People who care about people: Jennifer Lawrence

Brightwater Care Group offers more than just a run-of-the-mill experience for the senior members of the community in its care. With 28 locations, more than 2,000 staff and a turnover of $140 million, it covers the full spectrum of services from retirement living through to nursing care. But that’s not all it does. Brightwater also assists young people with brain injuries and provides rehabilitation with assisted living at home. Furthermore, the organisation uses its commercial capacity to raise funds for reinvestment and now runs the second-largest commercial laundry in Western Australia.

For 13 years Jennifer Lawrence has played a part in its success, reporting to her mentor Dr Penny Flett. In March 2016 Jennifer stepped into the CEO shoes with a clear vision of what she wanted to achieve to ensure a bright future for Brightwater.

Creating services and solutions for people who need them

But it was in medical science and pathology that Jennifer first cut her teeth and began forging her professional path. "I worked in the hospital system and then went off into private pathology," she says. "I suppose I got a taste in private pathology for what’s possible within that corporate environment, where you can make decisions about adding value to what you do. Then, 13 years ago, I saw an opportunity to work in the not-for-profit sector, creating services and solutions for people who need them."

With so many facets to the business, Jennifer faced a steep learning curve in her first months as CEO. Today, she embraces the diversity. "Brightwater is a very diverse organisation. We have commercial businesses and care businesses and they are all quite different. There’s a real opportunity to look at those businesses and change the business models, to increase the service offerings. That truly excites me."

Listening to Brightwater’s 2,000+ employees

One of Jennifer’s priorities early last year was to talk to people within the business and learn from them. "We have more than 2,000 employees and they work across 28 locations," she says. "I initially spent some months getting out and talking to as many people as possible, to learn what they’re thinking and what they’re feeling. I also wanted to set the imperative that we have to change for the betterment of the people we serve. The way we do things now will not be right for the people of the future."

Jennifer’s face-to-face fieldwork reinforced how important culture is to the organisation. "It determines how people work with each other and how they connect. From a person’s very first day on the job, we try to instil in them that respect is very important. Respect for each other, respect for our clients, and respect for all the people who have dealings with us."

Once the cultural side of things was addressed, Jennifer was free to start focusing on the strategy. She placed technology — alongside people — at the centre of it all. Jennifer’s vision was, and still is, to continue to develop Brightwater into an evidence-based organisation that makes sensible and informed decisions about what it does and doesn’t do.

Four key research areas

Jennifer outlines four key areas of research that Brightwater is pursuing. "Our brain injury rehab is probably our flagship," she says. "We have a couple of papers about to be published which we’re really proud of, and we’re doing research in collaboration with experts around the world. The second area that we’re working in is in neurological research, particularly in the area of Huntington’s disease. The third area is dementia, which probably won’t come as much of a surprise to most people. And the fourth area is concussion. Many of the people that come to us with a brain injury may have long-term complications from concussion as well."

"From a person’s very first day on the job, we try to instil in people that respect is very important." – Jennifer Lawrence

Jennifer shares that she feels privileged to be part of a partnership centre that was set up by the National Health and Medical Research Council four years ago to look at cognitive and functional decline in elderly people. It is a nationwide research partnership that includes universities and other industry providers, bringing students together from different disciplines and introducing them to the aged-care sector. Brightwater is also exploring how technology can help support people with disabilities, from helping them communicate via Skype on an iPad, through to eye-gaze technology.

‘People cannot be replaced by equipment’

Not surprisingly, in such a rewarding environment, Jennifer is most passionate about the people in the Brightwater team who are dedicated and enthusiastic about the sector they work in.

"These people cannot be replaced by equipment," she notes. "Our staff are so important. They do an incredible job each day and they are doing the job because they are passionate about the people they provide a service to. The thing I really enjoy about this role is being able to bring people together and let them be passionate about a particular topic. This then leads to the ability to make change for the betterment of the overall sector."