Team, teams, teams

Due to various circumstances, staff numbers in the AW team dropped from 15 to 10 for almost 4 months during the early stages of COVID-19 restrictions and eventual closing of offices. Unable to recruit, the ace up the sleeve for the team however is their versatility. As a small, close knit team who (in the main) have worked together for many years, their knowledge and skills go beyond their individual position requirements making it possible for them to cover (with a lot of hard work) the shuffle of workloads created by this unforeseeable situation.

For various reasons, three of four management positions became vacant over a very short time (including the Regional Manager) necessitating a reshuffle of responsibilities and workloads. With three staff on maternity leave, one on 12 month secondment, another to build his dream home and a position about to be recruited, human resources were unexpectedly stretched by COVID-19 related recruitment restrictions.

The Program Manager James Thiessen stepped into the Regional Manager’s position and miraculously coped well through the destabilising effects of COVID-19 closures as well as the transition to Landscape Boards and all that entailed. AW’s Regional Ecologist also stepped up to cover the Program Manager’s role (and still much of his own). Happily, the team is now re-building. Ollanta Lipcer (see below), who worked with AW previously accepted the Acting role of Operations Manager in Ceduna and Stuart Sexton has joined the field staff in Ceduna after helping out in Adelaide with reporting for the first few months on the team. Dalin Song has returned to the business team from Maternity leave and the new General Manager’s name should be announced any day.

Great job team and to all those teams out there who are working so hard to keep what matters, mattering!