Leadership works best when relationships come first.
Helping leaders strengthen trust, communicate well, and support their teams to perform at their best.
A few interesting things worth sharing with you.
A love of learning started early, with a Social Work degree straight from high school - the perfect foundation for future learning.
Seven years managing frontline operational teams led to a Master of Health Management, built on the belief that leaders and managers need to learn the skills to make real impact.
A bet made while applying for the highly competitive Australian Churchill Fellowship: if successful, a PhD would follow too. Both happened.
How far would you travel for quality professional development? I recently returned from the UK where I completed an advanced certification in Team Coaching with the Tavistock Institute of Human Relations.
Once a month, a ten hour drive leads to a dip in the ocean - all year round, even in winter.
Every Friday at 5:30am, The Friday Fundamentals moves from my brain to my screen to your inbox - a weekly leadership journal full of reflections, resources and the occasional stories about ocean swimming.
About me
Human Services sector (government and non-government organisations)
Not for profit organisations
Corporate organisations
Small and medium sized businesses
Who This Practice Works Best With
Since 2016, this leadership consultancy has partnered with new and experienced leaders, leadership teams and whole organisations to lift capability and change culture.
Different industries, different sectors, different organisations and at different stages of growth.
Family owned and operated businesses
Leaders from a diverse range of industries including agribusiness, legal practices, private health, insurance, veterinary, real estate, retail, finance, beauty and education.
Core Values
You can learn a great deal about someone once you know their core values. Here are mine.
Achievement
A desire to achieve has been a driving force since my teenage years. Ambitious goals leading to exciting opportunities and some big milestones along the way.
My interest in leadership took hold in high school through the Peer Support Program, where a Year 11 student is allocated a group of Year 7s to support them through their transition into high school.
That responsibility was taken seriously enough to take over the family dining table all weekend to prepare for the sessions.
The experience taught me valuable lessons about group dynamics, especially how to engage the most reluctant participants and sparked a lasting love of groupwork which forms the foundation of working with teams.
Integrity
“The quality of being honest and having strong moral principles” (Oxford Dictionary).
As a qualified Social Worker, this practice operates within the values of the Australian Association of Social Workers.
The goal is always to help clients get the best results possible from collaboration - not brief solutions to complex problems, but genuine partnership to design workable solutions with the greatest impact.
Integrity sits at the heart of every solution.
Knowledge
An insatiable appetite for learning, especially when it comes to relationships, shapes everything this practice offers. Clients benefit from a powerful combination: a genuine obsession with learning, paired with a commitment to sharing that knowledge every chance there is.
My consultancy's services carry a strong evidence base backed by real practical experience. Time away from clients is spent reading and learning, to keep every consultation current.
Supporting each client’s unique needs is my central focus resulting in personal and professional growth and creating teams we get to work with, not have to work with.
Churchill Fellow (2013)
I was awarded the prestigious Winston Churchill Fellowship (Australia) to identify the key strategies required for health services to effectively work together in response to children and young people at risk of child maltreatment. The Fellowship involved interviewing experts in Canada, United States of America, England and Ireland.
To learn more about this study, access the research report here.
Achievements
Doctor of Philosophy (2020)
My doctoral thesis describes the practices of child and family health nurses when working with children and families where child maltreatment was suspected. The study adopted a pragmatic approach and through mixed methods methodology to study a cohort of practicing child and family health nurses in New South Wales.
My thesis can be found here.
“Thank you for all your wisdom and work.
The things you taught me in those few sessions have been profoundly helpful.
It has changed how I show up and work and in life.”
Senior Leader, Human Services Sector (working 1:1).
25+ Years Experience. Qualified Social Worker. PhD + Churchill Fellow. Evidence-Based + Practical.
Works across government, NFP, corporate, SME.
Leadership Development Approach
Teaching strategies to emerging leaders and seasoned leaders that actually work. Here’s how.
This approach is reflected across my leadership workshops, customised leadership programs, and facilitated team development experiences.
Leadership development works best when it reflects the real challenges clients are facing.
No generic leadership training here, I diagnose what’s really going on (and it’s often not what you think) and co-design the support solution.
I deliver practical learning experiences that help leaders embed the skills needed to manage the realities of leading people.
“Having Belinda come into our team when we were at our most vulnerable has been the most valuable gift to us to rebuild and refocus and do great things as a leadership team.”
— Senior Manager, Human Services Sector (leadership team coaching)
How I can help:
“Learning to be a better leader through this workshop has also allowed me to be a better Dad.”
— Leadership program participant, Organisation Development Project, Senior Manager (Agribusiness Sector).
In The Media
Company: Dr Belinda Mawhinney: a champion of co-working in a small regional towns on Apple Podcasts
