Retirement Village Association Australia Yearbook 2009

Retirement Village Association Ltd

YEARBOOK 2009

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Retirement Village Association Ltd

YEARBOOK 2009

2

RVA Yearbook 2009

Contents

4 Chairman’s Report

5 RVA Board Members

6 CEO’s Report

11 Standards Report

12 Member Benefits andServices

13 Advocacy and MemberServices

14 National Committees

16 RVA Gold Partners

18 Corporate Partners:Supporting Research

24 Corporate Partners

37 Village Charter and Codeof Conduct

39 RVA Manager of the Year

Award 2009

41 Gareth Norman

42 Andrea Riviere

44 Peter Snell

46 Sue Loeliger

49 Glenis Trumbich

53 NSW/ACT Regional Report

60 QLD Regional Report

62 SA/NT Regional Report

67 VIC/TAS Regional Report

73 WA Regional Report

75 Sanctuary Energy

78 Going Green

80 The inconvenient truth

about change management:

Why it isn’t working and

what to do about it

92 Achieving Culture Change

(and Realising the Benefits)

95 HVAC

Opportunities for the triple

bottom line

98 Retrogreening

A must for stability in the

commercial property sector

101 Talking about Security

Retirement Village Association LtdSuite 4/650Burwood RoadHAWTHORN EAST VIC 3123Tel: (03) 9804 0466Fax: (03) 9804 0048Email: [email protected]: www.retirementvillagesaust.com.au

Published by:

Executive MediaABN 30 007 224 204430 William StreetMelbourne VIC 3000Tel: (03) 9274 4200Fax: (03) 9329 5295Email: [email protected]: www.executivemedia.com.au

The editor, publisher, printer and their staff and agents are notresponsible for the accuracy or correctness of the text of contributionscontained in this publication or for the consequences of any use madeof the products, and the information referred to in this publication.The editor, publisher, printer and their staff and agents expresslydisclaim all liability of whatsoever nature for any consequencesarising from any errors or omissions contained in this publicationwhether caused to a purchaser of this publication or otherwise. Theviews expressed in the articles and other material published herein donot necessarily reflect the views of the editor, the publisher or theirstaff or agents. The responsibility for the accuracy of information isthat of the individual contributors and neither the publisher or editorscan accept responsibility for the accuracy of information which issupplied by others. It is impossible for the publisher and editors toensure that the advertisements and other material herein comply withthe Trade Practices Act 1974 (Cth). Readers should make their owninquiries in making any decisions, and where necessary, seekprofessional advice. © 2009 All rights reserved. Reproduction inwhole or part, without written permission is strictly prohibited.

Waterbrook Greenwich is the ultimate lifestyle choice for North Shore retirees, offering five-star retirement living with a focus on quality, service, luxury and care.

At Waterbrook service and security are paramount. We offer completely independent, quality living with the services and facilities you would expect to find at a five-star hotel. These include 24 hour concierge, restaurant, hair and beauty salon, gymnasium, cinema, indoor heated pool and spa, craft room, woodworking room, putting green, an outdoor chess set and bowling green. A state-of-the art emergency call system is in all apartments and recreational areas just in case you need it.

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The Waterbrook Vision is to revolutionise the concept of retirement village living by offering excellence in design, lifestyle, service, security and care, delivered with integrity and professionalism. Apartments priced from $850,000.

Join us for an Intimate Resort Tour

Please phone Waterbrook Concierge on 02 9433 8000 for appointments.

Waterbrook Greenwich 6 Ulonga AvenueGreenwich NSW 2065www.waterbrook.com.au

Waterbrook Greenwich Unsurpassed Retirement Living on the North Shore

‘Experience Waterbrook. You Deserve It’

4

RVA Yearbook 2009

Industry

I am pleased to present my first report asChairman of your Association.

This year has been a challenging yearfor our industry with the pressures of theglobal financial crisis. From my discussionswith over 200 members during the courseof the year it is evident that there are twoimmediate issues facing the industry—access to capital and a slowdown in thesales cycle.

Whilst it would appear that sales haveimproved in the last quarter, it is stillevident that access to capital is a keyimpediment to the growth of our industry.Access to capital is likely to be an enduringproblem in 2010 and it is difficult toforesee any immediate relief in this area.

Notwithstanding the challenges of theGFC the RVA has progressed a number ofkey initiatives and outcomes in 2009 thatwill assist the industry to move forward in asustainable manner. It has been a year oftremendous challenge and of greatopportunity.

Key achievements for 2008/09 haveincluded:• Working with the ATO to achieve fairer

GST treatment on village developmentand acquisitions and housingaffordability.

• Continuing to influence governmentpolicy through stakeholder facilitationand contribute to the government’sageing initiatives.

• Having ongoing dialogue with theNSW government (Office of FairTrading) in respect to the review of theregulations for retirement villages. TheRVA has provided instrumental adviceto ensure a fair go for operators andmaintain the standard of the industry.

• A major victory in respect to StampDuty in Victoria (with proposedamendments to the Duties Act thatwould have negatively impactedretirement villages) that has resulted insavings of millions of dollars tooperators and residents. Retirement

villages now have their tax exemptstatus guaranteed through a specificclause to be inserted into the Act. Thechange will protect Victorian seniorsfrom paying thousands of dollars instamp duty.The RVA has also been active in key

legal cases in Queensland that have thepotential of negatively impacting futurevillage operations and significantly impactreturns.

The first year of the Queensland RVAoffice has been a great success, withmembership growing week by week, astunning inaugural conference (with over110 delegates in attendance) and a numberof well attended professional developmentevents.

Advocacy continues to be one of theRVA’s key activities and we continue tostrive to preserve our freedom to operate ina sustainable and responsible manner. Thisis essential for owners, operators anddevelopers who are looking to makeinvestment decisions that require long-termlegislative certainty.

During the year the Board reviewed theAssociation’s Advocacy and MemberServices Priorities for 2008-2009. Theseconcentrated on the key member servicesof advocacy, communication, sustainabilityand creating a high-performanceorganisation. The RVA is now pursuingmore than 40 advocacy priorities.

Earlier this year I enjoyed theopportunity to be acting CEO of the RVAfor approximately five months. This gaveme a tremendous first hand view of thechallenges facing the industry, theopportunities ahead and innovativepractices being adopted across the sector. Italso filled me with great confidence aboutour future.

As President I have a specific issuewhich I am keen to focus on during thecourse of my role. The retirement industryhas a solid future ahead based on thesignificant ageing of the population over

the next forty years. But the opportunitygets really exciting if we can lift thepenetration rate of villages in Australia. Wehave a great product to sell and the RVAcan be at the forefront in promotingretirement villages as a great lifestylechoice with prospective residents,regulators and of course, the broadercommunity.

Thank you to each of the RVA’sRegional Committees for the considerabletime they invest in assisting the associationand without whose support the RVA wouldcease to function. They are the finger onthe pulse of state and local issues.

I would like to acknowledge the tirelesscontribution of Jane Holdsworth, theformer CEO of the RVA who departed inMarch this year. We welcome our recentlyappointed CEO, Andrew Giles, who in ashort period of time has already made agreat contribution to the association.

I would like to sincerely thank themembers of the RVA Board for theirdiligence, guidance and support. Theywork tirelessly for the industry. They offertheir time voluntarily for the betterment ofthe industry and their commitment is to becommended.

I would especially like to thank TomGalletta for his outstanding service asimmediate past President of the RVA. Hissupport and wise counsel is greatlyappreciated and the legacy he leaves theRVA is truly significant.

Finally, thank you to all our membersfor your contribution to our industry. Weare all responsible for ensuring that thefuture is filled with opportunity andsustainable in its growth pattern.

I am filled with great optimism aboutthe future of our industry. We owe it toourselves and our community of olderAustralians to provide great environmentsfor people to live in.

I look forward to catching up with youall at the National Conference.

Chairman’s ReportBy Simon Owen

5

RVA Yearbook 2009

Industry

RVA VISIONTo be valued and respected nationally by all ourstakeholders for enhancing the viability andexcellence of the Australian retirement village industry.

RVA MISSIONAs the peak body, we aim to lead the building andgrowth of a sustainable and responsible retirementvillage industry that will ensure our member villagesare the preferred lifestyle of older Australians.

Derek McMillan,Deputy Chairman

Stuart Nicolson

Wayne Hogan

Dennis Chamberlain

Kevin Ryan

Tom Galletta

Andrew Macintosh

Michael Fallon

Roger Kwok

Angus Kukura

RVA Board Members

6

RVA Yearbook 2009

Industry

When we started the 2008/09 financialyear, who would have thought that ourworld would be turned upside down?The economy was in full flight,unemployment levels at historic lows,property markets bullish and our industrywas thriving. It seemed the boom wouldnever end.

September 2008 marked a momentin history for us all – the global financialcrisis.

Like all industries worldwide, theretirement village industry has facedmany challenges in the past twelvemonths. However, the RVA has sought tocontinue its role, in the face of adversity,to lead and support our members.

Membership continues to increase.The RVA currently has more than 685members nationally including:• 500 village members• 125 regional associate members• 40 national associate members• 20 industry members

We continue to be the onlyorganisation solely focussed on thefuture growth of retirement villages inAustralia.

The GFC has brought with it the needto respond, to re-think, to innovate andto find solutions to problems we hadn’tseen in decades. Issues like how toaccess finance for projects, how tomanage tight budgets, how to ensure ourindustry could freely operate and growwithout adverse legislation orregulations, how to achieve sales insometimes difficult markets to name afew.

We have survived well so far and arenow strongly positioned to grow again.The RVA (supported by a network ofindustry professionals who freelydedicate their time at a regionalcommittee and national board level), hascontinued to achieve results for our

members in difficult times.Now is the time to stick together – as

one group with a common goal of astrong and prosperous retirement villageindustry, creating an industry thatprovides the best outcomes for ourcommunities and for older Australians.

One loud voice is better than manysmall echoes in the darkness! That is whybeing a member of the RVA is moreimportant than ever before.

It is absolutely critical that for theretirement industry to prosper and tohave freedom to operate and push backon ever increasing consumer advocacythat there is a well funded and supportedassociation representing owners,operators, developers and managers.

Our IndustryBetween 2009 and 2024 the populationof people over 55 years of age will growby more than 2.6 million people – morethan twice the rate of the generalpopulation. Of this, those over 75 yearswill grow by nearly 1 million people.

The need for retirement villages ismassive.

In Australia we currently have 1850villages with approximately 115,000dwellings and 160,000 residents.

Currently, 5.5% of people over theage of 65 live in a retirement village.There is much we can do to positivelyinfluence this statistic.

The top five private operators controlgreater than 40% of retirement market.These include the likes of Aveo, LendLease Primelife, Stockland, Aevum andAustralian Unity, all of whom are activemembers of the RVA.

In addition, the church andcharitable sector also has around 40% ofthe market and is currently growing itsshare through acquisitions andexpansions. The RVA continues to work

closely with the church and charitablesector to ensure that we can expand ourpresence and deliver value to this group.

Our Future We have developed a Strategic Plan toguide the organisation in the next threeyears and to fulfil our commitment to ourvalued members. It will focus on fourkey areas:• Delivering greater value to our

members – with a particular focus onincreasing the penetration rate ofpeople over 55 into retirementvillages

• Advocacy – leading the industry onkey issues that ensure we havefreedom to operate

• Accreditation – ensuring that ourindustry can self regulate in thedelivery of quality living for olderAustralians as it has done for decades

• Market intelligence – providing up todate cutting edge research andinformation to our membersOur goal is for it to be an absolute

must to be a member of the RVA if youoperate in the retirement village industry.

Key planned activities for 2009/10include:• New professional development

activities, including more informationand training for the industry toachieve greater strength

• New exciting events, including socialnetworking and professionaldevelopment

• Overseas fact finding tours for ourmembers to understand best practicein retirement villages worldwide

• Benchmarking of the industry, tofacilitate greater information back tooperators and prospective industryentrants (salaries, management fees,sales rates etc)

CEO’s ReportBy Andrew Giles

CONTINUED ON PAGE 8

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8

RVA Yearbook 2009

Industry

CEO’s Report

• A planned national open weekend,where we will invite everyCommonwealth, state and localelected member to visit and tour avillage. We believe this will raise theprofile of villages in government andthe broader community and have aflow-on effect in sales throughincreased media coverage at anational scale.

• Increased research on key industryissues including economic benefits,drivers of choice for residents,sentiments and feedback from our160,000 residents currently living invillages across Australia.

• Linking in with important issuesfacing our community andgovernment including affordableliving for older Australians and thekey role retirement villages play inthis area.

The organisationWe have strengthened the organisationwith some key national appointmentsand excellent Regional Managers in eachstate. This has translated to greatachievements this year:• Continued the focus on professional

development for operators. Thisincluded the roll out of a nationalprofessional development series inrespect to economic drivers and legalissues. MacroPlan Australia andGadens Lawyers workshops wereattended by nearly 350 industryparticipants. We are seeking toestablish a certified manager’s courseaimed at enhancing the skill base ofmanagers and assisting in recruitingskilled and enthusiastic people intothe field.

• Ran several events, industrybreakfasts and lunches that attractedhundreds of participants

• Achieved some major victories inrespect to key advocacy priorities (asoutlined in the Chairman’s report)

• In respect to Government lobbyingand representation, the RVA metregularly with the Ministers forAgeing, Consumer Affairs and FairTrading Ministers, department headsand ministerial advisory staff torepresent the interests of membersand raise awareness of the industryand the market in all states inAustralia.

• Continued to present at manysignificant summits and conferences,contributed to federal ageinginitiatives, spoke to consumer groupsand made industry representativesubmissions.

• Participated in a Federal GovernmentAgeing Advisory Committee thatoffers the industry the opportunity toinfluence government policy in thearea of seniors housing.

• Regional offices conducted regularManagers Forums that offered RVARegional Managers feedback on theindustry and successful networkingopportunities.

• The RVA national conferenceAdvantAge08 was held in Perth on11th-14th of November 2008 atBurswood Entertainment Complexand attracted nearly 450 delegates.

• Regional conferences were held inNSW/ACT, VIC/TAS, SA/NT, WA andQLD. They provided educational andnetworking opportunities formembers and associate members andattendances were at record levels.The RVA continues to receive greatsupport from sponsors at all regionalconferences and our sincere thanksgo to these valued partners.

• The Manager of the Year awards werepresented at the various regional

conferences. Our congratulations goto all of the regional winners andalso the 2008 National Manager ofthe Year, Kaye Dix from ParklandsVillage in Western Australia.

AccreditationThe RVA continues to deliver a highquality accreditation program thatensures best practice industry standards.This is of significant value not only toresidents and potential residents (whichcan translate into higher sales), but inensuring that there is no requirement forGovernment to take an interventionistapproach as they have recently done inthe health sector.

The RVA is in the process ofestablishing even greater value in thescheme by seeking third partycertification to ensure independence andinternational recognition of our excellentscheme. In addition, the RVA is pursuinga quality assurance “heart foundation”tick of approval style of accreditationthat will provide significant marketbenefits to operators.

Of note is that the new ARVAhandbook, with new standards, will bereleased at the 2009 NationalConference in Sydney.

Member CommunicationsThe development of the RVA databasehas made member communicationseasier and more frequent. We areintending for this to be an onlineresource in the next twelve monthswhich will be of great benefit to theorganisation and industry.

Communications remains a corefunction of the RVA we have sought toprovide our members with up to dateinformation through the website(fortnightly News Monitor) and regular

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RVA Yearbook 2009

Industry

CEO’s Report

updates by the CEO and key staff onmajor industry issues.

The RVA website has had asignificant upgrade to add better valuefor members by providing increasedinformation about RVA activities. Thisnow includes a blog section anddedicated member section (which willsoon include research and informationonly available to our members).

Member surveysIndustry feedback is critical to identifyissues of concern. The RVA has and willcontinue to conduct regular surveys withour industry to assist with the flow ofinformation back to our industry. Keyissues will include sales and marketing,salaries, management fees and the abilityto benchmark.

A working group and committee wasestablished for GST lobby representationto the Australian Tax Office, which isnow meeting regularly with assistancefrom our great industry supporters likeKPMG and Blake Dawson.

During 2008 nearly 1500 residents inRVA member villages throughoutAustralia were randomly surveyed as partof the ARVA accreditation process. Theoverwhelming majority of residentssurveyed were very satisfied with allfacets of retirement village life, whichshows the great performance of ouraccredited villages.

Resident Information PacksIn 2007 the RVA posted out over 4500resident packs to seniors interested in theretirement village lifestyle. The packs aretailored to each state, including lists ofRVA members’ villages and consumerinformation booklets. The packs alsocontain a Questions & Answers bookletand information about accreditation.Prospective residents are encouraged to

look for the ARVA logo and seal, givingthem confidence that a village has metthe 29 ARVA standards.

MediaThe RVA has been proactive ingenerating media stories to promote thebenefits of retirement living and torespond to key issues. Recent mediacoverage has included majormetropolitan and local newspapers,local and regional radio, and industrynewspapers and magazines.

AcknowledgementsFinally I would like to acknowledge andthank the many people who havecontributed to the success of the RVAduring 2008/2009.

I am fortunate to have a strong andsupportive Board. In particular, ourChairman, Simon Owen, who hasprovided outstanding guidance duringthe year and also acted as CEO for theorganisation for five months during2009. Many of the RVA’s recentachievements are a result of Simon’svision and ability to execute successfully.

I would also to thank all of themembers of the national and regionalcommittees who dedicate their time on avoluntary basis to make great strides inour industry.

The RVA would not exist without ourmembers, and we sincerely thank you allfor your ongoing support.

Thank you to our valued sponsorswho financially supported RVA eventsand promotions through the year andalso our industry supporters, who havebeen on hand to provide advice andguidance on specific industry matters.Many do this pro bono, which duringtough financial times cannot beunderestimated in respect to thegenerosity shown.

I would like to offer my heartfeltthanks to the staff of the RVA in thenational and regional offices for theirenthusiastic, committed and inspiredefforts throughout 2008/09 – a year thathas been tough for all.

2009/10 is shaping up to be the bestyet for both the RVA and the retirementvillage industry. I certainly am excitedabout the prospect of assisting ourvalued members to grow their businessesand to ensure Australia’s premier growthmarket in property continues to thrive.

Andrew GilesChief Executive Officer

11

RVA Yearbook 2009

Industry

The Australian Retirement Village Accreditation (ARVA)Scheme has steadily grown in 2008/09, evidenced by thenumber of applications.

A total of 69 villages were accredited during the period,which was up 40% on the previous year.

A 20% increase is planned for 2009/10, meaning close to90 accreditations achieved.

This highlights the industry’s strong interest in accreditationand the importance of a robust self regulation process thatensures the quality and standard of our industry.

2009/10 will also see an increased focus on marketing thebenefits of accreditation, which should see significantly higherpenetration than achieved previously.

ARVA SCHEME REVIEW The ARVA Scheme Review has now been completed.Representatives of the Standards and National AccreditationCommittees have spent many hours rationalising andeliminating ambiguities identified in the scheme.

The Review is awaiting approval by the RVA Board and it isanticipated that a new edition of the ARVA Handbookincorporating the review will be launched at this year’sNational Conference. The main features of the review are thatthe number of standards has been reduced from 29 to 27 andguidelines appearing in the current edition have beenincorporated as criteria or in the text of the standard. This

should translate to increased ease of interpretation of standardsand facilitate higher numbers of applications.

APPLICATION PROCESSINGThe average time for the accreditation process to occur, that isfrom application to the granting of accreditation, has remainedat about 6 months throughout the year. With greater plannedresourcing we anticipate improving on that in the next year.

COURSES/WORKSHOPSHow to Prepare for Accreditation Courses and SurveyorWorkshops have been successfully run back to back in mostregions on a six monthly basis.

Managers about to embark on the accreditation processhave remarked how invaluable the course has been inclarifying the process and dispelling many myths aroundaccreditation, particularly that it is incredibly arduous orcomplex. Those accredited have commented on how valuablethe process was for improving business and resident outcomes.

Workshops for existing surveyors have proven extremelybeneficial in updating and up-skilling surveyors in their role.

RESIDENT SURVEY RESULTSRandom surveys of residents of villages undergoingaccreditation have provided consistent results as in previousyears with an impressive 75% rate of return.

Responses were very positive and highlighted residentsfeeling safe and secure in their villages, being appreciative ofstaff and proud of the general presentation of villages.Residents reported more than 90% satisfaction across morethan six service, facility and lifestyle categories. This highlightsthe great regard in which accredited villages are held.

The one to five year period remains the predominant timethose surveyed had been a resident.

Standards Report

Applications vs Accreditations 2008-2009 FY

App

licat

ions

/Acc

redi

tati

ons

2008-2009 FY

July

Aug

ust

Sept

embe

r

Oct

ober

Nov

embe

r

Dec

embe

r

Janu

ary

Febr

uary

Mar

ch

Apr

il

May

June

80

70

60

50

40

20

20

10

0

Target Applications Accreditations

12

RVA Yearbook 2009

Industry

Why you should be anRVA memberMembership of the RVA is a must foryour business. The RVA is the peaknational body representing andpromoting the retirement village industryas a lifestyle choice, providingleadership to the industry since 1989.With an underlying strength of over 680village and associate members, the RVAplays a critical role in the ongoinggrowth and sustainability of theretirement village industry and hasachieved success in lobbying forlegislative and policy changes.

The RVA provides a range ofcomprehensive member services thatsupport your business, includingadvocacy, accreditation, research,promotion and communications.

As a member, you canmaximise the value ofyour membership byaccessing the followingbenefits:Business Promotion• Listing your village or company on

the RVA website

Communication• The latest regulatory, legislative,

industry and business news includingpublications, online newsletters,research, website content andbulletins

• The RVA Year Book

Specialist Insurance• Specialist retirement village

insurance through VillageWISE atcompetitive rates

Networking Opportunities• Invaluable networking opportunities

and forums at local, state, andnational levels

• Linking your village or company withprofessional industry servicesuppliers

• Regular access to meet withretirement village owners,developers, operators, managers andinvestors

Industry Advice• Advice from valuable industry

specialists on specific issues such aslegal, insurance, economic, financeand lifestyle matters

• Free initial legal telephone adviceregarding workplace services fromone of Australia’s top legal firms

Professional Development• Seminars, workshops and

conferences including the RVA’sannual regional and nationalconferences

• Special member rates for the RVA’snational professional developmentprogram

Sponsorship and Advertising• Sponsorship and advertising activities

that provide exposure for yourbusiness to targeted audiences,particularly through the MemberServices Directory.

Members benefit fromthe following RVAservices:Powerful Advocacy• Representation and lobbying on our

members’ behalf to ensure theongoing growth and viability of theindustry

• Assistance in interpreting newlegislation

• Responding to governmentdiscussion and issues papers

Industry Representation• Providing timely information about

regulatory and legislative updates• Representing the industry on

government and community panelsand advisory groups

• Facilitating access to governmentleaders and officers to ensuremembers are represented with astrong industry voice

Accreditation• Discounted retirement village

accreditation fees for villagemembers

• Providing assistance and training onhow to become accredited, andbusiness improvement

Corporate PartnershipOpportunities• Providing exclusive benefits for RVA

Corporate Partners who providefinancial support for advocacy andresearch priorities that will benefitthe industry

Research• Providing Industry research and

intelligence

Promotion• Positively representing and

promoting retirement village livingthrough mainstream medianationally.

Contact the RVA today on 1800 240 080to find out more about membership.

Member Benefitsand Services

13

RVA Yearbook 2009

Industry

Our VisionTo be valued and respected nationally byall of our stakeholders for enhancing theviability and excellence of the AustralianRetirement Village Industry.

Our MissionAs the peak body, we aim to lead thebuilding and growth of a sustainable andresponsible retirement village industrythat will ensure our member villages arethe preferred lifestyle choice of olderAustralians.

RVA Objectives1. Advocacya. Fairer Taxes and Legislation• Lobby for fairer GST treatment on village development and acquisition• Protect the legal rights and viability of the industry• Advocate equitable Government taxes and rates for residents and village

operationsb. Senior Housing Affordability• Encourage more affordable housing for seniors• Influence Government policy through stakeholder facilitation• Contribute to Federal ageing initiativesc. Leading Industry Voice• Be the primary source of industry intelligence• Be an authoritative and effective industry member representative• Initiate and maintain liaison with consumer groups• Prepare articulate and rational representative submissions on behalf of the

industry• Co-operate with industry bodies for policy change

2. Sustainable and Responsible Industry• Provide leadership in promoting the benefits of retirement villages• Promote industry excellence through accreditation• Facilitate continuous quality improvement program for professional development• Encourage excellence in the development of thriving communities that foster

enhanced wellbeing for seniors• Set the standards of industry governance

3. Build an Environment Conducive to Business Growth and IndustryViability

• Broaden membership base• Promote RVA members• Provide an information source for RVA members• Support RVA members with professional association services• Provide regular conferences and networking opportunities• Obtain ‘potential resident’ referrals

4. High Performance Organisation• Operate at peak standards of corporate governance• Set and achieve high-level performance goals• Resource the skills and capability to achieve set goals• Recruit and retain professional, skilled and motivated staff• Ensure the RVA brand is highly recognised and trusted.

Advocacy andMember Services

14

RVA Yearbook 2009

Industry

Government CommitteeAdvises and consults with all tiers of government on industry-related matters.Chair: Derek McMillan

Planning & Development CommitteeProactively seeks reforms on specific planning issues andlegislation that encourages the development of retirementvillages.Chair: Stuart Nicolson

Marketing & Communications CommitteeResponsible for ensuring the effective marketing, branding andcommunications by the RVA to its members and all industrystakeholders.Chair: Angus Kukura

Professional Development CommitteeDevelops relevant and dynamic national professionaldevelopment programs to enhance the learning and knowledgeof industry members.Chair: Dennis Chamberlain

Standards CommitteeEnsures the continuous improvement and robustness of theARVA accreditation scheme.Chair: Andrew Macintosh

National Accreditation Committee (NAC)Approves accreditation for villages that have met all thestandards of the ARVA accreditation scheme.Chair: Bob Browne

National Conference CommitteeOversees the delivery of the annual RVA national conference.Chair: Kevin Ryan

Audit CommitteeOversees the preparation and completion of the annual auditand corporate governance of the RVA.Chair: Michael D Fallon

National OfficeRetirement Village AssociationSuite 4/650 Burwood Road, Hawthorn East VIC 3123Tel: 03 9804 0466Fax: 03 9804 0048Email: [email protected]

NSW/ACT Regional OfficeSuite 3/Level 4, 162 Goulburn Street, Surry Hills NSW 2010Tel: 02 9261 1777Fax: 02 9261 5899Email: [email protected]

SA/NT Regional Office5/259 Glen Osmond Road, Frewville SA 5063Tel: 08 8338 4500Fax: 08 8379 8599Email: [email protected]

WA Regional OfficeSuite 51 Plaistowe Mews, 102 Railway Street, West Perth WA6005Tel: 08 9322 9909Fax: 08 9322 9077Email: [email protected]

VIC/TAS Regional OfficeSuite 4, 650 Burwood Road, Hawthorn East VIC 3123Tel: 03 9882 9349Fax: 03 9804 0048Email: [email protected]

QLD Regional OfficePO Box 9130, GCMC, Bundall QLD 9726Tel: 07 5526 0380Fax: 07 5526 0304Email: [email protected]

National Committees

At BankWest we understand the issues our clients face in this

ever evolving industry. Which is why we are able to add value to

discussions over and above tailoring your financing solution

With direct access to your own dedicated Retirement lending

specialist who understands and talks the industry language,

we work with you to finance your specific requirements.

To speak with a dedicated Retirement Specialist who really

understands your business, please call;

National Director Nick Carter (02) 8299 8285NSW Rod Baptist (02) 8299 8385Vic Shalain Singh (03) 9641 2964SA Duane Cock (08) 8419 1145WA Richard Bator (08) 9449 6163Qld Shari Breen (07) 3004 9470Qld Robert Franklin (07) 3623 5063

They understand

my business{because we understand the realities of the Retirement Village Industry}

Bank of Western Australia Ltd ABN 22 050 494 454 AFSL 236872

16

RVA Yearbook 2009

Industry

RVA Gold Partners

The RVA wishes to acknowledge the generous support of its Gold sponsorsthroughout the past year.

RVA Silver Partners

Retirement is the celebration of a job well done

Providing practical advice to developers, owners and managers in all aspects of retirement village development and operations.

Knowledge is the path to success.

