Emerging Leaders Program – Reflections at the Halfway Point

Now in its fifth year, KINNECT’s Emerging Leaders Program (ELP) enriches participants’ professional toolkits with essential leadership skills and knowledge that improve their performance at KINNECT and beyond. Moreover, participants have often been surprised by the new relationships and personal insights they’ve gained along the way. 

We asked three of this year’s cohort to reflect on their learning as they progress deeper into this 10-month-long professional development experience. 

Brett Heiner – Team Manager, Central Queensland 

What are the top things you’ve learned so far?

Firstly, across all the content and the development books we’re reading, there is a very clear and consistent message that leaders can’t do everything at once, even though we try to. There’s been some good insights and tips for determining which goal matters most for success, and then how to delegate some of the other tasks or workloads that don’t fit with that goal to other capable team members. 

Secondly, I’ve learnt a lot about lead versus lag measures, which equate to things that I can influence as a leader versus things that I can’t. I’m already using lead versus lag measures in monitoring how we’re building as a business across Central Queensland. 

Finally, culture isn’t just the way people connect and share their workplace; it’s also about having the right conversation at the right time, even if it’s a hard conversation, calling out behaviours. It links back to trust, and I’ve learned that a team can’t grow together until they trust each other. 

What has surprised you the most? 

Probably how much I’ve enjoyed reading, even though the books aren’t what I would normally read.  The reading list is entirely books around business development, entrepreneurial leadership, and culture. Some of the titles don’t look that interesting, but once you get into them, they’re actually quite provoking, enjoyable reads. 

What are you looking forward to in the rest of the program? 

There’s a book on the list – Man’s Search for Everything – that I’m really looking forward to reading. I’ve spoken to other people who’ve been through the previous ELPs who have said it’s a compelling and intense read. They talked about how they’ve applied the lessons and insights to their own day-to-day life and role. It’s about a man who was a prisoner of war and the realisations he came to through that experience. Although it’s a situation far from what I anticipate I’ll ever be in, it’s nice to know that there is something I’ll learn from that person’s story.  

Danielle Trewarn – Administration Officer (Medical Support), Gold Coast 

What are the top things you’ve learned so far?

Although I’m not currently in a leadership role, the program has provided me with a new perspective.  Reading the books has given me a clear picture of KINNECT’s foundations. They’ve given me an understanding of how and why the company was created, and the reasons why we have grown as we have.  

The Emerging Leaders Program (ELP) has also given me the opportunity to engage with colleagues I wouldn’t typically interact with. Having access to leaders like the CEO has been incredibly valuable. It’s helped me learn from their experience and perspectives, while also making me feel more comfortable initiating conversations I might previously have hesitated to start. Sometimes you worry that they’d be too busy to talk to you, but they’re humans, too. Having that contact with them in the ELP makes things easier and helps me in in my role.  

One piece of advice from a keynote speaker during our first get-together in Brisbane has really stayed with me: to prioritise your personal life goals by allocating time in your calendar for it first, then fitting everything else around that. It’s a simple reminder to protect balance and well-being. 

What have you enjoyed the most? 

I love that we [the ELP participants] get together at the beginning of the program to fill out our evaluations and then have a look at the end to see how far we’ve come. 

What are you looking forward to in the rest of the program? 

Just to see where the remainder of the programme goes. I like the books as they’ve encouraged me to read again, although I’ve enjoyed some more than others. I’m also looking forward to seeing how the program gets wrapped up, seeing the other ELP’s and how I can put what I’m learning into play.  

Annabel Redman – Team Manager Psychological & Vocational Rehabilitation Services, Mascot 

What are the top things you’ve learned so far?

What’s been great about ELP is getting to hear from people from so many different backgrounds and various departments – no one has quite the same experience. So, what’s been interesting has been to see how other people do things and what’s made them stars in their field. What I’ve learned about management styles and how they work, I’ve been able to apply to my team. 

Also, looking deeper at the Kulture survey has given me some interesting insights. We [Team Managers] can go along day-to-day thinking “My team’s all happy”. What’s quite good about the survey is that it brings your attention to things that you might not have considered.  

I think we all have similar values at KINNECT, but don’t have the same way of viewing things, which, now that I’m mindful of it, makes me more self-aware as a leader. 

In my one-on-one meetings with my team, I’m such a metrics person – it’s all about numbers, but I’ve had a little reminder to take the time to say “Hey, how are you? Are you getting on okay? Beyond the workplace rehabilitation claims, is there anything that you want to flag with me? We’re coming into winter. Do you need to take a couple of days’ leave just for a bit of a break?” I understand that sometimes you don’t want to tell your manager everything, but if there’s something little you can do to make them feel more comfortable or put a smile on their face, you should. 

When I started ELP and read the titles of the books, I thought, “Oh no, these are all business books,” but they’ve all had a different point, and it’s been good to get an understanding of why KINNECT does things a certain way. If I can understand KINNECT’s values in a deep and meaningful way, it makes it easier to get my colleagues and my team members on board. I can go beyond “Because it’s in this book” to “The reason we do this is based on this particular principle.” 

What has surprised you the most? 

Seeing that the books aren’t just all about getting outcomes, they’re very much about people and about the culture. So that was a little bit of a surprise, I would say.   

It’s not a surprise for me, but if you’re coming from outside the organisation, I imagine that it woudl be unique to see the CEO in the ELP meetings, taking us through the content and having one-on-one conversations with people. Not many companies offer that much access to the CEO and give people that much insight into leadership. We have some great conversations, and Dave will even crack a joke. It’s fabulous as a lot of people might be afraid to speak up in front of their CEO, but there’s no holds barred at ELP – there’s a sense of intellectual equality.  

What are you looking forward to in the rest of the program? 

I’m looking forward to catching up with the other ELP participants in person at the end of the year. There are wonderful, interesting people who I’ve met in this program and now see in the background of Teams Meetings. Normally, we wouldn’t ordinarily have any crossover, and I wouldn’t learn about what they do. For example, I didn’t have any idea how much the Medical Support Team did, but now I’ll think of an unsung hero in that department and send them a positive to call them out because there’s so much that they do that I don’t think we recognise. If it weren’t for ELP, I probably wouldn’t know that. 

Now that we’ve dived into the Kulture surveys, I’m also interested to see how thoughts and feedback are going to be applied and how it affects the big picture.  

For more information about our  Emerging Leaders Program, visit our Careers Centre.