Prior to founding Working Smarter in 2017, Sarah had a long and productive career in workplace relations and human resources, including in executive roles in the higher education and not-for-profit sectors.

Sarah has broad and deep experience in all aspects of workforce effectiveness but particularly in:

• strategy development and execution,

• policy and process design,

• performance and capability uplift initiatives,

• conflict resolution,

• culture defining and building, and

• diversity and inclusion.

Having worked with small, medium and large complex organisations, Sarah has a keen understanding of the myriad challenges facing contemporary workplaces today, and has directly contributed to many innovative, bespoke solutions.

Sarah takes a creative yet practical approach to solution design. She is particularly adept at synthesising complex issues into simple, elegant solutions. She understands that designing solutions involves fostering a deep understanding of context and the organisation’s strategic drivers. She believes that the best solutions are simple, streamlined and strategy-aligned. Sarah understands intimately the challenges associated with implementing and sustaining change initiatives and is always mindful of designing pragmatic, useful and relevant solutions – that work!

She also understands that people work at their best in respectful, harmonious and inclusive working environments. Sarah has in-depth experience in resolving interpersonal conflict between work colleagues. She is adept at advising clients on the most effective means for resolving conflict and, as a trained CINERGY conflict management coach and accredited mediator, can assist in facilitating a solution.

She lives and breathes the popular saying which inspired Working Smarter’s name. She designs solutions which ensure your workforce will “work smarter, not harder”.

Some of Sarah’s key successes include:

• Designing frameworks for promoting respectful workplace behaviours through prevention and early intervention initiatives

• Reviewing workplaces to diagnose systemic and pervasive cultural issues and make remedial recommendations

• Designing diversity and inclusion initiatives

• Structural and cultural transformations of organisations

• Designing performance development and capability uplift frameworks

• Reviewing, developing and implementing many and varied policy and process improvements

• Successfully resolving workplace conflict by focusing on early resolution and respectful outcomes

Since founding Working Smarter, Sarah has worked with a broad range of clients from large tertiary education providers and TAFEs to Victorian public sector departments and agencies, local government Councils and small boutique start-ups.

She is a member of many associations including the Resolution Institute and the Australian Human Resources Institute.