“We are a people-first business that protects our clients' wealth. To do this, we must develop long-lasting relationships built on trust. Leadership development personalised to our leaders' needs is a non-negotiable to achieve this,” said Andrea Robotham, People and Capability Manager, Equity Trustees.
Australia’s leading specialist Trustee company for the past 145 years, Equity Trustees provides a variety of independent services to protect individuals, families, and corporate clients' money. From asset management, estate planning, philanthropic services, and fund governance, Equity Trustees supports thousands of clients and beneficiaries each year.
In the last two years alone, Equity Trustees has doubled its headcount from 250 to 500 employees with the recent $135 million acquisition of Australian Executor Trustees. With the ongoing integration of the two businesses, Equity Trustees is prioritising people and capability development to enable a collaborative, inclusive and evolving workforce.
“During times of change, skilled leadership is required to work through all the challenges and opportunities that arise for our people. Although Equity Trustees has undertaken mergers in the past, nothing compares to the scale of this. Not to mention the numerous large-scale transformational technology projects on the go. To navigate these transitions, resilient leadership is paramount. That’s why we invested in Hellomonday’s expert leadership coaching,” Robotham continued.
In a company-first, Equity Trustees launched a dedicated leadership development program in 2019. The focus on capability development has since emerged as a core pillar of the organisation’s overarching strategy to ensure Equity Trustees has the best professionals within the fiduciary services industry.
“Development for everyone is our north star. Within an organisation as large as ours, it’s clear everyone learns differently requiring personalised support, Robotham said.
Previously, training and seminars were undertaken on select topics, however, a full-scale, continuous program had never been in place. The demand emerged from employee engagement surveys with L&D identified as a leading priority.
From client-facing employees to Executives, Equity Trustees developed a comprehensive program to develop core interpersonal and leadership capabilities, alongside required technical skills. Across hundreds of staff with diverse experience levels, Equity Trustees opted for targeted interventions across three levels: ACCELERATE (highly motivated and performing individuals), ADVANCE (managers and leaders) and AMPLIFY (senior leaders).
Hellomonday’s expert executive coaching is the hyper-personalised approach taking our senior leadership development to new heights,” she continued.
To safeguard Equity Trustees’ future growth, development of a robust leadership pipeline is essential. Consequently, we piloted coaching with Hellomonday with eight senior leaders who had advanced technical experience.
From the outset, these senior leaders required sophisticated and personalised support focused on their individual needs across their respective roles. With over 50 sessions completed, 41 areas of development achieved and an overall feedback ranking of 4.6 out of 5, it’s clear this targeted program effectively addressed their specific development requirements.
Cristina Starek
Head of Operations & Oversight, Equity Trustees
Finding sufficient time for development was identified as a concern for the effectiveness of the senior leaders' program. Compared to the rigidity of previous face-to-face and hybrid programs, Hellomonday’s flexibility to book in with an executive coach at a time that works best for the individual was a game-changer.
“Workshops and full immersion training have a time and a place, however we often left wondering what had changed after those one or two days, Robotham said.
Whereas, expert coaching offers continuous and contextualised learning opportunities for meaningful behaviour change to occur. That’s why we choose Hellomonday for our senior leaders,” she continued.
With a suite of development tools available to Equity Trustees’ employees, it was imperative that coaching had a digital-first approach that would be easy to implement to provide maximum impact.
“From initial scepticism to the golden “aha moments”, the greatest feedback on Hellomonday is the trust our senior leaders have in their coaches providing practical tools to solve complex challenges they face,” she said.
While growing rapidly as it consolidates its position as Australia’s leading specialist trustee company, Equity Trustees recognised the need to develop its people and capabilities. With the launch of a comprehensive leadership development program, Equity Trustees is closer to fulfilling its vision of enabling a collaborative, inclusive and evolving workforce that will deliver growth and success for both our people and the company.
The program has been instrumental in developing a robust leadership pipeline, with senior leaders gaining the skills and confidence to navigate change and uncertainty.
And, Cristina has since been promoted to General Manager Shared Services Corporate Superannuation Trustee Services, highlighting the value of coaching with Hellomonday in preparing our senior leaders for the next step in their career.