LATH5751

To discuss how we can assist you, please contact

Peter Myhill or Phoebe Doolette on 08) 8111 4000 [email protected] or [email protected]

Peter Myhill Phoebe Doolette

18

RVA Yearbook 2009

Industry

The high cost of securing professional advocacy services andcommissioning top-level research has led to the RetirementVillage Association offering an innovative way to seek financialsupport. The RVA’s Corporate Partner program allows theAssociation to deliver on its core objectives for 2008-2009 andbeyond. The program to attract Corporate Partners is animportant initiative for the RVA, which has traditionally reliedon the voluntary efforts of hard-working Regional Committeesand the goodwill of associate members to provide technicaladvice and guidance in its advocacy and research work.

However, in a dynamic operating environment, advocacyissues for the industry continue to evolve, and the RVAunderstands that it cannot continue to rely on this outstandingvoluntary support. The Corporate Partner program will assistthe RVA to drive its strong advocacy agenda, as well as supportthe development of a new research database and MemberServices Directory that helps members better understand trendsin the retirement village industry. Four levels of CorporatePartnership are available, each with varying levels ofengagement, ranging from exclusive access to RVA advocacy

and research information to priority involvement in RVAprofessional development activities. Being a Corporate Partnerof the RVA demonstrates a firm commitment to the ongoinggrowth of the retirement village industry, and will brand abusiness as a champion for industry development.

There are significant tangible benefits too, includingrecognition at major national RVA events, acknowledgement inthe RVA Year Book, complimentary tickets to the BusinessExcellence Awards in 2009, invitations to exclusive RVAforums, and other ongoing promotional opportunities.Corporate partnerships with the RVA are available on 4 levelsas detailed below:• Platinum (limited to 2 principal partnerships ) – $50,000• Gold (limited to 5 partners) – $20,000• Silver (limited to 10 partners) – $10,000• Bronze (unlimited) – $5,000

Further details about the RVA’s Corporate Partner program areavailable on the RVA website – www.rva.com.au

Corporate Partners:Supporting Research

Property Logistics Business Strategy Urban Design

EXPLORETHE FUTURE

DEVELOPING ADVENTUROUS

RETIREMENT OPTIONS

5-7 Peel Street Collingwood VIC 3066

Phone +61 3 9419 7500

Email [email protected]

Web www.herniman.com.au

HERNIMAN+GROUP Services: Architecture Interior Design Graphic Design

Relax.You’ve earned it!

20

RVA Yearbook 2009

Industry

PLATINUM – $50,000(LIMITED TO TWO PRINCIPAL PARTNERSHIPS)

Speaker opportunities• One speaker at the RVA National Conference (attended by

over 400 delegates)• One speaker at each RVA Regional Conference• One speaker at the Business Excellence Awards

RVA Events• Complimentary invitation to the CEO Forum• A tailored RVA event or product launch• Complimentary invitation to all RVA ‘premium’ events e.g.

networking breakfasts and industry workshops (excludingconferences and non-applicable events)

• Complimentary invitation to all RVA RegionalEvents/Professional Development Forums and smaller scaleevents organised in specific regions (excluding conferencesand non-applicable events)

RVA Advertising• Full page advertising in the Supplier Handbook – the RVA

Associate Members’ Services Directory• A profile in the Supplier Handbook• A listing in the Supplier Handbook• Four times per year – a company overview listing in the

RVA News Monitor (National send out)• Company overview listing on Regional Industry Newsletter

RVA Yearbook• Company profile/case study• Company acknowledgement (Increased content )

National Conference• Four delegate tickets• Exhibitor Stand• Satchel Company Insert

Packages for the RVA website• Base Listing (Name, Address, Number)• Logo• Website Link to your company site• Listing plus 100 word profile linked to the soft copy of the

supplier handbook• Case study editorial on the RVA website• Banner – top or bottom (Time limited banner displayed

quarterly)• Photo• Priority Listing

Market intelligence• Regular updates on research and advocacy issues

GOLD – SPONSOR $20,000(LIMITED TO 5 SPONSORS)

Speaker opportunities• One speaker at each RVA Regional Conference

RVA Events• Complimentary invitation to the CEO Forum• A tailored RVA event or product launch• Complimentary invitation to all RVA ‘premium’ events e.g.



RVA Advertising• Half page advertising in the Supplier Handbook – the RVA

Associate Members Services Directory• A profile in the Supplier Handbook• A listing in the Supplier handbook• Twice a year – a company overview listing in the RVA

News Monitor (National send out)• Company overview listing on Regional Industry Newsletter

RVA Yearbook• Company profile/case study• Company acknowledgement (Increased content)

National Conference• Two delegate tickets• Exhibitor Stand• Satchel Company Insert


supplier handbook• Case study editorial on the RVA website• Photo• Priority Listing



Elynwood Services Group… A Complete Service SolutionElynwood Services Group is a family owned, Quality Assured, Australian Business, establishedand operating for over 20 years. Elynwood Services Group provides an extensive range ofspecialised Catering, Cleaning and Associated Services to Retirement Village and Aged CareFacilities.

At Elynwood Services we adopt a holistic approach and offer a tailored service that complieswith all client requirements.

Our business ethos has been to strive to achieve outstanding customer satisfaction. A focuson improving the effectiveness and efficiency of our customer service delivery, is the primeobjective at Elynwood.

• Flexible but highly efficient and cost effective solutions for Catering, Cleaning and Associated Services

• Convenient “one -stop shop” approach

• Food Safety Programs which are site specific supported by regular internaland external audits

• Healthy and nutritious eating programs based on energy for life with well balanced menus

• Diverse menu range to cater for various cultures and dietary requirements

• Regular performance monitoring

• Marketing programs to increase awareness and participation

• A sustainable environmental approach

• Quality Assured Company

• Caring and highly trained Site Operators

• Available 7 days per week, 24 hours per day

For an obligation free quotation, please callJo Spiteri, Catering and Support Services Director

Tel: (03) 9364 8116 or 0419 189 471

Email: [email protected] www.elynwood.com.au

Retirement Village Living.

A growing industry.

As baby boomers age and retire, many opportunities are emerging for innovative retirement village developments. Maddocks understands the requirements and challenges faced by developers in the retirement village industry.

Our knowledge of the industry and the relevant legislation enables us to actively assist our clients in the acquisition, development, operation and disposal of villages. We advise on a range of issues including capital repairs and compliance.

We have been involved in the consolidation of the industry undertaking due diligence, acquisitions, finance structuring and tax advice on a number of transactions.

Maddocks. Your lawyers for retirement, aged care and property development.

www.maddocks.com.au

Angel Place123 Pitt Street

Sydney NSW 2000Tel 61 2 8223 4100

Fax 61 2 9221 0872

Maddocks140 William Street

Melbourne VIC 3000Tel 61 3 9288 0555

Fax 61 3 9288 0666

22

RVA Yearbook 2009

Industry

SILVER – SPONSOR $10,000(LIMITED TO 10 SPONSORS)

Speaker opportunities• One speaker at an RVA Regional Conference of your

choice

RVA Events• Complimentary invitation to all RVA ‘premium’ events e.g.



RVA Advertising• Quarter page advertising in the Supplier Handbook – The

RVA Associate Members Services Directory• A profile in the Supplier Handbook• A listing in the Supplier Handbook• Company overview listing on Regional Industry Newsletter

RVA Yearbook• Company acknowledgement (Increased content)

National Conference• One delegate ticket• Brochure/Document seat drop


supplier handbook• Case study editorial on the website• Photo


BRONZE – SPONSOR $5000(UNLIMITED)

RVA Events• Complimentary invitation to all RVA ‘premium’ events e.g.



RVA Advertising• A logo/profile in the RVA Associate Members Services

Directory• A Listing in the RVA Associate Members Annual Services

Directory• Company overview listing on Regional Industry Newsletter

RVA Yearbook• Company Acknowledgement (Increased content)

National Conference• One delegate ticket• Brochure/Document seat drop


RVA Associate Members Services Directory• Photo



Level 20 / 385 Bourke Street Melbourne VIC 3000 Australia

T (03) 9670 6123www.herbertgeer.com.au

Our services include:

village

retirement villages

Steven Smith

Melbourne

Level 12 / 77 King Street Brisbane QLD 4000 Australia

Now more than ever, design excellence is critical to sustaining your industry advantage

Campbell Luscombe Folk Lichtman Architects - both recognised and awarded - are the architects for Australia’s foremost seniors & aged care facilities, including Waterbrook Yowie Bay, Annesley Bowral, Lifestyle Manor Bondi, Treeview Gardens, John Paul Village

with successful and thriving senior communities

24

RVA Yearbook 2009

Industry

CORPORATEPARTNERS Blake DawsonLocked Bag No 6 Grosvenor Place, SYDNEY,NSW, 2000Tel: 02 9258 6058

Jardine Lloyd Thompson Pty Ltd WALevel 6 / 256 St George’s Tce, PERTH, WA,6000Tel: 08 9426 0434

Programmed Property ServicesPO Box 331, MT WAVERLEY, VIC, 3149Tel: 03 9544 5777

Russell Kennedy Pty LtdPO Box 5146 AA, MELBOURNE, VIC, 3001Tel: 03 9609 1555

Sanctuary EnergyPO Box 3378, TUGGERAH, NSW, 2259Tel: 02 4351 5599

Thomson Adsett ArchitectsPO Box 3348, SOUTH BRISBANE, QLD, 4104Tel: 07 3840 9999

NATIONALASSOCIATES Adelaide Bank6th Floor 24 York Street, SYDNEY, NSW, 2000Tel: 02 8282 8285

Allens Arthur RobinsonPO Box 7082 Riverside Centre, BRISBANE,QLD, 4001Tel: 07 3334 3209

ANZ Banking Group LtdLevel 11 20 Martin Place, SYDNEY, NSW, 2000Tel: 02 9227 1778

Atkinson VindenLevel 8/10 Help Street, CHATSWOOD, NSW,2067Tel: 02 9411 4466

BankWestLevel 11 / 45 Clarence Street, SYDNEY, NSW,2000Tel: 02 8299 8285

Cavalier Bremworth Carpets165-169 Lower Gibbes Street, CHATSWOOD,NSW, 2067Tel: 02 9932 2600

Colliers InternationalRoyal Exchange Lvl 12/225 George Street,GROSVENOR PLACE, NSW, 2000Tel: 02 9257 0222

Community Living Technologies Pty LtdPO Box 43, NORTH RYDE, NSW, 1670Tel: 02 9087 9562

DeaconsGPO Box 4592, MELBOURNE, VIC, 3001Tel: 03 8686 6000

Deloitte Touche TohmatsuPO Box N250 Grosvenor Place, SYDNEY,NSW, 1220Tel: 02 9322 7697

Doctors Safety Line Pty Ltd SAPO BOX 738, TORRENSVILLE, SA, 5031Tel: 08 8354 0155

Ernst & Young PartnershipLevel 27 / 8 Exhibition Street, MELBOURNE,VIC, 3000Tel: 03 9288 8000

ForboLocked Bag 6886, WETHERILL PARK DC, NSW,1851Tel: 02 9828 0200

GadensL13 Skygarden Building/77 Castlereagh St,SYDNEY, NSW, 2000Tel: 02 9931 4873

ING Real Estate Community Living FundLevel 11 345 George Street, SYDNEY, NSW,2000Tel: 02 9033 1019

INS LifeGuardP O Box 485, UNANDERRA, NSW, 2526Tel: 02 4254 6226

InterfaceFLOR101 Chalmers Street, SURRY HILLS, NSW,2010Tel: 02 8332 2400

Knight Frank National Health and Aged CareGPO Box 146, BRISBANE, QLD, 4000Tel: 07 3246 8821

MacroPlan Australia Pty LtdLevel 4 / 356 Collins Street, MELBOURNE, VIC,3000Tel: 03 9600 0500

McInnes Wilson LawyersGPO Box 1089, BRISBANE, QLD, 4000Tel: 07 3231 0600

Minter EllisonLevel 3 / 25 National Circuit, FORREST, ACT,2603Tel: 02 6225 3211

mhm - McLachlan Hodge Mitchell Pty Ltd121 Greenhill Road, UNLEY, SA, 5061Tel: 08 8291 0300

National Seniors AustraliaLevel 7/243 Edward Street, BRISBANE, QLD,4000Tel: 07 3233 9183

NetComm LimitedUnit 1 2 - 6 Orion Road, LANE COVE, NSW,2066Tel: 02 9424 2045

Nilsen Networks4/ 3 - 5 Gilda Court, MULGRAVE, VIC, 3170Tel: 1300 734 766

PoolWerx5 Moorak Street, TARINGA, QLD, 4068Tel: 07 3217 7111

PricewaterhouseCoopers2 Southbank Boulevard, SOUTHBANK, VIC,3006Tel: 03 8603 1000

Riley Shelley Australia Pty Ltd395 Tooronga Road, HAWTHORN EAST, VIC,3123Tel: 03 8823 5055

Savills AustraliaLevel 25/140 William Street, MELBOURNE,VIC, 3000Tel: 03 8686 8080

Showcase Publications26 Belmore Street, SURRY HILLS, NSW, 2010Tel: 02 9211 7422

Sodexo AustraliaUnit 1 / 469 Nudgee Road, HENDRA, QLD,4011Tel: 07 3307 8000

The Senior16A Mildon Road, TUGGERAH, NSW, 2259Tel: 02 4351 2366

Thomson Playford CutlersLevel 25/264 George Street, SYDNEY, NSW,2000Tel: 02 8248 5800

VIEO Clipsal Aged Care153 Francis Road, WINGFIELD, SA, 5013Tel: 08 8268 0425

Corporate Partners

PROUDLY AUSTRALIAN OWNED FOR OVER 25 YEARS

• Nurse Call Systems • Self-Care Monitoring

• Back-to-Base Monitoring • Wandering Resident Alarms

• Out-Of-Bed / Chair Sensors • Dementia Care • Staff Duress Systems • DECT Phone Systems

• Security • Paging

stems

wireles

s

Contact us at: [email protected] Phone: 1300 669 888

•WIRELESS •THE COST EFFECTIVE SOLUTION

From Nursing Homes to Retirement Villages we have it covered, be it a building or the entire site. Nurse Call Systems comply with all necessary Aged Care Accreditation Standards. We have the fl exibility to tailor the system to your changing needs.

26

RVA Yearbook 2009

Industry

Village Care Pty LtdLevel 2 / 89 King William Street, ADELAIDE,SA, 5000Tel: 08 8212 0166

Westpac BankLevel 26 / 275 Kent Street, SYDNEY, NSW,2000Tel: 02 8254 1129

NSW/ACT REGIONALASSOCIATES Amaranth Life Pty LtdLevel 36 Aurora Place/88 Phillip Street,SYDNEY, NSW, 2000Tel: 02 9252 5595

Anglican Retirement Villages284 Castle Hill Road, CASTLE HILL, NSW,2154Tel: 02 9421 5356

Australian Retirement PartnersPO Box 315, MILSONS POINT, NSW, 1565Tel: 0412 411 325

Australian Unity Retirement Living ServicesNSWLevel 6/88 Phillip Street, SYDNEY, NSW, 2000Tel: 02 9256 8715

Baldwin Oates and TidburyP O Box 45, GORDON, NSW, 2072Tel: 02 9499 2166

Campbell Luscombe Folk Lichtman ArchitectsP/L10 Charles Street, REDFERN, NSW, 2016Tel: 02 9310 4211

Cater Care AustraliaPO Box 69, PARRAMATTA, NSW, 2124Tel: 02 9635 5188

Catering Industries Pty LtdP O Box 456, CHATSWOOD, NSW, 2057Tel: 02 9411 1144

Catholic Healthcare LimitedPO Box 858, EPPING, NSW, 1710Tel: 02 8876 2100

CB Richard EllisLevel 26 / 363 George Street, SYDNEY, NSW,2000Tel: 02 9333 3383

Clayton UtzLevel 8/40 Marcus Clarke Street, CANBERRA,ACT, 2600Tel: 02 6279 4000

David Nelson & PartnersBaulkham Hills Business Centre, BAULKHAMHILLS, NSW, 2153Tel: 02 9659 9611

DEM (Aust) Pty LtdP O Box 5036, WEST CHATSWOOD, NSW,1515Tel: 02 8966 6155

Donald G Henderson SolicitorPO Box 850, GOSFORD, NSW, 2250Tel: 02 4324 5688

Dorsal Media40 Heath Street, ALBURY, NSW, 2640Tel: 0412 233 742

Downsizing With EaseUnit 3 47 Day Street, NORTH SILVERWATER,NSW, 2128Tel: 02 9748 8033

Edmonds & AssociatesSuite 2D 1 Gurrigal Street, MOSMAN, NSW,2088Tel: 02 9960 8244

Emil Ford & Co580 George St, SYDNEY, NSW, 2000Tel: 02 9267 9800

Empowered Living Support Services LimitedPo Box 3247, GLENDALE, NSW, 2285Tel: 02 4941 7070

FPA Architects International P/LSuite 501 Level 5/225 Clarence Street, SYDNEY,NSW, 2000Tel: 02 9299 1001

Fusion Financial Solutions (Syd) Pty LtdPO Box 4213 Penrith Plaza, PENRITH, NSW,2750Tel: 02 4722 6971

Gilmore Interior Design9 / 37 Nicholson, EAST BALMAIN, NSW, 2041Tel: 02 8585 9200

Graphic by DesignPO Box 3295, ERINA, NSW, 2250Tel: 02 4365 6777

Herbert Partners Pty LtdP O Box 250, TUGGERAH, NSW, 2259Tel: 02 4353 5855

Hunt and HuntGPO BOX 4132, SYDNEY, NSW, 2001Tel: 02 9391 3163

Jones Lang LaSalle NSWPO Box 2500 Queen Victoria Building,SYDNEY, NSW, 1230Tel: 02 9220 8423

JSA - Kennedy Associates Architects51 Nelson Street, ANNANDALE, NSW, 2038Tel: 02 9557 6466

Kells The LawyersLevel 15 / 9 Castlereagh Street, SYDNEY, NSW,2000Tel: 02 4221 9311

Masterton Homes Pty LtdCnr Hume Hwy & Sappho Rd, WARWICKFARM, NSW, 2170Tel: 1300 446 637

Meli StudioSuite 5b Kirribilli Marina 1 Bradley Avenue,KIRRIBILLI, NSW, 2061Tel: 02 8920 3500

Metropolis Group of CompaniesSuite 203/410 Elizabeth Street, SURRY HILLS,NSW, 2010Tel: 02 9212 1201

Paclib Senior LivingSuite 2 Level 4/65 Epping Road, NORTH RYDE,NSW, 2113Tel: 02 9889 5777

Peter Dalton Architects Pty LtdP O Box 6243, NORTH SYDNEY, NSW, 2060Tel: 02 9955 8244

Retirement Headquarters68 Tulloh Street, WILLOUGHBY, NSW, 2068Tel: 02 9958 2488

Silver Spirit PartnersLevel 29 Chifley Tower 2 Chifley Square,SYDNEY, NSW, 2000Tel: 02 9238 4204

Skyline Landscape Services20 Anvil Road, SEVEN HILLS, NSW, 2164Tel: 02 9674 1400

Smart Caller NSW Pty LtdU3/585 Maitland Rd, MAYFIELD WEST, NSW,2304Tel: 02 4949 2222

St George Bank LtdLocked Bag 1, KOGARAH, NSW, 1485Tel: 02 9708 5900

Stan Manning & Associates18 Leighanne Crescent, ARUNDEL, QLD, 4214Tel: 07 5519 1000

The Frank Whiddon Masonic HomesLocked Bag 14, MINTO DC, NSW, 2566Tel: 02 9827 6634

Third - Age Living Investment ManagmentLevel 40 Chiffley Tower, 2 Chiffley Square,SYDNEY, NSW, 2000Tel: 02 8005 5785

Corporate Partners

Meli studio has been invloved in many award winning developments, Waterbrook Greenwich is one of our latest projects.

Design solutions to meet today’s seniors living needs

ThomsonAdsett understands, as you do, that retirement living developments are a ‘lifestyle’ choice in changing times. We know that lifestyle

retirement is for active people who want to enjoy their independence longer.

With over 30 years working with businesses like yours, we have the knowledge and the experience to provide the right solution for you and

for your clients.

architecture | urban design | interiorsthomsonadsett.com

1300 304 290

Redmond Park

28

RVA Yearbook 2009

Industry

TSA ManagementL16/207 Kent St, SYDNEY, NSW, 2000Tel: 02 9247 7270

Village Consulting ServicesP O Box 21, MOSMAN, NSW, 2088Tel: 02 9969 0488

Vision Lifestyle Projects43 Gladesville Road, HUNTERS HILL, NSW,2110Tel: 02 4353 6233

Vital CarePO Box 1484, LANE COVE, NSW, 1595Tel: 02 9427 2133

Wise Products20 Dell Road, WEST GOSFORD, NSW, 2250Tel: 02 4323 2233

Zadro ConstructionsSuite 4 / 16 Rob Place, VINEYARD, NSW, 2765Tel: 02 4574 8000

QLD REGIONALASSOCIATES 50 Plus Construction Pty LtdPO Box 3544, LOGANHOLME, QLD, 4129Tel: 07 3801 0100

CB Richard EllisLevel 33, Waterfront Place, 1 Eagle Street,BRISBANE, QLD, 4000Tel: 07 3833 9819

Focus Professional GroupLevel 5/57 The Esplanade, COTTON TREE,QLD, 4558Tel: 07 5479 2833

Holman Webb Lawyers BrisbaneGPO Box 99, BRISBANE, QLD, 4001Tel: 07 3235 0100

Lewiac Pty LtdVillage Centre/The Sovereign Islands, GOLDCOAST, QLD, 4216Tel: 07 5577 3255

LVO Architecture14/220 Boundary Street, BRISBANE, QLD,4000Tel: 07 3832 2700

McCullough Robertson LawyersLevel 11/Central Plaza Two/66 Eagle St,BRISBANE, QLD, 4000Tel: 07 3233 8871

Metropolitan FuneralsGPO Box 665, BRISBANE, QLD, 4001Tel: 07 3013 0000

Munro Thompson LawyersLevel 2/77 Mooloolaba Esplanade,MOOLOOLABA, QLD, 4557Tel: 07 5444 3466

Paynter Dixon Queensland Pty LtdLevel 3/299 Coronation Drive, MILTON, QLD,4064Tel: 07 3368 5500

Propell National ValuersPO Box 150, PADDINGTON, QLD, 4064Tel: 07 3369 2277

Stan Manning & Associates18 Leighanne Crescent, ARUNDEL, QLD, 4214Tel: 0412 294 404

Westys Precise Pest Management33 Bershire Place, SPRINGFIELD LAKES, QLD,4300Tel: 07 3818 7227

SA/NT REGIONALASSOCIATES Brand Partners253 Flinders Street, ADELAIDE, SA, 5000Tel: 08 8232 8100

Earthwise Insulation Pty Ltd16 Kincaid Avenue, NORTH PLYMPTON, SA5037Tel: 1300 166 282

Fisher JeffriesGPO Box 544, ADELAIDE, SA, 5001Tel: 08 8233 0600

GB PlasticsPO Box 44, BRIGHTON, SA, 5048Tel: 08 8326 0044

Lynch Meyer Commercial LawyersGPO Box 467, ADELAIDE, SA, 5001Tel: 08 8223 7600

McInerney Barratt Financial Solutions134 Rose Terrace, WAYVILLE, SA, 5034Tel: 08 8272 1888

O’Loughlins LawyersGPO Box 2410, ADELAIDE, SA, 5001Tel: 08 8111 4000

Optimum Retirement Services5/259 Glen Osmond Road, FREWVILLE, SA,5063Tel: 08 8338 3344

PKF Accountants SAGPO Box 2505, ADELAIDE, SA, 5000Tel: 08 7421 1400

Villis Group186B Pulteney Street, ADELAIDE, SA, 5000Tel: 08 8232 1145

Vital Wireless Pty LtdPO Box 314, LONSDALE, SA, 5160Tel: 08 8382 8866

Wallmans LawyersGPO Box 1018, ADELAIDE, SA, 5001Tel: 08 8235 3000

Warehouse Matric27 Gwy Terrace, BALAKLAVA, SA, 5461Tel: 08 8862 2078

VIC/TAS REGIONALASSOCIATES APT (Australian Pacific Touring )475 Hampton Street, HAMPTON, VIC, 3188Tel: 1800 630 339

Baker and McKenzieLevel 19 /181 WIlliam Street, MELBOURNE,VIC, 3000Tel: 03 9617 4200

Blair Architects Pty Ltd9 Derby Road, CAULFIELD EAST, VIC, 3145Tel: 03 9569 2651

Brico Living Pty Ltd101/325 Collins Street, MELBOURNE, VIC,3000Tel: 03 9629 9622

Bruce Mactier Building Designers100c Wyndham Street, SHEPPARTON, VIC,3630Tel: 03 5822 1255

Burns Bridge Australia Pty LtdLevel 10/350 Queens Street, MELBOURNE,VIC, 3000Tel: 03 9691 0011

Caretakers Australia26 Cambridge Street, COLLINGWOOD, VIC,3066Tel: 03 9419 4399

Comms ITUnit 3 / 27 Bond Street, MORDIALLOC, VIC,3195Tel: 03 8586 5333

Connect PMLevel 2, 50 Queen Street, MELBOURNE, VIC,3000Tel: 03 9686 4488

Corporate Partners

General Benefits (Phone and Dialler)

Additional ‘Blue Phone’ Benefits

Ensuring Duty of Care Obligations

Arkajon-SCI022

Specifications subject to change without notice.

Exceeds

all Australian

communication, aged care

and disability standards.

Can you afford to ignore the standards?

smart dialler

Established 1979

1800 810 141 www.smartcaller.com.au

Waterproof pendant included.

30

RVA Yearbook 2009

Industry

Coomes Consulting Group2/24 Albert Road, SOUTH MELBOURNE, VIC,3205Tel: 03 9993 7888

Erigo M.A.CPO BOX 2158, HAWTHORN, VIC, 3122Tel: 03 9818 2899

Herbert Geer LawyersLevel 21/385 Bourke Street, MELBOURNE, VIC,3000Tel: 03 9641 8615

Incolink1 Pelham Street, CARLTON, VIC, 3053Tel: 03 9639 3000

Lewis Holdway LawyersPO Box 138 Collins St West, MELBOURNE,VIC, 8007Tel: 03 9629 9629

Logreen7 Gilbert Road, WEST PRESTON, VIC, 3072Tel: 1300 361 658

M3 PropertyLevel 5/114 William Street, MELBOURNE, VIC,3000Tel: 03 9605 1000

Madgwicks LawyersLevel 33 140 William Street, MELBOURNE,VIC, 3000Tel: 03 9242 4744

McCabe Architects26 Peel Street, COLLINGWOOD, VIC, 3066Tel: 03 9415 6377

Network Energy ServicesPO Box 2296, MOUNT WAVERLEY, VIC, 3149Tel: 03 9807 5286

Paulding Constructions Pty Ltd72-76 Dandenong Rd West, FRANKSTON, VIC,3199Tel: 03 9770 6666

Proactive Complaints Management9 Merrill Street, MULGRAVE, VIC, 3170Tel: 0418 313 303

Retireinvest - Mt WaverleySuite 1/427 Blackburn Road, MOUNTWAVERLEY, VIC, 3149Tel: 03 9886 1844

RSM Bird CameronLevel 8/525 Collins Street, MELBOURNE, VIC,3000Tel: 03 9286 1800

Safety LinkPO Box 179W, BALLARAT WEST, VIC, 3350Tel: 03 5320 5410

Spectrum Analysis Australia Pty Ltd101 Camberwell Road, EAST HAWTHORN,VIC, 3123Tel: 03 9882 6488

Urban Maintenance SystemsLevel 1 /41 Miles Street, MULGRAVE, VIC,3170Tel: 03 9560 5811

Urban NeighbourhoodsPO Box 2039 Research Delivery Centre,RESEARCH, VIC, 3095Tel: 0409 070 997

Vicpole Pty Ltd31-35 Barry Street, BAYSWATER, VIC, 3153Tel: 03 8761 2703

Yellowstone LandscapingPO Box 5047, STUDFIELD, VIC, 3152Tel: 0411 090 820

WA REGIONALASSOCIATES Austronics Cable and Communications PtyLtd3aWelwyn Ave, Manning, WA, 6152Tel: 08 9313 4163

Barton ConsultancyPO Box Y3584, PERTH, WA, 6832Tel: 08 9225 5899

Blue Force Pty LtdPO Box 1292, OSBORNE PARK, WA, 6916Tel: 08 9427 5555

Broadcast Engineering Services17 Millrose Drive, MALAGA, WA, 6090Tel: 08 9243 7000

Designinc Perth Pty LtdPO Box 8587, PERTH BC, WA, 6849Tel: 08 9322 3199

Egan National Valuers (WA)22 Hardy Street, SOUTH PERTH, WA, 6151Tel: 08 9474 1299

Emerson Stewart Pty LtdOld Swan Brewery/110/171 Mounts Bay Road,PERTH, WA, 6000Tel: 08 9424 9555

Fisher & Paykel WAPO Box 404, BENTLEY, WA, 6102Tel: 08 9356-4500

Grant Thornton Australia Ltd (WA)Level 1 / 10 Kings Park Road, WEST PERTH,WA, 6005Tel: 08 9480 2000

GV Lawyers Pty LtdLevel 5 / 16 Irwin Street, PERTH, WA, 6000Tel: 08 9325 6188

Higgins Coatings Pty LtdUnit 1 / 35 Guthrie Street, OSBORNE PARK,WA, 6017Tel: 08 9263 1000

HotmixBox 446, Northbridge,WA. 6865Tel: 08 9227 5957

J H Wilberforce33 - 43 Clune Street, BAYSWATER, WA, 6053Tel: 08 9340 6222

Mal Atwell Indoor Leisure Group34 Gympie Way, WILLETTON, WA, 6155Tel: 08 9354 9150

Mickey Curran Painting Pty LtdUnit 4 / 25 Tulloch Way, CANING VALE, WA,6155Tel: 08 9456 5710

Morley Davis Architects Pty Ltd107 Cambridge Street, WEST LEEDERVILLE,WA, 6007Tel: 08 9388 7777

Northerly GroupBox 180, Subiaco, WA, 6904Tel: 08 9442 3899

Oldfield KnottPO Box 849, SUBIACO, WA, 6904Tel: 08 9381 6788

Pagett & CoP0 Box 5750, ALBANY, WA, 6332Tel: 08 9841 4816

Perrott Painting52 Edward Street, OSBORNE PARK, WA, 6017Tel: 08 9444 1200

PKF Chartered Accountants WAPO Box Z5066 St George’s Terrace, PERTH,WA, 6831Tel: 08 9278 2222

Seniors Own Real EstatePO Box 642, BALCATTA, WA, 6914Tel: 08 9243 1366

T & Z Pty Ltd679 Murray Street, WEST PERTH, WA, 6872Tel: 08 9481 0685

Village Estates ManagementSuite 8/36 Ord Street, WEST PERTH, WA, 6005Tel: 08 9481 3244

Village Support P.I.R.83 Aitken Drive, WINTHROP, WA, 6150Tel: 08 9310 9102

Corporate Partners

The Retirement Village Association is the peak village regional and national body. Associate Membership of the RVA is open to suppliers who wish to be recognised as providing appropriate services, with RVA Associate Member logo identification, print directory and web listings, plus exposure to events.

