Kerryn’s  passion for learning and desire for change has manifested into a diverse early working career spanning many industry sectors including equine and agricultural research, education and marketing.

Kerryn’s career within Energy Queensland started in 2008 and the desire for learning certainly hasn’t slowed down. Her roles have been diverse across regulatory and policy interpretation, process improvement, performance analytics and more recently, managing the Customer and Market Operations technology works program within EQL’s Distribution sector.

Kerryn has also been fortunate to have trained and competed horses for over 20 years and the skills she has learnt are invaluable to her career and personal values – respect, resilience and confidence.

Tell us about your current professional role and the attributes needed to successfully deliver the programs and initiatives that you look after?

As the Program Manager, my role is to coordinate project and change management strategies to support multiple system changes for the Customer and Market Operations group.

Undertaking a role of this magnitude requires an understanding to drive success, not just as an individual or team. The ability to leverage skills and knowledge from others within the wider business in order to make complex decisions on priority and strategic initiatives is paramount – it would be impossible to do what I do without the respect and engagement of my team and peers.

Working for a large organisation would mean that there are lots of systems and processes… how do you manage these and what works well for your clients?

To manage a program at this level, it’s impossible to have the breadth of technical knowledge required across all of our Customer and Market operational systems, therefore strong team building and effective communication skills are required to capitalise on the collective experience of our department to deliver outcomes.

Instilling confidence in our stakeholders and the team is vital in achieving the program. My team and stakeholders are geographically diverse so constant communication and innovative uses of technologies are the main strategies I use and definitely find they are essential to both maintaining relationships and delivering on our customer commitments.

You are passionate about self-development – what sort of opportunities do you pursue and get the most value out of? Do you think that opportunities differ living in a region that is a little more rural?

I think being in regional areas makes you a little more hungry and motivated to seek out these opportunities. There are really a lot of options in regional areas, but you may need to think a little differently or look in areas that you may not consider to be “your thing” to expand your ideas on what development is.

For me, self-development is firstly about understanding who you are. My experience in training horses (and people), has given me clear insight in to the importance of understanding what makes you tick – the good, the bad and the ugly. Any opportunity to explore your mindset and resilience is a great self-development experience, and this can come from surprising places.

I also find that opportunities to connect with others are something I get immense value from. I have recently started a support and leadership program within my department to empower our future leaders and stimulate a growth and learning mindset for all involved. This has really surprised me with the amount of young leaders who are so much more ahead than I was at that age and can give as much knowledge and experience as they receive.

What traits and qualities do you value in a leader?

Self-awareness and the ability to regulate or “check” in with ourselves in the face of challenges or obstacles would be the biggest trait I value. How do you react when you face a challenge? I used to wonder why some horses were naturally drawn to people, but really they are drawn to emotionally steady leaders. People are the same, great leaders usually remain calm, confident and emotionally steady under pressure and will always inspire a natural reaction in people to follow them.
What I have also valued in my journey is the lessons learnt in order to trust myself and not to be afraid of taking risks and fail forward. No one is perfect, and I have been fortunate to learn from great leaders that have allowed me to make mistakes and yet still provide confidence to get back up and have another go. Failure is an option, but we must understand that failing forward is the key.

And what’s next on the agenda for Kerryn Reid?

Professionally I am focusing on developing my support and leadership program within my department and exploring the ways we can get the most value out of the sessions. Exploring guest speakers to talk with us about success, failure and all the bumps along the way is the next agenda for me!

Personally, I am deciding what study I might next undertake – never stop learning – and I have also recently purchased a young horse, so no doubt that will be new lessons to be learnt (and hopefully no painful ones).

Coast or City?

I would have to say neither – country living is for me! But, if I had to choose… Coast.

Favourite book?

Hmm – as an avid reader this is tough but I would say The Horse Whisperer by Nicholas Evans

What is the mantra that you live your life by?

This quote used to be on my very first boss’s desk and it’s something that I have brought with me into my journey, both personally and professionally – “Fail, Fail again, fail better” – Samuel Beckett.

To find out more or to connect with Kerryn head to:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/kerryn-reid-7b344a34/