Pool and spa business leaders converge on Adelaide

The biennial SPASA Leadership Convention was held in Adelaide on August 2, with industry members converging from around the country to discuss and consider the important issue of leadership in swimming pool and spa businesses.

The Leadership Convention is a one day program designed for current leaders looking to grow their business and for those looking to make leadership their vocation.

Delegates from around the country engaged with world class keynote speakers, beginning with Matt Church (pictured), who guided the audience on a journey of discovering positive tactics in creating work worth doing, cultures worth belonging to and leaders worth following.

Dave Staughton’s fun and interactive presentation was based on real sales experience and taught the essential strategies of successful sales leaders and how to build a high performance team to help businesses grow in a turbulent and disrupting market.

The final session for the day was delivered by Matina Jewell, an inspiring story of lessons in leadership from the frontlines of change, providing key takeaways in finding a way forward in high-pressure situations and being the catalyst for teamwork, empowerment and cooperation.

Some comments from the day

“The biggest thing I took away from today was the power of the word, how you portray your thoughts and feelings to your team and how just a simple phrase and how you interpret the result in front of you changes people’s mindsets…”

Anita Zaplin – Summer Daze Pools & Inspections

“From today, it's definitely clear that change is imminent, it’s volatile, it’s unpredictable. In our businesses we need to be agile and fast in our evolution to keep up.”

Daniel Gibbs – Jagun Pools + Landscapes

“I believe we get very operational in our businesses and with managing our staff and I think just asking the question, rather than always posing the answer, is probably the biggest thing I've taken out of today.”

Rob Kruber – Spa Industries Global

“It was a great perspective from three very different speakers, I really enjoyed it and will ensure to spend more time reading and encouraging my team rather than managing and working on the day-to-day.”

Jonas Ryberg – Fluidra

Delegates then took some time to reflect, refresh and revitalise, before continuing with the celebration of the best of the industry at the National Awards of Excellence gala dinner.

There will be a more complete review of the convention in the upcoming printed edition of SPLASH!