P: 1300 731 716W: www.blueforce.com.au

Emergency Call ServicesBlue Force specialises in the design,

build and ongoing servicing of emer-

gency call and electronic security services

for the aged care and retirement villages

sectors. Our in-house ASIAL accredited

monitoring and support centre is one of

Australia’s largest and delivers specialist

assisted care, independent living, high

care and dementia coverage.

CALL SUPPORT SYSTEMS - NATIONAL

As an RVA Associate Member your business will be listed in the RVA Services Directory at no charge.

From just $400 you can also promote your business

to all 1,850 villages across Australia with a logo listing in our Services Directory. Your business will be identified by your region of operation and your

business sector for easy reference.Only RVA Associate Members are listed in the directory. 2,000 copies are printed and mailed.

Associate Member

..................................................................$990p.a. inc gst .............................................................. $2,970p.a. inc gst

Full web listing with links (4,500 visits per month)A4 print directory mailed to 1,850 villages

...............................................................................................................................$FreeLogo Listing + 50 words .......................................................................................... $400 inc gstQuarter Page ............................................................................................................... $550 inc gst

THE SOURCEFull web listing with links (30,000 visits per month)A4 annual print directory mailed to 3,500 village & care decision makers x 3 times a year - Logo Listing ......................................$572 inc gstQuarter Page ............................................................................................................ $2,200 inc gst

Logo ListingActual Size

THE SOURCE

The RVA has joined THE SOURCE Village & Care Directory, and website with an extended offer.

(30,000 visits per month)(thesourcetoday.com.au)

village & care sectors

19,500 circulationLogo Listing + 50 words ......... $572 Quarter Page ...........................$2,200

LEGAL - DIGITAL TV - MARKETING - PEOPLE - DIRECTORY

JuneHeinrich

The QuietAchiever

Mercy Place – Colac83-99 Queen StreetCOLAC VIC 3250

Mercy Place Rice Village2-26 Marshalltown Road

MARSHALL VIC 3216

Mercy Place Apartments – Parkville50-62 Cade Way

PARKVILLE VIC 3052

Mercy Health, building on the foundation and values of the Sisters of Mercy offer Retirement Living opportunities across

3 Victorian Sites; bringing to life a vibrant village feel offering a sense of safety, security and lifestyle. Our villages are

co-located with residential aged care facilities aiming to offer residents the concept of a continuing care community.

Mercy Place – Parkville is a new architecturally designed village offering a range of accommodation options and services in a

community setting, including:

• Mercy Place Apartments, spacious, high quality, 1, 2 and 3 bedroom retirement apartments

• A community hub including activity spaces, café, retail shops and allied health services

For further information contact: Ms Helen Hunter - Retirement Living Housing Manager – Mercy Health

50-62 Cade Way, PARKVILLE VIC 3052

Tel: 03 9261 2008 Fax: 03 5241 9007 Email: [email protected] Web: www.mercy health.com.au

Promote your product or service to retirement village operators and residents through:

Australia's number one retirement village web site

The only national organisation solely focused on supporting and promoting its members and retirement living

A site that provides advice and assistance, products and services to retirement villages and retirement village residents

Take advantage of our members only special rate web package with the additional benefits of profiling and listing in the RVA supplier handbook to be distributed to over 2000 industry representatives.

www.rva.com.au

A listing on the Retirement Village Association Website will raise your company

profile within the industry. RVA

Nat

iona

l Web

site

- M

emb

ers

Web

Pac

kge 2009/2010

WEB STATISTICS

In just three months, over 1.5 million hits over 26,500 unique

visits

Your specialists in relief management and accreditation.

Village Support has developed exclusively a Village Management start up Policy Manual consistent with the Australian Retirement Village Accreditation Scheme and State Legislation. Includes: Village Management Policy Manual; HR forms and documents; Selection of Operational Policies and Procedures; Registers and Resident Request Forms; Half day training session and customisation of documents (valued $500); One year free maintenance and support for Manual (valued $800); All for $4,950 (ex GST).

Contact Village Support to arrange an inspection of this essential Village Management tool, visit www.villagesupport.com.au for more info.

Village Management Policy Manual

Ph: 0412 294 [email protected]

www.smassociates.info

Specialist Retirement Living and Aged Care Consultants

Stan Manning& ASSOCIATES

With over 40 years experience in the RetirementLiving and Aged Care Industry Stan Manning &Associates is available to provide you with Consultancy Services.

Retirement Living Solutions

Our Services Include:

• Site Assessment and Master Planning

• Feasibility and Market Studies

• DA Documentation including Support ServicesStatements and Compatibility Criteria Reports

• Specialist planning input

• Market Surveys, Community Aged Care NeedsResearch, Focus Groups

• Retirement Village Act Compliance includingDisclosure and Residency Documentation

• Operational/Management Advice, Organisational,Management and Operational Reviews

• Marketing Strategies

• Aged and Community Care Place Applications,including Extra Service and Approved Provider Status

• Innovative Care Models: Flexi-Care, Supported Living

Free: Base listing on the RVA Website : (name, address, telephone number) Free: Listing in the RVA Associate Members’ Services Directory: (name, the nature of the business, telephone number) ASSOCIATE MEMBERS PROMOTIONAL PACK : $550 inclusive of GST Your company logo included with your listing on the RVA website A listing on the RVA website in one region of your choice A link to your website and if you don’t have a website we can create a web page for you that is hosted on the RVA site A welcome and introduction to your company on the RVA News Monitor Quarter page listing, a logo / photo and 80 words in the ‘The RVA Associate Members’ – Services Directory NATIONAL ASSOCIATE MEMBERS SPECIAL PROMOTIONAL PACK : $880 inclusive of GST Your company logo included with your listing on the RVA website A listing on the RVA website for all regions (5) A link to your website from all regions A welcome and introduction to your company on the RVA News Monitor A case study/ editorial on the RVA website A profile of a company founder, director, or employee Quarter page listing, a logo / photo and 80 words in the ‘The RVA Associate Members’ – Services Directory To take advantage of one of these excellent value for money packages, please contact your RVA Regional Manager or complete the request form below and return with your membership application.

In addition to my membership application I wish to purchase a promotional pack.

Associate Members Promotional Pack at $550 Region (Please circle)

National Associate Members Promotional Pack at $880

PAYMENT

Cheque (Payable to the Retirement Village Association Ltd.) Credit Card (Please provide details below)

Card No: ……….. ………….. ………… ………….. Expiry ………………. Security No: …. …. …. Name on Card:………………………………………………………………………..……………………………. Signature: …………………………………………………………. TOTAL AMOUNT :……………………..

Please invoice to: Contact Name:……………………………………………………………………………….

Company:…………………………………………………………………………………………………………... Address 1…………………………………………………………………………………………………………… Suburb………………………………………………………..Post Code: ……………………………………….

SA/NT VIC/TAS NSW/ACT QLD WA

Visa Mastercard Bankcard

37

RVA Yearbook 2009

Industry

Village CharterAs members of the Retirement Village Association Ltd, themanagement of this retirement village has pledged to:• Recognise and uphold the dignity of each resident.• Respect the individuality, privacy, and beliefs of each and

every resident.• Always act in a manner which recognises the rights of

residents.• Provide the same level of care and consideration for each

and every resident without discrimination.• Provide honest and detailed answers to questions, when

requested by a resident, concerning the welfare and qualityof life of that resident.

• Be mindful of the welfare and wellbeing of residents in allmatters concerning the administration of the village.

• Uphold the spirit and detail of retirement village legislationand codes.

• Take all reasonable measures to achieve Accreditation andon being achieved, to comply with the AccreditationStandards and criteria published by the Association.

• Respect and comply with the Retirement VillageAssociation Ltd Member Code of Conduct.

Members’ Code Of ConductAs a member of The Retirement Village Association Ltd, Ishould: • Conduct my business in accordance with the laws and

regulations of the State in which I operate.• Compete fairly in the markets in which I operate. • Work safely and apply industry best practice to the health,

safety and wellbeing of employees, residents, suppliers andcommunities.

• Aim to bring long-term benefits to the industry, rather thanshort-term advantage for individuals.

• Cooperate with the RVA to achieve its corporate goals.• Show respect for the diverse range of people and cultures

with whom I work and for their human rights. • Not be involved in corrupt practices, bribery,

discrimination or similar improper behaviour. • Act ethically and with integrity, decency and respect for the

community and the environment.

Village Charter andCode of Conduct

RVA Manager ofthe Year Award

2009

40

RVA Yearbook 2009

People

Now in its sixth year, the RVA Managerof the Year Award (MOTY) has attracteda record number of applications since

the award was first established in 2004.Sponsored by Programmed Property Services,the award recognises outstanding villagemanagers who have been nominated by theirresidents, staff or owner operator.

RVA CEO Andrew Giles said thecompetition for the Manager of the Year Awardwas very strong and making a decision wasdifficult for judges across Australia.

“In each state judging came down to thewire and I think that has a lot to do with what

everyone who enters this industry noticesimmediately – the passion and enthusiasm thatthe vast majority of village managers have fortheir jobs, “ Mr Giles said.

Key evaluation criteria include leadershipstyle, continuous improvement initiatives, staffdevelopment, resident satisfaction and villageinnovation.

Interest in the MOTY is getting stronger

every year and this year the RVA received 13more applications than in 2008. The increase ininterest is attributed to the work carried out byRVA regional managers promoting the awardsand the incentives offered by sponsors.

The awards have always been a great way torecognise the good work carried out by villagemanagers, but there were also some great prizeson offer this year.

Regional winners receive some strongpromotions for their village and the nationalwinner receives a fantastic gold class trip onThe Ghan railway between Darwin andAdelaide.

Candidates for the Manager of the YearAward are nominated by village residents,village operators and colleagues.

Once a manager is nominated they arerequired to submit an application to be in therunning for an award. The RVA 2009 Managerof the Year Award’s major sponsor isProgrammed Property Services and the mediasponsor is the Australian Senior.

Manager Of The Year Award

RVA Manager Of The Year Award Winners• Gareth Norman of Grange Retirement Estate, Salford Retirement Estate and Unity

Retirement Village is the Regional Winner for South Australia/Northern Territory (SalfordLiving)

• Andrea Riviere of Blue Hills Village and Durham Green is the Regional Winner forNSW/ACT (Tulich Family Communities)

• Peter Snell of AVEO Lindsay Gardens is the Regional Winner for Queensland (AVEO)• Sue Loeliger of Waverley Country Club is the Regional Winner for VIC/TAS (Becton)• Glenis Trumbich, Thomas Perrott Village and Margaret Hubery Village (Southern Cross

Care)

41

RVA Yearbook 2009

People

How did you become involved in theretirement village industry?Prior to emigrating with my family in 2005, Icould see that retirement villages were a majorgrowth industry. I understood the dynamics ofthe ageing population and I thought I knewwhat the aged population would want andwould expect during their retirement years andwhen I saw an opening, I jumped at the chanceto join the industry.

In what ways do you help build the communityat your village/s?My three villages are all different, even thoughtwo of them are located within the samesuburb. To build a community in the village/s itwas imperative that we understood our ownresidents, their likes and dislikes. During ourgetting to know you sessions, it was evident thata strong community already existed. Our team’sdrive and enthusiasm has resulted in bringingour community even closer.

What have you learned from the residents atyour village?Every day you learn something new and onething is for sure, our residents are happy toteach you!

What do you find most rewarding about thejob?There is not one thing that is more rewardingthan the next or the last, but to see the residentssatisfied is reward in itself.

Have the industry and your job changed overthe years? If so how?I can’t say that I’ve been in the industry longenough to make a substantive comment onindustry changes, but what I can comment on isour village/s have changed, our residents havechanged and our own expectations havechanged… all for the better.

What do you find most exciting about theindustry?No two days are the same. As the manager, youare everything to everyone; you wear amultitude of hats and sometimes all at the sametime; you’re an accountant, architect, engineer,nurse, mentor and counsellor just to name afew. This all adds to the excitement of the job.

Gareth Norman Salford LivingThe Grange Retirement Estate, Salford Retirement Estate & Unity Retirement Village

42

RVA Yearbook 2009

People

How did you become involved in theretirement village industry?I was working in the building industry andoffered assistance to my neighbour MauriceTulich to have his first villa ready foroccupation.

It was a great opportunity to work in thebuilding of the village and also to forgerelationships with our new residents.

Village maintenance is a lot easier whenyou have actually worked on the constructionand know a house from the inside out!

In what ways do you help build the communityat your village/s?Blue Hills Village is unique in its strong sense ofcommunity among our residents. From thebeginning, I have had the opportunity toparticipate in all facets of village life from socialactivities, teaching art and craft, bus trips,resident birthdays and celebrations. We havebeen in it together. There has never been a‘them’ and ‘us’ attitude.

Our families have interacted with theresidents and their families throughout theyears.

I have followed Maurice’s vision whereretirement village management is based onfamily values and upholding this has built a‘community’ not just a place to live.

What have you learned from the residents atyour village?Life is short, live every day to the fullest!

What do you find most rewarding about thejob?Knowing that I can make a difference tosomeone’s life.

It is amazing to see new residents move inwith nerves and trepidation, then within amonth they are excited about the socialactivities, swept up in the fun, being includedin our community and wishing they had madethe move years ago.

Have the industry and your job changed overthe years? If so how?The management style of retirement villages haschanged. We now work much closer withresidents.

Successful managers include their residentsin the process.

Apart from the residents committee, thereare now finance committees, socialcommittees, bar committees, house committeesand sales support.

Resident care is coming to the fore inretirement villages with some operators offeringnot only independent living, but communityaged care packages and co-located residentialaged care.

What do you find most exciting about theindustry?The evolution of resident care options inretirement villages.

The current RVA Accreditation scheme hasraised the bar and improved the reputation ofretirement villages. This, along with theinitiative to work more closely with the RVRA(Retirement Villages Resident Association) andan increased transparency by management isseeing a move away from the ‘crookedoperator’ attitude and improved relations invillages.

The new building designs of retirementvillage residences and village communityfacilities.

Any other points you’d like to make?We found the accreditation process extremelybeneficial and would encourage retirementvillage operators and managers to move towardaccreditation under the RVA scheme.

It is a great way of showing your residentsand prospective residents that you are meetinghigh standards in the operation of your village.

Andrea RiviereBLUE HILLS AND DURHAM GREEN VILLAGE

Classic Residences, Brighton VIC t 03 9599 2300Classic Residences Brighton has a strong sense of community and fun with lifestyle, freedom and flexibility afforded by a strong sense of security. Classic Residences has serviced apartments starting from approx $235,000 and independent apartments starting from $320,000.

Menzies, Malvern VIC t 03 9500 9297Menzies is an exclusive residential development for those seeking independence, security and a truly luxurious lifestyle. Everything has been thoughtfully designed with spacious, creative areas for a refined level of living. Menzies includes luxury 5 star accommodations and facilities.

Waverley Country Club, Rowville VIC t 03 9755 8542As soon as you drive through the gates you experience a thoughtfully planned retirement environment designed for people who want to live active and full lives. Resident’s enjoy the security of a gated community and a commitment to service the whole time they live here. 2 and 3 bedroom Villas start from approx $365,000.

Dee Why Gardens, Dee Why NSW t 1800 155 171Imagine a place of inviting beauty, where luscious green lawns, flowering gardens and stately trees surround you. A place where the living is always easy, where home really is your haven and help is right there when you need it. Serviced apartments start from $170,000 and independent apartments from $370,000.

The Woniora, Wahroonga NSW t 02 9489 4924Apartments for distinguished retirement living. Stylish design and beautiful surroundings make The Woniora a unique retirement community. Choose from two, three and four bedroom apartments all with contemporary design features. Enjoy the first class facilities or relax knowing that staff are on hand around the clock. Starting from appox $745,000.

Breezes Mackay QLD t 07 4968 0222Breezes Mackay offers resort-style living amidst the welcoming setting of beautiful North Queensland. Breezes Mackay is convenient to stunning beaches, the magical Whitsundays, tropical rainforests and a world class marina. Breezes Mackay has 2 and 3 bedroom apartments starting from approx $235,000 and villas starting from approx $345,000.

Woodstock West, Bunbury WA t 08 9791 6199Woodstock West in Bunbury is located in a superb location across from the Bunbury Forum Shopping Centre and close to public transport, town and beaches. The community centre is the hub of the village life and contains a range of facilities for residences to enjoy. Bunbury offers 2 and 3 bedroom villas, with 2 bedrooms from $330,000.

*Price correct at September 2008

www.becton.com.au

Becton creates and manages great places to live. For three decades we have been designing, building and managing places that feel like home the moment you walk in the door. Throughout Australia, Becton has created places where the stunning design, architecture and craftsmanship are only a small part of the total offer. Places that hum with the soft buzz of people enjoying the good life. Places where they can enjoy an over 55’s lifestyle, enriched by the companionship of like minded people. Places where people are free to explore new interests and adventures if and how they chose.

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44

RVA Yearbook 2009

People

How did you become involved in theretirement village industry?I was a paramedic for 17 years with theQueensland Ambulance Service (QAS)and it was during my time as a workingmember of the management team Ibecame exposed to retirement villagesand the independent living lifestyles. Theaged care industry was entering a newera and I was keen to become involvedand be an integral member of themanagement team within the villagelifestyle.

In what ways do you help build thecommunity at your village?I thrive on challenges and I strive toendorse a strong, positive leadershipteam. I promote high work ethics andwork diligently to ensure resident needsare met and services provided to theresidents are approved and managed byappropriate qualified agencies. Withopen communication and availabilitybeing a critical foundation to thebuilding of a happy and secure livingenvironment for residents, I aim tosupport my residents and their familymembers positively. As a village managerit is a privilege to promote, protect andpreserve the independent living lifestylefor residents at my village and I amhonoured to have in some waycontributed to their quality of life andcare whilst residing in the villageenvironment.

What have you learnt from the residentsat your village?Residents have taught me open-mindedness and I am proud to welcomenew residents to the village lifestyle, andfor many it is the first time they havelived outside their family home. I havelearnt that approach is a major player inthe settling of a resident’s new life.Residents have a wealth of knowledge

and each individual has their own lifestory to tell, which in itself is interesting.It is refreshing to see new residentsexcited when entering a new phase intheir life and to join into the activities atthe village. I have observed that manyhave new, fresh and varied ideas whichbring the resident community togetherand others work tirelessly in the supportand care they render to their newlyformed friendships. My residents havetaught me the finer points of positivenegotiation and problem solving and Imust say constructive outcomes are veryrewarding.

What do you find most rewarding aboutthe job?I came from a highly professionalworking environment where careerdevelopment was encouraged andkeeping currency in training programsvital. It was on this basis when I becamemanager of my village that I sourcedfunding to gain suitable trainingendorsed by the government toadequately train and accredit my staff.This training not only was goodgrounding for my staff but gave myresidents confidence in knowing myteam are all qualified and trained in theservices provided. It has been rewardingto me as manager to know that mymeticulousness has ensured all staffmembers at the village are accreditedand fully trained.

Have the industry and the job changedover the years and if so, how?Since I became a village manager, I havewitnessed first hand the rampant growthand advancement with this industry.Competition of the saleable product hasgrown considerably along with manychanges to government legislation, localpolicies and procedures. Technology andprograms available have enhanced

budgeting programs giving us access tohighly professional presentations. Theworkload and demands on the managerhave increased substantially due to thegrowth and changes within the industry.

What do you find most exciting aboutthe industry?The media reminds us that we have anaging population and it is gratifying to bepart of this thriving industry. I can see anera of great opportunity for residents andmanagement in the independent livinglifestyle in retirement villages. Theresident community is excellent forseniors to embrace as it offers friendshipand support while still living andretaining full independence. The marketcompetition makes the industry excitingand challenging with the standards inservice delivery and saleable productscurrently at an all time high.

Peter SnellAVEO LINDSAY GARDENS

Bendigo and Adelaide Bank Limited, The Bendigo Centre, Bendigo, VIC 3550. ABN 11 068 049 178. AFSL 237879. (S24642) (07/09)

Bendigo and Adelaide Bank’s Retirement Village and Aged Care Unit is a major lender

to the Retirement Village and Aged Care industry and has a strong commitment to

funding the industry over the long term. Our people are dedicated to funding this

sector, representing it as their core focus, specialisation and passion.

A detailed understanding of the industry and the regulatory framework within which

it operates means we can talk the industry language and appreciate the processes

that come with being an operator. This assists in overcoming the barriers that may be

experienced with other financiers.

Bendigo and Adelaide Bank provides finance for start-up developments, as well as

established facilities. And we strive to add value in all our dealings with clients based

on our extensive experience in the Retirement Village and Aged Care industry.

Are you wondering how we developed our specialisation?

We have been active participants in this sector since 1985. The bank, through

a previous subsidiary Co-operative Retirement Services (CRS), was a pioneering

operator in the retirement village industry.

At its peak, the bank as an operator owned 14 and operated 45 retirement

villages throughout Australia. Through another subsidiary, Co-operative Retirement

Services of America (CRSA), the bank was one of the largest retirement community

consultants in the USA.

The bank, through its subsidiary CRS, assisted in the development of retirement

village legislation in both South Australia and Queensland, contributed to South

Australia’s 10 year plan for the elderly, participated in consultations with the

Commonwealth Government on industry taxation issues, and sponsored the Council

on the Ageing.

Whilst no longer an operator, the bank maintains a substantial lending business

to the Retirement Village and Aged Care sectors on the basis of its extensive

industry involvement and knowledge. We also retain membership of key industry

representative bodies.

Listed right are the specialist Managers in your state. Their support staff are also

dedicated to this unit for your assistance.

RetirementVillage AgedCare

LendingSpecialistsand

Paul Sullivan

QLD/NSW/ACT

Phone 02 8282 8285

Mobile 0408 859 800


Robert Herbert

VIC/TAS

Phone 03 5485 6612

Mobile 0427 562 031


Peter Maddigan

WA

Phone 08 8300 6306

Mobile 0488 176 379


Graham Hackett

SA/NT

Phone 08 8300 6048

Mobile 0438 800 858


46

RVA Yearbook 2009

People

How did you become involved in theretirement village industry?I had always lived with three generations in ourhome. First, with my grandmother living withmy mum and dad, brother and I, and later inour own home with my sons having myhusband’s mother living with us. Applying for aposition with a new evolving retirement villagefelt just right. Having a bit of a technical bent Istudied computer science but loved being withthe older generation and working with Bectonto open its first village was the perfectcombination of new technologies and olderpeople.

In what ways do you help build the communityat your village/s?As I have been at the villages since theirconception I have had the opportunity to spendthe time to find out the needs and desires of theresidents who were moving in. As the villagesincreased in size, introducing activities andfunctions that suited the type of resident whomoved in ensured that the residents werecomfortable in mixing with the community.Making yourself available to everyone is thebest way to ensure that you understand themood of the village and work towards buildingthe style of community they desire.

What have you learned from the residents atyour village?Over the years I have learnt so much aboutvillage life. From little things about the way aunit should be built – lower peep holes indoors, higher toilet seats, no steps at frontdoors, kitchen shelves that you can get to withreaching up too high or bending too low – tothe optimal temperature of the swimming poolso that muscles relax and allow a newlyreplaced hip to be exercised. I have learntabout the importance of community spirit asyou grow older and face the challenges of anageing body or mind. I have learnt a lot aboutthe lives that have been different to my ownand in some cases harder and more challengingand in others more adventurous and exciting. I

have learnt how to pick up lost stitches in myknitting and how to (try to) keep my lawn bowlfrom straying into the next lane.

What do you find most rewarding about thejob?There is not a day when you go to work whenyou can be sure of what it is you will be doing.Work is never boring. One day you may bedown on your knees in a communicationscabinet trying to work out why at 4.55pm on aFriday night the residents’ internet is notworking and on another day you can be sharingin a great grandchild’s birthday party. Anotherday you will be working on the business planfor the next year and the next arranging a bustrip to a winery in the Yarra valley. Where elsecan you get such diversity?

Have the industry and your job changed overthe years? If so how?In line with the economy I feel that I need tostrive harder than ever to ensure that every centwe spend on behalf of the residents and of theowner company are spent wisely. You mustresearch every option when making budgetdecisions while ensuring that quality is notcompromised. Residents who are moving intoour villages are looking for greater value formoney in their every day lives and I feel thatthis has made the job more challenging thanever.

I feel very lucky to work in a position whereI can enjoy the company of so many wonderfulpeople, both residents and staff, and hopefullycontribute to making their lives in our villages afulfilling place to work and live.

*Sue won Manager of the Year Award when shewas the village manager at Waverley CountryClub.

Sue LoeligerCLASSIC RESIDENCES BRIGHTON, WAVERLEY COUNTRY CLUB ANDPREVIOUSLY MENZIES MALVERN*

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Associate Member of the Retirement Village Association.

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A National Service Provider.

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How did you become involved in theretirement village industry? My involvement in the retirement villageindustry was quite accidental. I had left myprevious employment as a flight attendantwith Ansett WA to have my second childand when she was old enough to startkindergarten I wished to take theopportunity to return to the workforce on apart time basis. My mother referred me toSouthern Cross Care (SCC) where she wasemployed at one of their low care facilities,Joseph Cooke Hostel. I went for aninterview and took up a position as a careron a part time basis. This grew to where Iwas offered an administrative position andeventually to what was a ‘newly created’position as co-ordinator for Thomas PerrottVillage.

