Australia’s leading safety and compliance provider, Detector Inspector, partners with property managers to make homes safer for tenants and compliance simpler for landlords. Over the past 18 years, the company has undertaken exponential growth expanding its staff to over 600 people dispersed across Australia to ensure the compliance of smoke alarms, gas and electrical appliances, essential fire safety, corded blind safety, water efficiency services, and beyond.
Completing over 500,000 properties per year, and counting, Detector Inspector’s nimble and mighty team have scaled to keep up with changing state-based legislation, booming market demand, and the expansion of its services.
During this substantial growth period, its HR team rightly identified the need to help develop the leadership skills of its field and office staff to ensure the best service for its growing customer base, develop an industry-leading program for its apprentices, and ensure all state regulation is complied with to the highest standard.
One of Detector Inspector’s core values is to promote from within. In order to do this, it needed to ensure all of its first-time leaders were up to the task of managing others and equip them with the tools to do so effectively.
As a lean HR team, Detector Inspector needed an external provider and chose Hellomonday from a range of different solutions to deliver a customised leadership program that was effective, adaptable to both field and office staff, and didn’t require large internal resourcing.
Belinda Ristevski
Head of People,
Detector Inspector
Detector Inspector’s team is composed of field staff who conduct property visits, ensure compliance with regulations and fit new devices onsite, while its office team coordinates its nationwide operations and scales the business.
Since launching in 2005, Detector Inspector has shifted its field workforce from predominantly contract roles to employees. This change has been paramount in delivering learning and development opportunities for its staff to expand their technical skills, alongside their leadership capabilities.
Alongside this shift, new legislation came into effect in Victoria which made smoke alarm, gas and electrical safety checks mandatory for all rental properties. This policy change had an enormous impact on the business as landlords were now responsible for compliance. Beyond smoke alarm testing, gas and electricity safety compliance rose to prominence and significantly broadened Detector Inspector’s offering. Consequently, Detector Inspector ramped up hiring to handle the demand.
Today, Detector Inspector’s headquarters are in Melbourne with satellite offices in New South Wales and Queensland coordinating field staff to deliver services across Australia.
“Given the nature of our team and its heavy weighting towards field staff, many members of the team have undergone extensive technical training, however leadership development opportunities have been limited. So at Detector Inspector, we set out to change just this,” said Ristevski.
With Detector Inspector’s emphasis on promoting within coupled with its staff who were predominately in technical field roles before becoming office-based supervisors, there was an acute need for support to develop leadership skills and capabilities. In particular, many first-time leaders needed extra guidance and support, outside of what was being provided by senior leadership.
For many of its field staff who started as apprentices, transitioned to technicians and climbed the ranks to supervisor positions, the leadership development program with Hellomonday was the first-of-its-kind training.
“An external provider was a must-have for our HR team,” said Ristevski. “We needed a partner we could trust that would engage our staff, provide continuous learning opportunities, and ensure the frameworks and methodologies fit the needs of our business. Hellomonday did just that.”
With Hellomonday, over 30 of Detector Inspector’s leaders had the opportunity to select a coach suited to their areas of expertise, interests and development focus. From there, they undertook two one-to-one coaching sessions, and participated in learning circles and group workshops focused on: communicating with impact, setting clear expectations, and giving effective feedback.
Agree they are more productive
Return from coaching initiatives for every dollar invested
Agree they have better relationships
Agree they are more likely to remain in their roles
“My coach opened my eyes to a perspective I haven’t seen before,” said one of Detector Inspector’s first-time leaders.
Since undertaking the program, several first-time leaders have been promoted to more senior roles leveraging the leadership skills, tools and frameworks explored in their one-to-one coaching sessions, learning circles, and workshops.
The feedback from field and office staff was overwhelmingly positive. One of the key highlights has been the enormous benefit of one-to-one coaching to workshop solutions to everyday challenges they face and the importance of having a sounding board outside of direct managers and leadership.
“What’s interesting to see is that our high-performers have had a taste for leadership development, and loved it. In fact, they’re now asking what’s next. With this program, we’ve ignited an appetite for growth and learning. As we look to expand the program to staff both in Victoria and interstate, we only expect this to grow further,” Ristevski continued.
“Unlike other service providers where the programs require heavy resourcing needs from internal staff, Hellomonday took care of everything for us and people could quickly get back to work. It was a game-changer for our team.”
Since undertaking the first leadership development program with Hellomoday, Detector Inspector is exploring future programs to help springboard even more first-time leaders and create subsequent programs to further individual growth throughout their leadership journey.
“Never before had I had a leadership development coach. From my very first session, my coach was understanding, explained things logically and listened carefully. The experience was beyond my expectations,” said another Detector Inspector participant.
