In this episode of Executive with a Cause, host Tammy Ven Dange chats with Louise Baxter, CEO of Starlight Children’s Foundation Australia.
For a people-facing organisation based in hospitals, why did Starlight Children’s Foundation consider itself a ‘match fit’ for COVID-19, and how did they benefit in areas due to the Pandemic? In this episode, we learn how the organisation is ahead of the curve as a workplace through good leadership, strong values and technology.
Few charities have a Chief Information Officer (CIO). In fact, many don’t even have an IT department. So how does the CIO of one of the largest national charities in Australia manage IT risks while dealing with skill shortages and increasing business needs? You won’t want to miss this episode as Tammy and Brett discuss these challenges and more.
As the only NFP ranking alongside private-sector heavyweights as an employer of choice, Louise explains how this has been achieved through trust and the tools for staff to be their best selves.
However, there was also an impact on volunteer engagement due to reduced hospital-based activities, and now they have a plan to bring valued volunteers back into the organisation.
In addition to supporting future leaders and balancing individual and team recognition, we also hear how the organisation employs future-oriented technology.
Louise explains her learnings from customised code and how they now use standardised products that can easily connect with each other and won’t leave the organisation vulnerable to software changes.
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IT in Plain English
Internal investments are always a tricky balance, especially for IT, and in this week’s segment, Tammy answers the question, ‘When is it time to upgrade your system?’
The answer is dependent on several variables that Tammy explains. However, if you’re currently hosting your own servers, you’ll likely be needing an upgrade sooner rather than later. With the current spotlight on cybersecurity, don’t put your organisation’s reputation at risk by placing IT investment on the back burner.
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Topics from this episode:
- 0.00 | Introduction
- 0.45 | Starlight Children’s Foundation
- 5.00 | Staffing
- 06.30 | Entering the NFP sector
- 13.08 | Good leadership
- 19.42 | The practicality of flexibility
- 23.01 | Investing in technology
- 28.50 | Differentiating through values
- 31.50 | HR systems
- 37.18 | Recognising volunteers
- 40.00 | Identifying leaders
- 44.54 | Closing tips
- 48.34 | IT in Plain English
Quotes from Louise Baxter in this episode:
“Happiness in childhood is one of the key determinants of how you perform in your education, your employment, and, importantly, long-term healthy life behaviours. Because when a child is diagnosed with a serious illness, their ability to be happy and to actually enjoy their childhood, you know, childhood is that time when we have no worries. We’re laughing and playing and learning all the time. And that is often taken away from them because of the treatment and surgery that they have to go through.”
“We’re now working on how we encourage those amazing volunteers because volunteering has always been part of our DNA right from day one. And they are incredible individuals who enable us to achieve so much. And you know, they support us through fundraising. They support us in our Starlight hubs, which are what other people might refer to those as offices, but we call them Starlight hubs around the country. But importantly, they helped us in our programs. And that’s been restricted. So, we’re working on getting them back.”
“One of the things I say to people constantly is if you are not leaping out of bed every day to do what you do, you know, to enjoy your role, then you’ve got to think about why you’re there. Because you can’t live in this world like that. I love Starlight, but I wouldn’t stay here if I was becoming disengaged in any way, shape or form. That’s not good for me, and that’s not good for Starlight.”
“Because what happens when people stay too long in organisations is they start to get disengaged, and everything starts to annoy them. And they sit in this disengaged corner and try to drag others into their corner. And if they leave, it’s better for them, it’s better for the organisation, and then they flourish in the organisation they go to because they get that new challenge. So, it’s a win, win.”
“We’re a people and relationship business; we’re all about people. However, technology is incredibly important in that because the purpose of technology is to enable more of the human. So, if you’re doing your technology right, it means it takes away those repetitive administrative tasks. If you have one source of truth, it takes away any sense of duplication or error.”
“Apps can be superseded so quickly, or in one case, we were using a fabulous app, and it was bought by someone because they wanted the people, not the app, and they closed the app down. So, you need to ensure that everything plugs in and out. And you can replace it with something better at any time in the future.”
“That’s one of the learnings that we’ve had. And so now we have an attitude, which is no code or low code because you don’t want to customise it so that you can’t actually download the next upgrade because there’s so many knock-on impacts that happen within your business.”
“We don’t build the CRM to match our process because my best guess is, our process is probably the one thing that’s out of step.”
“And because COVID actually gave us, in a very strange way, a gift of time and resources because we were restricted in other areas. So, we moved people on to other things that were on our list to do. But you know we run so lean in the charity sector, we would never have got to them otherwise. So, we’re actually in a stronger position for the next three years than we would have been without COVID.”
“I actually believe that leaders exist throughout your organisation. And what you need to do is provide those opportunities where those leaders, you see them step up. And you see it, and you see it in the way they communicate and what they do.”
“I don’t think I choose leaders. I think leaders choose themselves. And I think that we all have the potential to lead. And we move in and out of being leaders in our life in different ways. Some people prefer to stay in that family leadership area and community leadership. And others prefer to be happy and comfortable to push that more in the work environment. But you need that mix of people who lead and people who are exceptional operationally because you have to have things operating smoothly. And you have to have those people who are inspiring people.”
“We have a program. And we’ve just had, I think, 20 team members who were nominated. It runs over several weeks. And we refer to it as base camp because it pays tribute and it’s a leadership development course. It pays tribute to the fact that these people are not at the bottom of the mountain. They’re already on the ascent. And so, they’re at base camp, and we aim to take them to the pinnacle. And so, it’s recognising that we’ve seen their leadership.”
Links & Resources
- Connect with Louise on Linkedin https://www.linkedin.com/in/louisebaxter/
- Visit the Starlight website https://www.starlight.org.au/
Credits
Thanks to our Producer, Nick Whatman, and the entire team at Lonsdale St. Studio. Thanks also to our Digital Content Creator, Laura Kleinrahm.
Tammy Ven Dange is a former charity CEO, Not for Profit Board Member and IT Executive. Today she helps NFPs with strategic IT and data decisions with her business, Roundbox Consulting.