From the CEO

I would like to say a heartfelt thank you to everyone that has contributed to my experience – to our team, our members, industry partners, and government colleagues – for your support, your challenge, your openness, and good humour.

This is my last contribution to Consulting Matters before I leave Consult Australia and proudly hand the role to my successor Jonathan Cartledge.

I have enjoyed a total of 10 years with Consult Australia, joining the team in 2004 as the first full time policy adviser. When I left in 2010 the government relations team had grown to four, including Jonathan Cartledge who then moved into my role as Head of Policy and Government Relations. After a gap of seven years, I returned to Consult Australia at the beginning of 2018 and become CEO in February 2019. It has been an incredible experience, navigating a pandemic, and raising the profile of this great organisation. I have learnt a great deal about leadership, strategy, and culture, and I am very proud of what we’ve achieved. I say ‘we’ because it has been a team effort. I would like to say a heartfelt thank you to everyone that has contributed to my experience – to our team, our members, industry partners, and government colleagues – for your support, your challenge, your openness, and good humour.

Consult Australia is held in high esteem (look out for our upcoming 70th Anniversary video featuring some of our industry’s high profile government clients) and is a trusted industry voice with governments and industry groups across the country.

I have no doubt that Consult Australia’s profile and influence will continue to grow under Jonathan’s exemplary leadership, extensive experience, and networks across government, the property sector, and the construction sector.

Most recently Jonathan lead Infrastructure Australia’s market capacity work in response which identifies a shortage of 52,100 engineers, scientists, and architects to deliver Australia’s infrastructure pipeline alone. I am pleased to say that we have been invited to participate in the Commonwealth Government’s Infrastructure Roundtable Jobs and Skills Summit in the lead up to the Prime Minister’s Summit. It is anticipated that the themes and outcomes from this roundtable will help inform Government’s work on the white paper, which will set the scene for the next generation of growth and development across our industry, while also establishing effective mechanisms for consultation and management of challenges in the sector.

It is no coincidence that we have released our latest thought leadership paper Thinking Smarter About Skills, with the upcoming Jobs and Skills Summit. It is a top-of-mind issue for many member businesses.

Consult Australia’s People and HR Roundtable will be workshopping the challenges of workplace connection in response to the shift to ‘working from elsewhere’ (i.e. not in the office), and the extent to which this may be contributing to an uptick in voluntary attrition. In this edition of Consulting Matters Mikael Heinonen, Co-Founder of Collabaloop, provides five areas of focus in reviewing your retention strategies.

I will remain a lifelong advocate for Consult Australia. Membership is a mark of quality and an active demonstration that your business is committed to the value and good standing of the consulting sector. Consult Australia is the voice, the only voice for consulting businesses in Australia, and I look forward to watching it prosper under Jonathan’s leadership.

Nicola Grayson

CEO