I feel that one of the most importantaspects of my work is to work towardsenhancing the community spirit of thevillage and I am confident that this is ahappy community environment. I worktowards helping to achieve this throughconstant and open communication with allresidents and working as closely aspossible with the residents’ committee withwhom I have a great rapport. I organisemonthly talks for residents with guestspeakers on a variety of topics which Iendeavour to make interesting, informative,educational and fun. We always jointogether for morning tea at these eventswhich I provide and in which I participate.I provide a monthly newsletter in whichresidents can have input with items ofinterest to themselves and others and it hasa ‘for sale’ or ‘giveaway’ section wherethey can sell or give away goods. There aregroups for exercises to music and eveningbingo which are fun. Southern Cross Carehas provided a Nintendo Wii which hasbeen a great source of entertainment andlearning. I encourage bus outings andconstantly supply the committee with ideas

for outings and entertainment. SCC haveinitiated an Inter-Site Ladies or Mens Daywhere our villages can be the host for adays socialising – these days are proving tobe very popular and the host village gets toshow off their village and facilities. Wehave groups of ladies who provide hand-made knitted blankets for the St Vincent dePaul organisation to help the needy andmonies raised from their Ladies Day alsogoes to charity. I encourage them toparticipate in events provided by JosephCooke House and have interactionbetween village residents and hostelresidents. All these things go towards ahappy village environment where residentshave the opportunity to contribute andparticipate in various aspects of village life.

What have you learned from the residentsat your village?The residents have taught me thatretirement is an exciting time, not a steptowards the end of life but a new adventureinto a different part of life’s journey, that Ican look forward with great anticipation tothe time when I too can retire. They havealso shown me that there are manyavenues of support in the communitywhere we can all do our bit on a voluntarybasis to help someone else.

What do you find most rewarding aboutthe job?The people are the most rewarding aspectof my job. I do also have great satisfactionfrom the property side of things, inorganising building and renovation worksetc, but definitely it is the people who keepme working. I have recently experiencedthe sad loss of my father and have beenwarmed and comforted by the love andsupport of my residents. They have becomepart of my extended family over the pastten years and are a huge part of my life.They constantly express genuine concernand interest in me as a person and this is

something that we all need. I hope that Iam able to return some of that to them.

Have the industry and your job changedover the years? If so how?I feel that the industry has changedtremendously since my job commenced.Back ten years ago there were onlyminimal guidelines and support services.These days thanks largely to organisationssuch as the RVA there is ongoing educationand support. Life is much more fast-paced.Residents are looking for information andsupport. We are able to provide in-homecare and community support, which are allinvaluable tools. Accreditation has been awonderful innovation over recent yearsand I am very proud of the fact that as anindustry we have taken onboard theseregulations and guidelines on a voluntarybasis.

I think this is an exciting industry to beinvolved in. The area of retirement andaged care is a fast growing area. Servicesare ever expanding and demand andexpectation have changed tremendouslyover the years. I feel that the industry nowpresents itself as a life choice. The publicnow embrace retirement and ageing in amuch more positive light than ever beforeand I expect that this will continue.

What do you find most exciting about theindustry?I feel privileged to be associated with thisindustry and in particular the MOTYawards. Since receiving my award I havebeen surprised at the feeling of credibilitythat it has given me. It has made me feeleven more valued as a worker within myown organisation and within the industrygenerally. I would be happy to encourageanyone within the retirement villagemanager group to go forward and allowthem to be nominated for this award. It hasbeen most rewarding and enjoyable.

Glenis TrumbichMARGARET HUBERY VILLAGE AND THOMAS PERROTT VILLAGE WA

Accessing your super.

You can withdraw all or part of your superannuation once you

have reached your preservation age* (55 - 60 years depending on when

you were born) and have permanently retired. However, it is not

compulsory to withdraw your super when you retire, and if you are

under 60 it may be beneficial to leave it where it is. This is because

benefits paid from super, either lump sums or pensions, are tax-free

once you reach 60 years of age**.

If you make a withdrawal prior to age 60, you may have to pay

16.5% tax on some of it. However, you are allowed a tax-free threshold

of $150,000 (2009 - 10 year)**, and some of your super may be tax-free

(for example after-tax contributions you have made). Your financial

planner will help you work out the figures.

You don’t have to cash out your super. Instead, you can convert it

to an account-based pension (otherwise known as an allocated pension),

which can be very tax effective. Performance returns are tax free, and you

pay no tax on any income or withdrawals once you reach age 60**.

Account-based pensions are also very tax effective for people aged 55

and under 60, as they will qualify for a 15% tax rebate on any pension

income received (conditions apply for those under age 55)**.

Sam Wall, Executive Manager,Technical Services, Colonial First State

Important information: *Different retirement conditions apply from age 60. **Does not apply to untaxed super schemes such as public sector super schemes. This information is general information and advice only, current as at 26 June 2009. It does not take into account any person’s individual objectives, financial situation or needs. Colonial First State Investments Limited ABN 98 002 348 352 AFSL 232468 is the issuer of superannuation and investment products. Product Disclosure Statements (PDS) for these products are available from Colonial First State. Investors should consider whether the information provided is appropriate for them and the relevant PDS and consider talking to a financial adviser before making an investment decision. CBACM1122_LHS

We clear the path to retirement by putting it in terms you can understand. Your local Commonwealth Financial Planner can help you determine your goals for retirement and work with you to develop a strategy to help you get there.

Call 1800 007 929 between 8:30am and 5:00pm AEST orvisit commbank.com.au/retirement and book your appointment today.

Meet with a financial planner.No interpreter necessary.

Important information: Commonwealth Financial Planners are representatives of Commonwealth Financial Planning Limited. ABN 65 003 900 169 AFSL 231139, a wholly owned but non-guaranteed subsidiary of Commonwealth Bank of Australia ABN 48 123 123 124. CBACM1122_RHS

Gadens Lawyers can assist you with understanding and participating in this dialogue. We have developed a highly experienced aged care and retirement village team who deal with the everyday issues that those in the aged care and retirement village sector need to consider.

We have established strong contacts in this sector, having advised some of the pioneers

and retirement village industries recognise members of our aged care and retirement village group as experts. We work closely with major industry associations to provide ongoing advice and education to add to this continuing discussion.

The response to Australia’s ageing population is not merely a property play to entice the sophisticated baby boomer generation to a new abode. Fundamentally, it is a dialogue between governments and providers on how to deal with one of the great demographic shifts in human history.

Age matters.

Contact Arthur Koumoukelis, Partner

E [email protected]

T gadens.com.au

Commercial. Legal. Political. Regulatory.

Aged care and retirement village matters.

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New legislation in NSW and the ACT, record numbers forsponsorship and delegates at the Regional Conference alongwith the loss of a true gentleman and pioneer of the retirementvillage industry in Tony Baldwin headlined a year which sawprofessionalism grow in the RVA as it consolidated its positionas the peak industry body.

New events such as the MacroPlan/Gadens seminar, CBREBreakfast, National Board Cocktail Party and Blake DawsonIndustry Luncheon showcased a new look and new standardevents program from the RVA.

The last 12 months have seen consolidation and growth inNSW and the ACT with the RVA strengthening its position asthe peak industry body for retirement villages. We were able todemonstrate to government the need for a viable retirementvillage industry in NSW which helped achieve significantamendments to the Retirement Villages Amendment Act Bill.

We have forged strong alliances with organisations such as

the Urban Development Institute of Australia and will workwith them over the upcoming year to establish a cooperativeand coordinated approach between the UDIA NSW SeniorsLiving Committee and the RVA Planning and DevelopmentCommittee. We will do this through collaboration onsubmissions and advocacy pertaining to the regulative andlegislative framework affecting seniors living and retirementvillage development in NSW and on other matters as they arisethat encourage development in seniors living and retirementvillages.

Through the negotiations of the Retirement VillagesAmendment Act Bill we have been able to commence anddevelop a relationship with the NSW Residents Associationwhich continues to strengthen with every meeting. The strengthof this relationship I am sure is set to be tested in the upcomingweeks and months as we push forward with negotiations inrelation to the Regulations accompanying the Act.

NSW/ACT Regional Report

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Membership and AccreditationOur Membership at 30 June stood at 126 Village Members, 45Regional Associates and 7 Industry Members. The next 12months will see a significant push into the Not-for-Profit sectoras we aim to have in excess of 150 village members in theregion.

With the launch of the Industry Supplier Directory we areset to see an increase in Associate Membership which will inturn lower the burden and reliance on Village Membership.Associate members (eg architects, lawyers, builders,electricians, painters etc) will be featured in this directorywhich will also be a great ready reference for member villagesand an added benefit for Associate Members.

Accreditation numbers have also increased in the last 12months with the continuation of half day seminars to informoperators how to prepare for accreditation. 31 villages becameaccredited in 2008/09 which increases the total number ofaccredited villages in the region to 59. We now have 47% ofmember villages in NSW/ACT accredited. This course willcontinue next year in order for villages to take advantage ofthis extremely beneficial marketing and management tool andkeep a high level of service and credibility throughout theindustry.

Conferences/Seminars/Managers MeetingsCrowne Plaza Hunter Valley was descended upon for a secondyear running for this year’s Bank West NSW/ACT Regional


You’ll love Blue Hills Village. You’ll love our community even more.

Blue Hills Village 25-27 Tulich Avenue Prestons 2170 Call (02) 8784 2400 www.bluehillsvillage.com.au A Tulich Family Communities Project

The residents love living in Blue Hills, a contemporary lifestyle villagefor the over 55s. Yet, it’s the friendly atmosphere, the continuum ofcare and the sense of community that makes living here enjoyable.

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Conference. A welcome cocktail party on the Thursday eveninggave everybody an opportunity to unwind and catch up in arelaxed atmosphere.

The Conference kicked off on Friday with the largestnumber of delegates ever in attendance for a NSW/ACTRegional Conference. Over 140 people were brought up todate with the GFC and its impact on the industry, effectivemanagement practices, how to work together with residents,key sales and marketing tips and how to effectively deal withthe media. The day was brought to a close with a rollercoasterride of emotion as John Anderson, the founder of ContikiHolidays talked about turning passion into business.

The Professional Development Program has seen ourManagers Forums go across NSW and ACT including Port

Macquarie, Central Coast, Sydney, Berry, Canberra and WaggaWagga, with over 90 different managers attending throughoutthe year. This will extend in the next 12 months out to TweedHeads and Albury as we establish cross border meetings withVictoria and Queensland to help build the network ofmanagers in those regions. We thank Programmed PropertyServices for their continued support and sponsorship in makingthese events free for managers.

The Managers Meetings have been a great way to stay up todate with relevant topics and a tremendous opportunity formanagers to network. A huge thank you goes to all memberparticipants and Associate Members who contribute to themeetings. Special mention must go to Arthur Koumoukelis andhis team from Gadens and Guy Vinden and his staff from

Durham Green Village. A communitythat really cares about people.

Durham Green is a retirement community where the friendly atmosphere ensures

our residents feel safe and secure. We offer both independent living and a continuum

of care with our Extra Services Aged Care Facility, The Manor at Durham Green.

Durham Green Village 153 Menangle Road Menangle NSW 2568Freecall 1800 469 838 www.durhamgreen.com.au

A Tulich Family Communities Project

Seniors Housing Management, Marketing and Valuation

Over 40 years experience in the industry. Operator of 2 villages comprising288 self care units and serviced apartments. Qualifications and experience instrata management; valuation and marketing of villages, village sites andretirement units; consultants to the industry providing staff selection,procedural development, documentation and feasibility analysis.

Members of Retirement Villages Association, Australian Property Institute,Real Estate Institute of NSW and Australian Society of Certified PracticingAccountants.

Consultancy services from an experienced team offering timely service at areasonable cost.

Edmonds & AssociatesSuite 2D, 1 Gurrigal Street, Mosman NSW 2088

Tel (02) 9960 8244 - Fax (02) 9960 8255 - Mobile 0418 251 836

Email: [email protected] Web: www.edmonds-associates.com.au

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Atkinson Vinden who continue toprovide speakers, advice andassistance for our ManagersMeetings and industry events freeof charge. With the support ofmembers like these it greatlyassists the benefits and servicesthe RVA is able to provide.

Our New Investment Frontierforums held in conjunction withMacroPlan Australia and Gadenssaw almost 100 people gather inSydney for a forum that providedinvaluable insight into theindustry’s vital role in providingsenior housing, the economicbenefits, social impacts, optimumlocations, market trends, currentand future pricing, expectedgrowth and investmentopportunities.

Further to this we were ableto team up with CBRE to deliver abreakfast seminar that provided real solutions and up to dateadvice on buying and selling villages, maximising valuations,obtaining finance and improving project economics. This eventwas sold out.

In conjunction with Blake Dawson and Deloitte a roundtable industry lunch was put together to give insight anddiscussion on issues facing mid-sized operators. This innovativenew format, which contained team leaders at each table,enabled the thoughts of all participants to be aired when theroom discussed the topics together.

All seminars and conferences would not be possiblewithout the support of all of our sponsors. We thank all thesponsors who have contributed over the past year and lookforward to working with all of our existing sponsors and newsponsors in the upcoming year. In times of financialuncertainty NSW/ACT was able to attain an extremely highlevel of sponsorship from a broad range of occupations whichis a great reflection on the state of the industry in NSW/ACT atthe moment and what the industry means to our valuedassociate member sponsors.

Communications Our communication has increased with members now being

brought up to date with all issues affecting the industry. A regular newsletter for the NSW/ACT Region has allowed

for regular information to be distributed to members withstories that are NSW/ACT specific. These newsletters haveprovided valuable information to members and will continueto give members up to date information on issues affecting theindustry.

Legislation and Government RelationsIn the ACT there has been a proposal put forward to review thecurrent legislation. Over the upcoming year we will assist theACT Government in its review of the Retirement VillagesIndustry Code of Practice (1999) with the view to enacting aRetirement Villages Act that will strengthen operations in theACT and give greater power to operators under legislation andthereby support positive ageing.

In NSW we will be increasing our relationship withgovernment.

We will hold a Village Open Day where elected local, stateand federal members are invited to member villages to meetoperators and residents. This will provide an excellentopportunity to explain the benefits of retirement villages andshowcase how important villages are to communities.


Baptist Community Services (BCS)

Baptist Community Services - NSW & ACT

BCS has 11 retirement villages spread across NSW and the ACT, all with their own unique features, yet all marked by our commitment to providing residents with a friendly, caring, safe and secure environment in which to enjoy their retirement years.

www.bcs.org.au

Call us now to speak with one of our friendly staff 1300 ASK BCS (1300 275 227)

Sydney Blue Mountains Canberra Central Coast Griffith Goulburn

Your Care | Our Passion

Atkinson Vinden have been in practice in Chatswood forover 30 years and are one of NSW leading law firms inproviding expert advice in the health and aged care area.They practice extensively in the areas of retirementvillages and nursing homes. Atkinson Vinden’sspecialist team of solicitors and conveyancers have awealth of experience, knowledge and skill in these areasincluding:

• Implementation and continuing compliance with theRetirement Villages Act and Regulations.

• Establishment of Retirement Villages including allaspects of documentation such as DisclosureStatements, Services Agreements, Condition Reports,Leases, Strata Title conditions and financedocuments.

• Regulatory advice.

• Employment law and OH & S advice.

• Due diligence for the acquisition of a Village or AgedCare Facility.

• Documentation for Nursing Homes, Hostel Care andRespite Accommodation.

• Appeals to the Land & Environment Court of NSW.

Guy Vinden, Senior Partner of Atkinson Vinden heads ateam of expert professionals and would be happy to hearfrom you in relation to any health industry issue youmay have. Please contact him on (02) 9411 4466 or [email protected] with your next enquiry. Tel (02) 4577 3200

[email protected]

Zadro Constructions has a specialised Aged Care andRetirement Living Division with experience in Aged CareFacilities, Independent Living Units, Community Centres,including Refurbishment and Maintenance. Since 2005 wehave constructed and delivered over 700 Nursing HomeBeds and completed 27 Retirement Village projects since2002. Zadro Constructions has been in the buildingconstruction industry for more than 48, we have completedin excess of 170 retirement and specialised aged careprojects. Zadro is one of the largest providers of RetirementLiving and Specialised Aged Care facilities in NSW.

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Our relationship with the Department of Planning hasstrengthened following Sam Haddad’s speech at the StateConference. We will be working together with the Departmentof Planning in relation to items including Section 94Contributions, Affordable Housing in Vertical Villages andLeasehold Titles in villages.

We will also be working with the Government to ensurethat Retirement Villages can be an integral part of meeting theaccommodation and social needs of our ageing population.

The Retirement Villages Act was passed on 4 December2008. The amendments reflected a lot of hard work achievedby the RVA in ensuring a viable industry in NSW. The RVA hasbeen promoting and will continue to promote a viable industrythroughout the negotiation process of the Regulations whenthey are released.*

Manager of the YearEvery year the decision of the judging panel to determine theNSW/ACT Manager of the Year gets harder and harder, and thisyear was no exception.

Andrea Riviere from Blue Hills Village and Durham GreenVillage was the 2009 NSW/ACT Tony Baldwin Manager of theYear. Andrea is responsible for the management of two of theTullich Family Communities villages and after 10 years in theindustry is an extremely worthy recipient of the award.Congratulations to Andrea and all of this year’s nominees. Arecord 19 applications were received in 2009 showing thestrength of RVA managers.

We wish Andrea the best of luck in the National Award and

best of luck to all of this year’s nominees and look forward toreceiving even more nominations in 2010.

NSW Regional CommitteeOur thanks go to all members on the committee for the timeand effort that they contribute to the RVA. Their input on top oftheir own busy lives in the industry is very much appreciatedand a fundamental reason why the RVA continues to grow,develop and strengthen.

NSW/ACT has faced many challenges over the past 12months and with the assistance of the committee, the RVA inNSW/ACT has strengthened its position as the peak industrybody for retirement villages.

Our NSW/ACT Regional Manager, Mark Eagleston, isgreatly appreciated by all members and is to be complimentedfor his diligence and effort in lifting the profile of the RVAthroughout NSW and the ACT. Mark’s ability to regularly liaisewith government stands the region in good stead for the future.We thank Mark and his assistant Alison Parry for theircontinued hard work throughout the year.

The NSW/ACT Regional Committee along with Mark andAlison wish you all a Merry Christmas and a safe andprosperous 2010.

Kevin RyanChairman, NSW/ACT Regional Committee

*At the time of writing the NSW Regulations were yet to bereleased.


We have over 40 years expertise in providing insuranceprotection to the Retirement Village & Aged Care Industry.We are proud of the reputation we have established with

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OUR UNIQUE SERVICES INCLUDE…• General Insurance • Workers Compensation• Life & Superannuation • Financial Planning

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION AND ENQUIRIES CONTACT:John Saunders Tel: (02) 9587 3500 Email: [email protected]

Web: www.warrensaunders.com.au

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2008/2009 has been a year of growth and establishing apresence in the QLD Region with August 2008 seeing theestablishment of the QLD office in Brisbane.

In March 2009 our new QLD Regional Manager GenellKokokiris joined the RVA to lead the QLD Region. Genell’sbackground has been predominantly in commercial businesswith 11 years at IBM in Solution Sales, MarketingCommunications and Operations.

Following in this report is an outline of the achievementsand successes the RVA QLD office has had in the last financialyear.

MembershipRVA QLD membership has been strong in its first year since theintroduction of the new RVA QLD office. The table below givesyou a view of the growth over the last year. Overall the RVAhas had a healthy increase in membership of 12%.

Village AccreditationAccreditation in QLD for villages has previously been done

through another body. However, since the inception of theQLD RVA office this process is now being handled for RVAmembers by the QLD office as part of the RVA’s NationalAccreditation Scheme. In the last financial year two villageswere accredited in QLD from a total of 16 accredited villages.

This also represents 34.5% of QLD (RVA) villages beingaccredited, demonstrating the retirement industry’scommitment to accreditation and self regulation.

Resident ReferralsThe QLD office has received a steady flow of phone calls andrequests for information on listings of retirement villages inQLD. Approximately 350 packs have been sent to prospectiveresidents looking at a range of different Retirement Villageoptions in QLD. These packs consist of QLD Village Memberlists including relevant contact details as well as a bookletentitled ‘Your Questions Answered’ on everything you need toknow about investing in a Retirement Village.

This area of our business provides the retiree market with aservice on any questions they may have where appropriate andprovides leads to our members of potential new residents.

RVA QLD has also established a good working relationshipwith the Residents Association in QLD – ‘ARQRV’. Throughestablishing this relationship RVA has included representativesof the Residents Association in our Regional conference. TheRVA also assists in other ways to support the work they do onbehalf of all QLD residents.

We also have been actively involved with communitygroups like the Probus Group as a guest speaker at theirmeetings.

Government RelationshipsThe RVA QLD committee has built good relationships with keygovernment players. This includes the following:• Office of Fair Trading• The Minister for Fair Trading, The Hon. Peter Lawlor, MP• Deputy Brisbane City Council Mayor – Cr. Graham QuirkWe have also been actively involved, having a representativeon the Brisbane City Council’s Taskforce into Retirement andAged Care.

Professional Development ActivitiesIn 2009 we rolled out a series of successful professionaldevelopment forums which has provided valuable informationand a great vehicle for QLD members and non members tonetwork across a range of issues surrounding the industry.These are as follows:

Member category Membership as at30 June 2008

Membership as at30 June 2009 Increase %

Village 1 46 +97%

Associate 0 11 +100%

Industry 0 1 +100%

TOTAL 1 58 +98%

QLD Regional Report

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• December 2008 – Members Christmas Party, sponsored byKPMG

• 11 March 2009 – National MacroPlan Forum, RetirementVillages…The New Investment Frontier. This was RVAQLD’s first forum and attracted 55 delegates with 60%being non-members.

• 30 July 2009 – RVA QLD Inaugural Regional Conference.This was QLD’s first Regional Conference which was agreat success and in many ways put the RVA QLD office onthe map as the leading voice in Retirement in the QLDmarket. We had 115 delegates with 13 sponsors. Theprogram was a very full day of a range of speakers with thetheme of the conference being, Retirement Villages in the2009 Economy – Crisis or Opportunity? The conferencealso incorporated the Manager of the Year Award with the2009 QLD Winner being – Peter Snell of Aveo, LindsayGardens.

• 8 September 2009 – RVA Networking Breakfast proudlysponsored by CB Richard Ellis. Capitalising on a rebound inthe retirement market. This event was a breakfast seminarwith an interactive panel sponsored by CB Richard Elliswith discussions around options and property opportunitiesin the Retirement Market, followed by banking anddevelopment perspectives. We had 65 delegates attend thisseminar.

• 10-11 September 2009 – Bloomers Sales Training – ‘SellingRetirement Living’. The RVA QLD office began the Nationalsales training program delivered by Bloomers which is aretirement living sales course directed at village sales staff.

This sales seminar was an interactive and intensive salesclass over two days with a total of 12 delegates.

The Future RVA QLD has established itself as a strong body in theRetirement market in the past 6 months.

We believe the QLD region has enormous potential tobecome the retirement destination of Australia and lookforward to working on behalf of its members to be thecollective voice and leading body for the Retirement Villageindustry.

I would also like to take this opportunity to thank the QLDRegional Committee for their time and support in the last 12months. The QLD Committee members are as follows:• Andrew Macintosh, Aveo • Javan Hollister, Keperra Sanctuary• Russ Dunstan, Living Choice Kawana Island• Marco De Pasquale, Oak Tree Projects• Michael Winter, Allora Gardens• Justin Harrison, Villages at Yeronga• Kaye Smyth, Live Life Villages• Robin Lyons, Minter Ellison• David Netherton, Minter Ellison

In addition I would also like to give my sincere thanks onbehalf of the RVA QLD team to RVA’s National Partners for alltheir support and I look forward to continuing our workingrelationship.

Michael FallonChairman, RVA QLD Committee

QLD Regional Report

Grande Pacific Retirement Resort, the first high rise retirement resort in Australia, is a five-star facility where all your

needs are met, we proudly provide a standard of retirement that stands alone in style, elegance, service and lifestyle.

Grande Pacific believes the focus of retirement is lifestyle and with the magnificent views of the parklands, the

Broadwater and the Pacific Ocean we meet our mission ‘A Lifestyle of Excellence’ with ease.

You are invited to visit our website, to contact us for further information or to call in and see this amazing concept of

retirement for yourself.

• www.grandepacific.com.au • [email protected] • Free call: 1800 450 433 • Tel: 5591 2111 • Fax: 5591 2199 •

70 Marine Parade, Southport, Gold Coast QLD 4215

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Regional Office SA/NTIn the past 12 months we have seen the strong commitment ofour Regional Committee Members and we thank them for theircontinuing involvement and support of the industry.

The Committee meets on a monthly basis with membersparticipating in various national portfolios which identify, planand aid the progress of strategies devised within the RVAgrowth and development focus, both on a regional andnational level.

We believe the presence of a full-time person as statemanager has provided a definite benefit to our Members aswell as allowing the RVA to develop stronger and highlyprofessional Development and Training sessions. Sandra Carlehas done a sterling job in her first year in this role, and we lookforward to an enhanced member services relationship in thecoming year. It’s pleasing to record that we have also achievedour aim of providing a broader representation, support andinformation base to our existing members.

The SA/NT region welcomes and encourages involvementof its valued members with their committee and attendance atmembers meetings to ensure that their voices are contributingto developing strategies and encouraging growth anddevelopment in our industry.

We are a young and vibrant industry and we need to meldthe knowledge and expertise of our ‘legends’ with theinnovative and lateral thinking of our newer members. This

blend will take us into the future. Let’s make sure we are at theforefront moving forward.

The stronger our numbers, the louder our voices, the morewe will be heard!

MembershipThe provision of increased benefits and services has addedvalue to RVA Membership and with that focus we have beenrewarded with a steady increase in our members.

We will continue to grow and develop the servicesprovided by the RVA and there are exciting developments inthe pipeline, some are already underway and some will roll outin the near future.

Now is the time to become a member of your peak industrybody!

Professional Development, Presentations & RegionalConferenceOctober ’08 – ‘Are You Fire Safe?’ & ‘Risk Management/CoverLimitations’ were the session topics presented by theCommunity Education section of South Australian MetropolitanFire Service and JLT-VillageWISE. This PD Forum was held atKalyra Heights Village and we thank them for their hospitality.

February ‘09 – ‘The Art of Selling Retirement Living’, anintroductory presentation by Bloomers to their salesprogramme was held for industry colleagues. Attendees, 35 inall, came from 19 organisations to learn more about this

SA/NT Regional Report

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integral subject during this economic period. April ‘09 – ‘Maximising Sales Interest through Financial

Strategies’ presented by McInerney Barratt Financial Solutions.This topic provided insights on the effect of moving into aretirement village and the impact of Centrelink / DVA asset andincome assessment, investing excess monies and what is themost financially efficient upfront payment to make for now andin the future. An opportunity for our members to learn moreabout the financial implications for potential residents and toreinforce the benefits of gaining financial advice on the ‘beststage of their lives’.

July ’09 – ‘Myth Busting the Act’ plus ‘Our SalesResponsibilities’ & ‘The DMF and how do we sell it’. Theseinteractive sessions were presented by Jodie Prosser ofOptimum Retirement Services and Julia Sweeney of FisherJeffries with practical activity and discussion topics thatbroadened all attendees’ knowledge. This session was very wellreceived with our largest contingent of attendees bothmembers and non-members. A real example of “value-addedness” for our industry.

The Retirement Villages Mini Expo 2009 was held onTuesday 12th May and attended by 140 potential residentsspread over 2 sessions. Organised by the Seniors InformationService the RVA was asked to be involved to speak on thevalue and benefits of retirement living. The Expo was asuccessful event for all concerned and we thank SIS for theopportunity to be involved. Discussion on the next Expo hascommenced.

The 8th Annual RVA & ACS SA/NT Conference held in Mayfocused on ‘Sustainability and Viability in Retirement Living’was very successful with 102 delegates in attendance. TheKeynote Speaker was John Brodie – Founder and Principal ofVIM Sustainability who presented on the built environment’simpact of climate change and on future costs of electricity andthe factors contributing to this increase. The panel discussionsgenerated more ideas on how practical implementation canoccur in the reduction of our carbon footprint. One of our RVA‘legends’, Jim Hazel, was a facilitator and we thank him for hisparticipation on the day and all other speakers and presenterswho contributed to a very successful conference.

Planning is underway for next year’s event on May 21st2010. ‘Managing Today from Tomorrow’ is the programme titlefor our 9th joint conference.

Professional Development & Training Seminars continue tobe a high priority of the RVA and we endeavour to providesubjects and topics that will educate and broaden knowledge

for our members and industry colleagues. In addition, theyprovide a great platform for the sharing of ideas andknowledge and we will develop them further in conjunctionwith the national Professional Development calendar.

Members having Expos or Open Days are encouraged toconsider inviting our Regional Manager along to their event.We will welcome the opportunity to provide service and valuewhenever and wherever we can.

