Staff Spotlight: Tom Welsh

Tom is Terra Firma’s Consulting Capability Executive based in Terra Firma’s Melbourne office. After almost 10 years with Terra Firma, Tom shares some of his highlights and what good leadership means to him.

When did you start working at Terra Firma?

I have been at Terra Firma for almost ten years. I was a Business Consultant for seven years before I joined the leadership team as the Consulting Capability Lead. Having worked as a consultant allows me to better understand the consultant journey, providing insights that I enjoy sharing with my colleagues in Terra Firma’s leadership team.

What are some of your career highlights?

My career started in the Australian Public Service, and I worked there for nineteen years before transitioning to consulting. I have managed some large, complex service delivery and emergency programs for the Australian Government, but above all the focus that it provided on people, especially end users and customers, has provided the foundation for all my future project and program delivery.

For me, the highlight of Terra Firma is the diversity of work I’ve been able to do here. I have worked with a broad range of people on some exciting opportunities. I’ve worked in Sensis, Telstra, and NBN on change and technology projects, and have been fortunate enough to provide governance and project delivery expertise across a range of Victorian Government programs. Above all, my greatest highlight has been joining the leadership team and working each day to improve the experience of our people.

What is your favourite thing about your current role as the Consulting Capability Lead?

Undoubtedly, it’s supporting all the consultants. I strongly believe we need to continue investing in and supporting our consultants and I prioritise time with them to honour their needs.

I love working with our people. They are a bunch of diverse, highly-skilled professionals who have broad and differing needs, and I love getting to know them. I love to work with them on their career planning and help people grow and develop their consulting prowess. It’s very exciting and fulfilling.

How would you describe the company culture?

Culture is a focus area for us, and I feel we have an inclusive and supportive culture. We invested a lot of time into our recent Great Place to Work survey, and the results provided some really positive reinforcement of the work we’ve put in, especially recognition of the sense of family and community. We’re also committed to working on areas that our people have identified as opportunities for improvement.

Over your time at Terra Firma, what projects have stood out as rewarding for you?

Every one of my engagements was such a change from what I had previously done, and each was rewarding in its own way. I really enjoyed working on the Essential Eight program at NBN, which was an important program for both the government and for the entities. I got to learn a lot about security, why we need to protect information, and why we need to protect our information and assets. I also got to work with a fantastic program team with highly knowledgeable stakeholders, across a complex organisation. It certainly kept me on my toes!??

What do you believe are the most important qualities of a good leader?

Being able to listen, communicate effectively, and live what you say.

Leadership to me is nurturing and marshalling the professional expertise and talents of everyone and letting them work together as a team. A leader helps people by creating a space in which people can work and operate at their best. It is about being non-prescriptive in how people achieve outcomes. I much prefer communicating what our end goal looks like and supporting them to work together in the best way possible.

Leaders will set the compass in the right direction, support and reassure people as they take the journey. We learn and improve together when things didn’t go the way we had planned and celebrate the success of everyone once the outcome is achieved.