Found in the CEO’s Outbox this week…

A message to you all (and Rudy)

I am very pleased to be back at my desk after a two-week whirlwind trip to visit family in Europe. I have attached a couple of photos from the main event that drew my daughter and me away: the 40^th wedding anniversary party/concert for my brother and sister-in-law. My daughter is seen playing bass in the house band with her cousins, and I also made a cameo appearance during one of the songs.

I am very grateful and proud of my team for holding the fort while I was away. For most of them, it will have been business as usual, and my absence will have made little difference, which is great. Some of the team had to deal with significant issues and made difficult decisions, and I am pleased to note that they did so with great skill and care for our Caringa community and values.

I reflect on how far we have come as a team during the past financial year, as we work together to re-invent ourselves as a ‘self-managing’ organisation. The ultimate goal is that people are empowered and confident to make the decisions that need to be made without having a boss who needs to control everything. This past fortnight, some of the team will have experienced that and although it may have been uncomfortable and even a bit daunting at times, I hope that this experience built confidence and some optimism for how we can continue to manage ourselves into the future.

For myself, I have genuinely managed to switch off from work for two weeks. I now feel fully energised to launch back into my work with energy and focus. I can highly recommend the discipline of ‘switching off’ during annual leave. If anyone feels that their role does not have sufficient contingencies in place to enable this, we must work together to fix that.

With these reflections in mind, I look forward to the year ahead. FY25 is going to be a terrific year for Caringa as we continue to bring our whole selves to work and collaborate across teams and layers of the business. Increasingly, we will find our self-managing mojo and discover that our best work lies ahead of us, ready to be enabled, optimised and celebrated. All in service of our Caringa community, and the communities in which Caringa is nested.

All the best,

Leon