SA/NT Manager of the YearChris Quinn of Programmed Property Services, the AwardSponsors, presented the winner of the SA/NT Manager of theYear (MOTY) Award, Gareth Norman of Salford Living, with histrophy at the Awards Presentation Night held on 30th July2009. We congratulate him on his success. As usual, it was achallenging task for the judging panel as all participants are


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worthy winners in their own right and nomination isacknowledgement of the esteem in which they are held bytheir residents and management alike.

Also present was Ray Wood of The Senior, the MediaSponsor for the MOTY Award.

We thank our sponsors for their ongoing support of theManager of the Year Awards and encourage you to considernominating your village managers in next year’s event.

Industry Relationships and Annual SponsorshipsThe SA/NT office is proud of its relationships with the followingbodies and we continue to liaise together to ensure effectiveand mutually beneficial outcomes.• South Australian Retirement Village Residents Association

(SARVRA)• Seniors Information Service (SIS)• Council on the Ageing (COTA)• Office for The Ageing (OFTA)• Retirement Village Advisory Committee (RVAC)• Aged and Community Services SA/NT (ACS)

SARVRA President, Joan Stone, has demonstratedleadership and professionalism in this role and brought afurther dimension to the table with a resident view. Joan is alsoa long-standing member of the National AccreditationCommittee, and the RVA thanks her for her ongoingcommitment to the Australian Retirement Village AccreditationScheme (ARVA).

The RVA increased its commitment and sponsorship of theSeniors Information Service in the 2009/10 financial year,specifically in the new format SIS Retirement HousingDirectory. A valuable partnership for all Members and potentialresidents in retirement living.

The RVA maintains its involvement in COTA’s EveryGeneration Festival and supports the recognition of the seniorpopulation.

Our working relationships with OFTA, RVAC & ACS are ofcommunication, education, respect and mutual support.

We continually assess and develop our relationships andannually review our sponsorships. We also look for otheropportunities where there may be partnerships that aremutually beneficial.

Professional Advice and AssistanceOn behalf of the SA/NT RVA office we acknowledge andsincerely thank our sponsors, partners and members for theirsupport and participation, professional advice and assistanceduring the year. We look forward to continuing this year’ssuccess into the future.

Dennis ChamberlainChairperson, SA/NT Regional Committee 2009


www.pkf.com.au

Adelaide David SpurrittBrisbane Margaux Beauchamp Hobart Daniel RandsMelbourne Altan DjenabPerth Chris NicoloffSydney Julie HoughPhone 1300 753 222

New developments in retirement living?

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SPECIALISTS IN RETIREMENT MARKETING

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RVA Yearbook 2009

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2008/09 has been a year of strong growth for the Victoria andTasmania region. The year’s results are even more impressiveconsidering the impact of the Global Financial Crisis andprovide a strong foundation for the region to continue to growinto the future.

The RVA responds to many enquiries from RVA membersand the general public on a whole range of issues. This reporthighlights just some of the many achievements through theyear.

Over six hundred information packs were sent toprospective residents during the year. The packs include ‘YourQuestions Answered’ and accreditation information, aConsumer Affairs Victoria booklet and letter from the RegionalManager.

The purpose of these packs is to:1. provide relevant information to assist consumers to

understand the benefits of Retirement Village living 2. give prospects confidence that they are dealing with a

professional and credible industry3. promote the industry’s commitment to operational

excellence through the accreditation program4. provide contact details of member villages to facilitate their

further enquiries5. provide links to relevant government and non-government

organisations

Victoria/Tasmania Manager of the Year The RVA is committed to the continuous performanceimprovement, training and development of village managers—the custodians of the critical interface between our businessand our customers.

The Village Manager of the Year (MOTY) Award recogniseshigh achieving managers who exemplify the increasingstandards of our industry operations. MOTY is a highly covetedaward and very competitive. The winner of the VictoriaTasmania Manager of the year for 2008 was Penny Lloyd of TheVillage Williamstown. Congratulations Penny!

MembershipRVA Membership has seen strong growth across all categoriesin the region, which is a positive indicator of the value that theRVA contributes to industry stakeholders.

Village AccreditationIn the 2008/09 financial year there were 21 villages newly

Membercategory

Membership30 June 2008

Membership 30 June 2009 Change %

Village 133 145 12 +8%

Associate 25 32 7 +21%

Industry 4 7 3 +42%

TOTAL 162 184 22 +12%

VIC/TAS Regional Report

Pianos and Pianola’s directfrom the importer

109 York Street South Melbourne 3205Tel: 1800 282978 or (03) 9690 3444

www.pianotime.com.au E [email protected]

Based in Shepparton Victoria

Specializing in Villages in country Victoria & N.S.W

Design & Project Administration available

Over 20 years experience in the industry

100c WYNDHAM STREET, SHEPPARTON, VICTORIA 3630PH (03) 5822 1255 FAX (03) 5831 2153 www.brucemactier.com.au

RETIREMENT VILLAGEDESIGNERS

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RVA Yearbook 2009

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accredited in VIC/TAS resulting in atotal of 62 accredited villages in theregion. This represents a 30%increase in accreditation on 2007/08financial year.

This also represents 43.5% ofVIC/TAS member villages now beingaccredited, demonstrating theretirement industry’s commitment toaccreditation and self regulation.

Legislation and Regulation

Stamp duty – impose duty onVictorian leasesThe RVA became aware of a new Billbeing introduced into the VictorianParliament on the 4th December2008 to amend the Duties Act 2000.The Bill was designed to closecertain loopholes pertaining to long term leases at the “top endof town”.

Although the Bill was not created with the intention ofchanging retirement village stamp duty on loan/leases, theresults would have been significant increases in stamp dutypayable by the residents of Retirement Village units.

The RVA, in consultation with Russell Kennedy Solicitors,made urgent contact with the offices of the Treasurer, Ministerfor Finance and Consumer Affairs Victoria that resulted in adetailed submission representing the industry’s concerns.Continued meeting and lobbying occurred requesting thatretirement villages be exempt from the provisions within theBill.

On 19 February 2009, the Brumby Government made thedecision that long term leases that applied to retirementvillages did not represent the type of transaction that should becaught as part of the leasing provisions of the Act amendmentand a media statement to this effect was released.

The Retirement villages will now have their tax exemptstatus guaranteed through a specific clause to be inserted intothe Act. The change will protect Victorian seniors from payingthousands of dollars in stamp duty.

The legislation, if it had not been amended, would haveseverely limited choices for older Victorians seeking thesecurity and support of Retirement Village accommodation.The RVA worked tirelessly to achieve this result and it has beena great reward for these efforts, not only for the RVA and its

members but especially for Victorian seniors.

Amendments to the Retirement Villages Act – CPI cap foradjusting the amount of the annual maintenance charge paidby Retirement Village residentsThe RVA presented a submission to Consumer Affairs Victoria(CAV) in June 2008 regarding a review of the regulationssupporting the Retirement Villages Act.

The RVA was included in the consultation process and wasinvited with other stakeholders by Consumer Affairs to makecomment on the Regulatory Impact Statement (RIS) in January2009.

The RVA has been continually working with CAV over theyear and has provided further detailed information to assistCAV’s external Consultant. The Regulatory Impact Statement(RIS) was released by CAV 24 December 2008.

Consumer Affairs have now released the final form of theNew Regulations, and although they did not adopt all of theamendments requested by the RVA, the process of engagingwith Consumer Affairs on this project has continued tostrengthen our lines of communication and our workingrelationship.

Town planningA working party was developed in 2008/09 to open dialogueand lobby planners in both state and local government inVictoria. The aim of the working group will be to adequatelyplan for Victoria’s ageing population, ensuring appropriate and


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well located sites are made available for Retirement Villageliving.

Municipal Rates on Retirement Village Units The RVA is advocating on the legislative issues for thereduction on Council rates payable by residents in retirementvillages.

The RVA holds the view that units within a RetirementVillage should be charged less than single block propertiesbecause of the range of infrastructure and health typecommunity services that are not drawn upon as with singleblock properties.

In addition, rates have been increasing at a greater rate thanthat of the aged pension which means that the maximumpensioner concession (currently capped at $168) is far belowthe 50% rebate which was the original intention of theconcession.

The RVA created a working party in 2008/2009 that hasbeen working solidly over the year to compile all relevantinformation on the issue and will soon have a draft issuespaper completed that will be presented to the Victoria andTasmania Regional Committee.

The Working Party has also met with CAV and the Ministerfor Consumer Affairs (the Hon Tony Robinson) on thisimportant issue.

The RVA is also working on issues such as local councilsbeing stripped of their valuation duties and the stategovernment taking over land valuations. This change is likely tohave significant ramifications to retirement villages and howunits are valued.

The RVA has also worked closely with villages that arelobbying their local councils to ensure a collective voice isheard. This, in conjunction with the draft issues paper, will leadinto the development of a clear strategic direction for localgovernment rates that will benefit both village operators andvillage residents while being acceptable to state and localgovernment.

WorkcoverThe RVA have prepared a discussion paper on worksafe injuryinsurance classification and premiums as there is not adedicated category for Retirement Village Managers for thepurpose of determining work cover premiums. The RVA willlobby the Victorian WorkCover Authority for a review.

Industry PromotionTo support members, the RVA continues to promote Retirement

Village living in specialist publications in Victoria andTasmania such as the Retirement Living Magazine, with over15,000 print copies distributed across Australia and The SeniorNewspaper with 95,878 copies (CAB audited figure)distributed to over 2000 outlets in Victoria.

Melbourne Retirement & Lifestyle ExpoThe 5th Melbourne Retirement & Lifestyle Expo was held atCaulfield Racecourse in September 2008. The RVA’s stand wassupported by 4 sponsors and brochures were distributed topromote members to over 15,000 potential residents.

Retirement Village Open DayThe RVA also promoted Retirement Village Open Day atMelbourne Retirement & Lifestyle Expo by distributing abrochure listing participating villages to over 15,000 potentialresidents.

The public had the opportunity to visit and find out moreabout Retirement Village living when over 70 retirementvillages opened their doors for a weekend in October 2008over Seniors Week.

A half page advertisement, listing all villages, with aphotograph and an editorial was published in The Senior.

Liaison with other organisationsThe RVA engages with, and supports, related industryassociations and continues to encourage dialogue to ensureeffective and mutually beneficial outcomes. The organisationsinclude: • Residents of Retirement Villages of Victoria• Council on the Ageing• Consumer Affairs Victoria• Aged & Community Care Victoria• Housing for the Aged Action Group Inc.

Professional Development – Forums and SeminarsA successful range of forums and information seminars wereheld during the year and provided invaluable information tovillage managers and staff, as follows:• Essential service preventative maintenance and evacuation

procedures in Retirement Villages, presented by Trevor Cassand Leigh Fraser both of Riley Shelley and Cheryl Hamblyof NBRC respectively September 2008

• Complaints Management, presented by Steve Aivaliotis, inDecember 2008Other seminars included:

• How to prepare for accreditation courses• How to manage effective workplace relationships


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• How safe is your workplace• Insurance for retirement villages• Retirement Villages – The New Investment Frontier• Continuous Improvement in Retirement Villages

Annual Regional ConferenceThe Annual Regional Conference was held 31 July 2008 at theHemisphere Conference Centre and the theme was ‘Leadingthe Way’. The program offered a strong line up of speakersbeing experts in their field providing invaluable information onduty of care responsibilities, legislative requirements,workplace safety, employment and discrimination issues andcomplaints management.

Professional advice and assistanceThe RVA acknowledges and thanks the many sponsors,partners, volunteers and contributors to the continuing growthand success of the industry.

In particular, the RVA thanks Herbert Geer, Russell Kennedyand VillageWISE for their continued advice and assistanceduring the year.

Stuart NicolsonChairman, VIC/TAS Regional Committee

David BruceVIC/TAS Regional Manager

To obtain further information and advice please contact:

Accredited Property Law Specialist

Lorna Gelbert Partner

T: +61 3 9242 4763

E: [email protected]

MadgwicksLevel 33, 140 William Street, MELBOURNE

www.madgwicks.com.au

Madgwicks has an excellent reputation for assisting clients

in the acquisition, sale, development and management of

retirement villages and aged care facilities.

Madgwicks can offer legal advice to RVA members in areas

including:

Negotiating and drafting contracts for sale and purchase

of retirement village and aged care facilities, due

diligence, management services agreements, leases,

construction agreements, profit share agreements,

marketing agreements, novation deeds, option

agreements and resident agreements;

Retirement village and aged care legislation;

Structuring for joint ventures and syndications;

Complex stamp duty, GST and other property tax

matters; and

General property work including subdivisions, easements,

planning and environment issues;

Innovation in Retirement Living

Arcadia Group designs and builds luxury retirement communities. Modelled on their award-winningArcadia Waters resort-styled community in Perth, the group is currently building two new resortcommunities in Geraldton and Port Denison in Western Australia and is involved in other majorresidential retirement developments in Malaysia.

For further information on Arcadia Group, contact their head office in Perth on (08) 9218 8388 or visittheir website at www.arcadiawaters.com.au.

Perth Geraldton Port Denison Malaysia

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RVA Yearbook 2009

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Legislative review and education were the focus for the WARVA Region during 2009.

GOVERNANCE

Review of the Retirement Villages Act in WAIn a major undertaking, the members of regional committeeresponded to a paper released by the Department of Consumerand Employment Protection (DOCEP) containing the findingsof a comprehensive review of the Retirement Villages Act inWA. The paper was released following numerous publicforums which were all attended by volunteers of the regionalRVA. Our response numbered some 80 pages. DOCEP havenow issued a Draft Report of recommendations (82 in total)and the regional committee are in the final stages of submittingour response. I would like to thank the committee – inparticular Everard Yeo, Stephen Kenney and Adrian Pagett fortheir ongoing dedication in this important and technicallyprecise undertaking.

PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT ANDREGIONAL CONFERENCE

Education – AIM DiplomaAs part of our continuous improvement policy the regionalRVA partnered with the Australian Institute of Management inWA to develop and deliver a Diploma in Business (VillageManagement) course which commenced in January of 2007.Graduation took place in December 2008 and feedback fromVillage Managers attending was very positive. The regionalProfessional Development subcommittee chaired by AlisonRogers is currently reviewing the course and will be submittingany improvements or recommendations required for regionalcommittees’ consideration prior to launching the next course.

WA RVA ConferenceSome 120 delegates attended a very informative regionalconference early August at the beautiful Vines Resort in theSwan Valley. More than 100 delegates attended the Grand Ballthat evening and I am pleased to report the overwhelmingmajority of feedback simply praised the event organisers forrunning a wonderful event. Thanks must go to Roger Kwok andLinda Smith for their efforts which were ably supported by staffand volunteers.

Managers’ Networking ForumsManagers’ Networking Forums continue to be well attended inPerth. Networking Forums in Mandurah and Regional areas in

WA have also commenced. Topics covered in Forums andWorkshops throughout the year have included Transition intoFormal Care, 1st 24 hours - WA Coroner’s Office and Dealingwith Challenging People. Thanks to Ali White for her workchairing this very important portfolio.

COMMUNICATIONS & MEMBERS RELATIONS

Best of the WestOne of our region’s major communications initiatives will takeplace at the end of October when a 24 page stitched andtrimmed full colour magazine will be inserted into the WestAustralian paper and delivered to some 600,000 readers(301,000 over the age of 50). Designed as a reference guide tothe market, the magazine will provide information about therole of the RVA, its member villages as well as ageing andindustry trends and will have a particular focus on theassociation’s accreditation scheme. We will provideprofessional editorial style copy ensuring longevity. This lift-outprovides an outstanding opportunity for RVA Members,accredited members and associate members to reach theirtarget market. I am pleased that the minimum revenue requiredto produce this magazine has been comfortably surpassed andoffer thanks to members for their confidence in supporting thisimportant undertaking and in particular my fellow colleaguesPhil Simich and Linda Smith for their professional assistance.

West Australian Retirement PagesOur key industry partnership with the West Australiancontinues and we thank them for providing the RVA with spaceinside their Retirement Living lift-out to promote members andservices. This is a wonderful vehicle for promoting the brand ofthe RVA and moreover village members who are able to submitcopy for inclusion. Committee will be reviewing page contentwith a view of ensuring it remains contemporary and useful toall readers.

Newsletter – The Regional Manager has commenced aweekly newsletter to all members informing them of all topical

WA Regional Report

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RVA Yearbook 2009

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matters and upcoming events. Given the support for ourmonthly forums it does appear this initiative is welcomed byour members and complements the newsletters we receivefrom national.

Face to face meetings – Our regional manager Linda Smithhas implemented a pro-active meeting schedule between herselfand members, associate members and potential members todiscuss initiatives and services that may be of benefit.

RVA Christmas Function – The annual RVA ChristmasCocktail functions are well supported and provide animportant opportunity for members to network with othermembers including committee.

STANDARDS & ACCREDITATIONTwo Accreditation Surveyors Courses were conducted duringMay and October 2009 which were well attended byinterested parties wishing to become involved with theAccreditation Scheme albeit from ‘the other side of the fence’.

How to prepare for accreditation courses were alsoconducted in May and October 2009. The importance of thesecourses is demonstrated by the fact the Associations StandardsManager, Gary Metcalf, now runs these with excellentfeedback received.

Accreditation14 villages were awarded with their Accreditation Certificatesduring the financial year ending June 30 2009. Currently, justover 34% of member villages in this state are Accredited.

Accreditation WorkshopsI would like to acknowledge the work performed by committee

member Noreen Byrne who heads up our Standardssubcommittee. Noreen runs workshops throughout the year toprovide practical assistance to those seeking accreditation forthe first time or even members renewing their accreditation.Noreen also assists the Association on the national Standardscommittee and is an integral reason why the AccreditationScheme is so robust and well regarded.

MembershipThe WA region welcomed two new villages and five newsssociate members during the past five months and we lookforward to the business development initiatives introduced byour CEO Andrew Giles delivering an ever wider stream of newapplicants in the coming years.

WA RVA StaffOur Regional Manager Linda Smith has completed five monthsof service at time of writing and is actively promoting theservices and benefits of membership to industry. AssistingLinda is Michaela Purwien who assists in the office on aMonday and Thursday and has become a popular member ofthe team.

Regional Committee – The Regional Committee undertakessignificant voluntary work on behalf of all members and Ithank them for the professional way in which they conduct notonly themselves but the manner in which they represent theAssociation.

Angus Kukura WA Regional Chairperson

WA Regional Report

NEED HELP AT YOUR VILLAGE?Gerald Major Property Group is ready to assist you with every aspect of village management.

Call Gerald or Jen today on 08 9481 3244

www.gmpropertygroup.com.au Members: RVA, REIWA, API, AIUS

VILLAGE ESTATES MANAGEMENT

• Retirement Village Management

MAJOR VALUATIONS

• Valuation and Consultancy

GEN PLUS REAL ESTATE

• Sales and Consultancy

75

RVA Yearbook 2009

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Sanctuary Energy

ENERGY RETAILER WITHA GREEN FOCUSSanctuary Energy is an EnergyRetailer, and is the result ofproperty developers who weresearching for a better deal fromthe Government OwnedRetailers. Sanctuary Energy iscurrently operating in NewSouth Wales, Queensland, theAustralian Capital Territory andSouth Australia.

Our VisionUnderstanding that climatechange is something that we areall responsible for, and we mustcontribute to the solution.

Our retail focus is currentlyon residential propertydevelopments and commercialpremises that are themselves acommunity – these includeretirement villages andshopping centres. By takingadvantage of generousgovernment renewableincentives such as the SolarBonus Schemes, participants intheir community can effectivelygo green for no extra cost thanwhat they are paying now, and in most cases it will actually beat a discounted cost.

Our HistoryTo date Sanctuary Energy has been able to offer great discountsand a variety of energy saving initiatives which benefiteverybody. In addition, Sanctuary Energy is anenvironmentally conscious company with a great focus on ourcarbon footprint, and those of our customers. Through ourstrategic alliances with companies who are forward thinkingand technologically savvy, we in turn are able to pass thebenefit of our research and industry expertise to our clients.

Sanctuary Energy and our joint venture partner DCMSanctuary are currently in the process of installing in excess of9,000 solar panels.

Our Products and OffersIn order to provide the resident’s energy from green sources,we install solar cells which will provide up to 1.5KW of energyfrom the sun.

The solar cells are installed at no cost to the resident or tothe retirement village.

Our current offering, known as the Community ClimateChange plan, is offered to all states and includes the following:1. 10% discount off your current state regulated tariff.2. Renewable energy at no extra cost.3. 50% share of the revenue derived from the Solar Bonus

Scheme.

What does this mean in dollars and cents to the resident whois a conservative consumer?A conservative resident typically only uses at most 4,000 kWh

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of electricity every year, i.e. approximately 1,000 kWh everyquarter.

Figure 1: 1.5kW Solar Generation Profile compared to a residents ConsumptionProfile who uses 4,000 kWh of electricity per year.

Customer Results

Notes1. The cost of electricity has been calculated using Energy Australia regulated

retail rates. Refer:http://energy.com.au/energy/ea.nsf/Content/NSW+TOU+Res+Rates

2. The daily service charge is the fee currently charged to every resident in NSWfor billing and metering, this is a government regulated fee, to avoid confusionthe 10% discount does not apply to this fee.

3. Majority of electricity retailers provide some form of discount for being acustomer, this is in most cases 5%. The Sanctuary Energy climate change plandiscount is 10%.

4. Sanctuary Energy shares the 60c per kilowatt hour (kWh) paid for surpluselectricity sold back to the electricity grid with the resident equally.Refer: http://www.dwe.nsw.gov.au/energy/sustain_renew_fit.shtml

What does this mean in dollars and cents to the resident whois a heavy consumer?A heavy consumer typically only uses at most 8,000 kWh ofelectricity every year, i.e. approximately 2,000 kWh everyquarter.

Figure 2: 1.5kW Solar Generation Profile compared to a residents ConsumptionProfile who uses 8,000 kWh of electricity per year.

Notes1. The cost of electricity has been calculated using Energy Australia regulated

retail rates. Refer: http://energy.com.au/energy/ea.nsf/Content/NSW+TOU+Res+Rates

2. The daily service charge is the fee currently charged to every resident in NSWfor billing and metering, this is a government regulated fee, to avoid confusionthe 10% discount does not apply to this fee.

3. Majority of electricity retailers provide some form of discount for being acustomer, this is in most cases 5%. The Sanctuary Energy climate change plandiscount is 10%.

4. Sanctuary Energy shares the 60c per kilowatt hour (kWh) paid for surpluselectricity sold back to the electricity grid with the resident equally. Refer: http://www.dwe.nsw.gov.au/energy/sustain_renew_fit.shtml

OTHER GREEN INITIATIVESSanctuary Energy would also like to tell you about some of ourother initiatives that further enhance our green credentials.These include free solar hot water and our large scaleinitiatives that we are leading in your community.

Free Solar Hot WaterSanctuary Energy, as part of their commitment to climatechange, are offering eligible residents in New South Wales afree solar hot water system so that residents can still obtain

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Summary of Results

Customer Perspective using 8,000 kWh

No Solar Panel With a Solar Panel

Electricity1 $1,426.32 $1,426.32

Daily Service Charge2 $168.63 $168.63

Sub Total $1,594.95 $1,594.95

Discount 5%/10%3 -$79.95 -$159.50

Feed In Tariff (50/50)4 – $137.55

Total Electricity Bill $,297.91 $375.88

Summary of Results

Customer Perspective using 4,000 kWh

No Solar Panel With a Solar Panel

Electricity1 $713.16 $713.16

Daily Service Charge2 $168.63 $168.63

Sub Total $881.79 $881.79

Discount 5%/10%3 -$44.09 -$88.18

Solar Bonus Scheme (50/50)4 – -$417.74

Total Electricity Bill $837.70 $375.88

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Sanctuary Energy

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huge benefits from installing solar at zero cost.Sanctuary Energy are to provide a free spilt level solar hot

water system to the eligible retirement village residents.The terms and conditions would simply include:

1. The solar hot-water system must be replacing an existingelectric hot water system;

2. Sanctuary Energy would install a split level solar hot watersystem;

3. The Federal and State Government would pay $2,400 tothe customer;

4. The $2,400 is paid from the resident to Sanctuary Energy;and the customer would save approximately $300 per yearon energy costs.

Large Scale InitiativesMany of the sustainable and renewable initiatives we provideare very visible to you as they are changes to your dwelling orimmediately surrounding environment. What you may notknow is that we are extremely active in changing the way inwhich we rely on high carbon emitting forms of powergeneration and transmission.

While solar technology installed on your roof contributes toreducing our reliance on transmission infrastructure and fossilbased fuels, it is costly to implement in large scale and is notefficient when compared to other forms of renewablegeneration. Large Scale Solar Thermal technology allows us toconcentrate the power of the sun by many multiples. Thisenergy can be used to heat water and other chemicals toproduce steam to drive large and more efficient turbines; much

in the same way a coal steam turbine plant works. The result ispotentially hundreds of megawatts of clean power for a muchlower cost per unit of energy.

THE IMPACT OF THE EMISSIONS TRADINGSCHEME (ETS) ON EVERYONEThe Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme introduced by the RuddGovernment will set an overall environmental cap on pollutionby issuing a set number of permits, and allow entities to tradethose permits, hence putting a price on carbon. This price that isplaced on carbon will be passed on to the end consumer whichwill effectively increase the cost of electricity for those who havetaken no measures to reduce their carbon emissions.

OUR MESSAGEOn a whole, we deliver significant energy savings and the offerof renewable energy to residents of retirement villages acrossAustralia. We are also pleased to say that the messageSanctuary Energy is delivering: “that we can work together, andat the same time be environmentally conscious,” is catchingon.

We look forward to working together with our clients toprovide a renewable source of electricity and great discountslong into the future.

Sanctuary Energy

Example of Solar Panels fitted to residential premises. Large Scale Solar Technology

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Launched in 2003 by the Green Building Council of Australia,the Green Star program is a voluntary environmental ratingsystem for buildings in Australia. The program has produced asuite of tools for various types of buildings, includingcommercial offices.

The tools rate a building in relation to its management, thehealth and wellbeing of its occupants, accessibility to publictransport, water use, energy consumption, the embodiedenergy of its materials, land use and pollution.

In April/May 2008 edition, Stephanie White, MasterBuilders Workplace Health & Safety/Environment Advisor,reported that under the Green Star rating system projects areevaluated against eight environmental categories, with the

addition of innovation. Within each category, points areawarded for initiatives that demonstrate that a project has metthe overall objectives of Green Star and the specific criteria ofthe relevant rating tool credits. Points are then weighted and anoverall score is calculated, determining the project’s Green Starrating.

Partner of Holding Redlich Lawyers, Scott Lambert has 20years experience in the construction and development industryand is the only law firm partner in Queensland who is anaccredited Green Star professional.

Scott has put together a suggested checklist of some keyissues to think about before embarking on a green ratingproject.

Going GreenScott Lambert, Holding Redlich Lawyers, suggests some key points toconsider before embarking on a green rating project.

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CHECKLIST TO ACHIEVE YOUR STARSThe concept of ‘going green’ is often a lot easier than a greenreality. When setting out to achieve a Green Star or NABERSrating for a building, you need to carefully think through thetype of green rating to be obtained, what roles each party is toplay and what are the consequences if the rating is notobtained.

Here is a suggested checklist of some key issues to considerwhen becoming involved in a green rating project.

Project registration• Who is to register the project?• Has a certification agreement (Green Star) or commitment

to agreement (NABERS) been entered into?• Are the obligations under the certification agreement or

commitment agreement understood?• What trade mark rules apply (if any)? [This is important for

marketing the project.]

Rating and rating tools• What type of rating is to be obtained? For Green Star – is

the rating for design or as built? For NABERS – is it a wholebuilding, base building or tenancy rating?

• What version of the rating tool applies? This may dependon when the certification agreement or commitmentagreement was entered.

• If the building is owned or leased by a government entity,have any applicable government minimum greenrequirements been considered?

Project cost issues• Has the extra cost of an ESD consultant been factored into

the price?• Have ongoing green meetings, data and document

collection and submissions been adequately allowed for?• Who is preparing the simulation model?

Contractual documentation• Has the green rating been adequately defined?• Who is to control the accreditation/certification process?• Who is to retain the relevant green consultant with the

appropriate experience?• Does the contract provide specific design criteria that

cannot be altered by the parties?• Do the subcontracts and consultancy agreements

back-to-back the obligations in the contract?• For a NABERS Energy Rating, how is the ongoing

monitoring and data collection process to be managed?This monitoring period may extend to a significant timeafter PC.

• How is the tenant’s fit out and use to be managed to avoidany adverse impact on the ability to achieve theappropriate NABERS Energy Rating? Is there a tenant’s fitout guide specifying ‘green design criteria’?

