The Customer Agency

“I feel super comfortable presenting in front of all my peers….”

…Is something we rarely hear from a group of grads ☺️

A massive well done and 🙌🏻 to the early career professionals at for embracing the courageous challenge of Presenting with Confidence and nailing it!

Amazing effort and storytelling, creative openers and grabbers, and fun sharing and learning from each other. This important power skills takes courage, experience and muscle to continually flex 💪🏻

A big thank you for your trust in us to help once again, and to Steven Lam and Jonathon Kikidopoulos for your expert coordination and passion for personal growth.

The Customer Agency

Another engaging team session this week with the wonderful folk across the ditch from NZ!

We deep dived into account planning, successful meetings and driving value to our customers. The team were energised, unlocked lots of creative thinking and so customer focused - brilliant 🙌🏻

A big thank you for your leadership John, and to the entire team for your focused growth mindset and great energy!

What a crew!

It’s always a treat to facilitate an engaged and energised group keen to dive in and give everything 100%

A big thank you to the Qld team at for your enthusiasm, expertise and commitment to building even deeper connection to your customers 🙌🏻

We love helping you this week and are excited to be part of this incredible home grown Aussie growth story

A big thank you to everyone that came along to the lunch n learn session on Taking Action with Business Development.

It is everyone’s responsibility to sell in any company, but how do you do it if it’s “not your role “ normally?

We covered the foundations of BD, doing it successfully with heart, integrity, ethically and with authenticity 🙌🏻

Some wonderful questions and conversations!

A big thank you to the team at for hosting us 🏆

We love to see our clients light up with joy, wonder and curiosity 🙌🏻 thanks for a memorable and impactful workshop this week for the legends at a powerful start to program of alignment, focus and growth 🫶🏻

I shared last week the top trends we're seeing in 2023.

Top of the list was Emotional Intelligence (EQ)

While measuring EQ isn't new, its an area thats having a well deserved moment in the spotlight as world we live in evolves and changes so rapidly.

Having a strong awareness and understanding of your own EQ is, in my honest opinion, an absolute secret weapon and foundation to success because it helps you to:

🙌🏻 Control your emotions and ability to think clearly
🙌🏻 Act decisively, with awareness and growth mindset
🙌🏻 Work efficiently, problem solve and navigate stressful situations
🙌🏻 Understand, empathise and inspire your teams
🙌🏻 Creates a positive working environment while also generating results.

Week in and out, we work with Leaders and their teams to understand and gain awareness of their own emotional intelligence. As certified EQi instructors (via the reputable Myers-Briggs) we can assess individuals, to bring leaders and teams closer together, learn about each other and ultimately get the best out of each other

Pictured is the model we work with in EQi, and all 15 composites

What EQ powerskills do think are most effective to build sustainable growth?

The Top 5️⃣ Leadership trends we’ve seen in 2023 so far:

⭐️ Leaders focus and awareness on their own emotional intelligence, and how to increase it as needed

⭐️ Team alignment and the genuine need for meaningful employee engagement, accountability and ownership

⭐️ Active inclusion and diversity, it’s not just a number, it’s all about action and choice

⭐️ Relentless focus on GROWTH and understanding customer drivers and building sustainable growth

⭐️ Listening to your customer is not enough, focus must be on closing the loop on ex*****on

At we help to achieve and go deep on all of the above 👆 reach out if you’d love a chat ✨

✨ Team alignment - how do we embed it?

🙌🏻 The truth is that most alignment happens in the minutiae of daily work.

⭐ It happens through conversations, decisions, and actions. It happens through personal connection coupled with curiousity and emotional intelligence. This type of aligned behavior doesn’t happen just once or even twice; it happens every day. That’s why we suggest creating a culture where alignment is happening all the time instead of just during strategic planning sessions or start of year planning.

⭐ Often we are asked at The Customer Agency to have an initial "team day out" followed by the "reality-check" of a followup session 1 - 2 months later to track measureable outcomes, updates and whats working within the teams. This ensure accountability and opportunity to adjust as needed.

⭐ We are now taking bookings for Team Alignment sessions in May, please DM if you want to learn more.

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👩‍💻 Cracking the Code: Innovation for a gender equal future 👩‍💻
The theme for International Women's Day 2023 highlights the role that bold, transformative ideas, inclusive technologies, and accessible education can play in combatting discrimination and marginalisation of women globally.
We proudly stand by this 🙌🏻

Love: definition “an intense feeling of deep affection.”

