Rebecca McPhail on left, Sharla King Centre and Simon Anderson on right
Introducing the Manawanui Projects Team
I recently sat down with Simon Anderson who heads the Project Team at Manawanui – a team tasked with looking at ways Manawanui can improve their service offering to both current and new customers.
Their mandate covers everything from products and services, through to Pilot projects with new customer bases who could benefit from Manawanui services. It also includes proiding education and skillsets that can help the Manawanui team better serve customers.
What is the purpose of the Projects Team, Simon?
This team grew organically out of(?) the Business Development work started at the top with our CEO Marsha Marshall. The team offer support to different agencies and organisations in their journey to embrace Individualised Funding in some way or form. It originally started with a pilot project with Te Whatu Ora but has moved beyond to incorporate Māori Health Providers, aged care support and much more.
Due to the success of the original pilots, the scope was expanded, and the workload exceeded what could be reasonably managed by team members on top of their current operational roles. So Manawanui took the step to create a dedicated Pilots and Projects team, comprising of existing Manawanui staff with previous pilot experience. Their purpose is to give each new venture dedicated support and oversight from a Manawanui perspective – ranging from staff training through to helping the partner organisations with customers onboarding to Individualised funding.
Who is in the team and what are their backgrounds?
Sharla King has been with Manawanui for 4 years and used to be an Onboarding Administrator and customer consultant. This background ensures Sharla can offer the organisations taking part in the pilots with a great customer experience.
Rebecca McPhail (Becs) has been with Manawanui over 9 years as a coach and NZQA learning facilitator. Becs can therefore offer great support in staff and customer training, plus her coach experience has provided her with a deep understanding of the struggles customers go through adopting new technology and systems. Plus, she has the added insight of lived experience of disability within her own family.
I’m Simon Anderson, and I recently assumed the team lead position for the Projects team, as well as being the Marketing and Business Development Manager. This means I can see how the projects align with and support our core business, and any key learnings can be shared across the business for better customer outcomes and service.
How were the team selected.
Initially both Sharla and Becs managed a project or two as an addition to their existing roles, as they were both recognised as having the initiative, leadership qualities and suitable project management knowledge to support these complex projects. As the project work grew, more projects pilots were launched and demand increased, so they were offered formal roles in the newly established Pilot & Projects team.
What projects are you working on at present? And why were these projects chosen?
- Te Hau ora o Nga Puhi – working with a Northland Māori community health initiative
- BOP HOP - Understanding the effect of individualised funding and self-direction on the Health of Older People in the Bay of Plenty, both those living at home and in retirement villages
- EGL Christchurch – piloting a direct funding approach to personal budgets. People receive a portion or all of their funding direct into their personal account for purchases but can provide a portion for Manawanui to host for their payroll costs.
- Tamaki Regeneration Housing – working with a large social housing development agency to ensure better support of disabled in a new housing community
- Mauri Ora - understanding how paroled people with complex or severe mental health diagnoses in the Waikato can benefit from Manawanui customer support and systems, as they re-establish themselves in the community
- Cultural Competency & Diversity – an internal project to improve staff understanding and appreciation of New Zealand’s cultural diaspora and deeper appreciation for various disabilities.
What have been the biggest AHA moments for the team?
Learning that new pilots and projects take consistent care and attention compared to our BAU services.
The fact that the IF model and our technology can be applied to any area where there’s a social service with funding for a community goal is exciting!
What are you most proud of to date?
Our work with Mauri Ora, it’s a group of people who have had almost everyone write them off and everything go wrong in their lives. But with the right support wrapped around them and our services driving the funding model, we’ve seen massive transformation for some individuals and their families that you can’t put a price on.
Why should a Manawanui customer care about the work of the projects team?
Our pilot projects are a great atmosphere for innovation. Often in our normal business, we are restricted by guidelines through Whaikaha and Te Whatu Ora IF. However, by partnering with other organisations, they challenge us to provide new tools, reporting methods and ways of supporting that we can bring back to share with our current customers.
Additionally pilot projects demand that you track improvements and issues, and this provides us with concrete evidence of what works – so that we can bring our learnings back to our customers and referring agencies.