• Does the agreement for lease and lease documents imposegreen obligation on the landlord and tenant? If so, do theseobligations back-to-back the obligations in the contract?

• Is additional security required to be held until the rating issecured?

• At what point in time do the parties agree that theirobligations cease? What events trigger that cessation? Whatare the remedies available if the rating is not obtained?

Assessment and certification• Who is compiling the rating documentation and filing with

the appropriate body and at what price?• What is the position if the assessment is unsuccessful? Can

you re-apply?• Have timing issues been considered? (Green Star as built

design can be achieved before PC, Green Star as built canbe achieved soon after PC, but NABERS require data over12 months when the building is continuously 75%occupied)Do not let the building you are working on stand as a

testament to your failure – consider the key issues andunderstand the risks so that your building will reach the starsyou are striving for!

For more information about the Green Star program, call theMaster Builders Health, Safety and Environment team on (07)3225 6404 or visit the Green Building Council of Australiawebsite at www.gbca.org.au.

Going Green

You need to carefully thinkabout the type of green ratingto be obtained, what roleseach party is to play andwhat are the consequences ifthe rating is not obtained.

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Conventional change management approaches have done littleto change the fact that most change programs fail. The odds canbe greatly improved by a number of counter-intuitive insightsthat take into account the irrational but predictable nature ofhow employees interpret their environment and choose to act.

In 1995, John Kotter published what many consider to bethe seminal work in the field of change management, LeadingChange: Why Transformation Efforts Fail. Kotter’s “call toaction” cites research that suggests only 30 percent of changeprograms are successful.1 His work then goes on to answer thequestion posed in its title and to prescribe what it takes toimprove this success rate.

Kotter is perhaps the most famous purveyor of changemanagement wisdom, but in fact he is one of many who have apoint of view regarding how managers and companies can bestmanage change. In the last two decades, literally thousands ofbooks and journal articles have been published on the topic.Today, there are more than 1,800 books available onAmazon.com under the category of “Organisational Change.”2

The field has developed to the extent that courses dedicatedspecifically to managing change are now part of the curriculumin many major MBA programs.3

With so much research done and information available onmanaging change, it stands to reason that change programstoday should be more successful than those of more than adecade ago, right?

The facts suggest otherwise. McKinsey & Company recentlysurveyed 1,546 business executives from around the world,asking them if they consider their change programs“completely/mostly” successful: only 30 percent agreed.4

Further investigation into a number of similar studies overthe last 10 years reveals remarkably similar results.5 The field ofchange management, it would seem, hasn’t really changed athing.

This failure to live up to its promise is why many seniorexecutives today recoil at the mere mention of the words‘change management’.

Memories come flooding back of significant time and effortinvested in “the soft stuff” that, in the end, yielded little tangiblevalue.

The focus of McKinsey’s applied research over the last fouryears has been to understand why change management effortsconsistently fail to have the desired impact and, mostimportantly, what to do about it. At this point in our researchwe don’t claim to have all the answers.

We have, however, developed and tested a set ofperspectives in real-life application that senior managers havefound genuinely insightful and that have consistently deliveredbusiness results far beyond expectations.

SUCCESSFUL CHANGE REQUIRESUNCOMMON SENSEDigging deeper into why change programs fail reveals that thevast majority stumble on precisely the thing they are trying totransform: employee attitudes and management behavior(versus other possible sources such inadequate budget, poorlydeployed resources and poor change architecture).6

Literally thousands of prescriptions are put forward invarious change management publications regarding how toinfluence employee attitudes and management behavior.However, the vast majority of the thinking is remarkably similar.Colin Price and Emily Lawson provided a holistic perspective intheir 2003 article, The Psychology of Change Management, thatsuggests that four basic conditions have to be met beforeemployees will change their behaviour:7

A. A compelling story: They must see the point of the changeand agree with it, at least enough to give it a try

B. Role modelling: They must also see colleagues they admiremodelling the desired behaviour

C. Reinforcement systems: Surrounding structures, systems,processes and incentives must be in tune with the newbehaviour

D. The skills required for change: They need to have the skillsto do what is required of them.

The inconvenient truth aboutchange management:

Why it isn’t working and what todo about itBy Scott Keller and Carolyn Aiken*

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This prescription is well grounded in the field of psychologyand is entirely rational. Putting all four of these conditions inplace as a part of a dynamic process greatly improves thechances of bringing about lasting changes in the mindsets andbehaviors of people in an organisation – and thus achievessustained improvements in business performance.

One of the merits of the approach above is its intuitiveappeal, so much so that many managers feel that, oncerevealed, it is simply good common sense. And this, webelieve, is precisely where things fall apart. The prescription isright, but rational managers who attempt to put the fourconditions in place by applying their “common sense” intuitiontypically misdirect time and energy, create messages that missthe mark, and experience frustrating unintended consequencesfrom their efforts to influence change.

Why? In implementing the prescription, they disregard ascientific truth of human nature: people are irrational in manypredictable ways. The scientific study of human irrationality hasshown that many of our instincts related to understanding andinfluencing our own and others’ motivations push us towardsfailure instead of success. We systematically fall victim tosubconscious thought processes that significantly influence ourbehavior, even though our rational minds tell us they shouldn’t.How many of us drive around looking for a close parking placeto “save time” for longer than it would have taken to walk fromthe available parking spaces? How about falling into the trap ofspending $3,000 to upgrade to leather seats when we buy anew $25,000 car, but finding it difficult to spend the sameamount on a new leather sofa (even though we know we willspend more time on the sofa than in the car)? Are you willing totake a pencil home from work for your children to use, but arenot willing to raid the company’s petty cash box for the moneyto buy a pencil for the same purpose? These examples point tohow all of us are susceptible to irrationality when it comes todecision making. 8

In the same way that the field of economics has beentransformed by an improved understanding of how uniquelyhuman social, cognitive and emotional biases lead to seeminglyirrational decisions,9 so too the practice of change managementis in need of a transformation through an improvedunderstanding of the irrational (often unconscious) way inwhich humans interpret their environment and choose to act.

In what follows we will describe a number of counter-intuitive insights regarding human irrationality and implicationsfor putting the four conditions for behavior change into place.We will also offer practical – if inconvenient – advice (as it calls

for investing time and effort in areas that your rational mind willtell you shouldn’t matter as much as they do) on how toimprove the odds of leading successful change. We illustratethese approaches through concrete examples of how variouscompanies have, either by conscious awareness, intuition, orsimple luck, leveraged predictable employee irrationality togreat effect in making change happen.

Dealing with the human side of change is not easy. AsNobel Laureate Murray Gell-Mann once said, “Think how hardphysics would be if particles could think.” All told, we don’texpect our advice to make your life as a change leader anyeasier. We are convinced, however, it will have more impact.

A. THE INCONVENIENT TRUTH ABOUT CREATING ACOMPELLING STORYChange management thinking extols the virtues of creating acompelling change story, communicating it to employees andfollowing it up with ongoing communications and involvement.

This prescription makes sense, but in practice threeinconvenient truths often get in the way of this approachachieving the desired impact.

Inconvenient Truth #1: What motivates you doesn’t motivate(most of) your employees. We see two types of change stories consistently told inorganisations. The first is the “good to great” story along thelines of “Our historical advantage has been eroded by intensecompetition and changing customer needs; if we change, wecan regain our leadership position once again, becoming theundisputed industry leader for the foreseeable future andleaving the competition in the dust.” The second is theturnaround story along the lines of, “We’re performing belowindustry standard and must change dramatically to survive;incremental change is not sufficient – investors will notcontinue to put money into an underperforming company. Weare capable of far more based on our assets, market position,size, skills and loyal staff. We can become a top quartileperformer in our industry by exploiting our current assets andearning the right to grow.”

These stories both seem rational, yet they too often fail tohave the impact that change leaders desire. Research by anumber of leading thinkers in the social sciences, such asDanah Zohar, Chris Cowen, Don Beck and Richard Barrett, hasshown that stories of this nature will create significant energyfor change in only about 20 percent of your workforce.10 Why?The stories above all center on the company – beating the

The inconvenient truth about change management:

Why it isn’t working and what to do about it

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competition, industry leadership, share price targets, etc. –when in fact research shows that there are at least four othersources of meaning and motivation that can be tapped into tocreate energy for change. These include impact on society (e.g.,making a better society, building the community, stewardingresources), impact on the customer (e.g., making it easier,superior service, better quality product), impact on the workingteam (e.g., sense of belonging, caring environment, workingtogether efficiently and effectively), and impact on “me”personally (my development, paycheque/bonus, empowermentto act).

The inconvenient truth about this research is that in surveysof hundreds of thousands of employees to discover which ofthese five (society, customer, company/shareholder, workingteam, “me” personally) sources of meaning most motivatesthem, the result is a consistently even 20 percent split across alldimensions. Regardless of level (senior management to thefrontline), industry (healthcare to manufacturing), or geography(developed or developing economies), the results do notsignificantly differ.

This finding has profound implications for leaders. What theleader cares about (and typically bases at least 80 percent of hisor her message to others on) does not tap into roughly 80percent of the workforce’s primary motivators for putting extraenergy into the change program.

Those people leading change should be able to tell “fivestories at once” and in doing so unleash tremendous amountsof organisational energy that would otherwise remain latent inthe organisation.

By way of practical example, consider a cost-reductionprogram at a large US financial services company. The programwas embarked on with a rational change story that “ticked allthe boxes” of conventional change management wisdom. Threemonths into the program, management was frustrated with theemployee resistance inhibiting impact. The team workedtogether to re-cast the “story” around the cost program toinclude an element related to society (to deliver “affordablehousing”: we must be most affordable in our services),customers (increased simplicity, flexibility, fewer errors, morecompetitive prices), the company (expenses are growing fasterthan revenues, which is not sustainable), working teams (lessduplication, more delegation, increased accountability, fasterpace), and individuals (bigger, more attractive jobs created: agreat opportunity to “make your own” institution).

This relatively simple shift in approach lifted employeemotivation measures from 35.4 percent to 57.1 percent in a

month, and the program went on to achieve 10 percentefficiency improvements in the first year—a run rate far aboveinitial expectations.

Inconvenient Truth #2: You’re better off letting them writetheir own storyWell-intentioned leaders invest significant time incommunicating their change story. Roadshows, town halls,magazines, screen-savers and websites are but a few of themany approaches typically used to tell the story. Certainly thestory (told in five ways!) needs to get out there, but theinconvenient truth is that much of the energy invested incommunicating it would be better spent listening, not telling.

In a famous experiment, researchers ran a lottery with atwist. Half the participants were randomly assigned a lotteryticket. The remaining half were given a blank piece of paperand a pen and asked to write down any number they wouldlike as their lottery number. Just before drawing the winningnumber, the researchers offered to buy back the tickets fromtheir holders. The question researchers wanted to answer is,“How much more do you have to pay someone who ‘wrotetheir own number’ versus someone who was handed a numberrandomly?” The rational answer would be that there is nodifference (given a lottery is pure chance and therefore everyticket number, chosen or assigned, should have the samevalue). A more savvy answer would be that you would have topay less (given the possibility of duplicate numbers in thepopulation who write their own number). The real answer? Nomatter what geography or demographic the experiment hastaken place in, researchers have always found that they have topay at least five times more to those who wrote their ownnumber.11

This result reveals an inconvenient truth about humannature: When we choose for ourselves, we are far morecommitted to the outcome (almost by a factor of five to one).Conventional approaches to change managementunderestimate this impact.

The rational thinker sees it as a waste of time to let othersself-discover what he or she already knows—why not just tellthem and be done with it? Unfortunately this approach stealsfrom others the energy needed to drive change that comesthrough a sense of ownership of “the answer”. Consider anotherpractical example in Barclays’ Personal Financial Services CEO,David Roberts, who employed a fairly literal interpretation ofthe above finding. He wrote his change story in full prose, in away that he found meaningful. He then shared it with his team,



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getting feedback on what resonated and what needed furtherclarification.

He then asked each of his team members to “write theirown lottery ticket”: what was the change story for them, in theirbusiness, that supports the bigger PFS-wide change story? Histeam members wrote their change story, again in full prose, andshared it with their teams. Their teams gave feedback and thenwrote their own story for their area/department, and so theprocess continued all the way to the frontline. It took twice aslong as the traditional roadshow approach, but for a five-timesreturn on commitment to the program, it was the rightinvestment to make.12

Sam Palmisano, current CEO of IBM, in spearheading achange effort to move IBM towards a values-based managementsystem, enabled thousands of employees to “write their ownlottery ticket” regarding IBM’s values.

During a three-day, online discussion forum (dubbedValuesJam), over 50,000 employees were empowered literallyto rewrite IBM’s century-old values.13

Other applications need not be so literal. At a globalconsumer goods company the CEO brought together his top300 for three two-day “real work” sessions over three monthswhere they created the story together. Again, this investedsignificant time, but having the top 300 five-times committed tothe way forward was considered well worth the investment. AtBP, to develop a comprehensive training program for frontlineleaders, a decision was made to involve every key constituencyin the design of the program, giving them a sense of “writingtheir own lottery ticket.” It took a year and a half to completethe design using this model, but was well worth it. Now inimplementation, the program is the highest rated of its kind inBP. It involves more than 250 active senior managers fromacross the businesses willingly teaching the course, and, mostimportantly, has resulted in managers who have been throughthe training program being consistently ranked higher inperformance than those who haven’t, both by their bosses andby the employees who report to them.14

At a minimum, we advocate that leaders leverage the“lottery ticket” insight by augmenting their telling of the storywith asking about the story. Consider David Farr, CEO ofEmerson Electric, who is noted for asking four questions relatedto his company’s story of virtually everyone he encounters inthe organisation:1. how do you make a difference? (testing for alignment on the

company’s direction);2. what improvement idea are you working on? (emphasising

continuous improvement);3. when did you last get coaching from your boss?

(emphasising the importance of people development); and4. who is the enemy? (emphasising the importance of “One

Emerson”/ no silos, i.e., he wanted to emphasise the “right”answer was the competition and not some otherdepartment!).On a final note, many executives are surprised not only by

the ownership and drive for implementation that comes fromhigh involvement approaches, but also by the improved qualityof the answers that emerge. As one CEO told us, “I wassurprised how people stepped up during the direction-settingprocess – I was worried about everything getting ‘dumbeddown,’ but in the end we got a better answer because of thebroad involvement.”

Inconvenient Truth #3: It takes both “+” and “–” to create realenergyIn 210 B.C., a Chinese commander named Xiang Yu led histroops across the Yangtze River to attack the army of the Qin(Ch’in) dynasty. Camped for the night on the banks of the river,his troops awakened to find their ships on fire.

They rushed to the boats ready to take on their attackers,only to find that it was Xiang Yu himself who had set their shipsablaze. Not only that, but he had also ordered all the cookingpots crushed. Xiang Yu’s logic was that without the pots and theships, they had no other choice but to fight their way to victoryor die trying. In doing so he created tremendous focus in histroops, who battled ferociously against the enemy and wonnine consecutive battles, obliterating the mainforce units of theQin dynasty.

The above story is perhaps the ultimate example of creatinga “burning platform” to motivate action – a message that says“We’ve got a problem, we have to change!” This model is oftenreferred to as a deficit-based approach to change. It identifiesthe problem (what is the need?), analyses causes (what is wronghere?) and possible solutions (how can we fix it?), and thenplans and takes actions (problem solved!). Advocates of thisapproach point out that its linear logic and approach todissecting things to understand them is at the heart of all thescientific progress made by Western civilisation.

They also cite examples like that of Xiang Yu, where it has aprofound effect. Given the case for the deficit-based approach,it has become the model predominantly taught in businessschools and is presumably the default change model in mostorganisations. At success rates of 30%, however, the vast



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majority of change leaders are not enjoying the same success asXiang Yu did.

Why is this?Research has shown that a relentless focus on “what’s

wrong” is not sustainable, invokes blame and creates fatigueand resistance, doing little to engage people’s passion andexperience, and highlight their success. This has led to the riseof what many refer to as the constructionist-based approach tochange. In this approach the change process is based ondiscovery (discovering the best of what is), dreaming (imaginingwhat might be), designing (talking about what should be) anddestiny (creating what will be).15

Consider a study done at the University of Wisconsin wheretwo bowling teams were recorded on video over a number ofgames. Each team received a video to study. One team’s videoshowed only those occasions when it made mistakes. Theother’s showed only those occasions when it performed well.The team that studied its successes improved its score twice asmuch as the other team. The conclusion is that choosing thepositive as the focus of inquiry and storytelling is the bestanswer for creating change.16 Whereas the deficit-based changeapproach is well suited for technical systems, research into theconstructionist-based approach shows that in human systems afocus on “what’s right” can achieve improved results.

So should enlightened change leaders shift their focusexclusively to capturing opportunities and building on strengthsinstead of identifying and solving problems? We think not.

Humans are more risk averse when choosing amongoptions framed as “gains” than when they choose among thoseframed as “losses.”

For example, what would you do if given the choicebetween a sure gain of $100 and a 50 percent chance ofgaining $200? Social science experiments show that mostindividuals are risk averse and take the gain. What would youdo if given the choice between a sure loss of $100 or a 50percent chance of losing $200? If you are like most individuals,you are risk seeking in this case and choose a 50 percentchance of losing $200.17

A single-minded focus on “what’s possible,” with its biastowards more conservative choices, flies in the face ofachieving radical change. The reason for this is that, as humans,we inherently dislike losses more than we like gains.18

The inconvenient truth is that both the deficit based andconstructionist approaches to change have their merits andlimitations. It is clear that a single-minded focus on today’sproblems creates more fatigue and resistance than envisioning a

positive future. But it is also clear that when it comes tobehavioural change some anxiety is good, and that an over-emphasis on the positive can lead to watered-down aspirationsand impact.

We believe the field of change management has drawn anartificial divide between deficit-based and constructionist-basedapproaches. The best answer is an “and” answer. While it isimpossible to prescribe generally how the divide should be splitbetween positive and negative messages, as this will be specificto the context of any given change program, we strongly advisemanagers not to “swing the pendulum” too far in one directionor another. Consider Jack Welch at GE, who took questions of“what’s wrong here?” (poor performing businesses, impendingbankruptcy, silo-driven behaviours, bureaucracy, etc.) head on,as well as “imagining what might be” (number one or two inevery business, a “boundaryless” culture of quality, openness,accountability, etc.).

Revisiting the University of Wisconsin bowling teamexperiment mentioned above, we suspect that a team thatstudied its successes and mistakes would outperform teams thatstudied only either/or.

B. THE INCONVENIENT TRUTH ABOUT ROLEMODELLINGConventional change management suggests leaders should takeactions that role model the desired change and mobilise agroup of influence leaders to drive change deep into theorganisation.

Unfortunately, this prescription rarely delivers the desiredimpact because it neglects two more inconvenient truths aboutchange management.

Inconvenient Truth #4: Your leaders believe they already “arethe change”Most senior executives understand and generally buy intoGhandi’s famous aphorism, “Be the change you want to see inthe world.”

They, often prompted by HR professionals or consultants,commit themselves to “being the change” by personally rolemodelling the desired behaviours. And then, in practice,nothing significant changes.

The reason for this is that most executives don’t seethemselves as “part of the problem,” and therefore deep downdo not believe that it is they who need to change, even thoughin principle they agree that leaders must role model the desiredchanges. Take for example a team that reports that, as a group



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and as an organisation, they are low in trust, not customer-focused and bureaucratic. How many executives when askedprivately will say “no” to the questions, “Do you consideryourself to be trustworthy?” and “Are you customer focused?”and “yes” to the question “Are you a bureaucrat?” Of course,none. The fact is that most well-intentioned and hard-workingpeople believe they are doing the right thing, or they wouldn’tbe doing it. However, most people also have an unwarrantedoptimism in relation to their own behavior. Consider that 94percent of men rank themselves in the top half of male athleticability. Of course this is irrational, as mathematically exactly 50percent of males are in the top half of male athletic ability.

This isn’t only true for males and athletics – far more than50 percent of people rank themselves in the top half of drivingability, although it is a statistical impossibility. When couplesare asked to estimate their contribution to household work, thecombined total routinely exceeds 100 percent.

In many behavior-related areas, human beings consistentlythink they are better than they are – a phenomenon referred toin psychology as a “self-serving bias.”19 Whereas conventionalchange management approaches surmise that top team rolemodelling is a matter of will (“wanting to change”) or skill(“knowing how to change”), the inconvenient truth is that thereal bottleneck to role modelling is knowing “what” to changeat a personal level.

Typically, insight into “what” to change can be created byconcrete 360-degree feedback techniques, either via surveys,conversations or both. This 360-degree feedback should not beagainst generic HR leadership competency models, but insteadagainst the specific behaviors related to the desired changesthat will drive business performance. This style of feedback canbe augmented by fact gathering such as third party observationof senior executives going about their day-to-day work (e.g.,“You say you are not bureaucratic, but every meeting you are increates three additional meetings and no decisions are made”)and calendar analyses (e.g., “You say you are customer focusedbut have spent 5 percent of your time reviewing customer-related data and no time meeting with customers orcustomer-facing employees”).

Consider Amgen CEO Kevin Sharer’s approach of askingeach of his top 75, “What should I do differently?” and sharinghis development needs and commitment publicly with them.20

Consider the top team of a national insurance company whoroutinely employed what they called the “circle of fire” duringtheir change program: Every participant receives feedback livein the room, directly from their colleagues on “What makes you

great?” in relation to “being the change” and “What makes yousmall?” Consider the leadership coalition (top 25) of a multi-regional bank who, after each major event in their changeprogram, conducted a short, targeted 360-degree feedbacksurvey regarding how well their behaviours role modelled thedesired behaviours during the event, ensuring that feedbackwas timely, relevant and practical.

While seemingly inconvenient, these types of techniqueshelp break through the “self-serving bias” that inhibits well-meaning leaders from making a profound difference throughtheir actions to the ultimate impact of the change program.

Note that some readers may be thinking, “But surely thereare a few people who are fully role modelling the desiredbehaviours – what does this mean for them?” If the purpose ofsenior executive role modelling is to exhibit the behavioursrequired that ensure the success and sustainability of thechange program (e.g., collaboration, agility in decision making,empowerment), then the answer is “keep up the good work!” Ifthe answer, however, is expanded to include role modelling theprocess of personal behavioural change itself, there is more todo. Recall that Gandhi also said famously, “For things tochange, first I must change.”

We often cite Tiger Woods’ reaction to his astonishing, 18-below-par victory in the Masters tournament in 1997: he choseto rebuild his swing. As he practiced many of its 270 elements,he endured a period of awkward performance. The pressdeemed him a one-Masters wonder. Four years later, he wonthe world’s four major golf tournaments in one year, anunprecedented accomplishment. At one point, Woods’ leadover the second-ranked player was larger than the gap betweenNo. 2 and No. 100.21 The lesson is clear: continued successrequires critical self-examination and growth. Few seniorexecutives would suggest they are less in need of personallearning than Tiger Woods.

Inconvenient Truth #5: Influence leaders aren’t that influentialAlmost all change management literature places importance onmobilising a set of “influence leaders” to help drive the change.Typically guidance is given to find and mobilise those in theorganisation who either by role or personality (or both) havedisproportionate influence over how others think and behave.We believe this is sound and timeless advice – indeed having acadre of well-regarded people proactively role modelling andcommunicating the change program is a “no regrets” move.However, since Malcom Gladwell popularised his “law of thefew” in his best-selling book, The Tipping Point, we have



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observed that the role of influence leaders has moved frombeing perceived as a helpful element of a broader set ofinterventions to a panacea for making change happen (likely anunintended consequence of Gladwell’s work which itself wasdirected towards marketers versus change leaders). Gladwell’s“law of the few” suggests that rare, highly connected peopleshape the world. He defined three types of influence leadersthat are among this select group: Mavens – discerningindividuals who accumulate knowledge and share advice;Connectors – those who know lots of people; and Salespeople –those who have the natural ability to influence and persuadeothers.

Gladwell famously illustrates his point with the example ofHush Puppies. The footwear brand was dying by late 1994 –until a few New York hipsters began wearing their shoes. Otherfashionistas followed suit, whereupon the cool kids copiedthem, the less-cool kids copied them, and so on, until voilà!Within two years, sales of Hush Puppies had exploded by 5,000percent, without a penny spent on advertising.22 Compellingstories such as this have been interpreted by many changeleaders as evidence that the lion’s share of their role shouldfocus on getting the influence leader equation right and – voilà!– all else will follow.

Duncan Watts, a network-theory scientist working forYahoo!, has conducted a number of experiments that helpexplain why “influence leaders” are not the panacea the aboveexample implies. In the context of the Hush Puppies story, heessentially posed the more expansive question, “Given EastVillage hipsters were wearing lots of cool things in the fall of1994, why did only Hush Puppies take off? Why didn’t theirother clothing choices reach a tipping point too?” His researchshows that influence leaders are no more likely to start a social“contagion” than the rank and file. He concludes that successdepends less on how persuasive the “early adopter” is, andmore on how receptive the “society” is to the idea. To start asocial epidemic is less a matter of finding the mavens,connectors, and salespeople to do the infecting and more amatter of developing the “virus” that society is a fertilespreading ground for.

Watts suggests a better metaphor than a virus – a forestfire – for the way social influence really works. There arethousands of forest fires a year, but only a few become roaringmonsters. Why?

Because in those rare situations the landscape is ripe: sparserain, dry woods, badly equipped fire departments. In thesesituations, no one will go around talking about the exceptional

properties of the random smoker who unwittingly tossed asmoldering cigarette butt into a patch of parched grass in themiddle of a forest during a drought.23

The inconvenient truth is that it is not enough to invest in afew rather than in many as a way of catalysing desired changes,no matter how appealing the idea is. We warn againstoverestimating the impact a group of influence leaders can haveand, in turn, overinvesting in them in a world of scarce resource(time, money, people). We advocate that change leaderattention should be balanced across all four conditions forchange – a compelling story, role modelling, reinforcementsystems, and the skills required for change – to ensure they arereinforcing in ways that maximise the probability of the change“spark” taking off like wildfire across the organisation.

C. THE INCONVENIENT TRUTH ABOUTREINFORCING MECHANISMSConventional change management emphasises the importanceof reinforcing and embedding desired changes in structures,processes, systems, target setting and incentives. If you wantcollaboration, create cross-functional teams. If you wantcustomer focus, make sure your systems give you a full pictureof the customer relationship.

If you want just about any behavior, make people’spaycheque dependent on it, and so the logic goes. Again, theseare all perfectly rational until confronted with two inconvenienttruths.

Inconvenient Truth #6: Money is the most expensive way tomotivate peopleUpton Sinclair once wrote, “It is difficult to get a man tounderstand something if his salary depends upon him notunderstanding it.”24 If a change program’s objectives are notlinked somehow to employee compensation, this sends a strongmessage that the change program is not a priority, andmotivation for change is adversely affected. The flip-side,however, is not true.

When change program objectives are linked tocompensation, motivation for change is rarely meaningfullyenhanced. The reason for this is as practical as it ispsychological in nature. Consider the change manager who isworking to link the change program with compensation.

He or she is faced with existing executives’ annualcompensation plan that is typically comprised of threeelements: a portion dependent on how the corporation does(typically an earnings or return on capital number for the whole



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company), a portion dependent on how the leader’s specificbusiness or function does, and a portion dependent onindividual goals, often related to operations or people.

The rational change manager dutifully builds change-program impact into earnings forecasts and businessunit/functional financial operating plans. Come review time,however, he/she realises that with the myriad of controllableand uncontrollable variables that influence the financialoutcomes, the link to specific change program implementationbecomes weak at best.

Operational (non-financial) impact from change programimplementation creates a stronger link to outcomes andindividual efforts. Unfortunately, however, the weighting ofnon-financial outcomes from the change program in the contextof the vast array of other metrics also “linked” to rewards (e.g.,compliance, safety, social responsibility, diversity, talentdevelopment, leadership competencies) renders any link tocompensation hardly relevant.

The reality is that in the vast majority of companies it isexceedingly difficult to meaningfully link a change program toindividual compensation. So why not just change thecompensation approach? This is of course an option, but easiersaid than done and certainly not without risk and potentialunintended consequences when considering that change musthappen in real time—the organisation must continue to carryout its day-to-day tasks and functions while at the same timefundamentally rethinking them. The good news is that there areeasier, relatively inexpensive ways to use incentives to motivateemployees for change.

