Culture, Transformation
Trust - The foundation for healthy organisations and teams
Melanie Marshall
May 31, 2021
Trust isn’t a soft skill — it’s a strategic capability.
In this book, Melanie Marshall reframes trust as the core driver of organisational performance, psychological safety, and high‑functioning teams.
Drawing on global research and decades of transformation work across complex environments, Melanie shows leaders how to shift from control and cynicism to clarity, connection, and behaviour that builds confidence.
As Melanie writes, “Trust is the foundation for authentic and meaningful relationships that allow us to be the best versions of ourselves” .
Through practical insights, real‑world stories, and the HEART+SOUL framework, she demonstrates how leaders can reduce friction, strengthen culture, and create workplaces people believe in.
This book positions trust as a measurable, behavioural practice — not an abstract ideal.
It’s for executives, transformation leaders, and culture architects who want commitment, not compliance.
The book reminds us, “When it comes to change, it's the behaviour, not the person that is the problem” .
Trust is essential reading for anyone responsible for shaping culture, leading change, or building organisations where people are purposeful, productive, and deliver meaningful results.
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Tags: Culture, Leadership, Management
