Leadership Team reflection: Q&A with Dr Anne-Maree Boland

After collaborating with RMCG during her career at the Victorian Department of Agriculture, Anne-Maree made the move from the public service to consulting, joining RMCG in January 2006. She soon became an Associate and focused her work on horticulture sustainability and water programs.

Anne-Maree joined the Leadership Team as a Partner in 2009, transitioning to Managing Partner from 2015 to 2021. In 2016, RMCG moved from a partnership to a company and established the Employee Shareholder Scheme (ESS), with 70% of the business owned by RMCG’s seven Principals and 30% by RMCG staff who are members of the ESS.

She handed over the Managing Principal role to Anna Kelliher in 2021 and remained on the Leadership Team for another four years as a Principal. Anne-Maree has now stepped down from the Leadership Team, transferring ownership to Carl Larsen. She will continue consulting with RMCG as an Associate.

Anne-Maree was instrumental in leading RMCG’s transition from a partnership to a company, guided our team through the challenge of COVID, and drove the implementation of B Corp certification. Her consulting skills and strong client relationships have also supported significant growth for the business.

We are very excited that she will continue contributing to the management of RMCG through the coordination of our work areas, supervision and mentoring, as well as continuing to consult on sustainability issues.

Read our Q&A where Anne-Maree reflects on her time with RMCG’s Leadership Team.

What part of your leadership journey are you most proud of?

The things I am most proud of are:

• Transitioning to a company and implementing the ESS to ensure greater involvement of employees – this was a whole team effort. It was about focusing on bringing people into the business and succession. Our model is very powerful as it provides a constant process of building knowledge, growth and understanding of the business, and transition to ownership.
• Further developing a high functioning Leadership Team that can work effectively together. We’ve had some challenging times but have always worked collectively to uphold our culture and values – respect, trust and collaboration. We spend a lot of time and effort to make sure the team is performing well – individuals understanding themselves and how we all work with each other.
• Introducing B Corp and working with the team to implement it across the business – continuing our ‘for purpose’ journey. I knew we needed to be a bit different to keep attracting great people, and thought B Corp was one way to demonstrate that. B Corp also aligns strongly with our values.

 

What’s something you didn’t expect from your time on the Leadership Team?

The process of succession is so healthy for the business – every person on the Leadership Team brings unique strengths and different ways of thinking. It is extremely satisfying to be part of a team that can disagree and have robust discussions – but at the end of the day we respect each other and have each others’ backs.

Early on, I sometimes was frustrated that we weren’t moving quickly enough, but decisions that might appear prolonged are always better having been considered and thrashed out by a group of people.

Finally, setting the tone and culture is very important and it’s something that the Leadership Team thinks very deeply about.

If your current self could give your past self a piece of advice when you first started in the Leadership Team, what would it be?

Stick with what you know is right and trust your intuition.

Take others along the journey and at a pace that they are comfortable with.

What’s next for you?

I’m not stopping work – yet! Even though I will be stepping back from the Leadership Team, I will continue contribution to management of the business through the coordination of internal work areas and supervision, as well as mentoring.

I will continue to work on strategic sustainability projects aiming to ensure a better future and further contribute via external Boards/Committees.

Anne-Maree presenting at the People in Agriculture Forum in 2024.

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