In one study, researchers gave people a tiny gift andmeasured the increase in satisfaction with their lives.Specifically half of a group of people who used a photocopierfound a dime in the coin return. How much did the giftincrease their satisfaction with their lives? When asked abouthow satisfied they were with their lives, those with the dimewere 6.5 on a 7 scale whereas those without were only 5.6.25

Why such a lift in satisfaction for such little reward? For humanbeings it holds that satisfaction equals perception minusexpectation (an equation often accompanied by thecommentary, “reality has nothing to do with it”). The beauty ofthis equation for change managers is that small, unexpectedrewards can have disproportionate effects on employees’“satisfaction” with a change program.

Gordon M. Bethune, while turning around ContinentalAirlines, sent an unexpected $65 check to every employeewhen Continental made it to the top 5 for on-time airlines. John

McFarlane of ANZ Bank sent a bottle of champagne to everyemployee for Christmas with a card thanking them for theirwork on the company’s “Perform, Grow and Breakout” changeprogram. The CEO of a large multi-regional bank sent outpersonal thank-you notes to all employees working directly onthe company’s change program to mark its first-yearanniversary. Most change managers would refer to these asmerely token gestures and argue that their impact is limited andshort-lived.

Employees on the receiving end beg to differ. Recipients ofthese “dime in the photocopier” equivalents consistently reportback that the rewards have a disproportionately positive impacton change motivation that lasts for months, if not years.

The reason these small, unexpected rewards have suchimpact is because employees perceive them as a “socialexchange” with the company versus a “market exchange.” Tounderstand the difference, consider the following: Assume youare at your mother-in-law’s house for Thanksgiving dinner. Shehas spent weeks planning the meal and all day cooking. Afterthe meal you thank her and ask her how much you should payfor the experience. What would her reaction be? Most peoplereport that their mother-in-law would be horrified and therelationship damaged as a result.

Why? The offer of money takes the interaction from a socialnorm, built around a reciprocal, long-term relationship, to amarket norm that is more transactional and shallow. Back toyour mother-in-law, would she have accepted a nice bottle ofwine for the table as a gift from you?

Likely yes, as small, unexpected gifts indicate that socialnorms are at play.26 Consider the study of a daycare centrewhere a $3 fine was imposed for parents picking up theirchildren late. When the fine went into place, incidents of latepickups went through the roof. Why? Before the fine wasimposed, the daycare staff and the parents had a socialcontract – for the parents, feeling guilty about being latecompelled them to be more prompt in picking up their kids.Once the fine was imposed, the daycare centre hadinadvertently replaced social norms with market norms. Freefrom feelings of guilt, parents frequently chose to be late andpay the fee (certainly not what the centre had intended!).27

When it comes to change, social norms are not onlycheaper than market norms, but often more effective as well. Byway of example, consider the AARP (American Association ofRetired Persons) which asked some lawyers if they would offerless expensive services to needy retirees, at something like $30an hour. The lawyers said no. Then the program manager from



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AARP had the idea to ask the lawyers if they would offer freeservices for needy retirees.

Overwhelmingly, the lawyers said yes. When compensationwas mentioned the lawyers applied market norms and foundthe offer lacking. When no compensation was mentioned theyused social norms and were willing to volunteer their time.28

Inconvenient Truth #7: A fair process is as important as a fairoutcomeConsider a bank which, as part of a major change program,diagnosed that its pricing did not appropriately reflect the creditrisk that the institution was taking on. New risk-adjusted rate ofreturn (or RAROC-based) models were created, and theresulting new pricing schedules delivered to the frontline. At thesame time, sales incentives were adjusted to reward customerprofitability versus volume. The result? Customer attrition (notonly of the unprofitable ones) and price over-rides went throughthe roof and, ultimately, significant value was destroyed by theeffort. The rational change manager scratches his or her head inconfusion wondering, “What went wrong?”

“Ultimatum games” offer a compelling example of theinconvenient truth at play here. Give a stranger $10. Tell themthey must split the money with another stranger however theywish. If the person accepts the offer, the money is split. If theyreject the offer, no one gets any money. Studies show that if theoffer is a $7.50/$2.50 split, more than 95 percent will reject it,preferring to go home with nothing than to see someone“unfairly” receive three times as much as they do.29 You may bethinking to yourself that with a total pie of $10 to share,unequal allocations are rejected only because the absoluteamount of the offer is low.

Seemingly irrationally, however, the “ultimatum game”findings are the same even when the absolute amount of theoffer is equivalent to two weeks of wages.30 The inconvenienttruth is that employees will go against their own self-interest(read: incentives) if the situation violates other notions theyhave about the way the world should work, in particular, inrelation to fairness and justice. In the case of the banking price-rise example described above, whether right or wrong, thefrontline view of the pricing and incentive changes was thatthey were unfair to the customer, a symbol of increasinglygreedy executives losing sight of customer service. Even thoughit meant they were less likely to achieve their individual salesgoals, a significant number of bankers vocally bad-mouthed thebank’s policies to customers, putting themselves on thecustomer’s side, rather than the bank’s.

Where possible, price over-rides were then used to showgood faith to customers and inflict retribution on the “greedy”executives.

In making any changes to company structures, processes,systems and incentives, change managers should pay anunreasonable amount of attention to employees’ sense of thefairness of the change process as well as the outcome.

Particular care should be taken where changes effect howemployees interact with one another (headcount reductions,changes to processes such as talent management, annualplanning, etc.) and with customers (sales stimulation programs,call centre re-designs, pricing, etc.). Ironically, in the pricingexample described above, the outcome is inherently fair(customers are asked to pay commensurate to the risk the bankis taking on), and therefore the downward spiral describedcould have been avoided (and has been by other banksadopting RAROC-based pricing) by carefully tending toemployees’ perceptions of fairness in the communications andtraining surrounding the changes.

D. THE INCONVENIENT TRUTH ABOUT CAPABILITYBUILDINGConventional change management emphasises the importanceof building the skills and talent needed for the desired changeto be successful and sustainable. Though hard to argue with, inpractice there are two more inconvenient truths that demandattention if one is to successfully build the needed capabilities.

Inconvenient Truth #8: Employees are what they thinkMany managers believe in their heart of hearts that the “softstuff” – employees’ thoughts, feelings and beliefs – has no placein workplace dialogue. “All that matters is that they behave inthe ways I need them to; it doesn’t matter why,” they will say.While rational – behaviours drive performance after all – thisview misses the point that it is employees’ thoughts, feelingsand beliefs that drive their behaviours. Ignoring the underlyingmindsets of employees during change is to address symptomsrather than root causes.

Consider an analogy from operations management. When amotor burns out on a machine on the shop floor it is replaced,right? Effective managers will only replace the engine once theroot causes are known: “Why did the motor burn out?” Becauseit overheated. “Why did it overheat?” Because it wasinsufficiently ventilated. “Why was it insufficiently ventilated?”Because the machine is too close to the wall. The operator thenmoves the machine away from the wall and replaces the motor.



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Not doing so would mean the fix would be short-lived (the newmotor would have quickly burned out too, due to the lack ofventilation). A far better solution is achieved by addressing theroot cause.

Let’s see how this applies to change management. Considera bank that through a benchmarking exercise found that itssales per banker were lagging the competition. “Why are salesper banker lower?” the rational manager asks. Analysis showsbankers are not spending enough time with customers. “Whyaren’t they spending more time with customers?” Because asignificant amount of their time is spent completing paperwork.With this diagnosis the bank set about reengineering the loan-origination process to minimise paperwork and maximisecustomer-facing time. Not only that, bankers are provided withnew sales scripts and easier-to-use tools so that they’ll knowwhat to do with the extra time in front of the customer. Trainingon the new processes and tools is administered and, voilà,problem solved. Except for the fact that six months later, thelevels of improvement are far lower than envisioned.

What went wrong? A further investigation into “why”, withan eye to the bankers’ mindsets, provides a much fuller view ofthe root causes: Is there anything about how they think andfeel, or what they believe about themselves and their jobs, thatexplains why they wouldn’t be spending more time withcustomers? Faced with a stalled improvement program, thebank in question proceeded down this line of inquiry.

They quickly found that most of the bankers in questionsimply found customer interactions uncomfortable andtherefore actually preferred paperwork to interacting withpeople (and, in turn, created reasons not to spend time withcustomers). This was driven by a combination of introvertpersonalities, poor interpersonal skills and a feeling ofinferiority when dealing with customers who by and large havemore money and education than they do. Furthermore,supervisors (who had mostly been recruited from the bankerranks) were also insecure with their selling and interpersonalskills, and therefore placed more emphasis on managing paper-based activity, further exacerbating the problem. Finally, mostbankers loathed to think of themselves as “sales people” – anotion they perceived as better suited to employees on used-carlots than in bank branches. Efforts to create “more sales time”flew directly in the face of their vocational identity.

Armed with these root-cause insights, the bank’s changeprogram was enhanced to directly address the mindsetchallenges as well as the process and tool barriers. Training forbankers and supervisors was expanded to include elements

related to personality types, emotional intelligence andvocational identity (recasting “sales” as the more noble pursuitof “helping customers discover and fulfill their unarticulatedneeds”). This enhancement not only put the program back ontrack within six months, but also ultimately deliveredsustainable sales lifts in excess of original targets.

Those skeptical of the importance of mindsets areencouraged to consider the Roger Bannister story. Until 1954,the four-minute mile was considered to be beyond humanachievement. Medical journals of the day went so far as todeclare it an impossible “behaviour.” In May of that year,however, Roger Bannister broke this barrier, running the mile in3 minutes, 59.4 seconds. What is perhaps more amazing is thattwo months later it was broken again, by Australian John Landy.

And within three years, 16 other runners had also brokenthis record. What happened? A sudden spurt in humanevolution? Genetic engineering of a new super race of runners?Of course not. It was the same human equipment, but with adifferent mindset – one that said “this can be done.”

Bannister emphasises in his memoirs that he spent as muchtime conditioning his mind as he did conditioning his body. Hewrote, “the mental approach is all important … energy can beharnessed by the correct attitude of mind.”31

While perhaps inconvenient, when it comes to buildingcapabilities required for change, we believe a balance shouldbe struck between building technical skills and shiftingunderlying mindsets (to enable the technical skills to be used totheir fullest).

Inconvenient Truth #9: Good intentions aren’t enoughIt is well documented that after three months adults retain only10 percent of what they have heard in lecture-based trainingsessions (e.g., presentations, videos, demonstrations,discussions). When they learn by doing (e.g., role plays,simulations, case studies), 65 percent of the learning is retained.And when they practice what they have learnt in the workplacefor a number of weeks, almost all of the learning can beexpected to be retained.32 Accordingly, effective skillbuildingprograms are replete with interactive simulations and role playsto ensure time spent in the training room is most effective.Further, commitments are made by participants regarding whatthey will “practice” back in the workplace (“My Mondaymorning takeaway is …”) to embed the learnings. This is allwell and good, except that come Monday morning, very fewkeep their commitments.

Consider a social science experiment at a Princeton



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theological seminary. Students were asked a series of questionsabout their personality and level of religious commitment andthen sent across campus. Along the way, they met a personslumped over coughing and groaning and asking for medicalassistance. Did self-proclaimed nice people help more?Absolutely not. Neither did religious commitment correlate towho provided help. The only predictor of the seminarians’behavior was that half were made to think they were late for anappointment across campus, while the others believed they hadplenty of time. Sixty-three percent with spare time helped, asopposed to just 10 percent of those in a hurry. When short oftime, even those with “religion as a quest” did not stop tohelp.33

Given this aspect of human nature, it is unreasonable toexpect that most employees will genuinely practice new skillsand behaviors back in the workplace if nothing formal has beendone to lower the barriers to doing so. The time and energyrequired to do something additional, or even to do somethingin a new way, simply don’t exist in busy executives’ day-to-dayschedules.

Ironically, this is particularly the case in the days followingtraining programs, when most managers are playing catch-upfrom their time away. This failure to formalise and create thespace for practice back in the workplace dooms most trainingprograms to deliver returns that are at best 65 percent of theirpotential.

We advocate a number of enhancements to traditionaltraining approaches to “hardwire” day-to-day practice intocapability-building processes. First, training should not be aone-off event.

Instead, a “field and forum” approach should be taken, inwhich classroom training is spread over a series of learningforums, and fieldwork is assigned in between. Second, wesuggest creating fieldwork assignments that link directly to theday jobs of participants, requiring them to put into practice newmindsets and skills in ways that are “hardwired” into the thingsfor which they are accountable. These assignments should havequantifiable, outcome-based measures that indicate levels ofcompetence gained, and certification that recognises andrewards the skills attained.

Consider one company’s approach to building leanmanufacturing capabilities. The first forum offered a core ofbasic skills and mindsets in performance improvement.Fieldwork then followed, involving cost, quality and serviceimprovement targets over a three-month period.

Anyone delivering on these targets was awarded a green-

belt certification in lean. The next forum provided much deepertechnical system design skills and project and team leadershiptraining.

The fieldwork that followed involved participantsredesigning entire areas of the plant floor and overseeing aportfolio of specific improvement teams – all aspects of whichhad quantitative targets (both in terms of financial results, andpeople and project leadership in 360-degree evaluations).Anyone achieving their fieldwork targets then became a blackbelt in lean. The final forum built more advanced skills inshaping plant-wide improvement programs in the context ofpressing strategic issues, applying improvement concepts tomore complex operations, and coaching and mentoring others.Fieldwork again put these lessons into practice with quantitativeimprovement goals attached, resulting in a set of “master blackbelts” emerging from the program.

SHOW ME THE MONEY!So far, we have tested the incremental impact of applying theseinconvenient truths in practice above and beyond moreconventional approaches to influencing behavior in threelongitudinal studies. Each study has employed control versusexperimental group methodologies (comparing impact with likecustomer and employee demographics, ensuring minimaldistortions of trial over a one-year test period). In each of thesecases, the results have been profound.

In retail banking, for example, applying conventionalchange management approaches in a salesforce stimulationprogram achieved an 8 percent lift in profit per business bankerand 7 percent per retail banker. While respectable, this wasbelow management aspirations of achieving a 10 percent lift inboth areas. Where inconvenient truths were acted on beyondconventional change management approaches, however, theprogram achieved a 19 percent lift in profit per business bankerand 12 percent per retail banker, far exceeding management’sexpectations.34

In the call centres of a large telecommunications company,the results of a customer churn reduction program applyingconventional change management approaches resulted in 35percent churn reduction, falling short of management’saspiration of a 50 percent reduction. Acting on theinconvenient truths, however, delivered 65 percent churnreduction to the delight of management, employees andcustomers.

An insurance back office which had implemented leanoperations improvements found that performance six months



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after the “step change” was stagnant, not fulfilling thecontinuous improvement expectations of the program.Revamping the program to leverage inconvenient truths, thecompany has now posted more than two years of 5 percentimprovement (above and beyond the step change) in cost,quality and service, exceeding the 3 percent continuousimprovement target built into the budget.

As mentioned above, we acknowledge that our researchinto the impact of applying approaches based on theinconvenient truths about change management is still in itsrelatively early days by virtue of the fact that sustainable impactcan only be measured over a number of years. The longitudinalexamples mentioned above, however, give us confidence andmotivation to broadly share the thinking above.

***David Whyte once wrote, “Work, paradoxically, does not

ask enough of us, yet exhausts the narrow part of us we bring tothe door.”35 Our research and experience has led us to believethat the impact of conventional change management thinking isheld back by exactly this paradox. More activity is undertaken,less energy is tapped into, and ultimately change impact isdisappointing.

By acting on the inconvenient truths discussed above,Whyte’s paradox is at least in part resolved by tapping intomotivations that are uniquely human. In doing so, tremendousindividual and organisational energy for change is unleashed.

End Notes1. Kotter, John, “Leading Change: Why Transformation Efforts Fail”, Harvard Business Review, March–April 1995, p 1.2. For a list of about 100 highly recommended books on change management see Nickols, Fred, 2006.http://www.managementlogs.com/2006/04/change-management-books.html. As of March 7, 2008, Amazon had1,861 books listed under the official category “organizational change” and 8,604 books under the category of“change.”3. Examples include Harvard: “Managing Change”, Michigan: “Navigating Change”, MIT: “Planning and Managingand Change”, Duke: “Human Assets and Organizational Change”, Columbia: “Organizational Change”, IMD(Switzerland): “Managing Change”, London Business School (U.K.): “Managing Change”, INSEAD (France/Singapore):“Leadership & Change”, ESADE I (France): “Change Management”, Queens University (Canada): “StrategyImplementation & Change Management.”4. Isern, Joseph and Pung, Caroline, “Organizing for successful change management: A McKinsey global survey”, TheMcKinsey Quarterly, June 2006.5. In 2002, D. Miller reported that 70 percent of change programs fail in “Successful change leaders: what makesthem? What do they do that is different?”, Journal of Change Management, 2(4), pp 359–68. In 2005, M. Higgs andD. Rowland reported that, “Only one in four or five change programs actually succeed” in “All Changes Great andSmall: Exploring Approaches to Change and its Leadership”, Journal of Change Management, 5(2), pp 121–51.6. Composite data from a number of sources that indicate that the reason change programs fail is due to employeeresistance or management behavior come from the following sources: ed. Michael Beer and Nitin Nohria, Breakingthe Code of Change, Harvard Business School Press, 2000; Cameron, Kim S. and Quinn, Robert E., Diagnosing andChanging Organizational Culture: Based on the Competing Values Framework, Addison-Wesley, 1999; Caldwell,Bruce , “Missteps, Miscues: Business Re-engineering Failures Have Cost Corporations Billions, and Spending Is Stillon the Rise,” Information Week, June 20, 1994; “State of Re-engineering Report (North America and Europe),” CSCIndex, 1994; Goss, Tracy, Tanner Pascale, Richard and Athos, Anthony G., “The Reinvention Roller Coaster: Riskingthe Present for a Powerful Future,” Harvard Business Review, 71, 1998; John P. Kotter and James L. Heskett, CorporateCulture and Performance, Free Press, 1992.7. Price, Colin and Lawson, Emily, “The Psychology of Change Management,” The McKinsey Quarterly, 2003,Number 2, Special Edition: Organization.8. The leather seats and red pencil examples have been borrowed Ariely, Dan, Predictable Irrationality: The HiddenForces that Shape Our Decisions, Harper Collins, 2008, p. 20 and p. 218.9. Behavioral economics and behavioral finance are closely related fields which apply scientific research on humanand social cognitive and emotional biases to better understand economic decisions and how they affect marketprices, returns and the allocation of resources. Daniel Kahneman with Amos Tversky and others, established acognitive basis for common human errors using heuristics and biases (Kahneman & Tversky, 1973, Kahneman, Slovic& Tversky, 1982), and developed Prospect theory (Kahneman & Tversky, 1979). He was awarded the 2002 the NobelPrize in Economics for his work in Prospect theory as a psychologically realistic alternative to expected utility theory.10. See Zohar, Danah, Rewiring the Corporate Brain: Using the New Science to Rethink How We Structure and Lead

Organizations, Berrett-Koehler, 1997; Barret, Richard, Liberating the Corporate Soul: Building a VisionaryOrganization, Elsevier, 1998; and Beck, Don and Cowan, Christopher, Spiral Dynamics: Mastering Values,Leadership, and Change, Blackwell Business, 1996.11. Lottery tickets study as described in, Langer, Ellen J., “Chapter 16: The Illusion of Control” in Daniel Kahneman,Paul Slovic and Amos Tversky, eds., Judgment under Uncertainty: Heuristics and Biases, Cambridge University Press,1982.12. See Barclays’ Personal Financial Services CEO David Roberts, “Easy to Do Business With: The Way Ahead forPFS,” April 2002, London, England: Barclays, Reg. # 1026167.13. Hemp, Paul; Palmisano, Samuel J. and Stewart, Thomas A., “Leading Change When Business Is Good: The HBRInterview – Samuel J. Palmisano,” Harvard Business Review, December 2004.14. Priestland, Andreas and Hanig, Robert, “Development of First-Level Leaders,” Harvard Business Review, June2005.15. This juxtaposition of the deficit-based and constructionist-based approaches to change is taken directly fromBernard J. Mohr and Jane Magruder Watkins, The Essentials of Appreciative Inquiry, Pegasus, 2002.16. University of Wisconsin research as cited in Bernard J. Mohr and Jane Magruder Watkins, The Essentials ofAppreciative Inquiry, Pegasus, 2002.17. Risk-taking research cited in Terry Burnham and Jay Phelan, Mean Genes, Perseus, 2000.18. For further evidence that humans are ‘irrational’ loss avoiders, see Kahneman, D. and A. Tversky, “Choices,Values, and Frames,” American Psychologist 39, no. 4 (1984): 341-50.19. Stock Investment,” Quarterly Journal of Economics, 2001. Ross, M. and F. Sicoly, “Egocentric Biases andAvailability and Attribution,” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 37 (1979): pp 322-336. Svenson, O., “AreWe All Less Risky and More Skillful Than Our Fellow Drivers?” Acta Psychologica 47 (1981): pp 143-148.20. McKinsey & Company Organization Practice, Building Exceptional Leadership Strength, 2005.21. Note that in an interview with Time magazine published August 14, 2000, looking back on his decision, he toldwriter Dan Goodgame: “I know I wasn’t in the greatest position with my swing at the [1997] Masters. But my timingwas great, so I got away with it. And I made almost every putt. You can have a wonderful week like that even whenyour swing isn’t sound. But can you still contend in tournaments with that swing when your timing isn’t as good? Willit hold up over a long period of time? The answer to those questions, with the swing I had, was ‘no’. And I wanted tochange that.” Rankings reported by Harig, B., “Wood ‘Uncomfortable’ with his Game,” ESPN.com, April 26, 2004.22. Gladwell, Malcolm, The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference, Little Brown, 2000.23. Thompson, Clive, “Is the Tipping Point Toast?” Fast Company, February 2008.24. Sinclair recalled this statement from his 1934 California gubernatorial campaign speeches in his memoir, I,Candidate for Governor, and How I Got Licked, Farrar & Rinehart, 1935, p 109.25. The dime in the photocopier study, Schwarz, Norbert, Stimmung als Information : Untersuchungen zum Einflussvon Stimmungen auf die Bewertung des eigenen Lebens, Springer, 1987, pp 12–13.26. The ‘mother-in-law’ example has been borrowed Ariely, Dan, Predictable Irrationality: The Hidden Forces thatShape Our Decisions, Harper Collins, 2008, p. 72.27. Dubner, Stephen J., Levitt, Steven D., Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything,Doubleday, 2005, p. 19.28. Ariely, Dan, Predictably Irrational: The Hidden Forces that Shape Our Decisions, Harper Collins, 2008: p. 71.29. The seminal ultimatum game study is by Guth Werner, Rolf Schmittberger and Bernd Schwarze, “An ExperimentalAnalysis of Ultimatum Bargaining,” Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization, December 1982, 3(4), pp 367–88. Note that new ultimatum game research in the field of neuroeconomics shows us exactly what part of the brainoperates the bilateral anterior insula (not part of the prefrontal cortex) in rejecting small offers (As reported by Sanfey,A.G., K.K. Rilling, et al., “The Neural Bais of Economic Decision-Making in the Ultimatum Game,” Science 300(2003): pp 1755-1758.30. Cameron, Lisa, “Raising the stakes in the ultimatum game: experimental evidence from Indonesia,” EconomicInquiry 1999,37(1), pp 47–59; This assumption was also tested t by having U.S. participants play the game for $100. They found nodifference between play for $100 and play for $10 as reported in Hoffman, E., K. McCabe, et al., “On Expectationsand the Monetary Stakes in Ultimatum Games,” International Journal of Game Theory 25 (1996): pp 289-30131. Bannister, Roger, The Four-Minute Mile, Guildford: The Lyons Press, 1981, p 210.32. IBM research; Whitmore, “Coaching for Performance.”33. Darley, J. M. and Batson, C.D., “From Jerusalem to Jericho: A study of situational and dispositional variables inhelping behavior,” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 1973, 27(1), pp 100–108.34. Experimental and control group clusters of bank branches were chosen that matched each other and theorganizational average on the following dimensions: Performance: NPBT (growth and average over longest coherentperiod available), economics of customers, average income per customer, industry composition in business banks(split between service and manufacturing industry), and characteristics of centers; Staff: performance rating, tenure(+2.5 years min.); and Size: footings per banker. During the study we ensured no distortions of trial occurred in termsof change of management, restructuring of operations, test of other initiatives in an incomplete subset of trialparticipants. Performance was compared over 1 year between three groups: 1) No intervention, 2) Salesforceeffectiveness improvement program with “rational” change management interventions, 3) Salesforce effectivenessimprovement program with “rational” change management interventions. This approach is illustrative of alllongitudinal studies mentioned.35. Whyte, David, The Heart Aroused: Poetry and the Preservation of the Soul in Corporate America, DoubledayCurrency, 1996, pp. 22

Scott Keller ([email protected]) is a Partner inMcKinsey & Company’s Chicago Office. He leads McKinsey’sOrganizational Behavior Practice in the Americas and hasdeep experience in counselling senior executives onorganization performance and change effectiveness.

Also from McKinsey & Company is Carolyn Aiken(carolyn_aiken@ mckinsey.com), is an Associate Principal inMcKinsey’s Organization Practice based in the Toronto Officewho has pioneered innovative approaches to CEO, top-teamand organization-wide change effectiveness.



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Organisational Culture • Current fad?• Flavour of the month?• Or meaningful driver of performance?We’ve had:• TQM (aka Total Quality Management)• Learning Organisations• MBO (aka Management by Objectives)• Self-Empowered Teams• Matrix Management• BPR (aka Business Process Re-engineering) and more.

The past 10 years have been the era of “triple bottom-line”and organisational culture.• What is Organisational Culture? • Can you really change the culture of your organisation? • Will it make any difference anyway?

It’s just not workingYou developed your organisation’s Vision. It’s catchy, and youspent lots of time and money in “cascading that vision”throughout your organisation to ensure everyone knows what itis and understands what it means.

You compiled a set of Organisational Values – developedthrough a heap of workshops where everyone “signed on” tothem. These Values, after extensive wordsmithing, are evenframed and hung on the walls in your workplaces, used asscreen-savers and every staff member has a coffee mug withthe values inscribed on them.

You even restructured the organisation to ensure thestructure is aligned with your organisation’s vision anddirection.

Then you waited … and waited … and waited … all to noavail – things are pretty much the same as last year. What wentwrong?

The Power of CultureYou missed the power of the culture – the way we do thingsaround here – the all-powerful norms that drive the way peoplein your organisation work and how they interact with eachother and your customers/clients.

Most of the time, people are not consciously aware of thesenorms and whether or not they are helping or hindering theirperformance.

Ask any group of long-serving staff what the norms are in

their organisation and they will stare at you blankly. In theirheads they will be thinking, “What on earth are you talkingabout? We don’t have ‘norms’; we just go about doing ourwork the way we need to. How else could we possibly dothings?”

Then ask staff who have been in your organisation less than6 months and they will quickly list off a host of norms theyhave observed – some positive, some funny and somedownright scary!

These norms, the reasons for which are usually longforgotten, create the culture of your organisation.

Changing the CultureSo, how do we change the culture? How do we change thesenorms that have developed over a long time and have a historyand life of their own?

1. Know How You AreFirstly, you need to know how you are and what sort of cultureyou’re dealing with: • Understand what your culture is and how it impacts

performance – make the implicit and unconscious normsexplicit and conscious.

• Use a rigorous measure to create a baseline from which todetermine any changes.

• Build a shared understanding of what you are dealing with.

2. Agree How You Want To Be• Build a shared view of the organisational culture you NEED

in order to maximise performance.• Identify the gaps between where our culture is now and

where it would be if we were operating in accordance withyour values.

• Identify and agree the consequences of these gaps and thebenefits of closing them.

3. Build a Case for Change and Engage Everyone in theProcess of ChangeIt is naive to want to change the culture “just because it’s agood thing to do”. If you want to achieve culture change itneeds to be because it will help your organisation to realise itspotential and everyone to live the Values.

In order to create a desire for change, people need tobelieve that they will be better off after the change than theyare now and the effort in making the change is worth it.

Achieving Culture Change (and Realising the Benefits)Jennie Sheppard evaluates the recent focus on organisational culture andwhether it marks a fundamental difference.

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Therefore, it is important for staff to understand the currentculture and the implications for their performance andcommitment. They also need to understand how they helpcreate the culture, how they can help change it and how theleaders of the organisation will support them to do this.

Culture change occurs when every single one of us doeswhat we can to achieve that change – from the way weorganise our work to the systems we use to recognise andreward performance. The little things each one of us does,create big changes at the organisational level.

4. There is No Substitute for LeadershipLeaders are the single biggest influencers of the culture –people look to their leaders to identify what it takes to besuccessful in the organisation – they set the implicitexpectations that become the norms.

