Who I am

I'm a business optimiser and investor, who believes that adaptability is the ultimate superpower! 

My energy comes from sharing how leaders and teams can optimise performance by blending people development with business engineering.

I'm passionate about growing leaders at every level so people feel confident, capable, and trusted to make a lasting positive impact.

Work is a big part of our life – it has to be worth our time. None of us should settle for average when we can be more intentional about what we want to achieve and how.

Enabling practical and team-led change for optimal return is what I'm known for.

Life is too short to be stuck in businesses where we can't add value or feel like what we do isn't good enough. I love showing people how to realise their strengths and amplify them.

Shifting thinking and changing behaviour for excellence can be tough. Success comes from being adaptive in how we show up as individuals and as part of a team.

My most important team is my family. I'm particularly committed to being the best version of myself for my children as a role model who supports their dreams too. 

As an ex-personal trainer, I love a good challenge. To prove to myself that I can adapt and excel emotionally, mentally, and physically I competed in two bodybuilding competitions. It wasn’t fun and I won’t be flexing muscles on stage again, but to stay sharp and regularly push myself I’ve taken up boxing.

My professional journey has rarely gone to plan, but it's given me 20+ years of battle scars over 13 industries, and experience in leadership, team dynamics, work culture, operational delivery and change in complex environments.

As an Air Force veteran, I care about working with companies that employ first responders. It's one thing to attract high-performing people but retaining them is where the real gains occur.

Everything we do is based on trust. It's risky, contextual, emotional, and essential for living purposefully and adapting to change.

We often struggle to trust ourselves or others, and we don't always have trust when and where we need it, but we can develop it.

Across multiple industries, ridiculous amounts of time, money, and sanity are wasted on inflexible, disconnected, and unsustainable 'solutions' that constrain or block performance. 

The primary reason many improvement initiatives fail is that 'adapting to change is everyone's responsibility', it can’t be outsourced to external trainers, consultants, or contractors.

Another big reason for failure is a lack of resourcing and skills. People and organisations fail when they are overwhelmed by expectations, can't adapt work practices, and aren't set up for success.

It's easy to feel battle-weary from failed transformation efforts, and fatigued when managing uncertainty before and during change.  

I understand the need for clarity, a systemised approach, and discipline in the work to achieve lasting success. 

High-value outcomes are the result of people incrementally adapting and improving over time. 

The more adaptive teams are, the greater their control and ability to work around challenges and lean into higher-value opportunities.

I created the Adaptive Excellence Model as an evidence-based approach for leaders and teams to develop a evolving culture of excellence.

The key is to start with one thing and build confidence by strengthening what people can do for optimal return.  

Sustainable success comes from engineering high-value changes with delivery teams who have better insight into what they can implement while maintaining and adjusting current operations toward the vision.

Complex challenges require a personal touch to develop relationships and build internal capability. I work to develop leaders at every level and amplify team strengths. 

When people engage me, they get me as a partner who is equally invested in delivering the outcomes. 

With practical approaches, I work directly with Executives and Managers to achieve objectives through co-design, skills transfer, and high-value change facilitation.

I'm intentionally not for everyone and we need to work together. 

As a team, we will:

1. Obtain employee insights to address the root causes of constraints
2. Work with existing operational challenges, pace, and pressures
3. Save money by growing capacity and value without increasing your cost base
4. Provide employees with the opportunity, skills, and support to be successful
5. Co-create solutions that make sense and play to strengths
6. Implement practical outcome-driven approaches
7. Deliver in ways that are calm, valuable, and adaptive.

A conversation about where you are and what you want is the first step.

Email me today melanie@melaniemarshall.com.au or book a conversation. 

If you can't find a time that works give me a call on +61 407 004 352