From coaching leaders to give better feedback to giving them the tools to host effective one-on-one meetings, Mirvac’s Big Five leadership framework is helping to lift manager’s capabilities.

Chris Akayan FAHRI never intended to become an HR leader. As a former management consultant, he loved the variety of consulting work that enabled him to be across multiple projects, industries and companies in any given year.

“The downside of consulting is that you never stay somewhere long enough to build long-term relationships. As an HR leader, it’s valuable to be able to build relationships over a period of time,” says Chris Akayan FAHRI, Head of Culture and Capability, Mirvac.

But when a mentor suggested Akayan venture out and try something different, he changed tack and took up the position of Head of Organisational Development at Stockland Property Group, which kick-started a decade-long career with the organisation. From here, a love for employee and organisational development was born.

In 2014, he joined Mirvac as General Manager of HR and in 2017 he was promoted to the executive team to lead sustainability, health and safety, HR and innovation. 

Plugging leadership gaps

Akayan quickly took to the world of HR, but the experiences and insights gained from his time as a consultant remained front of mind.

“When I worked on major projects in consulting, one of the biggest factors contributing to the success of every project was the quality of leadership. That made me interested in what qualities make for a good leader,” he says. 

“As I spent more time in organisations, I could see how some people were technically very good at their role, but when they were promoted to more senior levels, they didn’t have strong leadership skills.

“I could see their frustration that no one had given them that feedback or supported them earlier in their career.”

The feedback obtained in exit interviews during his time as an HR executive with a former employer confirmed a similar story.

He recalls many exiting employees emphasising how much they loved the organisation, its values and the work they were doing, but they felt unsupported by their manager. That alone was often the main factor driving them out.

“It used to frustrate me because we had all the key ingredients for success, except for effective leadership in some pockets. 

“In my experience, up to 90 per cent of someone’s day as an employee is determined by the quality and consistency of their immediate manager. 

“I became passionate about finding ways to lift the quality of the immediate manager.”

The Big Five leadership expectations

Akayan’s passion for improving leaders’ skills became a strong impetus for taking action at Mirvac. In 2016, after running an employee engagement survey, he became increasingly motivated to make a change for the better.

“The parts of the organisation with high engagement were those that had very good managers. We started looking at the behaviours those managers exhibited and thought about how we could capture and build consistent leadership across the entire organisation.”

Many of the behaviours observed in the company’s best leaders – such as giving consistent feedback, helping employees grow, having development conversations and clearly communicating goals – found their way into Mirvac’s ‘Big Five’ leadership expectations.

The Big Five, which was co-developed by Mirvac’s HR team and other senior leaders in 2016 and reviewed in the midst of COVID-19, outlines key minimum requirements that the company expects of its leaders. 

They are: 

• To know and grow your people
• To build a high-performing and engaged team
• To talk about performance
• To provide clarity and purpose
• To make decisions in the best interests of the company’s vision and goals.

Under each of these five areas are practical actions that leaders are expected to take.

For example, building a high-performing and engaged team involves conducting regular team meetings that engage people in key decision and problem solving, and providing clarity and purpose involves leveraging team meetings and discussions to set a clear direction and explain the ‘why’ behind proposed changes.

“That was one of the additions made during COVID-19. Leaders might not have all the answers, but they can say, ‘This is the information I know. This is what I don’t know, but I’ll try to find out.’”

The ongoing impacts of the pandemic also prompted the team to add action points around safeguarding employees’ physical and mental wellbeing as part of building a high-performing and engaged team.

“In my experience, up to 90 per cent of someone’s day as an employee is determined by the quality and consistency of their immediate manager.” – Chris Akayan FAHRI, Head of Culture and Capability, Mirvac

Above all else, the intention of the framework remains the same: to emphasise that effective managers don’t need to fit within the traditional mould of a strong leader – i.e. a charismatic, directive and extroverted leader who delivers results at any cost – but that sometimes the best leaders are real and apply simple and consistent actions that demonstrate care and drive to achieve sustainable results.

“People often think they have to change dramatically to be a good leader. But what our people are saying is that you just need to do the basics really well: get to know them, understand their interests, recognise their efforts and help them grow.

“I think the Big Five helps people to understand that they don’t have to be born a great leader; they can take these straightforward actions to get there.”

Setting clear expectations

Mirvac takes a multifaceted approach to uplift the quality of its leaders.

New managers attend training about the Big Five, which covers key topics including running effective one-on-ones, providing helpful feedback and coaching people.

“This initial training outlines, straight up, what the expectations are of our leaders.

“Putting it on paper helps because oftentimes people will receive vague feedback about needing to be a better leader. It can be hard to know what to do with that, whereas the Big Five aims to demystify leadership, and outlines clear expectations and actions.

“For example, we talk about how to conduct an effective one-on-one and that managers should dedicate the first third of the meeting to anything the employee wants to raise, one third being what’s important to the manager, and the last third being focused on coaching and feedback.

“It’s a memorable formula they can carry with them and apply in the moment. For many people it’s the first time they’ve been given a framework on how to run one-on-ones.”

After the initial training, employees are able to attend longer sessions on topics such as strengthening feedback skills and building a high-performing team.

Beyond the initial training sessions, the Big Five is embedded into every aspect of the employee lifecycle, including recruitment, performance discussions, talent and succession planning and check-ins with people leaders.

Mirvac conducts quarterly calls with all people leaders to focus on key employee and cultural issues. It was a practice started during the pandemic and retained due to its effectiveness. The session is chaired by a member of the executive team, such as Akayan or the CEO. They also use this call to reinforce the Big Five expectations.

A clear example of this approach in action was in the introduction of ‘stay conversations’ towards the end of last year.

“Given the tight labour market and rising turnover, we said to our people leaders, ‘Rather than waiting for the next exit interview, have a stay conversation with your people. Find out what keeps them at Mirvac, and what might tempt them away.

“We did a live role play to show how to practically have the conversation and then asked each leader to hold stay conversations with their teams. We’d then call them at random in two weeks’ time and ask how their interviews went.”

The follow-ups keep people accountable, and show the level of importance the executive team places on developing strong, supportive and effective leaders.

“We assess people not just on what gets delivered, but on how it gets delivered. We’re always asking: ‘How well are our people living the Big Five?’”

How the framework is helping

Aside from the practical actions that leaders have implemented from the Big Five, Mirvac is experiencing a host of other benefits.

“Leaders feel they know their people better, their aspirations and how they’re tracking over time,” says Akayan.  “They’re also building stronger relationships and trust with people.”

The investment into improving leaders’ capabilities has delivered results, with overall employee engagement scores increasing from 60 per cent in 2016 to 80 per cent this year.

This year, Mirvac was awarded top spot in the AFR BOSS Best Places to Work list in the property, transport and construction sector. 

“We think a lot of that is down to lifting the quality and consistency of managers, and the support provided from those higher up.”

He notes, however, that it’s not a one-and-done initiative. Continual finessing is required.

“There will be a big focus on inclusive leadership and how we continue to create an environment of psychological safety in the future,” he says.

“Leading a hybrid workforce will also be really important moving forward. As people come and go, we need to ensure we keep these leadership expectations alive. That’s the real challenge.” 

A longer version of this article was first published in the October 2022 edition of HRM Magazine.

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