For an organisation to successfully change its culture,leaders need to be prepared to lead by example and openthemselves up to advice, feedback, development and beingchallenged. The most common cause of failure in culturechange is the absence of leadership consistent with thechange.

Ask yourself: • How does what I am doing fit with the culture we are

trying to build rather than the culture we have today? • How do I know this? • What will I do to improve?• How will I measure that improvement?• What help do I need?• Look at how you spend your time … what messages does it

send?• When under pressure, what costs do you cut first? What

messages does that send?External support is critical here and can take the form of

Coaching, Leadership Development as well as frank andfearless, expert advice.

5. Keep it SimpleAchieving culture change is not rocket science; it’s aboutknowledge, persistence and keeping things simple.

In any culture change journey the hardest part is gettingstarted. “We have the data, we know what it means and weknow we need to change but where do we start?”

So many organisations try to change everything at once orover analyse in an attempt to find the perfect place to start.

The “perfect” place to start is anywhere – focus onsomething you can do quickly that will make a real difference

to people. How do you know what that is? Ask them – that’swhy Step 2 is so important.

By starting somewhere, anywhere, you will:• Lead by example• Signal a change• Make a difference • Build the desire and confidence in your people to do the

next thing

6. The Role of ValuesValues are aspirational and we all agree with them – whatmatter are behaviours – what you do and the way you do itevery single day. Changing the culture is about living thevalues, even when the going is tough.

7. Sustaining the EffortChange takes time and effort and it’s easy to becomedisheartened. It is essential that you take time to measure andreview progress. Both hard and soft measures are critical toderiving the benefits of the change.

Celebrate your achievements – these serve as incentives forfuture effort.

8. Re-DiagnoseAchieving culture change is one thing, sustaining that changeis a never-ending task. High performing cultures requireongoing maintenance and finetuning. It is essential to re-measure your culture every couple of years, re-engage staff inthe process and fine-tune your actions accordingly.

The Key Ingredients• Organisational culture is a means to delivering your

organisation’s strategy and values – it is NOT a feel-goodtool

Achieving Culture Change (and Realising the Benefits)

It is naive to want to changethe culture “just because it’s agood thing to do”. If youwant to achieve culturechange it needs to be becauseit will help your organisationto realise its potential andeveryone to live the Values.

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• Rigorously measure and diagnose your culture• Analyse and close the gaps between the culture you have

and the culture you believe you need• Engage everyone in the benefits of change – WIIFM (what’s

in it for me) principle• Engage everyone in the process of change (remember – the

organisation is made up of individuals – we create theculture and we can change the culture)

• Keep it simple – make it easy to change• Get outside help – not to do it for you, but to provide

advice and support as well as help you stay on track –otherwise you will be subsumed by the current culture

• Track your progress and celebrate your achievements• Learn from your successes and failures

• Remember it’s a long-term journey, so pace yourself• Change is hard work so make it enjoyable.

Jennie Sheppard is a Director of The Performance Architectswho specialise in cultural change, leadership development andexecutive coaching. She can be contacted via [email protected] or on (03) 9895 9611.

Achieving Culture Change (and Realising the Benefits)

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In fact, the United Nations Environment Programme estimatesthat the worldwide built environment’s lifespan contribution toglobal CO2 emissions is 40 per cent. This makes it the largestsingle contributor and places it at the front line of the battleagainst global warming.

While there is considerable evidence that buildings are amajor part of the problems our planet is facing, they canequally be a large part of the solution.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has foundthat 30 per cent of the greenhouse gas emissions projected toarise from buildings by 2030 can be avoided by investing inenergy efficient buildings. What’s more, this saving can beachieved at a net economic benefit.

Heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) systemsare a large contributor to energy loads in buildings, andcomprise a large part of building operating costs. With that inmind, improved energy efficiency in this area can deliversignificant financial advantages at the same time as theenvironmental benefits.

According to the Green Building Council of Australia’s(GBCA’s) Green Star Executive Director, Robin Mellon,improved energy performance in buildings reduces operationcosts, decreases levels of pollution during the production andconsumption of energy, and can enhance occupant health andcomfort.

“In fact, with the increasing cost of energy, even efficiencymeasures requiring a significant capital investment can have arapid payback period,” Robin says. “First and foremost, systemsand technology are not the answer alone, but coupled withgood passive design solutions – orientation, shading andmaterials choices for example – technology can have a massiveimpact on a building’s efficiency.”

Holistic consideration of a building’s energy load isessential to integrating energy efficiency into buildingoperations, Robin says. “It’s important to consider HVACequipment and operation procedures along with other buildingfeatures. For example, reducing energy needs throughimproved window glazing, insulation, and use of other passiveor active features can enable mechanical HVAC systems to bedownsized. In essence, the better the building façade, the lessenergy required inside.”

The GBCA operates the Green Star environmental ratingsystem for buildings, which evaluates the green attributes of

building projects based on nine categories, which look atissues such as energy and water efficiency, indoor environmentquality and resource conservation.

Green Star environmental rating tools support the propertyand construction industry in reducing the environmentalimpact of buildings, improving occupant health andproductivity and achieving real cost savings, while showcasinginnovation in sustainable building practices.

While traditionally most of the focus on HVAC has been onminimising its energy consumption, there are additionalaspects that are considered within Green Star. The amount offresh air delivered into a space, the mix and circulation of theair, and the capacity of the building to deliver the air effectivelycan all have an impact on the wellbeing of occupants, and soare considered within Green Star.

The design and construction of an HVAC system is alsoconsidered within a number of Green Star tools. In Green Star– Healthcare v1, for instance, access to the ducting formaintenance purposes is assessed, as is the construction of thesystem. In Green Star – Office Interiors v1.1, projects arerequired to clean the existing ductwork prior to use in order toreduce the amount of mould in the system itself. All Green Starrating tools are available to download from the GBCA’swebsite, for free, at www.gbca.org.au.

All Green Star rating tools measure the proportionally largeenvironmental impact of a refrigerant’s ozone depletionpotential (ODP) and global warming potential (GWP) – as atypical refrigerant molecule can contribute 1,000 times more

HVAC: Opportunities for thetriple bottom lineResidential and commercial buildings are responsible for 23 per cent ofAustralia’s greenhouse gas emissions.

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to global warming than a molecule of carbon dioxide, forexample. Furthermore, the water use of an HVAC system isconsidered, if the system uses a cooling tower, as well as therisks that such systems pose with regards to Legionella.

“The Green Star environmental rating system can be usedas a tool to conduct an assessment of your building’s currentfeatures, help you set goals for sustainability achievement, anddeliver equipment and operation improvements using a wholebuilding approach,” Robin says.

Energy efficiency can be a challenge in many commercialbuilding spaces – none more so than retail centres. “The sizeand scale of shopping centres can make them difficult tocondition – with the need to provide fresh air, natural light and

temperature control to large spaces often requiring acombination of solutions,” Robin Mellon says.

Despite the challenges, energy efficient HVAC systemshelped Mirvac achieve a 6 Star Green Star rating – ShoppingCentre (PILOT) for the Orion Springfield Town Centre.

Orion Springfield is considered a pioneer of world’s bestpractice in environmental design for a retail centre, with itsGreen Star rating representing world leadership. The projectwas the first in Australia to achieve a 6 Star Green Star ratingfor a retail centre.

Orion Springfield’s total site area is 40 hectares, with Stage1 of the development of approximately 35,000m2 featuring twoshopping malls set around a pedestrian-friendly main street,which leads to a town square. Just like a traditional towncentre, Orion is a place to do business, meet friends, enjoy a

meal or do some shopping.According to Adrian Michaels, Mirvac Asset Management’s

Sustainability Manager, Orion Springfield was designed to useapproximately half the energy of a similar-sized shoppingcentre, stores around 2,500 kilolitres of rainwater per annumvia 780,000 litre rainwater tanks, and has minimised oreliminated volatile organic compounds in all paints, adhesivesand floor coverings.

Condensate recovery from air handlers provides 1,950kilolitres of water for reuse each year with cooling towerblowdown water recovery providing an additional 10,000kilolitres of water. All landscape watering, bin wash downs,toilet and urinal flushing, as well as cooling tower make-up

and water feature top-ups are supplied from 100 per centrecycled water.

“Orion Springfield is the first Australian project toincorporate variable air volume air handling systems in all itsretail tenancies,” Adrian explains. “Orion’s energy use in theair conditioning of tenancies will save 67 per cent of theenergy from the reduced fan usage and 33 per cent fromreduced cooling requirements.”

The standard shopping centre tenancy air conditioningdesign features fixed air volume systems. These systems usedampers to create air balance in the ductwork and balancecooling loads. The use of dampers leads to increasing staticpressure in the air conditioning ducts and back-pressure on theair handler supply fans.

“Most regular shopping centres in Australia do not provide

HVAC: Opportunities for thetriple bottom line

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any air to the tenancies – they simply supply either cool water,or electricity, for tenants to install their own systems. Thistraditional approach is quite energy inefficient, so Orion’ssolution is a great step forward,” Robin says.

The shopping centre’s common areas feature mixed modeair conditioning in both the north and south malls.“Depending upon the outside conditions, the air conditioningwill operate on one of the three modes. The buildingmanagement system provides the necessary decision-makingto automatically select the appropriate means of maintainingspace conditions in the malls,” Adrian explains, adding thatthe malls are broken into four areas, with each of the fourareas being independently controlled.

In ‘Natural Ventilation’ mode the mall air conditioning iscompletely shut down and ventilation is provided purelythrough natural convection. When air conditioning is requiredand ambient conditions are suitable, the air handling units arecapable of operating in 100 per cent fresh air mode to achievecomfort levels. When outside air conditions are not favourableand mechanical cooling is required, the use of carbon dioxidemonitoring allows the reduction of outside air intake tominimal levels to minimise energy use under these conditions.Extensive use of natural ventilation ensures both largereductions in energy use and improved indoor air quality.

The Orion Springfield Town Centre features a chilled watersystem, comprising two high efficiency chillers piped in series.The system operates at a high delta-T of 15 degrees enteringand 5 degrees leaving temperature. The higher delta-T systemreduces the required chilled water volume proportionally, inturn reducing the pumping power required to deliver thatchilled water to the air handling system. The advanced designof the chilled water system reduces the chilled water pumpingenergy and cooling tower fan energy by over 60 per centcompared to standard designs.

The result is not just an estimated 300 tonne reduction ingreenhouse gas emissions compared to similar sized normallyconditioned centres, but also a 62 per cent reduction inpotable water consumption compared to business as usualdesign.

The GBCA’s Robin Mellon says that Orion Springfield is aclear example of how HVAC approaches can improve theperformance of high-performing buildings.

“Sustainable green buildings are today’s smart investment.By carefully analysing, planning and executing your HVACupgrades, you can deliver big benefits to the environment —and your bottom line,” Robin concludes.

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It is no secret that theeconomic events of the pastyear have had a debilitatingimpact on most sectors inthe Australian economy. Thecommercial property sectorhas suffered and willcontinue to feel the effectsfor some time to come.

That said, every problemis an opportunity in disguise.With the ConstructionForecasting Council (CRC)anticipating a sharp declinein construction of newcommercial premises overthe next two years, thecurrent climate is the bestopportunity that enterprisingproperty owners andmanagers are likely to get toposition existing buildings tocompete with new ones.

Tenants have come toexpect a lot from buildingperformance – and justbecause construction activityhas diminished is no reason to believe that tenant’sexpectations will do likewise. When buoyant marketconditions return, as they surely will, those managing existingbuildings will need to compete in performance stakes withnew constructions built to five and six star specifications.

The environmental case for retrofitting or retrogreeningexisting commercial office stock is strong. However, in thecurrent economic climate, there has been some concern thatproperty owners and managers would revert to “safe” optionsand that caution in the economic sphere would naturallyextend to design.

Fortunately, what is increasingly clear to many in theindustry is that the economic imperatives for undertakingretrofitting work are just as compelling as the environmentalones.

Protecting Jobs & Protecting the EnvironmentIn an atmosphere where rising unemployment is of majorconcern, a concerted effort directed towards the sustainabilityof existing building stock holds the key to providingemployment opportunities in a sector that is otherwise set tostruggle for the next few years.

With economic issues now firmly at the centre of the widerpolicy debate, it will be important for advocates to stress theemployment-side benefits of a large-scale nationalcommitment to retrogreening of existing commercial officebuildings going forward.

Estimates vary, but a recent report undertaken by DavisLangdon suggests that a large-scale national programme ofretrogreening could create over 10,000 direct job opportunitiesin the construction sector each year, with almost 27,000

Retrogreening – a must forstability in the commercialproperty sectorSimon Morgan, FMA Australia’s Policy Advisor, explains why.

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Retrogreening – a must for stabilityin the commercial property sector

opportunities being generated per annum across the broadereconomy.

Over a ten year period, this would produce employmentfor around 270,000 people across the broader economy. In aneconomic environment where new employment opportunitiesare difficult to secure, these are numbers not to be ignored.

Environmental BenefitsAs well as the economic benefits that would stem from acomprehensive national approach to retrogreening existingbuilding stock, the strength of the environmental case isoverwhelming. A clear pathway for achieving better outcomesfrom the built environment was set out in The Second Plankreport produced by the Australian Sustainable BuiltEnvironment Council (ASBEC) in September 2008.

The Second Plank report outlined in some detail theadditional carbon abatement opportunities that are availableby unlocking the potential of Australia’s existing buildings.While the Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme (CPRS) will gosome of the way to reducing emissions if and when it isenacted, the policy can be made much stronger through theadoption of complementary measures that further encourageabatement activity.

In the numerous submissions FMA Australia has made toGovernment over the past year regarding climate policymatters, we have repeatedly emphasised the importance ofunlocking the abatement potential of existing buildings.

The Second Plank found that the CPRS alone, evenoperating at peak efficiency, will produce total annualabatement of around 8 Mt (mega tonnes) of greenhouse gases.

This is a long way short of the total abatement potential ofthe built environment, which The Second Plank reportestimated to be 60 Mt per annum – much of which could bedelivered through the introduction of more effective energymanagement practices and equipment upgrades.

There is plenty of work being done in the background –witness the recent announcement of the National Strategy onEnergy Efficiency. Developed through the Council of AustralianGovernments (COAG), the strategy sets out a pathway forsubstantially improving minimum standards for energyefficiency and improving regulatory processes so that barriersto the introduction of new energy-saving technologies areremoved.

However, the time has come to move beyond discussionabout what should be done and start to take practical actionthat will deliver concrete outcomes. Governments – state and

federal – have a leading role to play in this space and decisiveaction will be enthusiastically supported by industry.

US Icons Going GreenIn the United States, two major projects are significantly raisingthe benefits and profile of retrogreening. One project isunderway and the other is due to commence shortly. Theiconic nature of the buildings at the centre of both projects hasgenerated mainstream media interest and will help ensure thatthe practice of retrogreening isn’t something just for “industryinsiders”, but is a process with which the wider community isincreasingly familiar and comfortable.

In New York City, Manhattan’s most famous skyscraper, theEmpire State Building, is currently undergoing a $500 millionupgrade. The whole project is due for completion in 2013,with building systems work due to be finished by late 2010,and represents a comprehensive approach that incorporatesimprovements to the building’s existing windows, betterinsulation, significant lighting upgrades to tenanted areas andan overhaul of HVAC systems.

When completed, the building’s performance will becarefully monitored and managed through a web-based powerusage systems that will allow tenants to view their power usageand make appropriate adjustments.

More recently, a similarly ambitious undertaking wasannounced in Chicago for the tallest office building in theUnited States. The 1970s era building has been the subject ofsome fiery local debate in Chicago recently, with the change ofits official name from Sears Tower (retail giant Sears haven’toccupied space in the building since 1992) to Willis Tower(after the British insurance broker became a new tenant andsecured naming rights).

Despite the angst of some Chicago residents about thename change, the building’s owners have been more focussedon the building’s environmental impact, pushing ahead with afive-year, $350 million plan to overhaul the facility’s energyefficiency strategy and cut base building electricityconsumption by 80%.

The Australian ExperienceWhile there have certainly been some innovative retrofittingprojects undertaken in Australia, including works undertakenon heritage buildings, we are yet to see an ‘iconic’ Australianequivalent of an Empire State Building or Sears Tower project.

This is partly because Australia’s iconic buildings tend to bepublic facilities (e.g. Sydney Opera House), rather than

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commercial office buildings. Of course our two talleststructures, Q1 on the Gold Coast and Eureka Tower inMelbourne, are both residential buildings and, having bothbeen completed within the last four years, are too new to beviable candidates for retrofitting works.

Nonetheless, there is an opportunity for Australia’s majorcities to shine in another sense. True, most of our officebuildings lack the iconic façade of an Empire State Building,but that shouldn’t prevent our buildings having iconicperformance levels.

The clearest signal our leaders could send to thecommercial sector that they are serious about promotingenergy efficiency is to get our existing buildings to performmore effectively. Doing so will take more than the introductionof emissions trading – it requires Government to think morebroadly and attack the problem of carbon emissions frommany fronts.

Providing Additional IncentivesUndertaking a retrofit of an existing commercial building is acostly exercise. To date, building owners have been reluctant topursue this course because there is often a long periodbetween capital outlay for building improvements and apositive financial return on that investment.

The Second Plank identified three additional opportunitiesfor the Federal Government to encourage green retrofit works,each of which are supported by FMA Australia. Briefly, theseare:a. A national white certificate scheme – A system of tradable

permits which commodifies energy savings. A certificate isissued in exchange for verified improvements in energyefficiency – and certificates can then be sold on the openmarket.

b. Accelerated green depreciation – This would provide anincentive for commercial building owners to invest inimproving environmental performance, by allowing for thedeferment of tax payments in exchange for improving theenergy efficiency of their building. In effect it allowsinvestors to shorten the payback period on environmentalimprovements made to a building.

c. Government funding support for building retrofit – It cantake several decades for the investment outlay on a greenretrofit to be recovered, which often makes building ownersreluctant to invest in the process. Provision of somefinancial assistance for green retrofits would providebuilding owners with an additional incentive to invest in

energy efficiency measures. While some steps have been taken at the state level in

relation to energy certificates, the market would be far betterserved by a comprehensive national approach. Given that theCommonwealthwill soon belegislating formandatorydisclosure ofcommercialoffice buildingenergyefficiency, itmakes sense toalign theintroduction ofsuch a schemewith thecommencementof themandatorydisclosureregime.

Likewise,there has beensome directfunding supportfor green retrofits through the Commonwealth’s Green BuildingFund and in some state jurisdictions through building tune-upgrants.

However, it is the introduction of some form of acceleratedgreen depreciation that remains the ultimate key to unlockingthe abatement potential of the built environment in Australia.

No one is denying that it would be costly to Government inthe short-run, but at a time when there is an urgent need tosupport job creation in the construction sector andsimultaneously reduce carbon emissions, it is an option thatshould be pursued.

Over the past year, the Federal Government has indicatedthat it is willing to spend up now to protect jobs in the retailand manufacturing sectors. The commercial property sectormust not be overlooked.

In the long run, failure to take action will prove far morecostly – to employment, to our economy and to ourenvironment.

Retrogreening – a must for stabilityin the commercial property sector

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What is Biometrics? Biometrics is the measurement of the unique physiological orbehavioural characteristics of the human body, such as thefinger print or iris pattern. Most often, biometrics is used toidentify an individual in situations requiring high levels ofaccuracy or in scenarios allowing human interaction withcomputers.

The different varieties of biometrics are:Voice Authentication: This biometric can be used to verify

the identity of a person to allow an individual to interact withsecure services over the telephone (or other voicecommunications device) such as secure call centres andtelephone banking or secure voice mail.

Finger Scanning: This technique can be used to identify anindividual from the print on the pad of their finger (or acombination of their fingers). It is most often used to restrictphysical or virtual access.

Palm Scanning: This technique takes certain measurementsfrom the palm print of the individual. It generally requires theparticipant to claim an identity against which the palm printcan be identified. This biometric is very popular for time andattendance machines.

Iris/Retina Recognition: This biometric measures theunique pattern of a person’s iris or retina by an electronic scan.It is extremely accurate and is generally used to restrictphysical access.

Signature Verification: Various electronic measurementsare taken from the person writing their signature to produce anaccurate assessment of their identity.

Face Recognition: This biometric takes various

measurements of the human face as captured on video tocompare them with an existing template of faces and make amatch. This form of biometric is growing in popularity inairports.

Other forms of biometrics yet to make a substantial impactin the commercial arena include those used to measure bodyodour, typing characteristics, ear shape and gait.

While some of these biometric systems are extremelyaccurate, for a sizable number of corporations, the equipmentand IT investment involved can be prohibitive, and the meansof securing the information needed to verify one’s identity canbe quite difficult to collect in certain circumstances such ashigh traffic – high volume situations like airport security.

The circumstances and need for the security informationhas to be weighed against the ease of use and accuracy ofinformation required to arrive at a solution or technologysuited for the purpose.

What is Voice Authentication?Voice authentication is a biometric technology that uses theunique acoustic characteristics of a person’s voice to confirmthat “they are who they say there are” – literally.

Each person’s voice is unique. This is caused by acombination of the way a person has learnt to speak and theanatomical characteristics of their vocal tract. Together theseaspects contribute to create each individual’s unique voicequality. Voice authentication systems use this factor to providean effective and convenient process for confirming identity.

Voice authentication is a two stage process. The first stage,called enrolment, involves processing a sample of a person’s

Talking about SecurityJust when you thought all had been said, done and written about security andthe technology available to deliver it, a “new” solution is developed thatredefines the industry.

voice to extract and encode their unique voice characteristics.The second stage, authentication, involves sampling thespeaker’s voice, processing as in the enrolment phase andcomparing the voice characteristics against those in theenrolled sample. The user can then obtain a measure as to howclosely the speaker’s voice compares to the voice of theenrolled sample.

Scientific evaluations undertaken for the University ofCanberra have demonstrated that voice authentication systemsare more accurate than finger, face and palm biometric systemsand offer similar levels of performance as iris recognition.Typically, set up correctly, solutions exhibit less than 0.1%false accept rate (that is, impostors being able to break into asystem) even if the impostor has the correct passwordinformation.

Contrast this with a conventional password system. Giventhat an impostor has the correct password then the impostorhas a 100% chance of breaking into the system. With voiceauthentication, even if the impostor has the correct informationthe chance of the impostor successfully breaking in is reducedto 0.1%, that is 1 in 1000, with some voice authenticationsystems offering even higher levels of security.

Voice authentication not only offers significant securitybenefits but also offers significant convenience and costbenefits to users. Because voice authentication is based on avoice biometric, highly secure solutions can be developed tooffer higher level of security that do not involve users having toremember complex PINs and passwords. In fact systems can bedeveloped that simply use the way you say your account,credit card or telephone number to confirm that you are thelegitimate speaker.

This is not only more secure – but from the user’sperspective far more convenient. Furthermore, for businesses,resetting forgotten or stolen PINs and passwords is not onlyextremely expensive, it is extremely problematic from asecurity standpoint. Voice authentication solves both theseproblems.

Multi-factor voice authentication is rapidly emerging as thehigh-value high-security technology to protect mission criticalapplications and services.

Dr Clive Summerfield is CEO of Auraya and consulting firm3SH, and has been a driving force in the adoption of speechrecognition and voice authentication since the 1980’s.Following is Dr Clive Summerfield’s White

Paper on Voice Authentication:

Combating Identity Fraud with Voice BiometricsVoice authentication is one biometric with the potential forwidespread use, particularly in call centres and online services.Voice authentication authenticates a person’s identity fromtheir unique vocal characteristics. In a nutshell, a personrecords a spoken password (such as their name or some othereasily remembered information). This is analysed to extracttheir unique voice characteristics, which are then compiledinto a “voiceprint”, a matrix of parameters that encodes notonly the password but the way the person says that password.This is stored in a database for future authentication of thesame speaker.

During a transaction, to confirm an identity the personsimply says the password information originally spoken duringregistration. The corresponding “voiceprint” is extracted from

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the database and the characteristics of each are compared. Ifthey match, identity is confirmed and the transaction canproceed. As voice authentication relies on “voiceprint”information (and not a particular password or phrase), animposter attempting to gain access to an account may say thecorrect password, but will be rejected as he or she will havethe wrong voice quality.

Voice Authentication - Ubiquitous and SecureA key benefit of voice authentication is that it works over thetelephone - the world’s most ubiquitous communicationsdevice found in almost every household and businessworldwide. In other words, the infrastructure for thewidespread rollout of biometric voice authentication is alreadyin place, as one’s identity can be authenticated from anywherein the world simply by dialling a telephone number.

There is no need to invest in special sensors or scanners,nor is there any need to invest in special authenticationsoftware or data communications technology. Moreimportantly customers do not have to learn to operate newequipment or systems. They simply use the telephone.

These factors all add up to an authentication solution that ismore cost effective, easier and quicker to implement, easier tomanage and faster to deploy than other security options. Voiceauthentication also offers enhanced security. As the technologyis accessed by telephone, the authentication server can becentrally located in highly secure facilities with no connectionto unsecured desktops, laptops and networks.

Hence, there is no opportunity for “hackers” to break intothe system, providing an extremely secure implementation foridentity management and authentication systems. When voiceauthentication is deployed in mass market applications,passwords and PINs become unnecessary, and call centreagent intervention becomes obsolete. Removing call centreagents from the identity verification process has the advantageof closing off another avenue for identity theft to occur. Anadditional benefit of this biometric deployment is thatautomating a core call centre function for voice authenticationreduces call centre operation costs.

FAQs on Voice AuthenticationIn the past, there have been numerous questions regarding theperformance of voice authentication:• What happens if I have a cold?• Can mimics break into my account?• What happens if somebody records my voice?• Can my password be decoded from the voiceprint?

Recent advances in voice authentication have addressed allof these questions.

Studies by the National Centre for Biometric Studies at theUniversity of Canberra confirm research by the UKCommunications Electronic Security Group (the InformationSecurity division of the British Government CommunicationsHeadquarters) demonstrating that voice authenticationoutperforms current fingerprint, hand print and facerecognition products. Tests by Edinburgh University’s Centre ofCommunications Interface Research, also covered in theUniversity of Canberra study, showed voice authentication tobe 99.9% accurate, which is 1000 times better security thanPINs and passwords alone. The effectiveness of voiceauthentication is further reinforced in the University ofCanberra study for government call centre applications and

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online and automated services. In this study, therobustness of voice authentication was also studiedto ensure secure operation for every daydeployments such as mobile telephones and in highnoise conditions.

Extensive testing has also shown that mimics areunable to fool the technology even when they knowthe passwords and PINs. The technology can also beconfigured to remain relatively insensitive to coldsand flu. Unless highly sophisticated equipment isused, recordings also cannot fool the system.

To further strengthen security, however, voiceauthentication systems are usually set up to askquestions in a random sequence, thus making eachsession different from the last – preventing arecording of previous sessions from being used to“hack” the current session.

(In fact, speaker verification is now at the pointwhere it is being deployed in highly securegovernment services and there are at least threevendors certifying their technology for defence andnational security applications.)

Securing the Call CentreThe Australian Government’s Office of StrategicCrime Assessment has stated that “critical to thefunctioning of the economy is the requirement thatstronger systems of proof of identity are developed”.

By applying voice authentication to front-endcall centres and online services, there is no need forcall centre agents to see or hear clients’ personalinformation, PINs or passwords. Likewise, there is no need forcallers to disclose such information to call centre agents.Callers simply authenticate their identity using their voice, andonce authenticated, can be passed on to the agentanonymously. As such, the call centre agent can be certain thatthe caller is who they say they are but need not know anypersonal or security information about the caller. This isparticularly beneficial for organisations using off-shore callcentres as it prevent agents in those off-shore facilities stealingcallers’ personal identity information.

Voice as a biometric identifier offers convenience and costeffectiveness in preventing security problems discussed above.By protecting personal information using voice authentication,the “weak link” in identity-related fraud in online and callcentre services can be effectively addressed.

About the AuthorDr Clive Summerfield is CEO of Auraya and consulting firm3SH. Clive has been driving the adoption of speech recognitionand voice authentication since the 1980s, with a key focus onmassively scalable carrier-grade projects.

In 1990 Clive founded Syrinx Speech Systems where heimplemented AT&T’s USA based Customer Care application aswell as applications for Commonwealth Bank’s AustralianStock trading system. He introduced voice biometrics toAustralian government agencies such as Parliament House andhas designed and calibrated voice authentication solutions forCentrelink, Vanguard (a major US financial services firm) andthe National Australia Bank.

Please visit www.auraya.net and www.3sh.net for moreinformation.(adapted from material by Dr Clive Summerfield).


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