Transformation and Collaboration in the Land Development Industry

Finding solutions to climate change, expanding diversity of all kinds, the skills shortage and uplifting the younger generation within the land development industry were all on the agenda as part of the Leadership in Land Development Luncheon.?

Industry veterans and aspiring leaders gathered at the Altus Rooftop on the 12th floor of the prestigious Hotel Chadstone for an afternoon of insightful presentations and discussions along the theme of transformation.?

ALDE President Sehon Pellew opened the proceedings summarising many of the disruptions land development is currently facing such as an unstructured but also strongly demand driven industry, supply chain shortages, climate challenges such as global warming and natural disasters, the shifting workforce and attracting talent as well as emerging technologies and the move towards sustainability.?

Whilst Pellew acknowledged many of these factors fall outside the industry’s sphere of control, he called on individuals and leaders to reflect on whether they are ‘proactive or reactive’ in the face of change.?

“Many of the skills required to lead, adapt and harness transformation are skills that can be learned through time and practice in order for us to get the most out of ourselves and our teams. It won’t happen overnight but if we are intentional–a transformative approach can become a key part of who we are as leaders.”

As keynote, Lara Olsen FTSE GAICD , Managing Director of South East Water expanded on the theme by recounting some of the key instances during her career that transformed her thinking such as implementing financial systems with the Brotherhood of St Laurence and working for Tesla Energy.?

A degree qualified chemical engineer and self confessed introvert, Olsen never saw herself as a CEO but has established a significant reputation as a leading strategist within the utilities sector in Australia and internationally.

?“I used to feel like a failed engineer in some ways as I wasn’t practising every day the way I thought engineers should or would. I wasn’t doing single line diagrams etc. I now look at it and feel the key thing that engineering gave me was problem solving. And I tell anyone I can in terms of kids looking at their career in the future, that engineering will allow you to solve some of the world’s biggest problems and be delivering on some of the things that are going to really matter to society.”?

Water scarcity as well as natural disasters like droughts and floods are a particular concern in her current position at South East water and she believes “this is the decade that matters in terms of climate change. And each of us here, us that work in water, you that work across our land, will be either executives or engineers or decision makers or implementers in that decade that matters.”

Olsen spoke about the push for collaboration within the water sector with the recently formed Managing Director’s Accord, that brings together Managing Directors of Melbourne Water, South East Water, Yarra Valley Water, Greater Western Water & Barwon Water with a view to potentially standardising some requirements to greater assist the approval process.?

When asked how South East Water became a leader in diverse hiring and representation with 50/50 gender diversity on their board, Olsen acknowledged the emphasis placed on diversity by her organisation had made grounds but that they are still working on resembling the community they serve and pointed to cultural background, sexual orientation and ability as other markers they were focusing on.?

“I think that’s what we need more of, not just diversity in gender but diversity in all aspects because that’s where we’ll get the best leaders.

“We have to make sure we don’t lose our focus on it. It’s like any other target. We always hit our emissions targets, why can’t we hit our diversity target. To me they’re the same.”?

An industry panel followed with Lisa Kinross GAICD, MComm, MOL , CEO of the Civil Contractors Federation Victoria - CCF Vic (CCF) and Rohan Bakker , President of the Association of Consulting Surveyors Victoria (ACSV) followed diving deep into the personal and professional outlooks that have assisted them to navigate the challenges facing their associated industries.?

Rohan Bakker highlighted the challenges of encouraging excellence and innovation as part of everyday work and the skills shortage facing technical fields particularly as only 3% of surveyors are female. “As we struggle with all these resource shortages, men are getting older and we’re not having that backfill with the younger generation and particularly women. So the leadership challenge for us is how do we identify that and how do we make our industry attractive and relevant to students, whether they’re high school or even younger.?

It’s about encouraging our next generation of surveyors, the same as land development engineers, it’s about encouraging them and making sure they want to be part of this great industry.”

Lisa Kinross related her extremely positive experiences of empowering the next generation entering the workforce as a way to speed up the transformation within existing organisations.?

“They (young people) have completely transformed a lot of our businesses’ processes by the way that they look at stuff. They have been empowered and feel comfortable to bring solutions and in fact solve the problem before you even know necessarily you’ve got a problem.?

You’ve got to have the respect of young people to allow them to think the way they think, and contribute based on that, but have that safety behind them.”?

The Leadership in Land Development Luncheon was sponsored by The Civil & Surveying Institute.