CASE STUDIES

Clair works with business leaders and individuals, helping them to define their own unique path and assisting them to move towards their most desired outcomes and rewards. In this series of case studies Clair's clients share personal business experiences and insights as a result from working with Clair.

Q&A with KEVIN WORRELL

Kevin Worrell is an experienced Project Director. He is currently leading Project Honeyeater, for Dulux Paints working on the construction and delivery of the biggest water based paint facility in the Southern Hemisphere.

Kevin engaged Clair and the Life Styles Inventory framework methodology to assess and progress his knowledgeable approach to team leadership.

Hello Kevin, thanks for talking with us today, firstly can you tell us a little about your career pathway and what got you where you are today?  
I can honestly say that a few wrong turns got me where I am today. I've trained in architecture and project management and it has taken me on quite a journey! My career and my project management approach has developed steadily over the years, and through the course of some significant and challenging major projects. Today I've a unique project management methodology that brings together creativity, instinct and interdisciplinary consultation. This enables me, and my team, to define and solve problems within quite a broad scope. I find this very exciting as it results in new thinking, thinking that is proving rewarding to both the team and to the business overall.

What does the term leadership mean to you?
Leading is about listening and communication. Leading a team is not about consensus, it’s about listening to the “true voice” from dissenting viewpoints, and allowing every member to participate in finding the solutions. My passion to it reflect back to my team when they are “almost there” on issues and to support them in illuminating solutions.  All teams have strengths and weaknesses and an effective leader lifts their team up, to be the best team they can be.

What does success mean to you and your team?
Generally speaking the successful delivery of projects is the measure we apply. For example, delivery of the Dulux Honeyeater project is a standout success because we have integrated the deliverable of paint production with methodologies and techniques from both the pharmaceutical and dairy industries to come up with an evolutionary rule breaking solution. Another important measure of success is the happiness of the client.

What might prevent this success?
Elements, unforeseen, from the outside world. External influences can impact heavily on success outcomes. It’s important to get the business model correct at the start with realistic timeframes and costs, and then success is founded on a solid basis.

What leadership training techniques might be most beneficial to you/your team at this time?
Training in conflict resolution skills, to ensure that the best ideas can be heard and actioned, and the whole wisdom of the team can come into play.

Can you share a light-bulb moment that occurred for you as a result of working with Clair?Working with Clair and the Life Styles Inventory Approach has helped me to recognise the way my management persona works to bring out the best in others and my team. A light-bulb moment was realising for the first time how much energy that persona needs, and so now I’m developing strategies to grow the other parts of my life that both fuel me and sustain me.

The Life Styles Inventory™ (LSI) is an organisational tool that accredited Coaches can employ to promote self-assessment and colleague feedback tin order to identify individual thinking and behavioural styles. By providing insights into strengths and areas for development, it empowers people to embark on their own journeys to being better at, and enjoying more, everything they do.

Clair  believes that the LSI is an evaluation tool that brings gifts of understanding about why we think and behave in the ways that we do, enabling us to assess, plan and grow ourselves in very specific ways. Ways that will benefit our personal performance at work and our personal enjoyment of life.

To learn more about LSI and Clair's coaching services please click on the link below.

Q&A with AMANDA CARLILE

Amanda Carlile has worked with people from diverse social, cultural and professional backgrounds and has led teams of staff and volunteers to achieve the necessary outcomes in the not-for-profit sector for 12 years. Since arriving in Australia from the UK Amanda has travelled extensively throughout Australia in various management positions to establish successful operations in the social enterprise industry. She is passionate  about working for not-for-profit organisations that supports the equality and independence of women.

What is your current role and position? 
I am currently General Manager at ‘Fitted for Work’ and I am responsible for leading a team who are fully dedicated to supporting women facing disadvantage to gain sustainable employment. My role is specifically about the client journey and our capacity to be a direct connector for women and their employment journey.

