Tell us about your role!

I’m lucky enough to be the General Manager of WorkflowMax, and every day I feel incredibly lucky to get to transform, evolve and grow the WorkflowMax business.

I see it as my role to provide strategic direction for the WorkflowMax business and to galvanise the team behind the plan and continuously provide clarity and support in getting us where we want to go. I’m constantly striving to create a flexible, fun workplace where everyone feels as though they belong, can be themselves and where people say they love their jobs, behind my back.  

Why did you join WorkflowMax?

Prior to joining WFM in 2017, one of the many hats I wore was running a company which, had we known about WFM, it would have revolutionised the business and subsequently all of our jobs. We were incredibly frustrated by the inefficiency and clunkiness of the disparate, stand alone tools that we used to patch together some sort of workflow, and then trying to extract meaningful insights and reports that were full of gaps and errors. So when I arrived at Xero and heard about WFM, I was instantly drawn to it. I realised quickly that just like me, most SMB’s simply don’t realise that job management software is a ‘thing’, and that not only does a solution to their frustrations exist, but that the visibility, productivity and profitability that can be achieved by implementing it, would change their business and their lives. So when I was given the opportunity to run the business in 2019, I jumped at the chance.

What’s working at WorkflowMax like?

I’m lucky enough to be the one who has the most influence in ‘what working at WorkflowMax is like’ for people and I think creating a place where people genuinely love their jobs, comes down to values. One of WorkflowMax’s values, and the one that stands out to me the most, is ‘human’. Great leaders emerge by being human first and foremost. By listening deeply and having empathy, by understanding and caring, by looking for ways to give, rather than take, trusting each other and looking at the biggest problems and challenges, as amazing opportunities. There’s so much potential for WorkflowMax and so much opportunity to make it even more successful. I can see what needs to happen and I appreciate how I’m being trusted by my leaders to do great things with great people.

Tell us something #human about yourself

I love power tools! Actually, I love all tools. I think because I spend the majority of my days and working life in front of a keyboard and screen, I love using my hands in my spare time. I have a shed full of power tools and love to hang out in Bunnings just looking at all the amazing tools and envisaging the things I could achieve with them. A project I’m most proud of completing with all my handy tools, is the outdoor lighting for my home.

Do you have any advice to share with the readers of this blog?

I feel like advice can be a really annoying thing… Instead, here is a list of words to live by which I’ve found have served me well. Take it or leave it.

1. There are leadership moments in every situation, regardless of role or job, find them.
2. Be real and authentic, especially when you don’t know what to do, or don’t have the answer.
3. Know yourself, be self aware, recognise your privilege and run towards emotion rather than away from it.
4. Listen intently and get to know the machine intimately before you pull any levers.
5. Surround yourself by people who are authentic, will tell you the truth and challenge you, and who don’t have an agenda.
6. Embrace problems and change for the better with ferocity and fight change in the wrong direction with the same ferocity.