Regardless of gender, skin colour or beliefs. Love is Love ❤️

“The Leadership workshop with TCA was fantastic. they are experienced and engaged facilitators. It enabled me to have greater visibility of my leadership style and how I can improve, and so have an actionable plan that has set me up for 2023!”

✨Someone once told me that FEEDBACK IS A GIFT ✨

Whether positive or negative, it helps with awareness of what's working and what needs improvement. The essential part is actioning your feedback and closing the loop with its creator.

Some incredible feedback above from a Leadership Workshop Jason Bargent and I held recently at The Customer Agency for the legendary leadership team at
Always a pleasure to work with such engaging, open, and incredibly people-focused leaders.

WOW! Just wow! 😯 We've managed to raise a whopping 👉🏻$1747👈🏻 for Black Dog Institute's One Foot Forward mental health fundraiser.

Our team of Sarah, Jason, Jess and April walked a combined total of 811km throughout October – in as varied places as the Blue Mountains in New South Wales, the hinterlands of Queensland and the mountains of Japan!

A huge thank you to all those who supported us. Your generous donations will be used to find vital mental health services.

❤️ $40 helps 2 young people experiencing sleep issues which can develop into anxiety or depression.

❤️ $65 helps coordinate First Nations Peoples’ networks to create culturally safe services.

❤️ $140 ensures policy units can use research to inform government policies and advise on mental health services reforms.

❤️ $250 delivers research-informed training to a teacher to help students struggling with anxiety at school.

❤️ $500 engages 2 people with mental ill-health in the research and development of new programs and services.

One of the greatest things about working in our close-knit team is the trust and rapport we’ve built with one another. There’s an ease and comfortableness (yes, that’s a word!) to be open and to share, which is what we found ourselves doing when discussing the content we wanted to create this R U OK? day.

The result? 👉🏻 Here are eight thoughts 💡 on mental health and R U OK? day, from the team at .

❤️ 1. Follow up. “If someone tells you they’re not okay but doesn’t want to talk, set yourself a reminder to check in with them at a later date. They may need some time before they’re ready to open up, but following up with them will show you that you’re there, whenever they’re ready.”

🦸 2. Perception VS reality. “Social media is a theatre. What we present to the world is not necessarily what we’re feeling inside. Don’t assume because someone acts, looks, and posts ‘happy’ that they are indeed, happy. Ask, with a genuine openness and curiosity, how they are. You might be surprised at what they have to share about how they’re feeling.”

🛑 3. Watch for the signs. “It’s easy to dismiss changes in someone’s behaviour as ‘moodiness’ but shifts in how someone presents could be signs that they’re in need of support, someone to talk to.”

🌏 4. Distance doesn’t have to mean distant. “Send your overseas friends an email. Organise a Zoom. Check in with those interstate mates. There have been times in my life when my greatest supports have been from the other side of the world.”

5. Sometimes, pushy is good. “When I’m not feeling great I’ll often retreat, respond to texts and calls less. When my friends push a little, I’ll respond and usually open up. This doesn’t work for everyone, but it definitely works for me. Something to keep in mind.”

📋 6. Be prepared. “If you ask your friend if they’re okay, and they say no, be ready to ask follow up questions or listen, depending on how they seem. They may want to talk, they may just want to know you’re there if they need to talk. It’s important to have a bit of a plan.”

📌 7. It’s more than a single day. “We need to remember to check in with our colleagues, friends and family all the time, not just once a year. Mental health is complex. No one solution will suit all situations. I think R U OK, more than a once-off deal, is a conversation starter. It’s making people think about their friends and family and coworkers, and their own mental health. It’s asking for our attention, which I think is always beneficial. When my physical health suffers, often my mental health quickly follows and I’ll have to ask myself that question. Am I okay? And if I’m not, having friends notice and check in makes all the difference.”

💕 8. The bottom line: "Our greatest strengths are the connections we have with one another. Kindness is free, so spread it around generously. You never know how profoundly one small gesture can affect someone.”

A few happy snaps from our High Impact Customer Engagement workshop with the lovely people at Ceridian. Jason and Sarah led the pack, helping the team dive deep into:

✅ stakeholder alignment
✅ problem mapping
✅ articulating value
✅ differentiating offerings