On Saturday 27 November 2021 we attended a Leadership Masterclass at UOW, the second UOW Masterclass in our series of three, presented by Dr Christopher Sykes, Management Discipline Leader in the Faculty of Business and Law. Chris’s PhD is in the area of organisational change and his research focuses on practices and processes in organisations and how they are shaped by the operations of time, power and politics. Throughout the interactive Masterclass, Chris encouraged us to explore these topics further and conducted a deep dive into questions like ‘Who do we think is a good leader and why?’, ‘Does our current position require us to be an organisational leader?’ and ‘What leadership challenges or issues are we currently involved with?. 

All participants had the opportunity to share their leadership story in detail and learn from the challenges and triumphs that each other are facing.  Some thought provoking leadership research papers spanning two decades were provided as pre and post reading for the session.  These resources, together with links to research from management theory expert Henry Mintzberg helped us to synthesise and consolidate our existing and newly formed ideas. Further learnings will evolve from the optional assessment piece - critically analysing a contemporary leadership issue, presented in business report style. LIP participants who satisfactorily complete the assessment task will also gain valuable credit points towards an MBA/further study at UOW.

So what qualities do the LIP think makes a good leader?  Here’s a summary - how many do you identify with as a leader?

​The LIP were delighted to attend a site visit at Peoplecare on 16 November, generously organised and hosted by Peoplecare Executive staff Dr Melinda Williams, Chief Executive Officer, Maree Morgan-Monk, Head of People, Culture & Capability, James Robins, Chief Information & Digital Officer, Anita Mulrooney, Head of Customer Service & Marketing and James Koutsoukos, Chief Commercial Officer. 

At this unique opportunity to meet five of the executive team, we experienced first-hand the relaxed, warm, fun and engaging culture of Peoplecare that clearly aligns with their stated values. 

First up, Maree and Melinda briefly took us through the Peoplecare 66 year history, from its start as the health fund for John Lysaght Australia Ltd in the early days, to BHP in the 70s, and expansion to BlueScope Steel and affiliated companies from 2000. In 2006, the fund became a national, open to all, not-for-profit health insurer and has since changed its name to Peoplecare, with the distinctive purple and orange branding we know today.

We then broke into groups to learn more from each leader and their area of responsibility within the business. Here’s some of what we learned:

• “It was fascinating hearing about their strategic shift from business unit silos to being mission-driven. It opened my thinking and inspired me to assess what I can apply to improve my role/business.”
• “Each of the topics were very interesting, the most inspiring thing was the passion that each of the Executives had in the new approach and their belief in what Peoplecare stands for”.
• The “ultimate focus on people – staff and customers”.
• “Balancing the level of change versus the level of stability”.
• “Simplicity and clarity of focus – at the very top”.
• “Agile practices and learning from that, the challenges around growth and diversification in a saturated market”.

 
After a brief walk through the offices, Anthony Palermo delivered a vote of thanks on behalf of the group. It was a valued chance to learn about Peoplecare’s vision, strategic journey and leadership approach from its team of executive leaders and reflect on how these principles could be applied in our own leadership roles.