Tell us a little about your career path, and what got you where you are today?I am originally from England and arrived in Australia 17 years ago with a backpack and a Design Degree. Feeling isolated from my support networks and struggling to find a role in my chosen field, I undertook part time work in hospitality until I gained an opportunity with Australian Red Cross, working with teams of dedicated women volunteers.

This role steadily developed over nine years, taking me to some of the furthest corners of Australia, during this time I was provided with insight and appreciation for strong and resourceful networks of women that provide the backbone of Australian communities for many people. 

I saw the struggles of numerous women, particularly those from marginalised groups, in finding security and independence. 

I listened to their stories and witnessed the transformational power of women supporting and encouraging other women. 

My connection to this valuable collective, inspired me to pursue a career in the community sector and ultimately apply for a position at ‘Fitted for Work’ - an organisation that directly supports women facing disadvantage to secure sustainable employment.

What does leadership mean to you?
Leadership is about People ultimately. I believe that if you value and develop people, an organisation will reap the benefits. You'll have a joyful and engaged workforce which will filter out to your customers, clients and supporters. People will want to engage with your cause/product and you will gain a reputation as a place where people thrive.

There is a fabulous quote from Maya Angelou about people not remembering what you said or what you did, but they will always remember how you made them feel? That is how I think about leadership.

On a more practical note, I think Leadership requires:

• Taking responsibility.

• Creating an environment where people feel safe to discuss challenges and ideas, with you and each other.

• Respectful and authentic interactions, making the time to listen and that means active listening.

• Developing trust. When you say you’ll do something you do it and expect the same in return

• Knowing you don’t have all the solutions and working with the people around you to gather the information needed to find the best solution.

• Communicating a clear vision and bringing the skills, experience, ideas and perspectives of individuals together to achieve that vision.

• Actively supporting growth, both personal and professional, and recognising how individuals need and respond to different types of support

• Self-care.

Who do you think is a good leader?Someone I greatly admire is Mary Crooks, Chair of the FFW Board and EO of the Victorian Women’s Trust.

Mary’s passion for progressing Women (with a capital W) is at the forefront of everything she does. She is authentic in all interactions and demonstrates empathy in decision making.

I admire the way she brings her whole self to her work. I love the way she talks about her beloved Carlton football team at every opportunity, it shows that you can let people know who you really are and still get the job done.

She is a calm, confident and action-oriented leader and I always come away from my conversations with Mary feeling valued, capable and asking the question ‘right, what’s next?’

What does success mean to you and your team?
Every women who secures work after accessing our services is considered a success for us. We measure success on knowing that when you help one woman find work, and that she is able to provide for herself and her family, that there is a ripple effect.  This one change in her life has an impact on the way she parents her children, the way she engages with her local community, the value and diversity she brings to her workplace and contributing to a collective impact on equality within Australia.

What might prevent this success?
The biggest barrier to success is generating enough funding to deliver consistent, quality, support services. As we say in the office ‘we don’t dress women in the park and we don’t dress women in the dark’.

All of our services cost money and as a not for profit organisation we rely on a host of diverse income streams such as: fundraising events, annual appeals, social enterprise activities, donors, corporates, trusts and foundations, and fee for service arrangements. 

This demands a vast amount of time and effort from everyone in the organisation and from what is essentially a very small team; from CEO to volunteers, everyone is responsible for bringing in and developing opportunities.

What leadership training techniques might be most beneficial to you and your team at this time.

I think techniques that may be beneficial for our team right now would be:

• Making the most of networking opportunities

• Effective decision making - what will need to move up and down the list of priorities in an unstable financial environment

• Managing constantly shifting priorities

• Significant relationships management across multiple stakeholder groups

Fitted for Work is currently going through a stage of rapid expansion. It is developing its Virtual Services and the SheWorks social enterprise nationally.  In 2018 Fitted for Work aims to support 5000 women to gain sustainable employment via a range of services.

To assist the team meet their business objectives they've engaged Clair to work with the leadership team, and specifically the Group Styles Inventory (GSI) framework, to support them to further develop their leadership capacity. To learn more about GSI and Clair's coaching services please click on the link below.