About

Russell Futcher

Russell Futcher lives in Melbourne, Australia as a High-Performance Teams Coach and Business Change Management Consultant. He is a recognised Organizational Behaviour and Management and Teams expert, author and researcher. His career has been focused on Business reorganization, Management and Team Training, where he has gained a hard-earned reputation as someone who takes on complex jobs and gets things done. Frank and direct, highly regarded by peers and customers alike, and passionate about training, fixing problems, improving performance and developing management and team talent.

Russell has held senior management positions across the Insurance, Banking, Health, Transport, Retail, Superannuation, and Technology sectors in some of Australia’s largest corporations. Qualified in Business and Executive Coaching, Management Development and Training and Education, he is the developer of the ‘High-Performance Management and Teams’ model. He is the author of eight books and is an accomplished speaker and media presenter.

He is the author of the High-Performance Management and Teams methodology and has trained over 100 teams.

What makes me stand out?

I am an expert in management and team development.

By nature, I normally devote my energies to pinpointing what makes people special and unique. This knowledge permits me to inspire individuals to do their finest work. I routinely deepen my understanding through conversations, characteristically I accept human beings just as they are. I argue that excellent outcomes are produced by people who have ample opportunities each day to do what they do well. Instinctively, I inspire others by finding out what motivates them. I give individuals lots of recognition and celebrate each person’s uniqueness. My acknowledgments, understanding and recognition typically energize people.

I embrace a wide array of people, I honour their differences with ease and the specific things each one does well. These insights help me mix and match one person’s talents, skills, and knowledge with those of others in a team. Ultimately, I suggest positioning individuals in such a way that unique traits complement each other. Because of my strengths, my intuit — that is, I know without conscious reasoning — how individuals with very different work styles or personalities can complement each other.

I am intrigued by the unique qualities of each person. I am impatient with generalizations or “types” because I don’t want to obscure what is special and distinct about each person. Instead, I focus on the differences between individuals, I instinctively observe each person’s style, each person’s motivation, how each thinks, and how each builds relationships. Because I am such a keen observer of other people’s strengths, I can draw out the best in each person. This Individualization theme helps me build productive, high-performance teams, I am a catalyst for team development and change. I look to nourish people’s strengths and push individuals to new heights of success.

This strengths-focused recognition energizes team members and encourages them to continue investing in themselves. I am not satisfied until I make each person feel seen, heard and valued. To do this, I get to know team members better in the context of work while discovering who they are at a personal level. This helps me build stronger, longer-lasting relationships with team members. I push others outside of their comfort zone. I think more about what can be than what is. When I share this curiosity about the future with others, I push a team to think beyond today and find new and smarter ways of working.

Gallup - CliftenStrengths Assessment

Certificate: - Participated on: 10/07/2021 Copyright © 2018 Gallup, Inc. All rights reserved.

Testimonials

How exciting to see Russell publish some books based on his many years of corporate and media experience. I have worked with Russell a number of times in different organisations over many years and in all cases, he has been an inspirational leader of change underpinned by exhausting energy, focus on quality delivery and a commitment to building a strong and enduring team. His books and articles will be well worth a read as a pragmatic guide for many CIOs, business executives and aspiring leaders.

Warwick Foster,
Director at LongBoard Advisory Services

I have had the pleasure of working with Russell over many years, first in the Colonial Group and then in Mayne Group. Russell is one of the most inspiring and influential leaders I have had the opportunity to work with. He has an established history of building high-performance teams and in turning around problematic IT organisations. His open and frank manner allows him to get to the heart of any problem whilst bringing key stakeholders along the journey.

Peter Fleming, CEO and CIO, Leader in Digital Transformation and Delivery.

Russell is a star when it comes to his ICT Management turnaround capabilities and experience. He knows how to uncover the key issues and works with management at all organizational levels to help build high-performance teams. His knowledge and experience have ensured successful; client engagements time and time again.

Mike Pepperell,
Consulting and Implementation Services (CIS). Higher Education, Research and Health Sectors.

Russell is a highly effective and inspiring leader who sets and achieves high standards of performance and professionalism from his teams. Russell was able to drive value out of the Group ICT services contract (HP Outsource) well in excess of business expectations while maintaining an engaged and motivated team of internal staff, contractors and external service provider resources - no mean feat!”.

Simone Clancy,
General Manager - Latin America at Yellowfin.

A member of the Executive Management Team of the Daltron Group for more than four years during a period of rapid growth; Russell was head of the Technology Services Group, the major part of the Daltron Group. Russell was critical to the success of the company, as our core strategies centred around offering a total Technology Solution.

Russell provided a leadership style which produced a highly motivated and skilled group of Engineers, Technicians and Support Staff. He completely reengineered the Groups own Technology base including new Data Centres and the introduction of Customer Outsourcing solutions.

Russell was a pleasure to work with. I highly recommend him as a coach, mentor and adviser in any area of ICT. Should the opportunity arise again in the future, it would be a pleasure to work together with Russell in this capacity.

Bruce Mead,
CEO Daltron Group.

I have had the pleasure of working with Russell on multiple occasions. I met Russell at Colonial Bank where he was leading a key change initiative in the IT Division to improve business value and become customer-centric. Many staff (including myself) fondly remember the energy, team cohesion and sheer achievements from that period as highlights in our careers.

Lex Geizen,
Program Director/Portfolio Manager - Telstra.

I am delighted to be able to write this recommendation for a former colleague whom I consider to be a dynamic leader and coach. I worked with Russell who led our Technology Services Business at Daltron. Russell was a strong leader at a time of considerable organisational and commercial stress where strong leadership and the ability to recruit, train and mentor a high-performance team was essential to take the company forward and to rebuild its market position. Russell lead the organisational change that allowed Daltron to move from primarily being a hardware seller to a fully integrated ICT Business. Having a full ICT service capability required capacity, and a strong talent pool, in a market where such expertise was very scarce. Russell was extremely successful in building this capability and was very highly thought of by the Board, the Executive, and his own team.

Prithvi Kumar,
Finance Manager, Daltron Group, Port Moresby, PNG.

I worked with Russell at Mayne Pharma as a Project Manager delivering a large and complex systems integration project. Russell was a key contributor to the success of the project through the expert guidance of the infrastructure team and his ability to identify risks that many had overlooked.

 He is a naturally inquisitive person and a very good communicator who shows genuine interest in building relationships with people for the long term. Since moving on from Mayne Pharma I have engaged Russell on a number of occasions to leverage his expertise in strategy and provide guidance on managing difficult people and challenging situations. This has resulted in great advice and helped me to get outcomes that have contributed to my personal success and career advancement. 

Steve Bridges,
Management and Consultancy Technology Services.

Qualifications

Business and Executive Coaching qualifications obtained from ICCP (Institute of Coaching and Consulting Psychology) from the Psychology Department of The University of Sydney.

Management Development Program (MDP68) obtained from The Australian Administrative Staff College, Melbourne Business School, University of Melbourne.

Training and Education (TAE) obtained from TAFE, RMIT University.

Bachelor of Computer Science - obtained from Chisholm Institute.