Greenacres Site Visit

A repeat appearance in the Leadership Illawarra Program that is always well received, is the site visit to Greenacres Head Office at North Wollongong, visiting 2 of the sites of the 24 that the organisation operates across.

After signing in, donning our PPE in the form of High Vis vests and a Workplace Health and Safety Briefing, the cohort spilt into 2 groups and were escorted on a site tour by Heather Marciano, General Manager and Human Resource Manager and Belinda Lamb, Senior Coordinator - Marketing, Media and Communications.

Greenacres has a very flat management structure which was demonstrated by how well Heather and Belinda, as well as Grant and John who met up with us later, know all of the employees across the 2 sites visited, greeting them by name, asking after their welfare and including them in the explanations of what they do and how they contribute to the mission of Greenacres and their team mates.

The underlying theme of all that happens at Greenacres, particularly when it comes to the employees with disabilities, is an emphasis on fun and friendship. Team members come to work to be with their friends and to enjoy the work that they do in a positive and supported environment.

The leadership structure and process is highly collaborative and no decisions are made in isolation without involving the entire leadership team to ensure that the strategy takes all the stakeholders into account.  The team admit they may not always agree however they respect that they don't always have all the knowledge and that others in the team know more about their respective areas and the consequences of decisions that other may do.  They commit and support as a team knowing that the support is and will continue to be reciprocated.

One of the key success factors in the leadership at Greenacres is that the example is set from the very top, from Board and CEO level, thanks to Chris Christodoulou, that no team member is expected to give anything or undertake any task that the leadership team themselves would not also be prepared to do.

The cohort greatly appreciated the sharing of the leadership team as well as the hospitality provided to them at the end of the site tour.  Members of the Greenacres Kick Start team were able to demonstrate their barista and customer service skills making much appreciated and professionally produced coffees for those who ordered, and of course all of the orders were correct and delivered with a smile.

Yianni delivered the vote of thanks on behalf of the Leadership Illawarra Program, who left with a greater understanding of the history, culture, leadership attitudes and the operations of one of Wollongong's most impactful organisations.  

Thank you Greenacres for yet another amazing site visit.
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