Why the culture of a workplace can determine its COVID response.
Money & Life
24 August 2020 | 
5 min read
How QSuper’s purpose and culture of putting members at the heart of everything guided its response to COVID-19.
The culture of an organisation may be integral to supporting the resilience of its operations and its people in times of COVID-19. QSuper General Manager HR, Kylie Robinson, explains how QSuper’s culture, developed over its more than 100-year history, helped guide its response.
The COVID-19 health emergency will be a part of QSuper’s long story as Queensland’s oldest and largest fund looking after the financial futures of members.
According to Kylie Robinson, who leads the Human Resources team and is a member of QSuper’s executive committee, not only did the response to COVID-19 test many aspects of the organisation, but it demonstrated what was possible.
Ms Robinson was recently a guest speaker at QSuper’s She’s on Q event, which focused on resilience and the new working world,and tackled topics such as resilience at work; innovations evolving from the COVID-19 lockdown, and tips to navigate ‘the new normal’.
“QSuper has some great stories and these are the things that become part of your DNA moving forward,” Ms Robinson said.
While there was no playbook in how to respond to the pandemic, she said the organisation’s culture and key principles provided the basis of a how-to guide that allowed quick responses and innovations that put members and the safety of people first.
Members at the heart of everything we do
Ms Robinson said the impact of culture could not be overlooked.
“These days a lot of organisations talk about the importance of having purpose and vision,” she said.
“We’ve been very fortunate that in QSuper’s DNA we’ve always had that strong purpose around members being at the heart of everything that we do. It makes it easier when you are making decisions, because you say, ‘how are our members going to be impacted by this?’
“Among our members we have nurses, police and teachers – these are the people on the frontline in the pandemic. How we support them is vital. We were very conscious that while our members are looking after the safety of Queenslanders, we are looking after their super and supporting them with any questions that they have.”
“We also all know that, outside a home, superannuation is a lot of people’s biggest asset. Particularly for members who are approaching retirement, something like COVID hitting can shake their confidence. We’re focused on continuing to support their financial wellbeing so they know what is happening and what it means, and how our investment strategy may be helping manage and weather the storm.”
Rapid response to COVID-19
As COVID-19 started to evolve and there were signs that the virus may have posed a potential business continuity risk, QSuper moved quickly to ensure the uninterrupted delivery of services and support to members and that QSuper’s were people safe.
Leaders, teams and individuals were very quick to utilise online technology to work remotely as well as provide members with support. A number of the measures taken to continue to deliver for members showed that the organisation had the opportunity to evolve in some areas.
“From a responsiveness perspective, people were really quick to adapt and innovate, working remotely while maintaining focus on delivering services and support for members. Our people, that’s leaders and employees alike, became more flexible in the way they could work,” she said.
“People also became more aware and more mindful of other people’s commitments outside of work and working out ways that we could support and enable that.”
She said the resilience of people and teams to find positive ways of working came to the fore.
“People started to look at what was working versus what was not. Sometimes when we are talking about resilience, we talk about what’s not going right and how something could be better. I think our focus turned to what could we do, what we were doing right, and what we could control. And I think that did help, knowing that there were factors outside our control.”
Tips for leaders during COVID-19
Being aware that colleagues might have been impacted by a partner losing a job due to the impacts of COVID-19, a parent having to home school a child, or people needing greater flexibility in their work day, were all considerations for managers and colleagues in the “new normal” workplace, Ms Robinson said.
She said tips to effectively lead and manage teams in an environment of change and ambiguity included:
Providing the right foundations – people need the right tools and technology to work safely and remotely.
Providing clarity around day-to-day processes and expectations – when dealing with a lot of ambiguity, it helps to let people have clear direction on deliverables and the focus of what they are working towards.
Communicating – in an environment of ambiguity, communication is of paramount importance. There are different communication channels and people respond to different communication methods, so communication should be co-ordinated and consistent across the channels. And remember communication is a two-way process, so listen to peoples’ concerns, challenges and feedback about what is working.
Managing your own wellbeing - as a team leader, it is important to make sure people are switching off, taking annual leave and managing their health. But it is also vital to take that advice yourself and manage your own health and wellbeing.
Personal view disclaimer
The opinions expressed by QSuper General Manager HR, Kylie Robinson, are hers alone, and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the QSuper Board. No responsibility is taken for the accuracy of any of the information supplied and you should seek advice for your circumstances.