My Story
I am a friendly dominant facilitator with expertise in change management, leadership development and recruitment.
The origins of providing outstanding customer services stems from my early working days (while I studied at University of Western Australia) as a swimming coach, pizza maker, restaurant waiter and through this learnt at a very young age that you get repeat business and gratuity by being friendly at the same time as providing a service and getting a job done.
This started an interesting journey through my university degree in Human Movement with a major in sports psychology and sociology. Teaching in a Western Australian private school for 3 years before entering the commercial world as the General Manager Australia Asia for Pacific Institute, a global education and training organisation.
I started Meelup Management in July 2000 based on experience gained to date, my energy and a thirst for knowledge, an inquisitive mind and a grounding in customer service!
Partnering with clients large and small, from BHP, Downer to State Government Departments, from family owned enterprises to International Alliances, has seen me work in many countries, industries and professions. This variety and diversity has taught me a lot, allowed me to be continuously challenged to remain relevant, impactful and adding tangible value to their business.
How I work
I am known for my friendly dominant[1]and somewhat provocative style, the range of innovative solutions I create with clients, my flexible nature to delivery and engagement in all aspects from workshops, to coaching to structured programmes.
By adopting this mindset with all clients, be it working with a small family owned business, to developing and coaching a team of 29 leaders who have 1,400 staff under their guidance over a 9-month period on a remote site, to recruiting an entire project team of professionals in a 6-week timeframe to working in a foreign country via a translator for a client facing a worker “revolt” against their managers.
My role is primarily as a friendly dominant facilitator. That is, clients have a very clear outcome or objective that they require some assistance with. Be it to strengthen their managers and leaders, (for some to even start this journey with people who have come off the tools), create a team out of a group of individuals, provide and get agreement of the alignment in leadership styles and behaviours within a team, coach a team of silo minded leaders towards a common outcome or to supplement their change management initiatives.
There is usually a desire, a purpose, an expected outcome and acceptance that their internal resources and efforts need support or added capability.
Through the vast range of clients and my own experience as a business owner (who employed up to 12 staff), recruiter and asking lots of questions, I continue to search for elements to assist clients learn, change and grow in both the Human Capital and Social Capital arenas.
Human capital is captured in the knowledge, skills, competencies, and other characteristics possessed by individuals. Where human capital focuses on the quality of the individual, social capital focuses on the quality created between people (Galli & Muller-Stewens, 2012). Social capital has 3 components – relational (trust), structural (relationship networks – who I’m connected with) and cognitive (shared mission) – these 3 are essential for innovation, creating trusting relationships where parties are willing to collaborate, share resources and ideas for value creation (Lester, 2013).
[1] The term ‘friendly dominant’ refers to a key model that underpins my consulting approach – the interpersonal circumplex. Referring to the top right quadrant of this circular model, ‘friendly dominant’ interpersonal behaviours have been found to most positively correlate with leadership and coaching outcomes.
What I value / known for
Engaging – Sense of humour, able to present difficult concepts and feedback in ways that keep people listening and willing to take action
Innovative - Keen to find and make use of new ideas for the benefit of my clients. Learning is an important driver
Integrity – My word is my bond
Honest – Having the courage to say what needs to be said and telling it like it is.
What I do
I work in and across the Human Capital and Social Capital arenas. This can include:
Change Management/ strategy implementation
Leadership Development
Organisational cultural diagnostics
Other initiatives and services we provide include:
Leadership style and behaviours diagnostic (360º’s)
Communication workshops.
Teambuilding initiatives
Individual and team coaching.
Recruitment assignments either for specific role or building a team.
Outplacement support.
Personality diagnostic
What I don’t do.
One of the reasons why I have a powerful network of SME to either bolster the speed or capability if the project needs require it or the subject is not a strength is my understanding and self-awareness that I am not good at everything and only provide what I believe I do very well!