Greenacres generously hosted the LIP for a site visit and leadership discussion on 18 July. We toured Greenacres Enterprises led by Chief Executive Officer, Chris Christodoulou, Chief Commercial Officer Audra Tuckwood, and Chief Operations Officer Grant Vukasinovic. Greenacres is one of the leading disability service providers in the region, providing services and programs for over 600 people from 24 sites and this year is proudly celebrating its 70th year.

In small groups we visited Greenacres Enterprises sites and met some of the participants working in the e-waste centre, packaging, labelling, industrial sewing and were amazed at the art being created in the art program. Following the tour, the LIP were treated to sweet treats and savoury platters supplied by the Brewing Up a Storm hospitality program.
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CEO Chris Christodoulou then shared his vision and passion for providing meaningful employment for people with a disability in the region. The LIP learned about the Kickstart for Life program, which supports people aged 15 to 18 to learn vocational skills, open employment versus supported employment, the history of Greenacres and the current business model.
 
The LIP appreciated Chris sharing how he empowers the Executive team, how his earlier career experiences in the union movement have shaped his career and his approach to work-life balance. We were all impressed by the breadth of work Greenacres is involved in and will definitely be checking out the Greenacres Shop website next time we need to arrange a gift or corporate hamper.
 
Special thanks to Aleisha Brooke-Smith, LIP participant and Greenacres Head of Marketing and Business Development for arranging our visit, and Mimma Peppoloni LIP Alumni and Operations Manager at Greenacres for supporting the visit. Alison Turner from Flagstaff delivered a vote of thanks on behalf of the LIP, acknowledging Chris’s significant contribution to the disability sector in the region.

On 20 June the LIP attended BlueScope for a tour of the Steelworks, expertly guided by Inside Industry tour guides Rick Bonnor and John Stewart. We were impressed with the steel making operations and the opportunity to witness the many activities taking place at Port Kembla and hear more about those planned for the future.

Following the tour, we heard from Tania Archibald, BlueScope’s Chief Executive Australian Steel Products. Tania generously shared her leadership advice and experiences and answered questions from the group.
Some of Tania’s invaluable leadership advice is captured below:

• Future planning is critical for success, we need to make decisions right now for ten years in the future, stick to the plan and don’t overreact to short term pressures.
• Develop a clear narrative to communicate to external stakeholders and internally to staff.
• Community engagement is also critical for success.
• In terms of career growth advice, Tania said “if there’s an opportunity, step up and take it, even if you’re not quite sure” and “when things are hard you learn a lot”.
• As a leader, your level of engagement is really important, talking to people regularly, demonstrating “I’m in the trenches with you” and genuinely showing you care about your team.
• Managing your own expectations can allow you to maintain a sense of calm “five things can go wrong on any given day before you’re allowed to get upset about it”.
• The advice Tania would give her younger self is to get as much exposure as possible to different activities, do different things all the time, continue to engage, be visible, turn up and be present.

​Following the leadership session, Leela Kempton, a former BlueScope Technology and Development Engineer, delivered a vote of thanks on behalf of the LIP. Thanking Tania for hosting our visit and expanding our knowledge of the scale of BlueScope’s global operations and its impact in the Illawarra and national economy. 

The LIP 2023 Mentoring Program launched this week with a briefing and networking session at SmartSpace, UOW Innovation Campus where the LIP came together and met their mentor for the first time. Each LIP member has been matched with one of Illawarra’s experienced leaders who will be mentoring them over the next four months.

Previous participants have said that the mentoring part of the LIP is one of the highlights of the program - having someone to bounce ideas off, guide them, offer advice, new perspectives and motivation and support is invaluable in enabling further career and personal growth.

A previous LIP participant shared that “one of the richest learnings gained from the program was through my mentor. He was someone who brought extraordinary experience and insights into personal growth and development, and gave me a great boost in confidence around my personal attributes”.

We wish the LIP every success with their mentor journey and look forward to their updates on what they have learned. Thank you to our generous mentors for making this possible!

On 8 March, Easy Agile hosted a site visit at their Regent Street Wollongong Head Office. We were warmly welcomed by Co-CEOs, Dave Elkan and Nick Muldoon, Engineering Manager Maysa Safadi, and Partner Manager and LIP Alumni Hayley Rodd.

After a tour of the Easy Agile offices, we heard from the Co-CEOs on what Easy Agile does and learned about their rapid business growth, leadership journey and lessons learned. Put simply, Easy Agile writes software to help developers write software. They’re proud to support over 150,000 users in over 40 countries and have a diverse range of customers across different industries like Adobe, Amazon, Adidas, Cisco, Ubisoft and Vodafone.

Dave and Nick have deliberately founded their business on balance, balancing self, family, community, and work. They explained that if you and the team can work close to home and “don’t have an hour commute to work, you’ve got the flexibility to craft the life that works for you”. By supporting their staff well, they are then able to support the customer and exceed their expectations.

Engineering Manager, Maysa Safadi shared what it’s like to be in a leadership role at Easy Agile, where she has been acknowledged and supported. She also supports UOW students to gain skills and experience through a graduate and internship program. Maysa also explained the features of Agile project management, the methodology adopted by Easy Agile, where Agile teams work on phases of projects concurrently and use Agile ceremonies to organise their ever-changing work. These were new concepts to understand, as many of the LIP are accustomed to the Waterfall project management method (more linear, less flexible and the end results are established at the beginning of a project).

The LIP had the opportunity to learn more in a question and answer session that included topics like:
- what it’s like to be a Co-CEO
- how to balance flexibility for staff with output
- how to move from a software engineering background to leadership
- collecting and using customer feedback
- support and communication tools for staff who work remotely
- taking the brave leap to grow the business

Mitch Bell delivered a vote of thanks on behalf of the LIP, thanking Dave, Nick, Maysa and Hayley for hosting our visit, for sharing their leadership journeys, and highlighting the many benefits of adopting an empathetic leadership style and flexible work practices.