After 12 years of bouncing around the corporate side of council I noticed the massive gap in understanding between field and the corporate staff. I developed good working relationships with the field staff and knew their frustrations. Everyone wants the same outcome, but the method of communication wasn’t landing. I went into business improvement to try and bridge the gap, but still couldn’t make the required impact.

My only remaining option was to attempt to make change on the inside. So, I jumped in the deep end and became a team leader.

• From beauty therapist to leading sewer infrastructure maintenance teams.
• Understanding the communication rift between corporate and field.
• Infiltrating a new team and gaining their trust – how I did it.
• Healing the consequences of broken communication.
• Learn about your people and use them for their strengths.
• Celebrate diversity, encourage inclusivity.
• Doing things differently.
• Leading is about being vulnerable, consistent, and fair.
• Having all the technical knowledge is not a necessity.

The work continues, but I now have a growing team of fitters and electricians who are happy to come to work, tackle more complex jobs, have less unplanned sickies, who reach out for help with mental health, and apologise to each other when frustrations have been high.