Profile: Brendon Walker, St Vincents Hospital, Alcohol & Drug Service
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Brendon Walker Number of years in role: 1 |
What do you do?
I manage a team of highly skilled telephone counsellors. The 2 main services I manage are Quitline (NSW) and the Alcohol & Drug Information Service (NSW). I’m responsible for all operational, financial and HR management components of my services.
What results are expected in your position?
Above all, I'm responsible for the operational health of our business. To keep our answer rates high and ensure an effective and efficient provision of services to NSW. I’ve also been tasked to introduce a structure more commensurate with call centre operations, by implementing new systems and utilising current technologies in the way they were designed for.
The service director has assigned me to assist in designing a new facility, as part of the new combined Alcohol & Drug – Mental Health – Community Health Building for St Vincent’s Hospital. The building is due for completion in 2009, and I can’t wait to have a purpose built facility for our services.
What has been your biggest career highlight to date?
I can’t really pin that down to one moment. I’m quite happy with my career achievements as a whole, both with the Ambulance Service of NSW and St Vincent’s Hospital. I feel I’ve come a long way from a once aspiring ‘ambo’ to a manager of a business unit. When I look back, I never could have predicted ending up where I am now.
What is the best and worst thing about your job?
Best thing…would have to be our staff. They’re a great bunch, and their approach to change management has been outstanding. I’ve put them through a lot over the past 12 months!
The worst thing would have to be working under resourced in terms of staffing numbers…but I’m working on that one.
Any tips on how to get and stay ahead?
My philosophy has always been to work hard for what you want to achieve. I set my goals high, and keep at it until I achieve them. I never let people tell me I can’t accomplish something. If you apply yourself, anything is achievable. The most important part of that is to have a positive attitude.
How do you encourage loyalty with your staff and clients?
We try to provide our staff with continual professional development incentives, and a workplace that is fun to be in. Staff welfare is critical in a counselling environment. In terms of client loyalty, I feel that provision of a caring, professional and informative service ensures our clients remain happy.
What do you think employees want from their employer?
Employees want to feel valued. They want to be rewarded for their efforts, and recognised for their achievements. I don’t necessarily mean financial reward either. The acts of ensuring you thank and praise people for a job well done makes way for a healthy workplace. They also need to feel supported in a way that encourages people to learn from mistakes made, and that we all strive to be better at what we do.
What does your company do for its staff that you feel is different from what other companies provide?
I think our investment in staff welfare is our strongest point. We strive very hard to make sure our staff are healthy of mind, and want to perform their job well. I think it’s easier to focus on this without having to worry about generating revenue at the same time, which is the advantage of not having to sell anything I suppose.
What are the biggest human capital issues your industry is dealing with? …and what should be done about it?
Being under public funding, the biggest problem we face is under staffing. I feel that people who work within an industry primarily focused on counselling services are very susceptible to burnout if their welfare isn’t properly managed, or their work rate is excessively high. The main difficulty is that public funding is a very complicated thing to change without hard evidence. Anecdotally, a department can know that they are under resourced, but actually proving it can be very complex.
There needs to be more of a focus on the daily activities required to maintain a healthy call centre team…not just Erlang C. In the counselling world, there’s a lot more to consider than ‘talk times’ and ‘average ring times’.