Pillars of excellence: The podcast exploring pathways to success

Nicole Mahara is a seasoned aged care leader, having spent much of her career at Whiddon Aged Care as its Director of Care Services. In 2021, she pivoted into the academic world to become a Lecturer in Nursing at Charles Sturt University. 

Nicole witnessed the mental challenges aged care leaders face during her career, which helped influence her academic goal of making a difference by researching burnout in residential care managers.

“I’d love to be able to talk to others about their experience and find out more information because I think we can make a difference,” Nicole shared with Adam Holcroft and Danny Pinn, the experienced team behind the new QPS Podcast. 

“I want to see change. I want to help others who are in those positions to actually succeed and fulfil what they want to achieve in their careers. I’m hoping that the research will lead me towards that.”

After completing a scoping review of aged care’s key stressors – with many outside an individual’s control – she hopes further research will help other aged care professionals pursue excellence. 

Nicole’s mantra to learn more and make a difference for others is one of the five pillars of excellence Adam and Danny have uncovered with their QPS Podcast. 

QPS Benchmarking’s goal is to be a beacon of positive change in the healthcare sector. Adam, QPS Benchmarking’s General Manager, and Danny, its Marketing Manager, regularly support aged care providers in their pursuit of excellence. 

By listening to industry concerns and interacting at the coal face of organisations, QPS Benchmarking identifies issues and innovative solutions. Through conversations with experts, the QPS Podcast uncovers the pillars of excellence, including:

1. Making a difference
2. Empowering others
3. Teamwork
4. Perseverance
5. Leadership

Each guest on the QPS Podcast brings a different perspective and fresh spin to their experience with success and excellence. This can serve as inspiration for their peers. 

Simon Kerrigan, an experienced physiotherapist at Guide Healthcare, was inspired to empower others. He developed the innovative Powerlympics; a four-week program where aged care residents can form teams and compete in four power-based disciplines: Cycling, Rowing, Long Jump and Weightlifting. 

“We designed these events to empower and find ways to motivate residents to get involved in exercise. The Powerlympics is the latest concept we’ve rolled out into the aged care homes we support and quite a few others which is exciting,” he said. 

“This year we’re doing rowing, and we donated rowing machines to all the homes we support. They will be in the home long term. We want to make sure all the homes we support can get involved in the rowing. Some of the other homes have purchased rowing machines as well, which is really cool.”

While Simon’s focus is on empowering people to keep motivated and active, QPS Benchmarking looks to empower organisations. By providing time-saving products that streamline processes, it allows healthcare providers to focus on what they do best – caring for people.

“People don’t go into healthcare to fill out paperwork. They are caring people, and that’s what their goal in life is,” Adam added. 

Drawing inspiration from abroad

It often helps to look externally for knowledge and inspiration, especially with a whole world of innovative leaders to tap into. 

Take Michael Burton, the CEO of BinaryTech, BinaryMed and BinaryBeer; three innovative companies across entirely different industries. Michael said he discovered how to appreciate teamwork as a vital component of excellence after attending hackathon. 

Hackathon is an immersive concept where people come together to design something impactful in just 30 hours. An Australian example is Hackagong, the Nation’s largest hackathon held in Wollongong. 

“It was just eye-opening to see what people are capable of accomplishing when they’re doing something they’re really passionate about,” Michael said. 

“One of the lessons is understanding how powerful a motivated team can be if a team actually understands what they’re working towards and has buy-in. It’s not just 10 times, it’s 100 times in what can be accomplished by a team that’s focused and working towards something meaningful.”

You will find examples of teamwork throughout QPS Benchmarking, right from IT to the head office, where everyone works as a cohesive unit to ensure their contribution to the Australian healthcare sector has a profound impact.

The organisation also has tremendous belief in what it delivers to the industry. This confidence in their product drives them to innovate and strive for excellence.

“Our software’s features are both unique and powerful. They stand out by offering exceptional capabilities and give the sector solutions to the problems being faced,” Adam said. 

QPS Podcast guest Geoff McQueen, Founder of software company Accelo, knows how important belief is. But he also recognises that fear can deter individuals from striving for success.

He told the QPS Podcast you can be realistic about success – or failure – while still backing yourself. 

“Being realistic about what’s at stake and knowing that if the business completely fails, you’ll still be able to get up again the next day. And if you built it once, you can build it a second time and with a lot less risk because you’ve learned to be confident in your competence,” he shared. 

“As long as you’re not lying to yourself – and fake it till you make it is a dangerous, dangerous world – then be prepared to continue to be realistic and that if you mess it up, you’ll learn from it.”

Ultimately, the pursuit of excellence requires a lot of perseverance. Close enough is never good enough for QPS Benchmarking, and as Adam said, “There’s always room to improve, to find new techniques, and to think outside the box.” 

John Kelly AM diligently followed the path of improvement throughout a decorated career spanning five decades. He is a former Aged Care Commissioner and former CEO of the Aged & Community Services Australia (ACSA) peak body that evolved into the Aged & Community Care Providers Association (ACCPA). 

An Order of Australia Award in 2009 represents how highly regarded he is. For John, leadership is intertwined with his pursuit of excellence. Embodying its characteristics requires other skills such as perseverance and empowering others. 

“A lot comes down to your management style because we don’t put our hands up and say, ‘I want to be a leader or I am a leader’. You become a leader by having followers,” he said.

“Those followers (either) respect certain characteristics that you may have as an individual that you bring into interaction. The qualities of leadership, I think are complex. A lot of people put their hand up and say they understand what leadership is about.

“But as you move through life, hopefully through experience, you do develop a better understanding of what works and what doesn’t work.”

In the aged care world, it helps to have someone outside of your organisation who can recognise what works and what doesn’t. QPS Benchmarking has the experience, tools and resources to help improve the services you provide. 

If you would like to learn more about how QPS Benchmarking can help your organisation in the pursuit of excellence, visit qpsbenchmarking.com. You can also listen to all episodes of the QPS Podcast in full through the QPS Benchmarking Youtube channel.